Address to Ministers
291
trying to help others, and in doing it they will be strengthened and
encouraged.
I have read of a man who, journeying on a winter’s day through the
deep, drifted snow, became benumbed by the cold, which was almost
imperceptibly stealing away his vital powers. And as he was nearly
chilled to death by the embrace of the frost king, and about to give
up the struggle for life, he heard the moans of a brother traveler, who
was perishing with cold as he was about to perish. His humanity was
aroused to rescue him. He chafed the ice-clad limbs of the unfortunate
man, and, after considerable effort, raised him to his feet; and as he
could not stand, he bore him in sympathizing arms through the very
drifts he had thought he could never succeed in getting through alone.
And when he had borne his fellow traveler to a place of safety, the
truth flashed home to him that in saving his neighbor he had saved
himself also. His earnest efforts to save another quickened the blood
which was freezing in his own veins, and created a healthful warmth
in the extremities of the body.
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These lessons must be forced upon young believers continually, not
only by precept, but by example, that in their Christian experience they
may realize similar results. Let the desponding ones, those disposed to
think the way to life is very trying and difficult, go to work and seek
to help others. In such efforts, mingled with prayer for divine light,
their own hearts will throb with the quickening influence of the grace
of God; their own affections will glow with more divine fervor, and
their whole Christian life will be more of a reality, more earnest, more
prayerful.
The minister of Christ should be a man of prayer, a man of piety;
cheerful, but never coarse and rough, jesting or frivolous. A spirit of
frivolity may be in keeping with the profession of clowns and theatrical
actors, but it is altogether beneath the dignity of a man who is chosen
to stand between the living and the dead, and to be mouthpiece for
God.
Every day’s labor is faithfully chronicled in the books of God. As
men claiming spiritual illumination, you will give moral tone to the
character of all with whom you are connected. As faithful ministers
of the gospel, you should bend all the energies of the mind and all
the opportunities of your life to make your work wholly successful,
and present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. In order to do this, you