UC-NRLF ^B ETb 13b s'(m wMfmm I.IHKARY Re i7ige Shelf. Received mmtx%\ No. Division I AlBANCROfl m' /4'3 PASTOEAL THEOLOey OR, THE THEORY OF THE EVANGELICAL MmiSTRY. By a. VINET. Vt*. ^<^ 9nv^^ TRANSLATED AND EDITED By THOMAS H. SKINNER, D.D.. PBOFESSOR OF PASTORAL THEOLOGY IN THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF NEW YORK. WITH V0TK8, AND AN ADDITIONAL CHAPTER, BY THE TRANSLATOR. 'Kyw tc/xi o noifJLtjv o *coAo«.'' SECOND K I) I 1 ION. NEW YORK: IVISON & PHIN^NEY, 178 FULTON STREET; (•vccKitoRa or nkwmam tt ivison, akd mark h. nkwman k CO.) CHICAGO: S. C. G RIG GS :.|. %^^ # * vs Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty- three, by Harper & Brothers, #^ in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. «?■ 4 * PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR. We began to read this work for our own advant- age ; but soon received an impression of its excellence, which led us to wish that it might have the free cir- culation which a faithful translation and an American edition would secure to it. A further acquaintance wj|k it deepened this impression, until at length this translation became almost a natural result. The work of translation is generally thought to be irksome ; but, in the present case, the communion which it has occasioned with the beautiful, earnest, and holy spirit of the author, has changed labor into the highest pleasure. The minute attention which must be given to every sentence and word in translat- iiiL-^ lins this advantage, that it obliges us to perceive every delicate shade of thought and feeling which the author expresses ; and as there have been very few as pure, as discriminating, as imaginative, as spiritual minds as that of M. Vinet, it could not but be that in a treatise on a subject which he had so thoroughly studied, and which was so congenial to his character IV PREFACE. and temperament, there should be found a rich, varied, and full exhibition of sentiment and feeling : Adding to this the intrinsic excellence of the subject itself, Pastoral Theology, whose sphere is that which was filled by the Chief Shepherd and Bishop of souls, it afforded a fund of enjoyment and profit, to which it was truly an unusual privilege to have such familiar and intimate access. M. Yinet, among the gifted men of his times, was in the first rank. The jditor of his " Etudes sur Blaise Pascal," we think, with no more than justice, classes him, in the' most important respects, with that great man. " The general direction of his labors, the na- ture of his mind and temperament, gave him rea(Jy access to this noble and astonishing genius. A pen- etratiiSg analysis of the human S($il, a strong attach- ment of heart to truth and an imperious demand for evidence, a natural melancholy, an inclination to seri- ous irony, a strict and sometimes transcendent dialect- ic, passion in reason, a comprehensive and powerful im- agination — ^these traits are common to the arrehor of Discours sur quelques Sujets Religieux and the au- thor jof the Pens6es, We may say, making due allow- ance for circumstances, that Pascal and Vinet resem- bled each other. Pascal, moreover, inspired the Prot- estant apologist of the nineteenth century, and served as his model. If natural afiinity, sympathy, and inter- est are of any aid to the understanding, M. Vinet as- 'm- PREFACE. suredly ought to comprehend Pascal. It was this, per- hai)s, which led an eminent critic, M. Sainte-Beuve, to say : * If we should collect into one small volume the articles of M. Vinet on Pascal, we should have, I think, the most exact results to which we can arrive on this great controversy.' "* ^ The work before us is worthy of its author. Jt was not prepared for the press by M. Yinet, but the wbject had received his closest attention, protracted through a series of years ; and though it is substantially composed of notes, which served as a basis of instruction in the Academy oMjausanne, yet tiiese notes were carefully prepared by the author, and, of course, embodied his best and strongest thoughts. M. Yinet's own manu- scripts were sometimes coiri})lemented from the note- books of his pupils ; ^but these insertions, which, in the French publication, are included in brackets, and Vhich, in a volume of four hundred pages, amount to about thirty, have the full force and vigor of the au- thor's mind, and are quite equal in excellence to the other parts of his work. ' The slight imperfections of form, arising from the caii^es maicated by the Fk m li editors, do not impair the value of this book : Aft<^re- moving the brackets, as we have done in this transla- tion, they will probably not be observed. The work is distinguished by the following great ex- cellences : by comprehensiveness and fullness of plan, • £tuiet sur Blaise Pascal, par A Vinst, p. vii. VI PREFACE. embracing all parts of the subject in just proportion ; by a deeply philosophical vein of teaching under the guise of the most beautiful simplicity ; by thorough, various, and extensive learning; by a pre-eminently pure and holy spirit, which often subdues and pene- trates the reader's heart, and leads him to look within himself with the profoundest self-scrutiny ; and, when- ever the subject permits it, by a peculiarly elevated, eloquent, and charming diction. If we were to distinguish between the merits of the different parts of this work, we should assign the high- est place to the third part, especially chapter second, which treats of the care of souls as applrea to individ- uals ; where we can not but think that this spiritual and faithful man has transcended all who have pre- ceded him. As an example of the earnestness and ten- derness of his manner in this part, we insert here a pas- sage which refers to the case of a pastor at the bedside of a dying man who is not prepared for death : " There are, it is said, souls who perceive with despair that the principle of the spiritual ^ife is extinguished within them, and who