Trait 6.

TRAIT 6.

His strength and his arms.

THE ministers of the present age are furnished in a manner suitable to their design. As they are more desirous to please than to convert their hearers, so they are peculiarly anxious to embellish the inventions of a seducing imagination. They are continually seeking after the beauty of metaphors, the brilliancy of antitheses, the delicacy of description the just arrangement of words, the aptness of gesture, the modulations of voice, and every other studied ornament of artificial eloquence. While the true minister, effectually convinced of the excellence of the Gospel, relies alone for the effect of his public ministry upon the force of truth, and the assistance of his Divine Master.

Observe the manner in which St. Paul expresses himself upon this subject: “We, having the same spirit of faith according as it is written, I believed and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak, 2 Corinthians 4:13. And I, brethren, came not with excellency of speech, or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God: for I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God,” 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty, through God, to the pulling down of strong holds: casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ,” 2 Corinthians 10:4, 5.

The true minister, following the example of St. Paul, after having experienced the power of these victorious arms, exhorts every soldier of Christ to provide himself with the same spiritual weapons. “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand. For we wrestle not merely against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace: above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” And that you may perform heroical service with these arms, “pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,” Ephesians 6:10-18. So long as the faithful minister, or servant of Christ wears and wields these Scriptural arms, he will be truly invincible. But no man can gird himself with these invisible weapons, except he “be born of the Spirit;” nor can any Christian soldier employ them to good purpose, unless he be first endued with all that Divine power which flows from the love of God and man: he must feel, at least, some sparks of that fire of charity which warmed the bosom of St. Paul, when he cried out, “Whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. For the love of Christ and of souls constraineth us,” 2 Corinthians 5:13, 14. “From the time that the eyes of St. Paul were opened to a perception of the Gospel,” says Mons. Romilly, pastor of a church in Geneva, “we find him no longer the same person. He is another man, he is a new creature who thinks no more but on Gospel truths, who hears nothing, who breathes nothing but the Gospel; who speaks on no other subject, who attends to no other thing but the voice of the Gospel; who desires all the world to attend with him to the same voice, and wishes to communicate his transports to all mankind. From this happy period, neither the prejudices of flesh and blood, neither respect to man, nor the fear of death, nor any other consideration is able to withstand him in his course. He moves on with serenity in a path sown thick with reproaches and pain. What has he to fear? He despises the maxims of the world, nay, the world itself; its hatred as well as its favour, its joys as well as its sorrows, its meanness as well as its pomp. Time is no longer an object with him, nor is his economy regulated by it. He is superior to every thing; he is immortal. Though the universe arms itself against him, though hell opens its abysses, though affliction assaults him on every side, he stands immovable in every storm, looking with contempt upon death, conscious that he can never die. Superior to all his enemies, he resists their united attempts with the arms of the Gospel, opposing, to time and hell, eternity and heaven.”