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Sermon III.

THE SPIRIT OF THE MINISTRY.

A SERMON PREACH

ED AT A COLLEGE TO A NUMBER OF YOUNG MINISTERS.

BY J. B. MASSILLON.

LUKE II. 22, 23.

And they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord; As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called koly to the Lord.

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T was written and ordained in the law, my brethren, that every first born male, among the Jews, should be consecrated to the Lord, and separated from his brethren; that he should be considered as holy; that the world should have no claim upon him; and that he should be presented to the Lord, as a first fruit which God had reserved to himself alone, and which must be redeemed by another offering.

Jesus Christ, the first born among his brethren, typified by the first born of the Hebrews, in our Text obeys this law, and developes its figure and mystery. This consecration of Christ, to God and his service, is, in a sense, the model of ours. We are devoted to the altar; we are separated from the rest of mankind, and dedicated to the particular service of God. Now the principal characteristic of this conse

cration is a separation from the world and its common concerns, that we may give up ourselves to the work of the ministry.

I acknowledge that the manners of the Clergy ought to have nothing austere or rigid in them. Called by our office to urge sinners to repentance, it is necessary that we should, at times, be with them. Under the Jewish dispensation, the sacerdotal tribe was spread and dispersed among the other tribes, to point out to us that it is necessary for the clergy to mingle occasionally with the people, and that our example is not the least of our duties.

But it is not the charity which expands itself, which is active, which renders itself useful, and which edifies, that I wish to condemn; it is that love of the world which would lead us astray, dissipate us, render us unprofitable, and give offence; it is that violent inclination for worldly enjoyments which would call us from the holy duties of the sanctuary, render them disagreeable to us, and throw us into the tumult and dangers of the world; it is that unprofitable, worldly life which would lead us from dissipation to dissipation; connect us with the assemblies of sinners, with their maxims, their pursuits, and their pleasures; and which would lead on from what are called the decorums of life to amusements, from amusements to dangers, from dangers to vice. Now nothing is more incompatible with the gravity and holiness of our calling than a life thus devoted to the world. To prove this is my design, in the ensuing discourse, in which I shall attempt to show what is the Spirit of the Ministry.

The Spirit of the Ministry is a Spirit of Prayer,of Mourning, of Labor,-of Zeal,-of Knowledge, -of Piety.

1. A Spirit of Prayer.

Prayer is the ornament of the priesthood, the most essential duty of a minister, the soul of all his func

tions. Without prayer he is no longer of any use in the ministry of any service to Christians. He plants, but God does not give the increase; he preaches, but his words are as sounding brass; he recites the praises of the Lord, but his heart does not join in them, and he honors God but with his lips. In one word, without prayer, a minister is without soul and without life, all whose labors in the vineyard of the Lord are but like the mechanical movements of an inanimate machine. It is then prayer alone which constitutes the strength and the success of his different services; and he ceases to be acceptable to God or useful to man, as soon as he ceases to pray. In prayer consists all his consolation; and his functions become to him like the yoke of a hireling-like hard, burdensome, and painful tasks, if prayer neither alleviates their burden, solaces their pains, nor consoles him for the little success attending them.

Now prayer supposes a pure spirit, a spirit free from those vain and dangerous images which pollute the soul, or obscure its light; it supposes a mind replete with spiritual ideas, and familiarized to meditation on divine truth-a mind which departs from its proper employment, when it is necessary to turn its attention to the perplexing and unprofitable cares of the world, and which easily resumes, when again quitting these cares, the thought and the recollection of those eternal truths from which it had been diverted. Prayer supposes a tranquil heart, in which the most lively sentiment is that of holy love to God, and gratitude for his mercies; a heart accustomed to spiritual enjoyments timid, delicate, watchful-always guarded against sinful impressions-always attentive to abstain from every thing which can abate its delightful intercourse with the Lord. This is what the spirit of prayer requires.

Now, my brethren, is it possible to conceive, that such a state of mind can consist with dissipated and worldly manners? When leaving a conversation in

which the imagination has been filled with public intrigues-with the pretensions and the hopes of men

and with every thing dazzling and contagious which the world offers-when leaving such scenes, can you expect to find yourselves disposed for recollection at the feet of Jesus Christ? And with the head full of those profane images, can you there meditate on those truths which are often attended with a cloud before the purest eye; and which the most pious heart, burdened only with the weight of an earthly body, cannot always relish? What do I say? When leaving the company of sinners where you have seen many dangerous objects-where, with the seeds of passion, you have suffered to enter the sources of many temptations which will trouble the peace of your souls, and tend to extinguish all regard for God and divine things-can you pass from these profane places to the feet of the altar, there to pray for yourselves and the people, there to avert the anger of the Lord, there to deplore the wickedness of a world which you have just applauded, and in which you have taken part, and there to attend upon the holy mysteries with that silence of the senses, that profound recollection, that religious terror, that majestic gravity, and that calmness of heart and mind which are so necessary in the spiritual employment of the ministry? Alas! you will carry to the sanctuary the amusements, the illusions, the dangerous objects of the world, in the midst of which you live; your inflamed imaginations will force you from the altar, and again drag and transport you into the world, where you have left your hearts; your minds, even while you are engaged in prayer, in the sanctuary, will be occupied only in reviewing your pleasures; you will there converse more with the world than with God; and not only will your ministry become useless to your fellow men and yourselves, but you will provoke the anger of the Lord; you will draw down up-on the people a curse instead of a blessing; and your

ministry, which ought to be a ministry of reconciliation and of life, will become a ministry of death, of hatred, and of perdition. You will not be long in experiencing this yourselves; you will feel the first shafts of the indignation of God. If you suffer the world to extinguish in you the spirit of prayer, that intercourse of the soul with God, which is so delightful to the pious and faithful, will not be desired by you; you will shorten the seasons of worship; by little and little, you will lose all relish for the services of religion, till you finally abandon them; you will then decay; you will perish; you will fall; and you, who ought to mourn for the sins of your fellow men, will not be affected even with your own; your functions themselves will harden you; you will justify the errors and the pleasures of the world by participating of them; and instead of leading you to sorrow and mourning, as they ought to do, they will flattér your taste, and corrupt your hearts.

2. The Spirit of our Ministry is a Spirit of Mourning.

We are those ambassadors of peace, of whom the prophet speaks, who ought to weep bitterly, because the ways of righteousness lie waste; hardly anyone walks in the way which conducts to life; the covenant has become unprofitable; and the Lord seems to have cast away his people. "The ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly. The high ways lie waste; the way-faring man ceaseth; he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man."* Yes, my brethren, we ought to be men of grief; and to mourn incessantly, between the porch and the altar,t for the scandals which dishonor the Church, and expose it to the derision of the wicked.

Samuel, after the fall of Saul, retired and passed the rest of his days in lamenting the unhappy destiny

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