,transcriber's ,note3 #a4 ,obvious misspellings and printing errors have been corrected4 #b4 ,archaic word spellings have been retained4 #c4 ,the list of books by the same author has been moved from the beginning to the end of the book4 #d4 ,footnotes have been placed immediately following the paragraphs in which they are noted4 #e4 ,notation for ,footnote #d1 which is missing in the original1 has been supplied4 #f4 ,a word that is missing at the beginning of ,footnote #h has been supplied as 7,i74 #g4 ,capitalized headings within chapters are running page headers4 #h4 ,running page headers which are designated by 99 reflect subject matter that occurs within paragraphs in the original and are broken into paragraphs for the purpose of better readability in this document4 #i4 ,scripture references 7e4g41 ,mal4 #b4a2 ,acts xx4 #ai2 #b ,tim4 #a4ab2 etc47 which appear as sidenotes in the original are placed within and immediately follow the quoted scripture or statement pertaining to scripture to which they refer4 #aj4 ,redundant book heading and redundant chapter headings have been omitted4 ,,to ,,my ,,younger ,,brethren ,chapters on ,pastoral ,life and ,work by ,,the ,,right ,,rev4 ,,handley ,c4,g4 ,,moule1 ,d4,d4 ,lord ,bishop of ,durham ,fourth ,edition ,london ,hodder and ,stoughton #bg1 ,paternoster ,row #aijb ,printed by ,hazell1 ,watson ,viney1 ,ld41 ,london and ,aylesbury4 ,,to ,,my ,,dear ,,brother ,,and ,,vicar1 ,,the ,,rev4 ,,john ,,barton1 ,m4,a41 ,,incumbent ,,of ,,trinity ,,church1 ,,cambridge1 ,,and ,,rural ,,dean1 ,,and ,,to ,,my ,,dear ,,brothers ,,and ,,friends1 ,,the ,,present ,,and ,,past ,,students ,,of ,,ridley ,,hall1 ,,cambridge1 ,,this ,,book ,,is ,,affectionately ,,inscribed4 ,h4,c4,g4,m4 ,give those who teach pure hearts and wise1 ,faith1 hope1 and love1 all warm'd by prayer2 ,themselves first training for the skies ,they best will raise their people there4 ,,armstrong4 ,,preface4 ,the following pages do not appear to need any extended preface2 their topic is set forth in the first lines of the first chapter4 ,with what success it has been handled is another matter4 ,but as a writer reviews his own words1 it is inevitable that some sort of envoi should present itself to his mind4 ,in this case the envoi seems to me to be the vital necessity of personal holiness in the ,christian ,minister1 in order to the right working of the ,christian ,ministry2 a personal holiness which shall be no mere form moulded from without but a life developed into manifestation and action from within4 ,never did the ,church of ,christ more need to remember this than at the present day4 ,the strongest surface currents of the age are against it2 alike that of unregulated1 hurrying1 indiscriminate enterprize1 and that of an exaggerated ecclesiasticism4 ,in the one case the worker's communion with ,god tends to be sacrificed to the work1 the fountain choked for the sake of the stream4 ,in the other case there is a serious risk that the ,church may come to be regarded as an almost substitute for the ,lord in matters affecting the life and growth of the ,christian man1 and of course of the ,christian ,minister4 ,sacred are the claims of order and cohesion1 but more sacred and more vital still is the call to the individual constituent of the community to come to the living ,personal ,christ1 nothing between1 and to abide in innermost intercourse with ,him1 and to draw every hour by faith on ,his great grace4 ,if these simple pages may at all1 in ,his most merciful hands1 promote the holy cause of such a hidden life and its fruitful issues1 it will indeed be happiness to the writer4 ,in these days of stifling materialism in philosophy1 and withering naturalism in theology1 but in which also the ,holy ,spirit1 far and wide1 is breathing upon us in special mercy from above1 there is no duty more pressing on the ,christian than to seek1 in the world of work1 after that life which is lived in the flesh by faith in the ,son of ,god1 and which is manifested in the strong and patient meekness of wisdom4 ,,ridley ,,hall1 ,,cambridge1 ,april #bbnd1 #ahib4 ,servant of ,god1 be fill'd ,with ,jesu's love alone2 ,upon a sure foundation build1 ,on ,christ the corner-stone2 ,by faith in ,him abide1 ,rejoicing with ,his saints2 ,to ,him with confidence1 when tried1 ,make known all thy complaints4 ,,moravian ,,hymn-,,book4 ,,contents4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,secret ,,walk ,,with ,,god 7i474 ,,page ,need of watching and prayer over three departments of a ,minister's life--,the secret department--,temptations in it from work--,from solitude--,secret ,devotion--,the ,morning ,watch--,physical precautions--,evening hours--,a ,minister's prayers must sometimes forget the ,ministry--,this will be to the advantage of the ,ministry--,tell ,him all #a ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,secret ,,walk ,,with ,,god 7ii474 ,secret intercourse with ,god the life of a ,minister's life--,the ,example of ,jesus ,christ--,testimony of von ,machtholf--,special need of divine communion at the present day--,the cry for effort and enterprize--,secularizing theories of religion and the ,ministry--,a call to young ,english ,clergymen--,a caution from ,laodicea--,study of the ,holy ,scriptures--,the ,new ,testament about twice a week--,what says the ,ordinal8--,m4 ,henri ,lasserre on ,devotional ,literature and the ,gospels--,study the ,bible unprofessionally--,bridges' quotation from ,witsius--,ridley in the ,orchard #ba ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,secret ,,study ,,of ,,the ,,holy ,,scriptures4 ,a fragmentary chapter--,higher ,criticism--,a technical and innocent term--,actual assertions of certain critics--,do not follow this ,book2 follow ,christ--,weigh facts before theories--,testimony of ,nature and ,history to ,scripture--,the ,duke of ,argyll in the ,nineteenth ,century--,prediction--,problem of the ,human ,knowledge of ,jesus ,christ--,current fulfilments of ,prophecy--,methods of ,bible ,study--,the plough--,the spade--,specimen of spade-husbandry1 in a ,church ,congress ,study of the ,epistle to the ,philippians #de ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,the ,,daily ,,walk ,,with ,,others 7i474 ,secret ,communion with ,god must accompany everything else--,we are watched--,self-respect--,consistency largely means ,considerateness--,a consistent gentleman--,the ,tongue--,st ,augustine's couplet for the dinner-table--,the ,clergy-,house1 its opportunities and risks--,the duty of ,example--,is it remembered as it used to be8--,for their sakes ,i sanctify ,myself--,others and their claims on us--,manner--,temper--,simeon's patience--,the ,secret of the ,presence #gi ,,chapter ,v4 ,,the ,,daily ,,walk ,,with ,,others 7ii474 ,take heed unto thyself--,relations with ,woman--,christian chivalry--,and ,christian caution--,special difficulties--,know thyself--,celibacy--,the ,clergyman's ,wife--,the problem of means--,the ,clergyman and money--,pecuniary intemperance--,accurate accounts--,investment circulars--,lay not up for yourselves #aja ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,the ,,daily ,,walk ,,with ,,others 7iii474 ,curate and ,incumbent--,a ,chancellor on ,curates--,the ideal ,incumbent--,no ,incumbent perfect--,and no parish perfectly content--,loyal watchfulness needed accordingly--,the ,curate's ,party--,the lost grace1 humility--,subordination--,take sides against yourself--,a letter to ,the ,record on ,curates' grievances4 #abc ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,pastor ,,in ,,parish 7i474 ,a boundless subject--,visiting--,all-important--,pre pare for the round with prayer--,method--,brevity but not hurry--,an example--,courtesy--,it must be impartial--,visitation of the sick--,its special demands--,punctuality always a duty--,use of the ,bible--,the advantage of coming as the ,clergyman--,mistaken for the undertaker--,come to the point--,lying in wait for the occasion--,happy rebukes to timid reticence #adg ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,pastor ,,in ,,parish 7ii474 ,teach as you go--,urgent need of teaching--,about ,christ--,and the ,holy ,spirit--,and ,sacraments--,common mistakes about the teaching of the ,church--,sin--,evidences--,recollection s of a visiting round--,the retired tradesman--,the sceptical blacksmith--,the invalid artizan--,the civil-servant--,the consumptive--,the dying printer--,the cripple--,aged poor saints--,saddening visits--,humbling memories--,a bright conversion at eighty-two #agc ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,the ,,clergyman ,,and ,,the ,,prayer ,,book4 ,as bad as inspired--,imperfections in the ,book--,yet it is priceless--,spirituality of the ,prayer ,book--,what it takes for granted in the worshipper--,a remarkable reason for secession--,the ,prayer ,book as a weapon--,its ,scripturality--,its compilers jealous for the ,word of ,god--,ministerial