Selected from: John Macdonald, A Pastor’s Memorial to His Former Flock: Consisting of Sermons and Addresses (London, 1842).
My dear christian friends, you have been witnesses this day of one of the most solemn scenes presented to view on this sinful earth—the ministerial induction of a servant of Jesus Christ into a congregation of his church. Nay more, ye yourselves have been this day parties in this very transaction, and sharers in all its awful responsibilities. Even as your pastor, so ye also will have to give account in this matter; and as he has received the usual address, stirring him up to the diligent fulfilment of his duties, so do ye now receive the word of exhortation, which, by the appointment of my presbyters, I am delegated to address unto you. May the Lord help us all to improve this solemn occasion!
With what, or with whom, shall I begin? with the pastor, or with the flock? nay, with neither; but with him who is the Head of both, and more glorious than all. There has been present here this day, as witness, judge, and president, One whom the eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, nor the hearts of many once thought of; One most deeply interested in this day’s work; and One whose glory is inseparably connected with its results. Need I mention his honoured name? the Lord Jesus Christ. Of whom shall an ambassador speak first, save of his sovereign?
I. First, I would exhort you concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Realize him as the Head of the church, the source of all spiritual life to all the members of the body. In him dwells salvation, from him proceeds the Holy Spirit, through him alone all church acts find acceptance, and only by his mind and character in you can you be known as Christians. Faith in him constitutes you a church, and the confession of his name in ordinances is the outward seal of your inward character. The very calling of a minister of the Gospel, as an ambassador of Christ to abide amongst you, is a solemn recognition of him who is King of kings, and Lord of lords. Ye have this day entered into a league and covenant with the Lord and his Anointed: see that ye fulfil it honestly, by seeking supremely not your own honour, but that of your Head.
The Lord is represented as walking among the “golden candle-sticks,” and as “holding the seven stars” in his hand, “searching the hearts and trying the reins” of all, and of every one: no minister, no elder, no member, no hearer, is free from his inspection and judgment. Honour him then in this solemn relationship, and set him continually before you in all your church services. We doubt not that one cause of that deafness which has overspread our churches, is the want of this habitual and determined recognition of the Lord Jesus in all church matters, as the great end of our exertions. Worldly speculation, mercantile transaction, have entered into the house of God—usury and mortgage have seated themselves in the pews of charity and self-denial; men ask not, “What should I give to maintain the honour and worship of Him who died for my salvation?” but, “What do others give? what is expected from me? what will be considered handsome? what interest can I have on my loan?” Were all done for Christ, and were he the object of our gifts, acts, and efforts, how lively, active, devoted, free, would all our churches be! Let us in our several congregations recognize Christ more, and we shall have to mourn less; let us have less of the world in our sessions and committees, and we shall have more of Christ in our pulpits and desks!
In your chambers, in your families, in your prayer meetings, in your public assemblies, plead more for the manifestation of the Lord Jesus, and for the outpouring of his Spirit, the Comforter; pant for the converting grace and the quickening power of him who raiseth the dead, and stir up yourselves to lay hold of him who, otherwise, may be to you as “a mighty man astonied, as a wayfaring man that turneth aside for a night to tarry!” The church that most honours the name, person, work, and Gospel of Christ, will be the most honoured by him in all that is divine and heavenly. Strengthen, therefore, the things that remain and are ready to die amongst you; remember your first love to Christ, as many of you as ever felt his love, and cleave unto him with your whole heart; so shall you be in deed and in truth a Christian church, a temple of Christ!
II. Let me exhort you, next, concerning your newly-appointed Pastor; yet, not so much concerning the person as the office: the one is human, and may vary; the other is divine, and is unchangeable. I proceed on the supposition that he will endeavour, by the grace of God, faithfully to execute those engagements, on the strength of which he has this day been inducted your chosen pastor, and so will prove himself to be a true minister of Jesus Christ. Remember that he is commissioned to preach the truth as God has revealed it; not to be a revealer, or inventor, in his own person. Seek not the novelty, but seek the antiquity of grace; desire not invention, but illustration or enforcement of the old Gospel. If he preach to you the “truth as it is in Jesus,” and you believe it, you shall be saved; if you believe it not, you must be damned—so the Master hath said. The ministry is a saving or a damning office to every one that waits upon it; and those who will not attend upon it must also be damned for its rejection. To sit under a Gospel ministry is the most awfully serious thing, of an external kind, that a man can do in this world; to invite a minister, is to call to you a saviour or an executioner for eternity. Be serious then, my friends, and trifle not with an office whose effects you may feel for ever!
