either from body or mind, must be dealt with or it will chloroform a minister until he merely talks in his sleep. “Awake my soul, stretch every nerve, and press with vigor on” was written for dozing saints half-asleep, busy at religious work and kept going by shots in the arm and numberless stimu lants. Get at the root o f that spirit o f slumber. Cut out offending eye or amputate the right foot but pay any price to break the bonds o f laziness. Do not excuse sleeping on the job by calling it “ resting in the Lord” ! “Unequal yokes” can put an ambassador in bonds. Marriage to an unsaved or unconsecrated companion can do it. One would think that a minister, o f all men, would be doubly careful to “marry in the Lord” . But even John Wesley missed guidance somewhere in this matter and lesser lights have not profited by his example. What of clubs and lodges that entangle a preacher so that he does not please Him Who has chosen him to be a soldier? Pity the preacher who is so involved with the Sons and Daughters o f I Will Arise that he cannot rise and be going with his Master! A multitude of small duties, good in them selves, can so usurp the chief place that the good becomes the enemy of the best. What with a sup per here and a banquet there, pronouncing an in vocation over this and a benediction over that, the ambassador spends his time helping the dead bury the dead and degenerates into a religious bell-boy. To miss the ministry of the Word and prayer in a round o f other table-servings is bond age o f the worst sort. Ecclesiastical chains can put an ambassador into bonds. Whether a critical deacon in the amen corner or pressure from church authorities higher up, a minister may be manacled right in his church. Of course, here he will need all the wisdom he can pray down. He may develop an unhealthy martyr complex or fancy himself to be a new Luther when he is anything else. But sometimes he must choose between mere loyalty to an organization and faith fulness to God and the truth as he sees it. Then he had better live in the woods and drink spring water than lose his liberty. There are many angles to the matter: the group has its rights as well as the individual; promotion and one’s bread and but ter are involved. But a preacher’s first loyalty is to God and although four hundred prophets may tell Ahab to go up against Ramoth-gilead, Micaiah must risk being an odd number and affirm, “What the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak.” That preacher who tones down his message, leaves out
some portions, edits some others because o f pres sure from group or individual, might almost as well throw away the sermon completely. If he has lost his liberty, it will not be worth preaching. Constructive criticism he will always welcome but he will not let his critics make of him a David in Saul’s armor. The fear o f man bringeth a snare and preachers have been known to go into bondage suddenly when some celebrity showed up in the congrega tion ! Peter Cartwright, when advised that Andrew Jackson was in the congregation, said, “ I f he doesn’t repent, he’ll be damned as quickly as any chicken thief.” One would not recommend such blunt procedure for general use but it is better than bonds. The list of manacles is well-nigh endless. How jealousy can fetter a preacher! Paul spoke of one who was a “ true yoke-fellow.” Sometimes our breth ren are not yoke-fellows but yokes. We regard them not as comrades but as competitors. Speakers sharing the same program sometimes bind instead of loose one another. But there is a yoke that frees: “ Take my yoke upon you.” His yoke is easy and His command ments are not grievous. Prisons and chains can never bind the minister who is free in Christ. Pe ter and Paul headed a glorious apostolic succes sion of ambassadors who may have worn iron upon their wrists but had no shackles on their souls. They were bound but the Word of God was not bound. No matter what earthly power put them in jail they were “ prisoners o f Jesus Christ.” Ambassadors in bonds! Which kind are you? F. W. Boreham tells us about Claude Burleigh. There was a time when Claude Burleigh swept ev erything before him by his spiritual intensity and passion. Then he went to college. After a year or so, it could be detected that the old pro phetic ring was gone; the passion had died down. There was the faintest trace o f affectation in his voice. Later one could only think o f the old Claude who used to stir consciences and move hearts. Says Boreham, “Claude had become a lion in curlpapers.” Yes, even enough curlpapers can bind a preach er, fetter him as securely as the rough chains o f coarse sins. There are shorn Samsons grinding in universities as surely as in backstreet haunts of crime. Take heed unto thyself and be not ignorant o f Satan’s devices. Seek refuge in the yoke that sets men free.
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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