Minister’s Responsibility
27
The Urgency of Christ’s Work
If our ministers realized how soon the inhabitants of the world are
to be arraigned before the judgment-seat of God, they would work
more earnestly to lead men and women to Christ. Soon the last test is
to come to all. Only a little longer will the voice of mercy be heard;
only a little longer can the gracious invitation be given, “If any man
thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.” [
John 7:37
.] God sends the
gospel invitation to people everywhere. Let the messengers He sends
work so harmoniously, so untiringly, that all will take knowledge of
them that they have been with Jesus, and learned of Him.
Of Aaron, the high priest of Israel, it is written, He “shall bear the
names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his
heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the
Lord continually.” [
Exodus 28:29
.] What a beautiful and expressive
figure this is of the unchanging love of Christ for His church! Our
great High Priest, of whom Aaron was a type, bears His people upon
His heart. And should not His earthly ministers share His love and
sympathy and solicitude?
Divine power alone will melt the sinner’s heart and bring him,
a penitent, to Christ. No great reformer or teacher, not Luther,
Melanchthon, Wesley, or Whitefield, could of himself have gained
access to hearts, or have accomplished the results that these men
[35]
achieved. But God spoke through them. Men felt the influence of
a superior power, and involuntarily yielded to it. Today those who
forget self and rely on God for success in the work of soul-saving, will
have the divine co-operation, and their efforts will tell gloriously in
the salvation of souls.
I feel constrained to say that the labors of many of our ministers
lack power. God is waiting to bestow His grace upon them, but they
pass on from day to day, possessing only a cold, nominal faith, pre-
senting the theory of the truth, but presenting it without that vital force
which comes from a connection with heaven, and which sends the
spoken words home to the hearts of men. They are half asleep, while
all around them are souls perishing in darkness and error.
Ministers of God, with hearts aglow with love for Christ and your
fellow-men, seek to arouse those who are dead in trespasses and sins.
Let your earnest entreaties and warnings pierce their consciences. Let