Remember, too, that your pastor, in himself, is but a man, a weak and sinful man. His only hope is this, “By the grace of God, I am what I am.” Should you sometimes have to say, “Our minister is but a man after all!” then you have only uttered a truth which ought to have been anticipated. Yet do not despise him because he is weak and imperfect. God hath done great things by such, when men looked not for it; and those very imperfections which may have formed a theme of condemnation, hath God overruled for the sanctification of his servants, and the consequent revival of his people. Neither do ye idolize your minister, trusting in him to do what God only can do; or offering to him that praise and homage which belong to the Saviour alone. This hath been the sin of many churches, for which God hath given them up to judgment, that they have made a “golden calf ” of the ministry, prostrating their souls before the servant or his ministration, instead of him who is Lord of all. “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord; for he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh!” Pray earnestly on his behalf, that he may ever stand before the Lord, and carry tidings to you, day by day, from the eternal throne; that Christ may ever employ him, and speak by him to sinners and to saints in such a manner, that whilst man may receive affectionate thanks, the Lord alone may receive the whole glory. In all your supplications let your pastor have a place; and this alone will prove a tie of affection, and a preparation of heart which will enable you to feed when others starve, because they ask not.
See to it that ye uphold your minister, in all his “works of faith and labours of love.” Mingle your hearts and your hands with his, and be ever as wheels and pinions moving easily and freely amongst yourselves, impelled by the mainspring of your minister’s affectionate call. He is set apart for the express purpose of guiding you in work, as well as in word; and whilst he acts the part of a faithful pastor, let those words be present to you; “Remember them which have the rule over you, which have spoken unto you the word of God; whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and for ever.”
Show kindness to your pastor in his private intercourse. Promote the pious conversation which he would maintain, and present to him the family-bible, as his chief entertainment. Clog him not with uninteresting, unprofitable gossip; but seek to enliven him by introducing the most important and, to him, the dearest of all concerns. Be not finding fault, or cavilling about every trifle in which you may disagree with him, neither let others indulge in this strain at his expense; but cover his infirmities and defend his virtues. Remember that his time is his master’s time, and not his own; therefore do not draw much upon it. When you visit him, let your call be short; and when he visits you, measure not his friendship by the moments he may give. Let not the few expect the sacrifice of the many; neither let any grudge, if their minister should seem more intimate with some other families than with theirs, for even Jesus frequented the home of Lazarus and his sisters beyond all other homes in Judea. In affliction, let instant notice be given to your pastor, that he may counsel and comfort; and in the sickness that deepens towards death, O grant him every facility of intercourse, that he may, as the minister of salvation, aid the spirit that is hastening to eternity, and bring a rich blessing to the surviving members of a bereaved family. Thus do ye forward the public and private work of the Lord amongst you, and so will the ministry be as gentle rains and sweet dews from heaven, descending richly on your happy souls!
III. The ordinances of the sanctuary must not be forgotten in this day’s exhortation. These are especially the worship and the word of God. In both these is your minister to preside; in the one as your voice to God, in the other as the voice of God to you: both these have you engaged to uphold by the ministry this day. Brethren, “forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is.” With such neglect does apostacy commence; and how many apostates, aye, and Scotch apostates too, do our London streets and highways present every Lord’s day! The empty pew is generally the first plague-spot of the most virulent backsliding; it is Demas’ first open step backwards to hell.
Attend in the sanctuary regularly—let such self-presentation become habit; for habit is strength. The excuse which is contrived by a wish to be absent is hypocrisy; the reason which flows from regretted inability must be sustained. Let not the Lord’s day be selected as a day of medical treatment; neither let the counting-house on Monday say to the Sabbath-invalid, “Thou didst lie!” That distance of residence which is no hindrance to daily business, but rather chosen as an additional pleasure, will rise up in judgment against those who plead it as a ground of absence on the Lord’s own day. Let not that fatigue, which is not increased by week-day parties, be assigned as the reason for absence from the worship of God.
