Article October 7, 1911 Issue

FROM OUR EXCHANGES

with contributions from Edward Shillito, Harry Hamilton Johnston, Charles F. Dole, Charles R. Brown, Walter Rauschenfusch, J. R. Miller

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In bringing men to Christ we must seek to establish such relationship between the soul and its Lord as will issue in likeness to himself in all things. The spirit must be his spirit, the ministry his ministry. If this be true, then we have but to turn to the records of Jesus' life to ascertain what should be included in our ministry as his disciples. We have a clear setting forth of the ministry of Jesus. He went about doing good. He fed the hungry, healed the sick, he called men to repentance. He relieved physical distress, he demanded lives of loving obedience to God. His was a ministry of redemption from sorrow, pain, and sin. There is not a hint in the New Testament that Jesus ever felt it his duty to refuse help in order to give life to the soul, nor is there any evidence that he was content with a ministry that concerned itself only with physical relief. His service was commensurate with human need, and that need was and is and always will be both physical and spiritual. That the spiritual life is vastly more important than the physical he made very plain; and he also revealed his conviction that the surest way of appeal to the spirit is sometimes through ministry to the body.

Is it safe to follow Jesus Christ? No disciple of his will question it; and if so, the character of present-day Christian ministry is settled. There has been no such change in human conditions as will warrant the assumption that important elements in the ministry of Jesus may be omitted from our own scheme of Christian activity. If we did not know that Jesus answered the appeal of the sick and needy when he was upon earth, yet those who embody his spirit of compassion must needs express that spirit in concrete forms of helpfulness. The true disciple of Jesus does not ask himself if it is his duty to succor the unfortunate and distressed. His ministry is spontaneous, automatic. He cannot be what he is and fail to answer the cry of suffering ones.

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