cation and consolidates the results of pulpit labor. PaS' toral care increases attendance upon preaching, and se- cures interested hearers. Preaching attracts hearers within the circle of pastoral influence, and pastoral care waters the seed sown in their hearts. Preaching is ag- gressive. It is the pioneer work of the Church. Pas- toral care follows as the work of occupation. Preaching challenges attention and awakens inquiry. I'astoral care removes doubts, settles anxieties, and imparts con- solation and instruction. Preaching attacks error in its various forms, and unfolds and defends the truth of God. Pastoral care fokls, watches, and guards the gathered flock. Preaching not followed, or not duly sustained by pastoral care, fails of its ultimate objects. Pastoral care, without preaching, is insufficient to accomplish the designs of a Cliristian Church. Churches in which preaching is neglected decline both in numbers and spirituality. Those in which preaching is depreciated, or becomes powerless, verge over into ritualistic cere- monies and profitless formalities. Churches in which pastoral care is neglected lose their organic power, and tend to dissolution. Preaching and the pastoral care are, in fact, so closely correlated, and so reciprocal to each other, that they should always be maintained in unison, and in mutual co-operation. Yet there are some particulars in which the administration of the two functions widely differs.
Preaching, in some important senses, is a universal duty, whereas the pastoral care is committed to com- paratively few. All God's people may be prophets, to the extent that they may, by their lives, their example, and their influence, preach Christ, and make known the knowledge of his name and the power of his grace, thus multiplying Christian activities at every point of con- tact between the Church and the world. Pastoral du- ties cannot be thus subdivided and made diffusive. They are limited in extent of territory, and for completeness and efficiency they must necessarily focalize in an indi- vidual pastor, however he may be aided bj' assistant pastors or lay helpers. Not merely is a pastor to take the spiritual oversight of his flock, but also to stimulate ; and guide the individual efforts of its members. Into j this responsibility a stranger cannot enter, however good or great as a preacher. The spirit of true Chris- I tianity alwaj's demands illustration, by private as well as public labor, for the propagation of the faith and the salvation of men. It is therefore important that such labor be under wise direction, and not wasted through circumscribed views or impulses, lacking a worthy and specific aim. As well might there be many heads to an ; army as many pastors for a single flock. The apostle i James rebuked this error when he said, "My brethren, be not many masters." Rather should the energies of I an entire flock be guided by the wisdom and zeal of a single responsible head. In this view Christian churches should not be too large, so that individual talent will be j in danger of being overlooked or unemployed. When, however, by internal growth or centripetal attraction, a pastorate becomes too large for efficient superintend- ence or practical work, preaching, as a centrifugal force, should come to its relief by going forth with colonies to ' plant new centres of Church action. Wliile in all these respects the wise pastor will encourage and guide the efforts of his people, he will not forget that he, too, is a I preacher, and that, in order to make full proof of his 1 ministry, he must jiersonally " preach the Word ; be in- stant in season, out of season ; reprove, rebulce, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine" (2 Tim. iv, 2).
The administration of the ordinances, whether of baptism or of the Lord's Supper, is peculiarly a pastoral function, and its right discharge involves no little solic- itude and personal attention to their subjects. The ordinances of Christianity are not to be administered lieedlessly or by mere routine, but rather with a just discrimination as to their design and significance. Nor is the minister to act merely as a judge in discriminat- i ing character, but also as an instructor to the ignorant,
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a helper to the weak, a guide to the erring, and as an appointed agent, by appropriate means, to turn men from the service of Satan to the obedience of the truth and the service of God.
The exercise of the preaching office is a primary re- quirement of the divine call. Whoever has received that call should preach wherever hearers can be found, and whether invested with the pastoral office or not. Faithful preaching will usually, if not invariably, create the necessity of the pastoral care, but that care will not necessarily devolve on the original preacher. Many useful preachers, in fact, never accept the pastoral over- sight of a flock. Some feel themselves unadapted to it. Others are prevented from engaging in it by the de- mands of the Church in other departments of labor. Some, from constitutional or cultivated preferences, choose to labor wholly as evangelists, while other good men may not be chosen or accepted as pastors by the people. The last remark develops a distinctive pecul- iaritj' of the pastoral office. It cannot exist, in any proper sense, without the consent of those who are em- braced within its jurisdiction. There are, indeed, vari- ous wa3's in which the pastoral relation maj' be estab- lished; as, for example, by a formal compact between churches and ministers, or by the routine of a system accepted by both. In other instances the pastoral rela- tion may be imposed by government authority or pri- vate patronage, and may have a legal and ceremonial existence, even contrary to the wishes of the people ; but in no case can it be fully exemplified without the personal and cordial consent of its proper subjects. The pastoral relation, as between a minister and his people, being practically a matter of agreement, is capable of dissolution bj' either party. Owing to this fact, good ministers are sometimes dismissed or excluded from pastorates through misapprehension or the untoward- ness of circumstances. In such cases their pastoral functions may l>e involuntarily suspended for a longer or a shorter time, but not necessarily their duty of preaching. They may go forth and seek other tields, found other churches, and again resume pastoral rela- tions under more favorable auspices. But if from any cause the pastoral relation should not be resumed, the preaching office, so far from being abandoned, may still be maintained, and great nseltdness result from even its occasional exercise.