James Challen writes in 1851 of this subject:

      Devotion, to any cause, is the pledge and reward of success. This is a universal law, and admits of no exception. Genius may send up an occasional rocket, but its light will soon be extinguished, and nothing left but the bare rod which accompanied it. It is the practised wing of the eagle which sustains its flight, even up to "heaven's gate." In every department of science and of art, it is only the man who patiently toils and yields himself up to his particular study, who excels. This it is that makes the profound mathematician, the linguist, the philosopher, the finished historian, the sculptor, and the painter. Who succeeds well as a physician and lawyer? Is it not the man who makes his profession his care? And is it not equally the condition of success and power to the preacher of the word? Does any one need more leisure for study, a larger stock of learning, and greater resources of, thought and language, than the minister of righteousness, especially [274] one whose position is conspicuous, and who is compelled to appear before the same congregation on every Lord's day? Genius, talent, and address--the suaviter in modo, the fine voice, the honied words, and meretricious appendages of the orator--may serve a purpose for a time; but the public eye and ear will soon become familiar with it all, and the public taste will turn away from it with loathing, unless accompanied with new and well-digested truths. "Therefore, every scribe instructed in the Kingdom of God, is like unto a man that is a householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." Some things, which are old, may be new; and the new may be old; but both the new and the old, the scribe well instructed must have in his treasure, and, as occasion requires, he must bring them forth. To do this, he must spend much of his time as a recluse, poring over his Bible, and every other book that may be tributary to the great work in which he is engaged. Besides, there is no office which requires more of the esprit du corps than this; and the only way to obtain it, is to give himself wholly to its duties, that his profiting may appear to all who hear him.

      Was there ever such an age of progress as this? The human mind is stimulated to its utmost powers of endurance. To meet its demands, it requires courage, strength, and hope, and toil, both patient and unremitting; and as certain as there is increasing light in the community, the man who expects to gain influence, and keep it, must catch the spirit of the age, and not only keep up with it, but, if possible, be in its advance.

      Progress is as quenchless as the eternal fires, and as certain as doom. No step that has been taken can be retrenched. The porch but anticipates the temple; and he who has reached that, will not fail to enter. As well might we think that the schoolmaster of the past century will now fill the office with respectability; or the tailor, in the days of Cromwell, suit the taste of the present age, as the preacher who has lived half a century, that of his hearers.

      All the energies of matter and spirit are taxed to their utmost, and are at work within the serene compass of that circle which bounds our present life; and while humanity, ever progressive and active, is moving on for truth, and conquest, and liberty, over the illimitable fields of nature and of art, can we think that the ministers of truth and of righteousness--the great torch-bearers--need no fresh oil to replenish their lamps, many of which are going out? Verily, I say unto you, the vessels must be kept well supplied.

      The preacher needs now, if ever, the spear of Ithuriel, so delicate and fine as not to be seen, and yet so pointed and powerful as always to be felt, if he would pierce the rind of Leviathan. [275]

      But I do not wish to be misunderstood. I do not find fault with the choice spirits who have achieved so much for God and truth, in the brief struggles they have had with error and darkness, since the commencement of this Reformation. They have done a herculean task. But they have had associated with them "burning and shining lights;" men whose impress will be world-wide; heroic men, not made for a party or an age, but for all coming time; stars of the first magnitude, whose orbits describe the cycles of eternity, and whose light will be unquenched, because it is the light of heaven: And this, with truth on their side, and the blessing of God, has been the secret of their success.

      A great part of the work has been to destroy the fabrics which others have erected; but a sublimer task now lies before us, and a far more difficult one--to build, with all the perfection of art, a temple of more beauty, and symmetry, and permanence, than that which the wisest of men erected. There lie around us the beams of the cedars of Lebanon, marble from the quarries of Judea, the gold of Ophir, and the silver of Tarshish, in perfect finish, by the hands of the original builders, but, under the eyes of the great Master, the materials must be joined together--"A habitation of God through the Spirit." Let us be cautious, lest we mar the work by introducing into the building "wood, hay, and stubble." We need finished workmen, whose life is devoted supremely to the work; not apprentices, but full grown men; not babies, but "able ministers of the new institution." And this will never be, so long as one is for his farm, and another for his merchandise; some hewers of wood and drawers of water, and all; more or less, secularized in life and spirit.

      It behooves those who are thus entangled with the business of the world, and who cannot consecrate their whole time to the work of the Lord, to use all diligence, to husband their resources, to improve every moment, to wash out every grain of gold from the placers, and to write holiness to the Lord upon the "bells of their horses," and that the most insignificant vessels of the Lord shall be as bowls before the altar. Some we have known, of this class, who, by their industry in the daily study of the Scriptures, and by their unblemished life in the practice of righteousness, have gained to themselves a good degree, and have done, and are still doing, great service to the cause of truth. But, to them, it is a cause of unspeakable regret, that the cares of a family, the limited means or penuriousness of the church, have not furnished them with leisure to improve their minds, and thus better prepare them for the work assigned them. Many are fondly hoping when success in business will enable them to devote their whole time to the cause. Vain delusion! When will they have enough! And in getting it, are they not spending their working days, and encrusting their souls with [276] shells so thick and cumbrous, that, like the oyster, they will be compelled to fasten themselves to the rock, having lost all power of locomotion! There are some who will read this piece, who have enough. and more than enough, for all the purposes of life. Besides, it is but cultivating the spirit of avarice in the churches, to labor without reward. The best preachers are those who go without "scrip or purse," and who are maintained by the churches. The benevolence that costs us nothing, is of a doubtful stamp. I can give, says one, and not feel it; you had better give until you feel it. So the Saviour gave, and so the apostles, and so the truly beneficent have always given.

      There needs now an advanced corps, to meet the exigencies of the present age, and that corps will yet be seen. One here, and another there, are coming to fill up the ranks, and the beckoning spirit of progress hails their advent. And what if they shall take a higher stand than we have made; and what if they eclipse those of us who have struggled into the light, and at every step have felt the benumbing influence of the superincumbent darkness? We gladly bequeath them the "armor of light," and the garnered treasures of a quarter of a century, as their capital to work on, with the remembrancer, "That to him that hath, more shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not, (improved) shall be taken away even that which he hath."

JAMES CHALLEN.      

Source:

James Challen. "The Ministry." The Millennial Harbinger 22 (March 1851): 127-130.

[MHA2 274-277]