ARTICLE VI.

PROFESSIONAL LABOR INDISPENSABLE TO PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS.

BEFORE proceeding to establish this truth with reference to the ministry, we feel bound to make one or two remarks for the purpose of guarding against misapprehension. Let it not, then, be supposed for a moment that we are going to place the clerical professional on the same ground as that on which the other professions rest; and, copying a species of declamatory reasoning quite common at the present day, just saying to a man, if you wish to secure success, work and you will have it. This is the only condition. Nothing else is needed.

We repeat, therefore, that it is not our purpose to imitate that mode of popular reasoning which sacrifices truth to novelty, and holds up one view of a subject in so strong a light that it has all the effect of falsehood in misleading the reader. It is our design, indeed, to press the necessity of labor in the ministerial calling, but we wish to be understood here as distinctly recognizing the grand truth of our dependence upon the Holy Spirit, without whose influences all our efforts will prove abortive. Nor can there be too deep a sense of this doctrine resting upon the hearts of every member of the sacred profession. The deeper the better. And here, before dismissing this point, the attention of the reader is solicited to one or two observations.

We have spoken of a deep sense of this doctrine. We add, it is not enough that there be a general acknowledgment of this truth, there should be a profound conviction of it. It should be received not as a part of a system, but embraced in the love thereof. It should be regarded not as an opinion of the head, but as a sentiment of the heart; not merely entertained in the intellect, but cherished in the affections. A scriptural sense of our dependence upon the Holy Spirit will not allow us to adopt this doctrine in the light of an abstract notion; but will constrain us to embrace it as a warm, living, quickening, sanctifying and

gracious truth, having in it such sweetness and excellency, such freshness and beauty, such fulness and adaptation, as to elicit from our hearts their holiest affection. Our minds will love to dwell upon it for comfort and support. So was it regarded by the apostles, who lose no opportunity to introduce it to our notice, and celebrate its glory and its grace.

But their absolute dependence upon the Holy Spirit, and their admiring views of this truth, did not deter them from exertion, nor abate the fervor of their professional zeal. So far from this being the case, they plainly derived from this entire reliance upon supreme aid the strongest reason for personal effort in their own and others' salvation. They worked because it was God who worked in them.

And this is the unfailing fruit of such scriptural dependence upon the Holy Spirit. It deepens humility, while it increases zeal. It makes us feel our nothingness, while it excites our ardor. It produces lowliness, while it warms our fervor. It convinces us of our emptiness, while it kindles our engagedness. It teaches modesty, while it redoubles our perseverance. It makes us see that God is all in all, while it stimulates us to work, because then only do we realize, "that they who are for us be more than they who are against us."

The absence of such scriptural dependence upon the Holy Spirit ought to be deprecated, if for nothing else, for the influence thus exerted in sapping professional energy of character, and destroying that enthusiasm, which is necessary to make a man fresh as the morning in prosecuting the duties of his calling. The truth is, when this dependence ceases, sloth begins. Such independence on divine aid being the highest dishonor which we can offer to God, it is retributively followed by spiritual indolence and sluggishness, which blight the fairest professional prosperity. Nor does it stop here. It produces a state of feeling which is blasting to solid piety in our own bosoms; and sows with salt that vineyard of the Lord, which is cursed with our laziness.

With these truths in view, we now proceed to substantiate the position at the head of this article, which affirms the indispensableness of professional labor to professional

success.

This we suppose to be the doctrine taught in 2 Tim. 2: 6. The husbandman must first labor, before he can expect to partake of the fruits of his soil. The metaphor here employed carries with it all the force of an argument. For we see, at once, how idle it would be in a farmer to think of reaping before he has sown. Its absurdity is evident, and would justify our calling a man a fool who thought otherwise. But there are no such fools among the children of this world. Among them, "all things are full of labor," as the requisite to success.

Thus is it in moral agriculture. There, also, "all things must be full of labor." A church, which is the peculiar field of professional exertion, is aptly called "God's husbandry." Success there has its antecedents, no less than in other scenes of toil. It is not to be produced by miracle, while a minister folds his hands in his bosom and sighs for the prosperity of Zion. In this way nothing will be reaped.