with^rrible evidence are convinced that there remains nothing in them that can love or pray : Faith comes to them at the last moment, but it is the faith of demons, resplendent with brightness, but it is the brightness of lightning. Grod only can know, indeed, that this soul is dead : As for you who do not know, struggle, pant with it, fight its battle, unite PREFACE. VH with it in its agony ; let it perceive that there is by its side, in its last anguish, a soul that believes, that hopes, and that loves ; that your love is but a reflection of the love of Christ; and that Christ, through you, has become present to it : Give it a hint, a glimpse, a taste of the Divine mercy ; let it be, as it were, forced to be- lieve in it by seeing the reflection of it in you : Hope against hope : Wrestle with God to the last moment : Let the voice of your prayer, the echo of the words of Christ, resound in the dying man's ear, even in his dreams : You do not know what may be passing in that interior world into which your views do not pene- trate ; norl^ what mystery eternity may hang on one minute, and salvation on one sigh. You do not know what may avail — what one ejaculation of a soul toward God may embrace at the last bound of earthly exist- -.ence. Th6h do uof conse : pray aloud with the dying man ; pray for him with a low voice : Be a priest when you can no longer be a preacher. Let the office of in- tercession, the most efficacious of all, precede, accom- pany, follow all others." But while we can not but ftfgard the third part with peculiar interest, we have been compelled to think tfiat th^jM is an omission here which should not be passed over without notice ; and, with the hope of increasing the usefulness of the book in our own country, we have endeavored to supply it by adding a chapter of our own. Our author has distinctly stated (page 242) the prin- A2 PREFACE. oiple which guided us in this chapter, a principle whiclj admits of many applications ; but the subject we have here considered seemed to us, from its great import- ance, entitled to peculiar attention. It is scarcely necessary to say that, in editing this work, we do not hold ourselves answerable for every opinion of the author : On two points, of much import- ance, we have thought proper to indicate some differ- ence of judgment from him, in notes w^hich will be found in the Appendix. In the work of translation we have had occasion, more than once, to lament the impossibility of retain- ing in English the exceedingly 7idlve and touching manner of the author ; but we have endeavored, in ev- ery case, to report faithfully the views and movements of his uncommon mind. We have studied exactness in giving his meaning rather than rigid conformity to his manner ; although we have endeavored to deviate from this no further than was necessary in order to ren- der his meaning into^ood English. "We concur with the French editors in hoping that this book will be read not only by ministers of the G-os- pel, but by the religious community generally : Better than any work we know of, it is adapted to impart profound and just impressions of the pastoral ofHce, in which all the interests of humanity are so deeply in- volved. iP^t- PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION ?' The Translator cannot forbear ezpressing the pleas- ure whicli lie feels at the publication of a Second Edi- tion of this work. The first Edition was unusually large, and the demand for another confirms his convic- tion of the great value of the boolc, and his hope that it is destined to be extensively and permanently useful. The correction of a few errors in the printing, and one or two slight alterations in forms of expression, render this edition somewhat more perfect than the former; but the changes are so unimportant, that those who have bought the work, have no cause to regret that they did not wait for the appearancetof another edition. ^Ifm- .3 4- CONTENTS. Advertisement of the Editors s^i INTRODUCTION. ^ I. Definition of the Subject. What is a Minister of the Gospel 1 Ideal of a Minister 31 ^ II. Necessity of the Evangelical Ministry 38 ^ III. Institution of the Evangelical Ministry 41 ^ rv. Is the Ministry an Order in the ChuMp 1 „ ,C-^. 45 f) V. Excellence of the Evangelical MinSmy^. . J^'.: 52 ^ VI. Difficulties and Advantages of the Evangelical Ministry. 57 ^ VII. Call to the Evangelical Ministry .£. 71 PART FIRST. INDIVIDUAL AND INTERNAL LIFE. General Principle 109 Renewal of Call 110 Particu l^g ules , - Ill SoUtudeT?:. ! 113 Prayer 116 Study in general, and of the Bible in particular 116 Economy of Time 124 Ascttiame •; 126 Xll CONTEXTS. PART SECOND. RELATIVE OR SOCIAL LIFE. CHAPTER I. SOCIAL LIFE IN GEWEKAL. Pafa ^ I. Gravity 131 In Manners in general 133 In Discourse in particular 134 i) II. Simplicity, Modesty 138 ^ III. Pacific Spirit i^ 138 i) IV. Gentleness — IP^ I'^O ^ V. Loyalty, Rectitude, Candor 141 ^ VI. Disinterestedness 143 $ VII. The Minister in Relation to the general Interests of So- ciety 151 ■ M ■*^^rfllAPTER II. DOMESTIC LIFE OF A MINISTER. i} I. General Reflections — Marriage and Celibacy — A Pastor's Wife 15G ^ II. Government of the Family 161 § III. House and Household Economy of a Pastor 163 PART THIRD. PAST^AL LIFE. Preliminary Reflections on tnr^hoice of a Parish, atttt'on Changes 169 SECTION FIRST. WORSHIP. .^ -.1 Worship in general w 178 yfltholic Worship 180 Protestant Worship 180 CONTENTS. Xlir • Page Worship of the primitive Church 181 Characteristics of public Worship 183 Costume 185 Celebration of Rites 186 The Lord's Supper 187 Baptism 187 Singing 188 Funerals 188 SECTION SECOND. INSTRUCTION. CHAPTER I. PREACHING. Jik' ^, *t ^ I. Importance of Preaching among the Functions of the -Mi^stry 189 ^ Ujfltoj^ples or Maxims which should be held as to Preach- nSJ*. 