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Lectures in Pastoral Theology

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Lectures in Pastoral Theology SEP 33 1918 LECTURES m^^^^:^-^^<-%/?,„ .,v,.V^ PASTORAL THEOLOGY BY R. J.' GEORGE PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY AND CHURCH HISTORY IN THE COVENANTER SEMINARY, ALLEGHENY, PA., 1892-1910. IN THREE VOLUMES THTRD SERIES THE COVENANTER VISION. WITH PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR, AND AN INTRODUCTION By prof. GEORGE M. SLEETH Professor of Elocution, Western Theological Seminary^ of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Reformed Presbyterian Seminary, of Pittsburgh, Pa. ; Union Theological Seminary, of Richmond, Virginia. NEW YORK CHRISTIAN NATION PUBLISHING CO. 1917. ^i TO MARGARET HAMILTON — INTRODUCTION By Prof. George M. Sleeth. The greatest of American pulpit orators, Henry> Ward Beecher, has defined oratory to he the art of influencing conduct with the truth set home by all the- resources of the livifig man. All the resources of the living man ! What a lumin- ous, comprehensive phrase! What is it that first strikes an audience when one stands forth to make an address? It is the bodily presence. You remember that Wendell Phillips at- tributes the large part of an orator's success to an impressive appearance. Now Dr. George was favored by nature zvith a commanding presence, a somezvhat massive frame which filled the eye and satisfied it. Although a man of large proportions and plenitude of physique, he yet bore himself imth a certain alert dig- nity^ a vital ease, that gave a sense of buoyant security. The head zi^'as large and well shaped, set on ample shoulders, and covered by a beautiful crown of silver hair. The countenance zvas the most remarkable fea- ture of the person; it ziras ruddy and beaming. Health seemed to shine from every feature of the face, tvhich 7U0S dominated by a large, luminous, blue-gray eye, from zvhich there constantly beamed a most benevolent look, full of grace and truth. The zvhole aspect could be expressed in one zuord,—magnanimous. For those clear orbs mirrored the large heart and the larger mind zvithin. He looked the man of heart qualities he zvas, —of courage and courtesy. Among many qualifies, his voice zuill be longest un- forgotten. When at its best it had in it beyond all voices that I haz'e heard that indescribable quality called V. — unction; '^grace in thy lips doth floiv." By this I do not mean mere earnestness: there are earnest voices in the pulpit that ore wearisome beyond telling : there are sincere speakers zvho are inexpressibly tedious; there are good men who hammer upon the ear until it seeks refuge in forgetfulness. As one listens to such delivery one feels like crying out. But none of these, nor all together have any suggestion of unction, which is a mixture of gravity and sweetness and truth- fulness and tenderness and warmth and holy boldness. lay in the The secret of Robert J . George's eloquence possession of that greatest of all Christian gifts— Charity. Those who saw that beaming countenance and heard that feeling voice said in their hearts, ''This man loves us." Love!—''There was the hiding of his pozver." I may be mistaken, but it seems to me there is a lack of the manifestation of this crowning excellence among pulpit orators. Zeal there is, logic there is, fire, force, and intelligence ; but until you can make your hearers believe that you speak to them out of a heart full of love for them, your words pass them by. A'Ot that Dr. George did not have these other gifts or talents also, but they were additional to the supreme gift of love. I heard him in the latter part of his life, when he had arrived at the full maturity of his powers. Nature had been kind to him at the beginning, and his call to the chair of homiletics in ' the Seminary had rounded him out. The exactness of teaching and the fullness of knowledge required for it, gave largeness and com- pleteness to his sermon. lie chose his theme and par- titioned his discottrse m a manner to make it stick in the mind of the hearer. He was carefid to give distinct headings to the different parts, and each one of these zvas a nail upon which could be hung all that followed. This made his preaching so acceptable to the unlearned; they could not err in following the path; and they could carry the sermon along zmth them. One notice- able thing was his use of illustration. He was not at all prodigal in this matter, hut what he introduced zifQs fresh and striking and the delivery of it most tell- ing. I remember once when he was preaching about Jesus as the rock : he told the story of tzvo children walking on the raihvay in the mountains, zvhen the limited express came thundering along. On one side was the steep ravine, on the other the tozvering cliff. The older of the tzuo, the