the pastor’s position and work bring him into contact with other ministers and churches in the community, and his comfort and usefulness will to some extent depend on the esteem and confidence with which he is regarded by evangelical christians outside of his own church. he will find many of the noblest christian men and women in churches differing in name from his own, and he should seek to maintain with them the most frank and cordial relations. this is especially important as regards the pastors, since, when relations of mutual affection and confidence exist, the ministry in any community can be eminently [p. 117] helpful to each other, and by combining their counsels and influence can often greatly advance the religious interests of the whole people. i suggest, therefore:
1. do not isolate yourself, standing aloof from the general christian community, but seek the acquaintance of all good men. show a friendly, cordial spirit and a readiness for all offices of kindness, alike in the relations of social life and on those public occasions when all christians gather for united counsel and worship. in such a course you will find the love and sympathy of the christian community attracted to you, greatly augmenting your comfort and influence, and giving added power to your public work.
2. such friendly relations among christians of differing views involve of necessity a full recognition of their common christian character and a hearty accord, each to the other, of sincerity and purity of motive in their church position. this a just self-respect requires you to insist on for yourself, and this, in the spirit of genuine charity, you should freely accord to others; such a position is consistent with the most full and free expression of your denominational sentiments and the most earnest defense of them. it simply requires that amidst the different opinions of christian men there should be a charitable judgment of each other’s character, and a careful abstinence from language that might reflect on the motives of those who differ. it is, i think, the common fact that the genuine respect and confidence of any christian community are most fully secured by that pastor who, while always decided and earnest in the expression and defense of his denominational convictions, is also always careful, in the spirit of true charity, to recognize the sincerity and integrity of those whose convictions may be opposed.
3. an occasional exchange of pulpits by the evangelical [p. 118] ministers in the community has many advantages. it is a public recognition of the substantial unity of protestant christendom. it gives to the minister a wider audience than if always limited to his own congregation, thus enlarging his acquaintance and tending to secure for him the interest and confidence of the whole people. it is sometimes a relief, enabling him to make use of former pulpit preparations when specially pressed by the exigencies of pastoral work. in such an exchange it is obvious that courtesy and comity require that the minister should conform to the usages of worship observed in the congregation where he is thus officiating, and that the subject presented should belong to the gospel as held in common by evangelical christians, and not to matters controverted among them. in this, as in all relations with other pastors and churches, the minister should observe with scrupulous delicacy the requirements of courtesy and honor.
4. union meetings are sometimes held by churches of different denominations for the promotion of a revival of religion, during the progress of which each church is expected to waive its distinctive peculiarities and all unitedly press on men the claims of the common gospel. such a union of effort has undoubtedly proved useful among feeble churches and in neighborhood meetings remote from large centers of population; for there, from the paucity of numbers and gifts, all the christian forces must needs be concentrated in order to maintain the interest. in such meetings every consideration of honor requires that the subjects presented should be restricted to those common truths of the gospel in which all are united; a departure from this is always to be deplored. among strong churches, however, where gifts abound, the utility of such a union is more doubtful; indeed, it is [p. 119] questionable whether there are not positive disadvantages. for, (1.) the members of the participating churches in such a meeting are placed under unusual circumstances which often serve to repress rather than develop their activity, and thus the labor falls on only a few more prominently gifted persons; whereas, a meeting in which the responsibility rested on only one church would have drawn into active work the mass of its members, and secured to it the blessing which such general activity brings. (2.) according to the baptist faith, the ordinances of the gospel vividly set forth divine truth before men, and in the experience of our churches their administration is commonly attended by the convicting power of the holy spirit in the consciences of those who witness them. but in a union meeting these cannot be administered, or even alluded to, without impropriety, and this element of power is lost. (3.) it is not unfrequent, at the close of such meetings, that the efforts of such churches to secure members from the converts result in friction and unkind feeling—an evil sometimes more than counterbalancing the good done in the temporary union. while, therefore, it is not denied that union meetings have sometimes been useful, as a general thing they are not desirable. a church will ordinarily develop more effectively its own gifts and its own spiritual power by working alone and in accordance with its own principles and methods. it allows its light to shine most fully and clearly only when it steadily teaches and defends whatever of truth it has learned by the teachings of the word of god. at the same time, its relations to the other churches in the community will, in the long run, be far less likely to be embarrassed and embittered.