192 ^ III. Object of Preaching 202 ^ rV. Unity of Preaching 203 ^ V. Different Classes united in the same Auditory 204 ^ VI. Popularity, Familiarity, Authority, Unction 207 ^VII. Form of Preaching 215 ^ VIII. Festival and occasional Sermons 218 ^ IX. Several Questions relative to Preaching 219 LCTigth of a Sermon 219 Repetition of Sermons 220 Substitutes 221 Duties before and after Preaching 221 A Preacher should know what is thought of his Preaching 222 On the immediate Impression of the Sermon 223 On the Fruits of I*rcaching 224 Success of Opinion 226 XIV CONTENTS. CHATTER II. CATECHISING. ^ I. Its Importance and its Object 229 $ II. General characteristics of Catechising — Source and Meth- od of religious Instruction 230 ^ III. Advice to the Catechist 232 SECTION THIRD. CARE OF SOULS, OR PASTORAL OVERSIGHT. CH:^Per I. OF THE CARE OF SOULS IN GENERAL. 4 I. Its Relations to Preaching. Foundations of the Duty ot %the Care of Souls 236 ^ II. Objections against the Exercise of this Function 239 ^ III. Conditions or Qualities required for the Exercise of the Care of Souls 24 1 ^ IV. Triple Object of pastoral Oversight /t . INJl . . 243 ^V. TheSchool i.. 246 ^ VI. Relations to Families : Pastoral Visits 247 CHAPTER II. OF THE CARE OF SOULS APPLIED TO INDIVIDUALS. ^ I. Introduction — Division of the Subject 261 ^ n. Internal Situation 263 1. Persons decidedly Pious -";.... 263 2. New Converts 268 3. TheAwakened f^.. 258 4. Souls in Trouble 269 6. TheOrthodox 261 6. Skeptics 264 7. The Indifferent 266 8. Unbelievers 266 9. Rationalists 268 10. Stoics 268 i^ CONTENTS. XV Reprehension and Direction 269 Generzd Advice relating to the Conduct of Souls 272 ^III. External Situation 274 1. TlieSick 275 False Security in the Sick 282 The Sick, troubled, despairing 283 General Directions 288 Families in Affliction 291 2. The diseased in Mind. . .j^. 293 3. Persons divided Wm^ ^^^ 4. ThePoor ii!T. 297 CHAPTER III. On the Care of Souls in Times of special Declension and sj Interest in Religion (by the Translator) 301 1 v- '^l*-^ m. PART FOURTH. ADMINISTRATIVE OR OFFICIAL LIFE. CHAPTER I. DISCIPLINE 330 CHAPTER n. COIfDUCT TOWARD DIFFEEENT RELIGIOUS PARTIES 332 CHAPTER III. tKLinONS OF ECCLESIASTICS AMONG THEMSELVES 335 CHAPTER IV. THE PASTOR IN HIS RELATIONS TO AUTHORITIES 339 XVI CONTENTS. APPENDIX. Pag* Note A. On the Nature of the Office of Priest (Chrysostom).. . 343 Note B. The Mystery of Preaching (Saint Cyran) 344 Note C. On the speedy Assumption of the personal Authority ofthe Priest (Schwarz) 345 Note D. First Appearances of a Tendency to form Pastors into a Caste (Neander) 346 Note E. Of the universal Priesthood of the Christian Church (Neander) ^ 351 Note F. On the Dignity of the Ministry (Erasmus) 351 Note G. Of Prayer (Bacon, Kepler, De Thou, MassiUon) 353 Note H. Has the Sabbath been abolished 1 (Translator) 356 Note I. jOOi Liturgies (Translator) 362 Note K. "On the Use of the Catechism. From an Article by M. Note L, Thoughts of Bengel upon the Exercise of the Ministry, translated by M. Vinet 369 m ADVERTISEMENT OF THE EDITORS. The volume which we give to the public was not prepared for the press by M. Vinet. It is composed essentially of notes which served as the basis of a course intended for the students of the Academy of Lausanne. These notes, most frequently written out with much care, often have the character of a simple skeich. wliich the professor proposed to complete in his lectures. Hence some imperfections of form, which would certainly have disappeared if the author had put his own finishing hand to his work. We have, how- ever, thought it our duty to publish it such as we found it, without permitting ourselves to refashion it, in any of its parts, except that as we had, on certain portions of the course, more than one original manuscript, it often happened that we were obliged to complete some from others. ^Moreover, when it seemed to us neces- sary to illustrate or complete the thought of the author, we have inserted amplifications taken from the note- books of the hearers of M. Vinet. These extracts might have been multiplied, but we have confined our- selves to what was strictly necessary, and all the in- sertions of this kind have been placed between brack- ets,* that they might not escape the reader's attention. M. Vinet himself has translated many passages, taken • These are omitted in the translation. XVlll ADVERTISEMENT OF THE EDITORS. from ancient or foreign authors, which will be found in the course of the work. Those which were quoted in the original language we have rendered into French. The Appendix at the end of the volume contains principally passages from authors to which M. Vinet simply refers, hut which appear to have been read in his lectures, and which serve to illustrate his thought. Many of these have been fully transcribed by himself in his note-books. They appear, at the same time, too extended to be inserted in the course, and too necessary to be merely referred to. The Thoughts of Beng-el, which will be also found in the Appendix, were trans- lated from the G-erman by M. Yinet, and published apart in Ismail pamphlet in 16mo. There are here and there allusions to the National Church of the Canton de Yaud. It should be remem- bered that the greater part of the hearers of M. Yi- net were to exercise the evangelical ministry in that church, with which he did not cease to be connected, so far as the worship was concerned, up to the moment when a free church was established in the Canton de Yaud, in consequence of the secession of a great num- ber of pastors. We hope that the course of Pastoral Theology will be well received, not only by ministers of the Gospel and students of theology, for whom it is more espe- cially designed, but by the religious public in general. The fundamental idea of M. Yinet recommends his book to the serious attention of all the friends of the Gospel.' The pastor is not, in his view, an isolated being, far removed from the community of Christians into the desert of a solitary dignity? to which ordinary ADVERTISEMENT OF THE EDITORS. XIX believers must not aspire. He