sister, snatched the little brother from the track, and, pushing him into a crevice in the cliff, zvhile she flattened herself against it, shrieked, "Cling to the rock, Tommy, cling to the rockr The voice of the preacher threw such a tri- timphant agony of expression into the cry that my veins ran fire, and I marvelled at the dramatic power of the man. One of the com-mon mistakes of the pulpit is the lust of logic. Some speakers fancy that it is quite enough to have proved a doctrine in order to make it a zvorking force in life. This is an enormous blunder. "Mere thought,'' says Aristotle, *'is ineffectual.'' You can no more szuay the human mind by mere reason than you can sway it by a szuord. In preaching, the entire human nature must be appealed to. And one of the fundamentals of our nature is feeling. The orator has omitted fully one-half zvho fails to touch the feelings. There lie the springs of action, there is our tender part, there only are we touched. For after all what is the end of preaching? The great object of preaching is to get men to love the right and hate the zirrong. What we need is a new heart, and firmness in the right according to our light. More light, if yoti please; yes, but more might also. Nozv no man zvill do the right from a mere apprehension of it. One day Mill and Bain, the English philosophers, were talking together on the sources of human energy. Bain remarked that its sources are two, either a natural spontaneous activity, or stimulation. "There!" ex- claimed Mill, "Men never allozu enough for stimula- CONTENTS LECTURE PAGB FRONTISPIECE, Portrait of the Author. INTRODUCTION v PART I—THE PASTOR AND THE KINGDOM. I The Pastor in Relation to the Public Schemes of the Church .... 1 II The Pastor as a Reformer H III The Pastor as a Witness 24 Appendix—Witness Bearing and National Reform ^5 IV The Pastor and Sister Denominations . 40 Appendix—Interchange of Pulpits .... 48 PART II—THE PASTOR AND THE WORLD. V Evangelism and the Evangelistic Pastor . 55 VI The Source of Power in Evangelism ... 68 VII How to Use the Bible in Evangelism ... 83 VIII The Bible and Different Classes—No. 1. 95 IX The Bible and Different Classes—No. 2, . 106 X The Bible and Different Classes—No. 3.. .118 XI Revivals 129 XII Conducting Revivals 149 XIII The Aftermeeting 162 XIV Following the Revival 172 PART HI—THE DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLES OF THE COVENANTER CHURCH. XV Instrumental Music 185 XVI The Historical Argument Against Instru- mental Worship 198 jvi. CONTENTS LECTURE PAGE XVII Instrumental Worship and Our Church Standards 207 XVIII Hymns and Psalms 221 XIX Arguments Against Uninspired Songs in Worship 236 XX Objections to the Psalms 250 XXI Close Communion 260 XXII Secret Societies 272 XXIII Political Dissent 283 PUBLIC ADDRESSES — Reverence Opening Lecture, 1902-03. , 301 The Covenanter Vision—A Sermon .... 326 Xii, PART I. THE PASTOR IN RELATION TO THE WHOLE CHURCH AND TO THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST ON EARTH THIRD SERIES LECTURE I THE PASTOR IN RELATION TO THE PUBLIC SCHEMES OF THE CHURCH In the preceding series, "Pastor and People," we have been concerned with congregational activities. The ministerial office is wider in its sphere than the pastoral relation. Ordination to the office of the ministry comes before installation as pastor over a congregation. Hence there are other duties be- sides those connected with the care of a particular flock. The minister of the gospel sustains a relation to the Church as a whole, and to the Kingdom of God in the World. Out of this relation there arises a large and im- portant class of public duties : I It Is the Duty of the Pastor to Be Thoroughly In formed as to AH Public Schemes. 1. As to their purposes. 2. As to their methods. 3. As to their progress. On this point Murphy says: "Ministers ought to read the various reports of the Boards of the Church, for they contain a reliable summary of what is going on in the various departments of Christian benevo- lence. Facts will show that those pastors who are the most eminent for their Christian intelligence and for the lively interest their Churches take in the 2 THE PASTOR AND THE KINGDOM great work are conscientious in perusing all these documents as they appear. They are not dry and uninteresting reading to those whose hearts are in the work in its various relations and progress. The pastor should follow it out in its minutest details. He should become enthusiastic as to the great work. He should get his head, heart, conscience, his whole mind, filled with intelligent admiration of what Christ is doing through His people for the redemp- tion of the world." The pastors in our church have a peculiar ad- vantage in this regard : First, because the fewness of our members limits the extent of our enterprises.
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