CHAPTER XI.

MINISTERIAL DILIGENCE.

WHILE just views of the great object of preaching go far towards making a useful minister of the Gospel, these alone do not give to the pulpit its true and proper influence. These views must be carried out into practice, and express themselves in a course of diligent devotement to the labors of the ministerial office. The single thought, therefore, on which we propose to submit several observations in the present chapter, relates to the necessity of unwearied diligence in the work of the Christian ministry.

The Apostle Paul, in giving his paternal counsels to a youthful preacher, has the following remarkable passage: Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear unto all." No imparted gifts could avail for young Timothy, unless he himself

were wholly devoted to his work. Paul himself was a noble exemplification of the diligence he recommends; accomplishing in one short life more, probably, than was accomplished by any other man. Prepared for his work by an early attention to the liberal arts and sciences in the schools of Tarsus, and accustomed to manual labor in the trade of tentmaking, he possessed a well-disciplined mind, and a body that was inured to hardship. From Tarsus he was sent to Jerusalem, where, under the tuition of that great master of the law, Gamaliel, he made rapid proficiency, "and profited above many of his equals." But God, who had destined him for another profession, and “separated him from his mother's womb" that he might be a preacher of the Gospel, arrested him in his course, and at the time of his conversion, revealed to him that he was the selected individual who should preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gentile world. From that hour he addressed himself to this great work with a steadfastness of purpose, and a diligence that is without any recorded example; asking only the question,

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Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" and never stopping to consult his own ease, or in any way "conferring with flesh and blood." The first three years of his ministry he employed in different parts of Arabia; from Ara

bia, he returned to Damascus, where, in defiance of the incensed and exasperated rulers, he preached openly in the synagogue. Thence he went to Jerusalem, where, though he remained but fifteen days, he left the marks of his mighty mind, if not in the conversion, in the conviction and confusion of his enemies. Thence he set sail for Tarsus, his native city; thence, in company with Barnabas, he went to Antioch; thence back to Jerusalem; thence to Seleucia, and Cyprus, preaching in all its principal cities. Thence he went to Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Iconium, God everywhere giving testimony to the word of his grace; and thence back again to Antioch, confirming and strengthening the churches, and announcing how great a door had been opened for the conversion of the Gentile world. We need not follow him in his indefatigable course; it was one of unwearied labor and self-denial, at Philippi, at Athens, at Corinth, at Thessalonica, at Ephesus, at Illyrium, at Troas, at Myletus, at Cæsarea, and at Rome. "Of the Jews," says he, "five times received I forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods; thrice I suffered shipwreck; a day and a night have I been in the deep. In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the

wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. In weariness, and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches." Never was a mind more divinely attempered to its work than his; and never did a minister of the Gospel so magnify his office, by his " mighty diligence and industry,” in season and out of season, by day and by night, by sea and by land; "running," as one of the Christian fathers remarks, "from ocean to ocean, like the sun in the heavens, sooner wanting ground to tread upon than a desire to propagate the faith of Christ." What he could not accomplish by his voice, he supplied by the diligent use of his pen, leaving upon record fourteen Epistles to the churches, and to us, and all subsequent ages, a view of the doctrines and duties of the Gospel, which, for simplicity, weight, urgency, and true, earnest eloquence, are not surpassed in the sacred writings. It is not amiss for us to have such an example of ministerial diligence before our eyes; we may the better see how much can be accomplished by the patient and self-denying efforts of one devoted man of God.

Effective diligence has respect to the whole course of ministerial life, and comprehends the

entire devotement of it to this great work. The time of a minister of the Gospel is to him, and to the work in which he is engaged, "more precious than rubies." If he is a diligent man, there is nothing he economizes with greater care,— gathering up the fragments of it, that nothing be lost. There is nothing for which he considers himself more solemnly accountable; nothing he employs either so cheerfully, or so intensely for the cause of his Divine Lord. Like every other man, he requires seasons of relaxation and repose; and while he ought to possess true independence of character, to decide for himself when and what that repose shall be, it becomes him to do so with an honest conscience, and even with lively sensitiveness that it is the tendency of the best of men, where the call for labor and the opportunity for indulgence are distinctly before him, to lean to the side of indulgence. He should have independence of character enough, also, in his arrangements for labor, to secure the time devoted to it, without interruption. He must do this, if he is an effective laborer; and though it may cost him frowns and popular favor, his habits will eventually become known and respected. It is of great importance to a Christian minister who insists upon the uninterrupted opportunity for labor, to employ that opportunity intensely. This is altogether a matter of habit; and the