The situation is therefore most serious, and demands immediate, resolute, and united corrective action, for confidence in the purity of purpose and life of the ministry of this movement is foundational to the welfare and success of the remnant church and its appointed task. People will not freely give of their means if they do not have confidence in the honesty and integrity of those who receive and disburse their funds. Neither will they respond to appeals for purity of life and spiritual advance if they do not have confidence in the fundamental sincerity and high personal character of those who make the appeals. Skepticism at this point is ruinous. We may therefore safely assert that the future spiritual welfare of this movement depends to a large degree upon the maintenance of the confidence of our people in the godly leadership of a consecrated ministry.
I
The days of Lot and Sodom are verily in process of repetition before our eyes, as the Master clearly. predicted. Vileness covers the earth, and, looseness plagues the people. This deadly blight of moral perversion seeks with all the subtlety of iniquity to fasten itself upon humanity at large. From this assault, the remnant church is not exempt. In fact, the attack seems periodically to be concentrated upon our workers. This artful strategem we must clearly recognize and successfully repulse, for failure at this point involves almost certain overthrow. We capitulate to the world's lowered standards and yield to the pressure of its careless conduct only at the price of ruin individually, and of infidelity to our mission as a body.
The very fact that iniquity should and could break out in the ranks of our ministry is itself alarming. It means that by some the bars have been seriously lowered, high principles forsaken, and requisite standards of thought, word, and conduct so compromised that temptation can find a way of entry, and overthrow ensue. It means that by such the protecting safeguards have been flouted and forgotten. It means that these individuals have wandered far from the side of God and the counsels of His Word. But beyond all this it also means that these wrong trends and dangerous attitudes have not been sufficiently perceived, guarded against, reprimanded, and corrected by the ministerial body at large. Satan has stolen a march on us. Otherwise, the circumstances that have developed could not have happened.
Gravest of all, the situation indicates that with the transgressor, the revolting element of hypocrisy has relegated honor, righteousness, and prudence to the background. Such hypocrisy is the very antithesis of the basic truth, purity, and principle that the gospel minister is pledged to teach, defend, and exemplify. With such, sin has lost its exceeding sinfulness—which is the most fatal condition conceivable for an appointed, separated, consecrated shepherd of the flock. The lightness with which the careless view their own serious situation shows its ruinous effect on the conscience. Fearful will be the responsibility of those who have fallen, for some souls will surely stumble to perdition over such a betrayal of all that is justly and rightly expected of a Christian leader. God holds the ministry accountable above all others for a righteous and undeviatingly wholesome influence. We cannot trifle with Him or His requirements.
Moral delinquency, whether in grosser or lesser form, reveals an utter loss, or at least a confusion, of personal spiritual discernment, and constitutes a base public betrayal of ministerial trust. It discloses a tragic misconception that has made a fatal breach in the life. The very presence of this development should prove a chastening lesson for all the rest of us. It should humble us, and drive us all to our knees in most earnest reconsecration of heart and life. It should lead us all to intensive restudy of ministerial standards and principles, and to pleading most earnestly with God for the preservation of His workers and His people.
The world's seductive advances of flattery, adulation, and compromise, should be resolutely and rigidly rejected. The line of demarcation between the church and the world, which, with some, has become dim and partially obliterated, needs to be sharply redrawn and emphasized at this time. The barriers against the encroachment of earth's follies and infatuations need to be materially strengthened, heightened, and broadened. We have a serious work to do. We must concentrate upon it, both individually and collectively.
II
As to our individual relationship in these evil times, the gospel worker needs to take extraordinary precaution to protect his name and reputation, both for his own sake and foe the sake of the cause of which he is an appointed public representative. This he must do, first of all, by purity of inner life, and then by unimpeachable outward conduct. High intrinsic character, purity of motive and purpose, and exalted ideals of righteousness and conduct are prime requisites for every representative of this cause. The presence of these qualities will instinctively direct one's steps in right paths and protect his life and reputation. The mind that is under the control of the Holy Spirit is invulnerable to the assaults of Satan. That is the primary safeguard. Above all other persons, the minister is to be a Christian gentleman under all circumstances, and in every place and condition. He is to be an example that any and all may rightly follow.
Second, there should be a deliberate and intelligent attitude of watchfulness and protective carefulness upon his part. He should beware of flattery and eschew adulation, which lifts up the heart and tends to engender carelessness. He must avoid not only every thought of evil, but every appearance of evil—and, of course, every word or act that is evil —or that can be so construed. This is the second safeguard. His words are to be pure and chaste. Never will a smutty story or a questionable joke or observation pass his lips. Impure words or acts never spring from or comport with a pure mind.
The Christian worker should guard all his contacts. Never should he allow himself to get into a situation in which the eye of suspicion and question can justly come upon him. Familiarity should be scrupulously avoided. Proper reserve is the third great protective barrier. This involves rigid care in the question of interviews or visits with those of the opposite sex while in the required and legitimate performance of ministerial duties as counselor and guide—for sometimes there are silly, designing women. Aggressions do not always come from the masculine side. The minister should therefore see that his interviews are protected by the presence of his wife, the Bible worker, or some other proper third person, or are perhaps held under such circumstances that the conferences take place in the view of others, or that they are otherwise properly arranged and protected so that baseless stories cannot arise.
In his travels, he should avoid lodgings and localities that have a questionable reputation. Even if some errand be necessary and legitimate, he should, if possible, take the precaution of having some other reputable person with him. Never should curiosity lead him to stroll through the streets late at night in a section which has an evil name. One courts temptation only at gravest peril. He cannot expect divine protection if he is treading upon the devil's territory. It is best to stay in one's room at such times and under such circumstances. These cautions may seem like needless commonplaces or extreme attitudes. But upon careful thought they are seen to be sound and imperative. One cannot put his hand into the fire and not expect to be burned.
III
The necessity of discussing this problem of moral lapse and indiscretions, of attitude and conduct unbecoming to a minister in our ranks, is most distasteful and humiliating. But the hour has manifestly come for candid words. We have, fallen upon evil times. What the devil cannot accomplish by direct attack upon doctrine in order to bring about apostasy, deflection, and ruin, he seeks to accomplish by flank movements upon moral conduct—and he has succeeded, in several cases, to a tragic degree. It is incumbent upon us all to watch at this gateway as assiduously and effectually as at the other, for lapses here are even more ruinous upon the faith and confidence of our people than cases of flagrant doctrinal apostasy.
So far as the collective aspect is concerned, the vast majority of our ministers are true, high-minded men of unimpeachable moral character. But challenge has come, and a shadow has fallen upon the entire question of the ministerial standards of the body, because of the unseemly conduct of a few. The problem therefore affects us all. We must grip the situation. As a body we must deal with firmness, and act through our appointed organization channels without fear or favor with every case that arises. More than that we must, as far as is humanly possible, erect protective barriers that will prevent such cases from arising.
Ministerial carelessness at the vital point of moral life and example must not be tolerated, and when a minister is dismissed for such cause, it must be clearly known that he is out of the ministry for all time. Reinstatement is not a debatable question. That is a settled principle in this movement. A new and concerted effort must now be made by our entire ministry to restore shaken confidence in the moral integrity and standards of the gospel ministry of this movement. To this necessary task let us set our hands.
L. E. F.