And, further, it is suggested by the agricultural allusion, already cited from Scripture, that real success is never produced in a day or a week. Time is an essential element in accomplishing any great object. However plain this may be, some expect success almost in a moment, and hence put forth one or two strong efforts, which they think are to produce mighty effects. In this, however, they are sure to be disappointed. And why? Simply because they expect to accomplish by a little toil, what can be accomplished only by a great deal. Important moral results can never be effected by a single blow, however vigorous. A large amount of good can never be wrought by a few professional exertions, no matter how strenuous they may be, nor how much talent they may exhibit. The husbandman might as well think of making a mighty effort in order to realize a harvest in a single day. The traveller might as well think of reaching the summit of a mountain by one or two strides. In both cases, utter failure would be the consequence. But not more so, than the failure that must attend upon him who expects to accomplish in the moral world, by a few efforts, those great results which require patient and sustained toil. In all these cases, time and labor are the prescribed requisites. But it may be of advantage to pursue this analogical reasoning a step or two further. Cast your eyes, then,

over the world, and see how universally the principle now maintained is admitted and acted on, in every profession and avocation. From such an examination, who fails to observe how invariably men rely upon labor for success? In every walk of life, professional and mechanic, we see an illustration of the truth, that "all things are full of labor." Whatever end is contemplated, labor is the appointed means of reaching it. Whatever good is sought, labor is the established way of finding it. Labor enters into every pursuit, which is crowned with success. Without it, the merchant would dream for ever of his fortunate enterprises, and die a bankrupt. Without it, the mechanic would devise schemes for spreading the celebrity of his skill, and thus growing rich, only to have them dashed to the earth by the curse which follows indolence. Without it, the student would exult in his fancied attainments in knowledge, only to be mortified by his real ignorance when he came to measure himself with some patient thinker. Without it, the lawyer would assume the air of great legal learning, and talk of his numerous clients, only to have nothing to do except counting his fingers in his office, or lounging along the streets. Without it, the physician would wait in vain for patients, and drag along far in the rear of his profession, an object of scorn and a butt for ridicule.

From this hasty appeal to analogy, we see how much evidence might be drawn from that source, in establishing the truth of the sentiment to which our attention is now directed. But enough has been said on this point, to convince us that no law is more universal in the business of life than the necessity of labor in order to secure success. God has written it upon every thing we behold, and his providence is constantly enforcing the lesson. In the contemplation of human affairs, how frequently are we taught that "he who gathereth by labor shall increase, but that drowsiness clothes a man with rags."

But what is true of every secular, is no less true of that sacred employment of which we are now speaking. With regard to that, it is a settled truth, "that in all labor there is profit." In that field of exertion, "he who gathereth by labor shall increase." To him whose business it is to prepare souls for heaven, no less than to him whose busi30

VOL. V.-NO. XVIII.

ness it is to cultivate the earth, God says, "By the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread."

From this general reasoning, let us now proceed to a more particular examination of the truth before us, with regard to the ministerial calling. And we think it is obvious,

1. That professional labor is necessary to gain professional enthusiasm. How can a man acquire this, if he give only half his mind to his business, and discharge its duties in a hurried and desultory manner? Who ever felt ardently attached to any pursuit which was secondary to something else, and in which his powers were sluggishly employed? Can ardor be kindled in any profession, unless a man give himself wholly to it? It is impossible, till the laws of the human mind be changed. To have attachment to any occupation, we must labor in it; and in proportion to the amount of real work we expend upon it, in that proportion shall we love that occupation, and identify ourselves with it. And hence, we may ask, when did the reader ever see a man feel enthusiasm for his profession, who, instead of alertness, energy and activity in its duties, plainly dragged himself to them, and performed them with a mind only half aroused to exertion? The thing was never seen. Fervor of spirit cannot be kindled in this way. It is labor which produces that excitement of the powers and faculties, which is another name for enthusiasm. Indolence, on the contrary, is the parent of indifference, which makes a man remiss and listless in his business, and disposes him to fold his hands in slumber.

The influence of professional enthusiasm is too plain to need description. We repeat only a settled maxim, in saying that it is an element of success. No great results are ever accomplished without it. Nor did a man ever make his mark upon society without it. Learning and talents are invaluable, but they achieve little apart from enthusiasm, because they need, in such a case, that impulsive energy and fervor which are necessary to the mind's working advantageously and productively. Observation is constantly offering examples of the truth of this remark. And thus, we frequently see men possessed of moderate abilities, but those abilities brought into active, steady exertion, under the influence of professional ardor,