conceives of him as less above them than as at their head, and in the advance in the work of charity. Neither are his labors exclu- sive ; on the contrary, all should associate themselves actively with him, and will do so according to the meas- are of their fidelity. The pastor is not essentially dif- ferent from a Christian — ^he is the representative Chris- tian — the model of the flock (1 Tim., iv., 12). All Christians will find in this book valuable lessons, which they should treasure up. If they receive it as we dare to hope, we shall soon publish also Homiletics, or, the Theory of Preachings of which we likewise possess the manuscript. ft PASTORAL THEOLOGY. INTRODUCTION. ^ 1 . Definition of the Subject. What is a Minister of the Gospel ? Ideal of a Minister. We have elsewhere defined Practical Theology. It is art which supposes science, or science resolving itself into art. It is the art of applying usefully, in the ministry, the knowl- edge acquired in the three other departments of theology, which are purely scientific. It appears, then, that we may very conveniently call Pastoral Theology that collection of rules or directions to which wc have given the name o^ Prac- tical Theology. But, although the idea of the pastor {Seel- sorger*) and of the pastorate controls and comprehends all the parts of Practical Theology, yet it may be abstracted and considered by itself as a moral element pervading each part of Practical Theology, but which, also, distinct from the cat- echetical and homiletical departments,! forms one of its own, an object of special study. Pastoral Theology, then, would ♦ One of the designations of a pastor in Germany ; literally, he who has the care of the soul. t We might add liturgical ; but the small space we can give to this part induces us to include it in our course of Pastoral Theology, or Prudence. As to ecclesiastical law, the study of which may compre- hend that of the different ecclesiastical legislations or constitutions, and which is in this sense a science, it becomes an art, and, conse- quently, a part of Practical Theology, in so far as it practically directs the pastor in the observance and execution of the ecclesiastical laws of his own denomination. What little we shall say of it will be found in its proper place in this course. 22 UNITY OF THE MINISTRY. treat of all the duties, all the kinds of activity to which the pastor is called, except public preaching and catechising. The expressions duties of the pastor and j)(^^toral 'pru- dence are incomplete. They present the thing too much un- der the point of view of an art or a practice. But this point of view should not be exclusive. The speculative side should have its place. Action is the last end of speculation ; but, whatever may be the nature of the action, it'is not sufficiently provided for, if attention be confined to it in the practical point of view. It should be studied abstractly. We should study the theory of the evangelical ministry, not only to know what we have to do, but also as an objective fact, which simply, as such, demands our acquaintance. Abstract speculation is of high utility. He who regards the things of his profession only in the midst of action, will act neither with freedom, nor with intelligence, nor with depth. Hence, among other rea- sons, this course is called the Theory of the Evajigelical Ministry. Perhaps our distribution is not exactly right. Catechetics, homiletics, etc., are not, perhaps, different in substance from Pastoral Theology. Still, on account of the extent of these divisions, of the detail which they require, and of the dispro- portioned space they would necessarily occupy if they should be treated in all their breadth in a course of Pastoral Theol- ogy, we separate them, intending to pursue the study of them when we shall be more at leisure. We are far from suppos- ing that the chief one of these categories represents a whole, or even a reality : the reality exists only in the assemblage of the three functions, Worship, Preaching, and Catechising. By the very idea of a minister, these all belong to him. He would not otherwise be a minister. Not that these functions may not be distinguished and even separated — but they never should be after an exclusive manner ; that is to say, in such a manner that he who exercises one is not to exercise the others ; for they mutually suppose and contain one another. i FUIMITIVE DlVIdlOX OF THE MINISTRY. *23 Nevertheless, the idea ef this unity lias its date ; it is a Christian idea. All religions have not conceived nor real- ized it. In the Old Testament the oflice of priest and of prophet formed two distinct offices. It accords with the Old Testa- ment to distinguish, as it does with the New to blend these two. The two systems are characterized by these tM^o facts. Perfect unity between the form and the idea did not yet ex- ist, and could not enter except with the law of spirituality and of liberty. On one side and the other, as on two dis- tinct planes, were represented the letter j^hich kills, an^Jhe spirit which gives life. The economy 'iFhich was to ufiite them in one whole, was also to unite in one and the same man the priest and the prophet. On this point the primitive Church presents us a pheirom- enon analogb'us to the whole ofinius of its economy, which did not mdely repudiate all the traditions of the theocracy. It divides the ministry into many different ministries. It does not appear that all ministers did the same things, nor that all did all things. It would seem, from Ephesians, iv., 11, and 1 Corinthians, xii., 28, 30, that this division of labor* had been formally instituted by the supreme Head of the Church ; but whether this was so, or whether we ought to regard it only as a providential dispensation — whether the distribution of extraordinary gifts (xapianara) explains the thing to us, there is no evidence that this distinction, of which besides it is very difficplt to form a just