The Plain Minister and the Infidel
Story★★★★There was one of our good men, a plain, good minister, in one of our churches in a country town, whom I well remember. There was an infidel in the town, a man of business; and on one Sunday evening this plain, simple brother of mine saw that infidel in his congregation. The next morning he was passing his shop, and saw the man standing at the door. They recognized each other.
“Good morning, Mr. Brown.” “Good morning.” “I saw you at our chapel last night.”
“Yes, I was there.” “Ah! Mr. Brown, you do not believe those things.”
“No, sir, nor you either.” “Sir, do you mean to insult me?” “No, I don’t mean to insult you, but I mean to say, sir, that if I believed those things which you teach, and which you all profess to believe, I could not live as I am doing; I should feel that I must take everybody by the sleeve wherever I went, and tell them what I know and what I feel; as for my own life, I should be a very different man from you.
You do not believe these things any more than I do.” Well, that was a very rude way of giving a reason, but I am afraid it is a way to which many of us Christian people expose ourselves.
Thomas Binney **
The point
A plain minister is confronted by an infidel who observes that if he truly believed, he would live radically differently—exposing the gap between profession and practice.