C 12 - A Great Fellowship

A GREAT FELLOWSHIP

12. The ministry has the attraction of a great fellowship. Every vocation has the fellowship of those engaged in it, and this is a strong bond of union and means of encouragement and may be a source of great honor and pride. Laboring men have their unions and are generally loyal to them and often glory in them. Business men, lawyers, physicians, scientists, educators, all have their associations by which they promote their mutual interests and advance their objectives. The Christian minister belongs to one of the oldest and most honorable associations in the world. It dates back to Hebrew prophets and to Christ and his disciples and has come down through apostles, martyrs, missionaries, re formers, theologians, and preachers, who have helped to shape the Christian centuries; and it stands to-day as one of the strongest organizations and finest fellowships among men.

It is true that the ministry has its share of unworthy members who have cast discredit and even dishonor on their calling, but this fact has not lowered its essential nature and level. There are dishonorable members in every profession, black sheep in every flock. But as a class, ministers stand high in the estimation of the world, and of their calling they may be justly proud. And now, if men gather strength and inspiration from their membership in a labor union or in a professional association, if they thrill with pride in their membership in the Grand Army of the Republic and glory in the American Legion, shall not the minister swell with some sense of pride as he realizes his membership in the noble army of those who through all the ages have proclaimed the gos pel of the Son of God and have fought the good fight of faith against spiritual hosts of wickedness? The minister enjoys a rare privilege in the fellowship of his brethren, for they are men of pure hearts and purposes and of optimistic faith and good cheer, who probably have a happier time together than any other class of men; and he also feels the mystic ties that bind him to all the men through all the ages of the spiritual fellow ship to which he belongs, so that he can re peat, with a fullness of meaning that few men can appreciate, the worn but wonderful words, “I believe in the holy Catholic Church; the communion of saints. “ Every minister in a measure is uplifted and strengthened and inspired and made a more honorable and a greater man by this fellow ship, and this is one of the attractions of his calling.