Of all vocations, preaching is the most vigorous. It is not a soft, effeminate work. Only men of active strength and force can do effective preaching. This calling demands daring fearlessness and hardihood. It requires such a spirit in order to meet without fear the dangers and difficulties incident to it. Mary Lyon, founder of Mount Holyoke, was caring for her sick students during a severe epidemic. When urged by her friends not to expose herself to the disease, she replied: "There is nothing I fear save that I shall not know my duty, or knowing it shall not have the courage and strength to perform it." These words well express the spirit that is the vital principle of successful preaching.
It appears from what Paul says of himself that he was not a physically robust man; but however that may be, he had the spirit of a warrior or a gladiator, who counted not his life dear to himself if only he might win in the cause for which he fought. "If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus," is the expression of a brave, intrepid heart. The battle. the race. and the strife are Paul's most common figures of comparison. "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus" and "I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities," are not weak-hearted utterances. To become thoroughly acquainted with Paul is to increase any preacher's manly vigor.
The preacher should have a robust, strong body and abundant health. His very abundance of physical force will carry him far in his arduous work. A preacher's work is very laborious, and he should highly value and care for his physical health. But of much greater estimate is an indomitable, courageous spirit. "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him," said Job when in great bodily pain and anguish of mind. He knew that his Redeemer lived. He had put his trust in Him, and was absolutely certain that He would keep that which he had committed to Him. Job has thus given to every preacher an example of that vigorous, unswerving faith which constitutes the most vital element of his profession.
All preachers, prospective and active, should be thoroughly convicted of the truth that God's summons to preach His gospel is not given to men who love their own ease or who reckon with their own comforts. While preaching is defined as a profession because it is "not purely commercial, mechanical, agricultural, or the like," it is to be remembered that it is not a white-collar, easy-chair job. It is a sweaty, toilsome, serious task. It enters into every activity of man. Paul was "made all things to all men." He worked with men just where he found them. While he was a tentmaker, and wrought at that trade as a means of support and contact with men when winning them to Christ, yet it is inconceivable that he did not give a helping hand wherever he could assist and support someone.
But the preacher's sweat of toil is not principally from his physical work, good though that may be for him. It results chiefly from his spiritual travail for souls. It is well to remember that our blessed Lord so wrought in spirit for us that "His sweat was as it were great drops of blood." There is an anxiety of soul that is the severest of all manner of toil. This is a fundamental part of the vocation of preaching. It is this very element of a preacher's work that brings men over the line into the fold of Christ.
Weak men do not—they cannot--accomplish many worth-while things. "My son, be strong" has an athletic ring. And then that other word of Paul's to his son Timothy, "Watch thou in all things, endure afflictions." What a spirit of fortitude and perseverance, what keenness of mind and strength of soul effort, these words peal forth! Strength, patient watching, and endurance are among the many characteristics that will enable a man to give full proof that God has indeed called him to the stern business of preaching. He is called upon to watch in all things—not in a few things, nor things of a particular kind, but in all things. He is to watch, not only those things that he enjoys watching, but those unlikable things that try the spirit and patience of the watcher. And he is to watch as those that must "give account."
The other night here in Manila a house of correction for girls took fire, and eleven girls perished in the flames. The watchman and the night caretaker were not awake to their charge; as a result, eleven coffins were interred at one burial service. But what of the awful responsibility of him who is a watchman for souls—souls that will certainly perish in the last, eternal fires of God unless saved? The fire which took the lives of those eleven young women might not have occurred. and thus it might never have been discovered that the watchman slept while he should have been on guard. But the vengeance fires of our God will certainly occur, so there is no possibility of escape for His sleepy watchman. No, God's watchman must never sleep. He is to be on watch, "instant in season, out of season," and to watch "in all things." Indeed, of all vocations, preaching is the most laborious.
But the preacher must not only watch, he must endure while watching. The things he endures, if he really endures them, help to keep him awake and in a watchful attitude, keen eyed and alert. He does not have to stick pins into himself to keep awake. God sees to it that he has sufficient of the pains of affliction to keep him from going to sleep spiritually. That preacher who is in full measure attending to his business of preaching will find that all the endurances which come to him "have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel." But Paul called all the afflictions which he endured—and there were a multitude of them—"light affliction." He rejoiced in them, for they worked for him "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." That is a very meaningful statement of his, when, after reciting a long list of hardships which he had suffered, he speaks of them as "those things that are without." He with his Master despised the shame they brought to him, and could "count it all joy." He could sing at midnight when, with his fellow prisoner Silas, he was stock-bound in a Philippian dungeon, with his back lacerated from the many stripes laid upon it at the magistrate's command.
But again, not all the preacher's watchings and endurance which call for strength, courage, and fortitude are of a physical nature; most of them are not. "Perils among false brethren" are reckoned by Paul with perils of robbers, waters, and the wilderness. The problems of the church require the meekness of Moses, the patience of Job, and the courage and aggressiveness of Nehemiah. The occupation of preaching demands all these virtues of the man whom God calls. And while an outstanding characteristic of Moses was meekness, of Job patience, and of Nehemiah aggressive vigor, yet it is to be observed that all three of these noble virtues were found in each of these men of God. Likewise are they to lodge in the character of Christ's ambassadors today. I have seen at work a steam hammer that, it was told me, could strike a ton blow or crack a nut and not hurt the finger of the one holding it. Great power and great gentleness were its characteristics. "Thy gentleness hath made me great," said David. A very strong yet a very gentle hand has God's real preacher.
The business of preaching is a life business. It is not to be left for any ordinary pursuit. It may seem to the preacher that his managing committee or board does not deal with him at all times in equity, but that does not warrant him in changing his vocation, nor should his business of preaching stop even if a lack of funds removes his name from the pay roll. If he has been called of God to preach, he can carry on as a lay preacher, supporting himself and his family as a colporteur or in some other honorable way. No God sets up a man in the business of preaching as a life work. And that preacher is, "by patient continuance in well doing," to be "made all things to all men," that he "might by all means save some." "Save some!" This is the happy reward of the preacher's arduous labor. His is a work of love.
Manila, P.I.
