LECTURE VIII. NOVEMBER 16, 1851. Moreover it 1 CORINTHIANS, iv. 1 – 7. — “ Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment; yea, I judge not mine own self. - For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsel's of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? "" THE fourth chapter, like the third, divides itself into two sections. From the first to the seventh verse, an address is given to a congregation. From the seventh to the end of the chapter, St. Paul addresses ministers. To-day our subject, comprised in the first six verses, is the true estimate of the Christian ministry. Now the Christian ministry may be either overglorified or undervalued, and in correction of both these errors, St. Paul says, "Let a man account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God." We consider then, I. The undue glorification of the Christian ministry. II. The depreciation of the same. I. The Christian minister may be glorified or made an idol of in two ways, by party-worship of the man, or by attaching a mystical or supernatural power to the office. 1st, then, by the worship of the man. This was the particular danger of the Corinthians, as we see distinctly stated in the 6th verse of this chapter. In pronouncing his judgment in this verse, St. Paul, with great delicacy, selects himself and Apollos for his instances, because there could be no suspicion of rivalry between them, for Apollos was of the same school of thought as himself. He speaks of his own party, and that of his friend, as worthy of censure, in order not to blame by name other parties, and the sectarian disciples of other teachers in Corinth. And yet how natural! Let us take these cases as specimens of all. Paul and Apollos each taught a truth, that had taken possession of their souls. St. Paul preached one, as we know, which he called "my Gospel," one peculiarly Such is the case, too, with an inferior minister. Each man, each teacher, now as then, reveals to his hearers that truth which has most filled his own soul, and which is his peculiarly because it most agrees with his character. Well, this truth of his commends itself to kindred spirits in his congregation: it expresses their difficulties, it is a flood of light on many a dark passage of their history; no wonder that they view with gratitude, and an enthusiasm bordering on veneration, the messenger of this blessedness. his own. And no wonder that the truth thus taught becomes at last the chief, almost the sole, truth proclaimed by him. First, because every man has but one mind, and must, therefore, repeat himself. And, secondly, because that which has won attachment from his congregation, can scarcely be made subordinate in subsequent teaching without losing that attachment; so that, partly for the sake of apparent consistency, partly to avoid offence, and partly from that conservatism of mental habits, which makes it so difficult to break through systems, ministers and congregations often narrow into a party, and hold one truth especially. And so far they do well; but if they shall go on to hold that truth to the exclusion of all other truths, so far as they do that, it is not well; and nothing is more remarkable than the bitter and jealous antagonism with which party-men, who have reached this point, watch all other religious factions but their own. And then the sectarian work is done; the minister is at once the idol and the slave of the party, which he rules by flattering its bigotry, and stimulating its religious antipathies. Now St. Paul meets this with his usual delicacy: "These things I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes, that ye may learn in us not to think of men more highly than it is written, and that no one of you may be puffed up for one against another." And not for Corinth only, but for all who were, or should be, his brethren in Christ, did St. Paul transfer these things to Apollos and himself— for have I not given you a Home history? — the exact and likeliest history of many an English party, which began with a truth, and then called it the truth; flattering one another, and being "puffed up for one against another," and manifesting that with all their high professions, they were "carnal, and walked as men." But here let us observe the glorious unselfishness of this noble Apostle. Think you, there was no fire of ambition in his heart that ardent, fiery heart? An Apostle, yes but not exempt from temptation: with the feelings and passions of a Man! Do you imagine he did not perceive, what is so evident to us, the opportunity within his grasp, of being the great Leader in the Corinthian Church? Think you that he knew nothing of that which is so dear to many a priest and minister in our day- the power of gaining the confidence of his people, the power of having his every word accepted as infallible? Yet hear this sublime teacher. "I am a minister, a steward only. Who is Paul? I dare not be a partyleader, for I am the servant of Him who came to make He that watereth, and he that planteth, are they, even those Judaizing teachers, who all one. all one named themselves after Peter, are all servants with me of Christ." 2d. Another mode of undue glorification of the ministry: by attributing supernatural powers and imaginary gifts to the office. Now this mode was quite different, apparently, from the other; so much so, as plainly to mark a party in the opposite extreme; and it was far more necessary to warn some men against this view, for many who would have refused submission to a Man, would have readily yielded it to an Office. Many will refuse obedience to one standing on his personal gifts, or party views; but when one claiming the Power of the Keys, and pretending to the power of miraculous conveyance of the Eternal Spirit in Baptism, or pretending, in shrouded words of mystery, to transform the elements of bread and wine into the very Body and Blood of Christ; or, declaring that he has an especial power to receive confession, and a miraculous right to forgive sins, therefore claims homage from the congregation; then, grave men, who turn contemptuously from the tricks of the mere Preacher, are sometimes subdued before those of the Priest. And yet this is but the same thing in another form, against which St. Paul contended in Corinth; for pride and Vanity can assume different forms, and sometimes appear in the very guise of Humility. Power is dear to man, and for the substance, who would not sacrifice the shadow? Who would not depreciate himself, if by magnifying his office he obtained the power he loved? We have heard of Bernard, who, professing to be unsecular, yet ruled the secular affairs of the world. We have heard of men, who, cut off from human affections, and crushing them relentlessly, have resigned every endearment in life, who nevertheless reigned in their sackcloth with a power which the imperial purple never gave. Affecting to live apart from human policy, and human business, they spread their influence through every department of human thought and life, and government. To appear more than human, to seem a spiritual being, above their fellow-men; for this, men formerly, as well as now, have parted with all that is best in our humanity, its tenderest affections, its most innocent relaxations, and its most sacred and kindliest enjoyments. History affords innumerable examples of this. II. The depreciation of the Office. There is a way common enough, but not specially alluded to here, in which the Minister of the Church of Christ is viewed simply in connection with an Establishment as a very useful regulation, on a par with the institutions of the Magistracy and the Police. In this light the minister's chief duty is to lecture the poor, and of all the thousand texts which bear on political existence to preach from only two, "Render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's," and "Let every soul be subject to the higher powers," to be the treasurer and regulator of the different charitable institutions in the town and village, and to bless the rich man's banquet. Thus the office is simply considered a profession, and the common term living" is the truest exposition of the dignity in which it is held. It is a "living" for the younger branches of noble houses, and an advance for the sons of those of a lower grade who manifest any extraordinary aptness for learning, and who, through the ministry, may rise to a higher position in social life. 66 In this view a degrading compact is made between the Minister and Society. If he will not interfere with abuses, but leave things as they are: if he will lash only the vices of an age that is gone by, and the heresies of other churches: if he will teach, not the truth that is welling up in his own soul, but that which the conventionalism of the world pronounces to be the Truth then shall there be shown to him a certain consideration; not the awful reverence accorded to the Priest, nor the affectionate gratitude yielded to the Christian minister, but the half-respectful, condescending patronage which comes from men, who stand by the Church |