idea, ought to be maintain- ed as an immu^jible institution. At any rate, to renew • It docs not appear that this division of labor was of an exclusive character. We see (Acts, vi., 10) that Stephen, the deacon (verse 3), wys a preacher or a prophet. The rite and the word arc separated by St. Paul (1 Cor., i., 17) : " Ch^ sent me not to baptize." Besides, this is not a question of rite. Either itMs altogether apart from reli- gion, which can not be admitted, or it does noilfeelusively belong to one of these classes of officers. This, however, is not saying that al! may celebrate it. » 24 OFFICE OF PASTOR. it, it is necessary to renew the x^P^^l^^"^^^ " the spiritual gifts." It is very manifest that they regarded as ministers of the Church men whose qualifications did not fit them for minis- ters, according to the sense which w^e now attach to the word. There were deacons, appointed to serve tables ; there were presbyters (whence comes the word, not the idea, of priest), who did not teach ; but it is clear, from 1 Tim., v., 17,*= that those among them who taught were of the first rank, were reputed the first, since the word is the grand instrum6nt, and the essential character of the evangelical dispensation ; and it il, in fact, to this class of presbyters that the title of min- ister or pastor has, in the end, been exclusively attributed ; and this class has absorbed in itself all the other classes, so as to constitute in itself alone the ministry of the Christian Church. ' _,. 't The evangelical ministry is "^essentially a ministry of. the word ; all the other ministries are in the service of that one ; they are so many ways of speaking the Word of God. Chris- tianity is a word, a thought of God, which is destined to be- come a thought of man. Now thought and speech are insep- arable ; thought is an interior speech, and in the ancient languages the same word signifies the two things {Xoyoc;). That great revolution, which we call the advent of Christ and of the Gospel, has not rejected worship and symbol, but has spiritualized it, has approximated it to thought, and thus even to speech. The minister is a man who speaks the word of God ; he does not recite it. The priest was a slave, but the minister has free intercourse with God. And as, since the unhappy and forced exclusion of the laity, there are, for example, no more ministers of alms, of science, etc., the min- ister combines in himself all th]|le offices, because he is the minister par exce^knce. * " Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double hon- or, especially they who labor in word and doctrine." CATHOLIC IDEA. 26 The minister, in this way the inheritor of all the diverse ministries of the Church, has taken, in the plenitude of his qualifications and of his activity, the name of pastor. It is remarkable that this name, of all others, is the most rarely applied to the minister in the New Testament. What is a pastor ? ^v His name tells us : he feeds ; he nourishes souls with a word which is not his own (as the shepherd nourishes his sheep on grass which he does not make to grow). But he feeds them by means of his own word, which reproduces and appropriates to their various wants the Divine AVord, and be- comes, in turn, a word of instruction, of direction, of exhorta- tion, of reproof, o^ncouragement, and of consolation. The word is, then, his instrument ; but it is not every thing; the pastorate should be regarded as Si, paternity ; and, after the e]q||Dple of Jesus Christ, the minister should sym- pathize in all the interests and all the alTlictions of his flock. He ought to be at once almoner, justice of the peace, and schoolmaster, ^ Such, in our Church, is the idea of a pastor. The Cath- olic Church regards it altogether otherwise. It was impos- sible, because of our sinfulness, that the Christian Church hould not have been tempted to forsake its first steps. We all have a propensity to backslide : nothing is so active in us as a tendency to return to what God has abolished. As early as the time of Chrysostom, the essence of the pastor's o^e was regarded as consisting in the administration of the sacrament. This was his own view.* It was a return to the ancient law, and it was one of the first traces of the ex- clusive iniportance that the Catholic Church afterward gave to this part of the duties of a minister. In the number, and at tlJpiead of the Jewish ideas, of which Catholicism is full, wemust place, without doubt, the * A beautifu passafe, Dt Saeerdotio, lib.,^^^v. See Appendix, fUrte A B 26 RITE AND THE WORD. real presence. God is as really present in the Catholic wor ship as he was in the Lovitical. I venture to say, that, as- suming the spirituahty of Christianity, this resemblance it- self condemns Catholicism. "Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know him no more." —2 Cor.Jw., 16. By this means alone we are carried back to caste ; for ac- cording to this, any individual whatever of the priesthood may properly celebrate rites ; so that the personal character is as nothing. In the communities where the idea of priest reigns, the individuality being of small importance, the cor- porate power must proportionately prevail.* With us a minister is essentially a mi^^ter of the word , so far from the word's becoming a rite, the rite becomes the word. We take, in the fullest acceptation, the sense of the apostles, who refer the work of the Gospel to th^ incarnation of the word ; and wc fmd nothing too strong in these ex- pressions of Erasmus : " Diabolus concionutor : Satanas, per serpentem loquens, seduxit humanum genus. Deus, per filium LOQUENS. reduxit oves erraticas.''f This ministry (essentially moral, since the word constitutes its essence) does not suffer the word to materialize itself, and turn itself into a rite. It aims to be the action of soul upon soul, and of liberty on liberty. Before all, after all, it re- mains a virtue. The Catholic Church, while it appears to give more of authority and more of action to the pastor, really contracts the pastoral office, by stereotyping the first forms under which it exercises itself,^ and in prescribing as rites what ought to be suggested on each occasion by charity and * See Lamennais, Affaires de Rome. t The Devil is a preacher : Satan, speaking by the serpent, has seduced mankind. God, speaking by his Son, has brought back the wandering sheep.