by the will of God, a "leadership,"
recognizable, authentic, not arbitrary yet authoritative, not
mediatorial yet pastoral. It is never designed indeed to come really
between the believing soul and the ever-present Lord. Yet it is
appointed as the norm a human agency by which He works for the soul, not
only in the solemn ministration of His great ordinances of blessing but
in spiritual assistance and guidance as well. It will be the pastor's
folly if he so insists upon the imagery of shepherding as to forget for
one moment that the "sheep" are also, and in a larger aspect, his equal
brethren and sisters, "the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty." It
will be his folly, and the ruin of his true authority, if he forgets in
any part of his service that he is not the master but the servant of the
Church. If in his "guidance" he dares to domineer, and if in his
teaching he takes the tone of one who can _dictate_ any point of faith
or duty, on his own authority, apart from the Word of God, he is fatally
mistaking his whole function. Nevertheless he is called to be a
"leader," with the responsibilities and duties of a leader. This thought
is to keep him always humble, and always intently on the watch over his
own life. But it is to be present also to the members of the Church, to
remind them always to _tend towards_ that generous "obedience" with
which Christian freedom safeguards Christian order. The Church is never
to forget the responsibility of the Ministry; it is to assist the
Ministry in its true discharge. For in this also "we are members one of
another."

* * * * *

The closing sentences of the great Letter (ver. 18 and onwards) call for
little detailed explanation, with one great exception. The Writer asks
for intercessory prayer for himself and his colleagues, in the accent of
one who knows his own unreserved desire (ver. 18) to keep his whole
"life-walk honourable," [Greek: kalos anastrephesthai]. He asks
specially for this help, with a view to his own speedier return to his
disciples (ver. 19), an allusion which we cannot now explain for
certain. At the very end (verses 22-25), with a noble modesty, in the
tone of the true Christian leader, drawing, not driving, he asks for
"patience" over his "appeal" ([Greek: paraklesis]), his solemn call for
loyalty to the Christ of God under all the trials of the time.

He has "used brevity" ([Greek: dia bracheon]) in writing; he might have