Oh, how many, like Ananias, “lie against the Holy Ghost” in matters of the sanctuary, saying, when they are asked—“Is this all the attendance you can give?” “Yea, so much is all the attendance we can give!” God knoweth, and the judgment will show it all! Let not the afternoon or evening absence, bear testimony that the forenoon attendance was an act of pretence, an effort of convenience, a shred of artificial character; but let full attendance be the proof of an honest heart. The day may come when many will say, in the agony of their souls, “Oh, would to God that we could now hear but one of those sermons which we would not hear when we might!”
Let punctuality mark your attendance on the sanctuary. To be late without necessity, is a libel on yourselves, as indicating spiritual sloth; a robbery of others, interrupting their devotion, and taking from them their thoughts; a dishonour to God, showing indifference to his presence, and worship, and communion. A devotional, spiritual people, will generally be a waiting people, and will seek to have their minds composed and prepared for service; instead of hurrying in, breathless in body, and confused in spirit, to the most solemn duty in the world.
Reverentially join in all parts of the service. Sing with melody the praises of God, according to your ability; join mentally in the prayers of the sanctuary, shutting out the world from your senses. When the Scriptures are read, despise not this simple but important exercise, but also read attentively; and when the Gospel is preached, honour it, as an ordinance, by close and respectful listening. Tempt not one another to wandering eyes by the follies of dress and gesture; let simplicity and purity mark everything in the house of God.
Be spiritual in your attendance on divine ordinances; and let your spirituality be exercised in such forms as these:—
(1.) Let a strain of inward prayer for the operation of God’s Holy Spirit, run parallel with the whole service. (2.) Carry on a comparison of what is preached to you with the word of God as quoted by the minister, or as remembered by yourself. (3.) Apply everything for your own edification to the utmost; and you will be surprised how much may be gathered from every sermon. In practising these things you will find a great reward; and the sermon, the sacrament, the prayer, will ever be to you a source of profit and pleasure, an inlet of grace and glory.
IV. Let me exhort you further to your duty in your corporate capacity as a Christian church. As ye are all one in Christ, love one another, and co-operate with each other. A church without unity, is like a dismembered body; a church without love, is like a lifeless frame; a church without active co-operation, is like a slumbering sluggard. Let every one abide in Christ, let every one love Christ, let every one work for Christ; so shall ye find yourselves united in spirit, in operation, and in end. There is much profession of unity, love, and fellowship working in our times; but, alas! how much of it is mere conventional slang of the platform! how much of it is only to turn an acceptable sentence to gain an assembly’s cheer! We must have the image of Christ before others can love us; others must exhibit the image of Christ before we can love them; so that the more of individual piety there is, the more will there be of social charity.
Elders of the church, remember your place in this congregation. Be diligent in knowing and inspecting the flock. Be ensamples to them of all godliness and purity. Love them as your own families. Visit the sick in your neighbourhood. Encourage the young; bring them to your houses, and let them know you as fathers in Christ. Heal differences as peace-makers; and warn in private the unruly. Strengthen your pastor in counsel and in action; and let him ever feel that he can always reckon upon your aid.
Members of the church, behave not unseemly to those who are over you in the Lord. Speak not lightly of them, neither hastily accuse them. Take counsel with them when you can, and reject not their kind visits when rendered to you in love. By your communion vows ye are sworn to love one another: see then that ye indulge not in strife, or jealousy, or evil speaking, private or public; but that in all things ye deem yourselves brethren in Christ Jesus. So may the Lord unite you.
V. Finally, brethren, let us remember that the end of all things approacheth. Today, we are full of bustle, and activity, and joys, and hopes, and fears. But another scene is approaching rapidly. One by one we shall pass out of this life; ministers, elders, people, we shall be as though we had never been. Our bodies shall have passed into the grave, and our souls returned to God who gave them, and not one of us shall be left. Thus shall we be, until the Son of Man shall come in the clouds of heaven, to judge the quick and the dead. Then shall we all stand before him in judgment for the matters of this day, and the whole weight of eternity shall be cast into every affair of time. Oh, how solemn will every day’s work in this life then seem! and how awfully solemn what we have this day done! Friends and brethren, realize the judgment day by day! try everything by it, for it will be the ultimate test! Oh, what silly trifling is it to pass muster amongst men, if we shall be cast in the great judgment of God! yet, alas, this is all that many seek! The Lord pardon all the sins of indifference, vanity, insincerity, worldliness, and unbelief that may have mingled with the solemn services of this day! and may the blessing of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be upon this flock and their pastor! and may the work of the Lord prosper amongst them, even until the end! Amen.