-4fficc/<«a5/c*, lib. i. > X It has given one fixed form for each of Ujie inspirations of pastor- al lovo. RITE AND THE WORD. 27 by wisdom, according to man's wants and circumstances. In the one case there is a real hbrary ; in the other, a library imitated in wood. In both communions there is confession ; but in one it is a confession of the heart, in the other a pre- scribed confession ; a confession which, of course, ceasing to be moral and true, amounts to nothing. Here is the abuse of Catholicism ; but let it not be exaggerated : Catholicism, as it has the cross, is also acquainted with the spirituality of the Gospel. Moreover, among the Catholics, strong protes- tations have arisen against the exclusive predominance of rite, especially from the Jansenists, who attach to preach- ing a very great importance, considering it as the greatest and the most awful of mysteries.* This idea would lead us fiur from St. Augustine, who saw in the eucharist the only awful mystery. It is thought that there is no mystery in the action of soul on soul, through the word, because this is an ordinary affair ; as if that which is ordinary was not often most mysterious and unsearchable. The same word acts in one manner on one, in another manner on another. With- out doubt, the character of the individual has much influence on the result ; but whence comes it that an ardent preacher often produces no effect, while a feeble preacher often ploughs the deepest furrows in the souls of men ? How many who have been untouched by the one have been saved by the other I How often, by a single word, is the hearer converted ! Is not the dispensation which moves one soul',' a single soul in a whole crowdi that remains cold, one of the greatest of mysteries ? Preaching is, indeed, a mystery the profoundest of all ; o ne which embraces a multitude of other mysteries. In fact, irui God who preaches, and man is only his instru- ment. The form of the ministry, "flien, is the word. The design of the ministry is to subject to the disqmline of Christ, " to lead captive to his obedience," souls which are appointed to ♦ See the quotation from St. Cyran, in. the Appendix, note B. 28 NAMES GIVEN TO MINISTERS it. It is to perpetuate, to increase, to establish continually the kingdom of God on the earth. To unfold this idea in its different aspects, let us recall with Burnet* the different names given in the New Testa- ment to the ministers of the Gospel. And let us first remark, that in the ecclesiastical as in the political sphere, all the names of functions, of dignity, etc., have, in their origin, an altogether different sense, an altogether different force, from that which usage has at the same time consecrated and en- feebled. It happens to them as to proper names, which are no more than arbitrary signs, after having been truly signifi- cant. At the beginning of an institution truly original, the names of offices express duties, affections, hopes ; it is the soul that gives the name — and the name which it uses ex- presses less a power, exactly defined, a legal qualification, than a virtue to be exercised, an idea to be realized. All true names are adjectives, which become substantives by the lapse of time. 1. Steacon (a word which we translate by minister) signi- fies servant, joining with it the idea of liberty.! The word deacon, like all words which pertain to an institution, has had the fortune of naming, instead of what the thing ought to be, instead of the ideal of the thing, that which it has be- come, that which it has been made by accident, at a certain time and in certain circumstances — a form of the thing rather than the thing itself; the ideal sense gives place to the his- torical, and the historical becomes the law^f the idea. The word deacon has received a special meaning ; but it was at first general; and it designated, without distinction^ any min- ister or servant of the Gospel. *f ^ho then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers (deacons) by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every ma%." — 1 Cor., iii., 5. " Giving no offense in any thing, that our ministry (deaconship) be not * Burnet : A Discourse of the Pastoral Care, p. 44. t 0/ Commission : Committed to a certain office — Commissary. IN TUE NEW TESTAMENT. '2i) blamed." — 2 Cor., vi., 3. "Whereof I have been made a minister (a deacon) by the gift of the grace of God, which he hath given unto me by the effectual working of his power." — Eph., iii., 7. " Christ Jesus our Lord hath enabled me, for that he counted me to be faithful, putting me into the ministry {the dcaconship)." — 1 Tim., i., 12. "The Gospel of which I, Paul, was made a minister (a deacon).^' — Col., i., 23. For the special and later sense, see 1 Tim., iii., 8 : " The deacons* must be grave." — 1 Tim., iii., 12. " Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife ;" and, Romans, xvi., 1 : " I commend to you Phebe, a deaconess, d^fthe Church of Cenchrea." We are struck with the title of deacon, as a special title, l||pause a particular institution has appropriated this name ; but in iJ^ first series of passages that we have cited, it is not more special than is the word dovXog (slave, servant), in Philippians, i., 1 : " Paul and Timothy, slaves or servants of Jesus Christ." And how has it happened that the members of the clergy do not bear the name of douli (dov^i^t), and the ministry tha;tf6f douleia {dovXeta), as some of the mem- bers of the clergy have taken the name of deacons, and their function, that of the diaconate ? 