The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1876-01-12
FoR THE CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN.
THE PASTOR AND THE EVANGELIST.

To superficial observer the work Of an
evangelist is more important than the work
of the pastor. But little reflection will
soon produce the opposite conclusion. The
harvests which evangelists are now reapiug
so plentifully, are the results of years of
faithful pastoral instruction and prayer
The co workers, who respond so quickly to
their appeals and render them so much i'm
portant assistance, are Christians who have
been carefully trained by pastors. None bnt
those whose consciences have been enlight-
ened, who have been we'll indootrinated, and
whose zeal has been kept in lively exercise
by healthy and we'll founded scriptural ac-
tivity, in the regular operations of the
Church, under judicious guides, are well
coined by the evangelist, as competent help
ers in the prayer meeting and in the room
where inquirers congregate. The eVange-
list calls for men and women of devotional
spirit, to strengthen him By their inserOes-
sionS at the throne of grace, and to pray that
the word of the Lord may be glOrifed in the
conversion of sinners. He does not seek them
in the highways and hedges. He finds them
in the bosom of the Church, in those pews
which, by thOughtless zealots, whose spiritual
life fOurishes only in the scene of revival,
may be derided as the abiding places of a
cold formality, which knew not the power of
godliness till the evangelist came.
The evangelist is seldom found in the waste
and destitute places, where the people have
not enjoyed the regular miniStrations of the
sanctuary, except when he is sent out on a
special field and then his acknowledged work
ID to prepare the way for pastors or supply
several places as a pastor. He finds re-
markable success in bringing to decision
the children of the Church, who have been
taught in the family and the Sabbath School,
or those hearers who, without these early
advantages, have in their maturer years, lis
tened to the gospel, as preached by pastors
Sabbath after Sabbath or if, as is occa.
Sionally the case, sovereign grace calls into
the Church, under the labors of the evange.
list, some who have habitually neglected the
ordinances, the pastoral office is magnifed il
the subsequent preservation of these by pa
tient and watchful care and instruction, oi
which such converts need so much.
When the evangelist has finished his i'm
posing work, and goes on his way to new
scenes of victory, his usefulness proclaimed
by an array Of numbers, the distant readers
whose hearts are too much warmed by tht
glowing narrative, or whose cynical remarks
may intimate damaging contrast by sug
gesting that the few weeks of evangeliSti'
labor are equal to as many years of paStora
work, can have but little sense of the burdeT
which has been left upon the regular servants
of the Church. They must separate th
wheat from the chaf.. They need wisdom
from above to try the spirits. They hav'
seen as the evangelist did not, and could not
that certain unstable persons, of peculiarl,
demonstratiye impulses, were the first to re
spond to the appeals of the new preacher
; the first to gather around him as new con
! verts, and to enter upon activities of tn
highest pressure, deCeiving him by displa
of zeal, which all who knew them wer
!, bound to missrust, until it was we'll prove
by time, and the demands Of regular an
3 difficult service, in the ordinary and eve
r tenor of the Church. If the pretensions {
] this class enter into the aggregate of con
D putation made by the evangelist as to tn
Q general result, they cannot be admitted
= the pastor and ruling elders. Upon the la
E ter devolves the responsible and often h,
d initiating duty of sitting; and though th
= real good which may be finally discovere
|. and cheerfully acknowledged, with gratefi
= appreciation of their visitor, be such tn,
# they will long rejoice over it, it is found
!, the end to have been intimately dependel
n upon the preparatory work, and the caref
It husbandry of the Churchs oyerseers afte