For you are our glory and our joy.
(3) Ministers of the gospel should be gentle, tender, and affectionate. They should be kind in feeling, and courteous in manner - like a father or a mother; 1Th 2:7, 1 Thessalonians 2:11. Nothing is ever gained by a sour, harsh, crabby, dissatisfied manner. Sinners are never scolded either into duty or into heaven. “Flies are not caught with vinegar.” No man is a better or more faithful preacher because he is rough in manner, coarse or harsh in his expressions, or sour in his contact with mankind. Not thus was the Master or Paul. There is no crime in being polite and courteous; none in observing the rules of good breeding, and paying respect to the sensibilities of others; and there is no piety in outraging all the laws which society has found necessary to adopt to promote happy conversation. What is wrong we should indeed oppose - but it should be in the kindest manner toward the persons of those who do wrong; what is true, and right we should maintain and defend - and we shall always do it more effectually if we do it kindly.