2. Presbyter (elder). " Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor." — 1 Tim., v., 17. *? They sent to the elders by the hands of Barnabas." — Acts, xi., 30. Acts, XV., passim. *• He sent from Miletus to Ephesus, and called the elders oi the Church." — Acts, xx., 17. "I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldst ordain elders in every city." — Titus, i., 5. " Is any among you sick, let him call for the elders of the Church."— -^fcnes, v., 14. Our versions commonly render -npEoCvrepoq by pastor, which we scarcely find applied to ministers except in Ephe- sians, iv., 11 : "Some pastors and teachers." * The New Testament of the Vaudois ministers, Lausanne, 1839, translates, SerranU of the Asaemhhj. 30 UlSHOP APOSTLE. 3. Bishop appears to be the synonym of elder, in Titus, i., 5, 7 : " That thou shouldst ordain elders." " Now a bish- op must be without blame ;" and in Acts, xx., 17, 28, Paul calls the elders of Ephesus, and commends to them the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made them bishojys. See also Philippians, i., 1 : " Paul and Timothy to the bishops and deacons," etc. ; and, 1 Tim., iii., 2 : *' A bishop must be without blame." This does not forbid that there should be bishops over oth- er bishops — inspectors of inspectors : "Against an elder re- ceive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses." — 1 Tim., v., 19 ; and Titus, i., 5, cited above. But this does not suppose an institution, it was only an expedient. 4. Apostles 01 Delegates. — "Our brethren — they are apos- tles of the churches, =^ and the glory of Christ." — 2 Cor., viii., 23. It must, however, be remembered that the M'ord is applied Kar' E^ox7]v (par excellence), to the immediate envoys of Je- sus Chilfet, in Acts, ii., 42 : " They persevered in the doctrine of the apostles." Our intention is not to determine the work, the particular function, which each of these names designates.! AVe believe that the words elder and bishop denote officers of churches, whether they were or were not charged with the function of teaching, a function attached to a gift or a grace, which does not appear to have determined the designation of eld- ers or bishops, since neither the one nor the other of these words appears in the famous passages, Ephesians, iv., 11, and 1 Cor., xii., 28-30. And as for the word deacon, it has a sense much more general, and alio a sense much more spe- * Messengers of the Assemblies. — Translation of the Vaudois ministers. f Consult Neander on this: Geschichte dcr Aposlel, i., 1, p. 37-47. \'llliemin : Maurs des Chretiens pendant les trots premieres Siccles, p. ' 7?. Ct SUIT. PASTOR. 31 cial than the two others, designating either any kind of Gos- pel work, or a very particular function in a church. Our object, without stopping to distinguish the different applica- tions of the ministry, is solely to explain, by means of words, characters common to all — characters of the evangelical min- istry, in whatever department it may be exercised. What we have found in the three first words, that is to say, with- out going beyond the proper terms, and before approaching figures, are the ideas oi voluntary service, oi authority (found- ed in one case on age), and of oversight.* But it is proba- ble that figurative expressions will instruct us further ; for their purpose, in every subject, is to descend to a greater depth in the idea than the expression strictly conveys. "We proceed then to cite figurative expressions, which unquestionably aio applied, by anticipation, to ministers of the Gospel. 1. Pastor is not, as we may be inclined to think, the syno- nym oi elder, but that of teacher. — See Ephesians, iv., 11. We have already said that the office of elder or administra- tor is not embraced in that solemn distribution of powers or virtues {xapiaiuira), of which we have before spoken. More- over, the passage in Ephesians, iv., 11, is the only one in which the title of pastor is directly applied to ministers of the Gcwp^ but, without doubt, j|t is applied *to them indi- rectly when Jesus Christ is called the Shepherd (pastor) and bishop of our souls (1 Peter, ii., 25), and when Jesus Christ said to Simon, " Feed my sheep," — John, xxi., IG, 17. The word pastor, taken in a figurative sense, occurs in the Old Testament, but it is there applied indifierently to proph- et* and to magistrates.! Besides, in the sense of the Theoc- • M. Vinet did not add, until after a revision of his lecture, the word apostle to this first series of names, which no doubt is the reason that he does not here present the idea oHmiision, which is included in tho fourth. t noiii4vfs hA»if. '' It has almost come to pass tliat religion and Italian keep pace in the republic, and that men are consecrated by 32 OTHER NAMES GIVEN TO MlMcJTEUS. racy, magistrates were pastors, even as pastors were mag- istrates. They were two forms of the same employment. Nevertheless, in Ezekiel, xxxiv., passim, it is admirably ap- plied to a pastor, in the actual sense of the word. 2. Steward or Dispe?iser. — " Let a man so account of us as stewards of the mysteries of God ; moreover, it is required of stewards that a man be found faithful." — 1 Cor., iv., 1, 2. 3. Embassador. — "Now, then, we are embassadors for Christ."— 2 Cor., v., 20. 4. Angel or messenger. — " The seven stars are the angels of the seven Churches." — Apoc, i., 20. 5. Rider. — " Obey them that have the rule over you" {rreldeade rolg rjyoviJLevolg vfio)v). — Hebrews, xiii., 17. 6. Builder. — " I have laid the foundation as a wise mas- ter-builder." — 1 Cor., iii., 10. 7. Workman. — " We are workers together with God ; ye are God's husbandry, God's building." — 1 Cor., i., 19. "A householder hired laborers into his vineyard." — Matt., xx., 1. " The harvest is great, but the laborers are few ; pray, then, the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborei-s into his har- vest." — Matt., ix., 37, 38. "I have planted, Apollos water- ed, but God giveth the increase." — 1 Cor., iii., 6. 8. Soldier. — " Epaphroditus, my fellow-soldier!^* — Philip- plans, ii., 25. " Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."— 2 Tim., xi., 3. Let us first remark that, of all the designations by which we might expect to see the minister of religion defined or characterized, only one is wanting in the New Testament. It is that oi priest, although it is the Christian word presby- ter which has furnished the word priest. There may be priests in those religions which wait for the true and sover- eign Priest ; there are none in that religion which has re- the magistrate as well as by the priesthood." — La Bruyere, Lea Cax' ajcllres ; the chapter entitled De quelques usages. See Bornet, A Dis' course of the Pastoral Care^ page 45. THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER. 33 ceived and which believes in him. In this no one is priest, because every one is priest ; and it is remarkable that in the Gospel it is only to Christians in general that this word is applied. See 1 Peter, ii., 9 : " Ye are a chosen people," " a royal priesthood,"* etc. — the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, Ixi., 6 : "Ye shall be called the priests of the Lord, and ye shall be named the ministers of our God." It was necessary to have a sacrifice perpetuating the only and once accomplished sacrifice, in order to recover tho idea of the ancient priesthood, which was absorbed in the supreme and eternal priesthood of Jesus Christ. For us, who do not receive the real presence, what remains in the minister when once the supernatural gifts have ceased ? The Christian, only the Christian, consecrating his activity to make others Christians, and to confirm in Christianity those who have embraced this rehgion. He does halSitually what occasionally, and in a special 'manner, all Christians should do. He does it with a degree of authority proportion- ed to what we may suppose a man has of knowledge and fit- ness, who has consecrated himself exclusively to that work. But he has no revelation peculiar to himself In announcing the wisdom of God as a mystery (1 Cor., ii., 7), in giving himself to be a steward of the mysteries of God, he does not profess to be more inspired than the humblest believer. He is a steward, | manager of the common interest ; he does not take, like j^esus Christ, of that which is his own (John, xvi., 15), but of that which belongs to all. If he thinks it is right, according to the word of St. Paul, that believers should obey him as their spiritual ruler, the sense in which he understands this leaves ^act the liberty and responsibil- ity of those who obey. He protests against the idea of dom- ineering over the heritage of the Lord, 1 Peter, v., 3, com- pared with 2 Cor., i., 24 : "Not that wo have dominion over • BaalXeiov leparivfui. See Neandbs, Oeschichtc derApostel, i., 162, 168. B2 34 A SERVANT OF HUMANITY. your faith." He opposes, also, the individuaUty and inde* pendence of a Christian to the servile credulity of the idola- ter : " Ye know that ye were Gentiles drawn away toward dumb idols, even as ye were led." — 1 Cor., xii., 2. The idea of service* covers all the titles which he gives and the authority which ho attributes to himself: He rejects evei"y idea of his own power : " Who, then, are Paul and Apollos but servaiits?'" — 1 Cor., iii., 22. And remark that these rulers, these embassadors, call themselves servants not only of God, but of believers themselves. If they say, " Let every one so account of us as servants of Jesus Christ" (1 Cor., iv., 1), they also say " Ourselves your servants for Je- sus' sake." — 2 Cor., iv., 5. "Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas .... all is yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's."t— 1 Cor., iii., 22. Examine all the titles, all the names which are given to ministers in the Gospel, you will not fmd one which goes be- yond the limits of this idea, the servant of humanity, in its great interest, from the love of God. All is noble in this institution, which rejects every force except of persuasion, has no other end but the reign of truth, and is not distin- guished except by a more absolute devotion. Still, all these words, all these metaphors, all the addi- tional passages, do not attain to the complete^sum of the ele- ments of the ministry — to the ideal of a pastor. We have need of a type, a model, a personification of each idea. Where shall we look for it ? If any one has been the type of man, he has been, at the same time, the type of a pastor; * Aou\os is a name more than orioe applied to apostles. — See Rom., I., 1 ; Gal., i., 10 ; Phil., i., 1 ; Col., iv., 12 ; 2 Tim., ii., 24 ; Tit., i., 1 ; James, i., 1 ; 2 Peter, i., 1 ; Jude, i. t As to the speedy appearance of the contrary principle, or the per- sonal authority of the priest, see Schwarz, Kaicchetic, p. 1 1, 12. Soon after the apostolj-^ age appear the clergy and the hierarchij. Note 0, Appendix. IDEAL OF THE MINISTER. 35 for it is impossible that the pastor should not make a part of the ideal of man — impossible that he, in whom the perfectioif of human nature was fully represented, should not have been a pastor. This new man, this second Adam, could not have been such except by love. The first object of love is that which is immortal in man : It is, then, upon the soul that love will chiefly exercise itself; and as we can not do good to the soul except through its reg«j||eration, and as it can not be regener- ated except by the truth, to impart the truth, to nourish the soul with truth, to feed it thus in green pastures, and along tranquil waters, was necessarily the office of a perfect man, of the type of man : He must have been a pastor, Christ also has said, " I am the good Shepherd" (John, x., 11); and again, " I am come to serve, and not to be served."* —Matt., XX., 28. ■ Also, his immediate disciples have named him "The chief Shepherd (pastor) and Bishop of our s