use of the ,prayer ,book--,put yourself into it--,we are not to preach the prayers--,yet we are to pray them--,reading of the ,lessons--,baptism--,marriage--,burial-- ,the ,holy ,communion--,reverence--,of what sort--,instruction-addresses on the ,prayer ,book--,less worship #bja ,,chapter ,x4 ,,preaching 7i474 ,the ,pulpit a central point in the ,ministry--,mutual influence of parish-work and preaching--,truth through personality--,let us labour in the ,word--,litho ,sermons--,addison's village-parson and his sermons--,attractive preaching--,is a duty--,audibility--,of the right sort--,good ,english--,why to be cultivated--,mr ,spurgeon's style--,french hearers of an ,english preacher--,good effects on his style--,written or extempore8--,length--,action #bbe ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,preaching 7ii474 ,further remarks on ,attractiveness--,and1 in passing1 on ,ministerial ,considerateness--,this is to be practised in preaching--,as well as in other functions--,attractiveness to be guarded by ,faithfulness--,requisites to attractiveness--,preach the ,gospel earnestly1 interestingly1 fully--,jesus ,christ is the ,gospel--,personal conviction the essence of ,earnestness--,matter-of-,fact--,interes t sustained by anecdote and illustration--,but still more by intelligibility and practicality--,expository sermons--,fulness in the message--,jesus ,christ for us--,and in us--,the ,holy ,spirit must work with the ,word #bdi ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,,preaching 7iii474 ,notes from a ,sermon-,lecture--,on diction1 arrangement1 fidelity to the text1 proportion of parts1 accuracy--,on statements about revelation1 justification1 faith1 grace--,a paper in ,the ,churchman on ,old ,sermons--,be a preacher indeed1 whatever be the fashion of the time--,the ,directory of #afde--;,its instructions on the ,preaching of the ,word--,spiritual ,power in ,preaching--,how sought and received--,farewell #bgc ,fordington ,pulpit #cja ,what contradictions meet ,in ,ministers' employ6 ,it is a bitter sweet1 ,a sorrow full of joy2 ,no other post affords a place ,for equal honour or disgrace ,,olney ,,hymns4 ,the ,interpreter had ,christian into a private ,room1 and bid his ,man open a ,door2 the which when he had done1 ,christian saw a ,picture of a very grave ,person hang up against the ,wall1 and this was the fashion of it3 ,it had eyes lift up to ,heaven1 the best of ,books was in its hand1 the ,law of ,truth was written upon its lips1 the ,world was behind his back2 it stood as if it ,pleaded with ,men1 and a ,crown of gold did hang over its head4 ,,pilgrim',s ,,progress4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,secret ,,walk ,,with ,,god 7i474 ,pastor1 for the round of toil ,see the toiling soul is fed2 ,shut the chamber1 light the oil1 ,break and eat the ,spirit's bread2 ,life to others would'st thou bring8 ,live thyself upon thy ,king4 ,let me explain in this first sentence that when in these pages ,i address my ,younger ,brethren1 ,i mean brethren in the ,christian ,ministry in the ,church of ,england4 ,let me limit my reference still further1 by premising that very much of what ,i say will be said as to brethren who have lately taken holy ,orders1 and are engaged in the work of assistant ,curacies4 ,,aim ,,of ,,the ,,book4 ,day by day1 for many years past1 my life has lain among men preparing themselves for just that work4 ,as a matter of course my thoughts have run incessantly in that direction4 ,many a lecture in the library where we work together1 and many a conversation in dining-hall1 or by study fire1 or in college garden1 or on country road1 has given point to those thoughts and enabled me1 ,i trust1 better to understand my younger ,brethren1 and with more sympathy to make myself1 as an elder brother1 understood by them4 ,what ,i here seek to do1 with the gracious aid of our blessed ,master1 is somewhat to extend the range of such talks1 and to ask a friendly hearing from younger ,brethren in the holy ,ministry with whom ,i have never had the opportunity of speaking personally4 ,i have not the least intention of writing a treatise on the ,christian ,pastorate4 ,to talk to young ,christian ,ministers about some important details of pastoral life and work1 but above all of life1 inward and outward--this is my simple purpose4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,three ,,lines ,,of ,,prayer4 ,one day in each week1 at ,ridley ,hall1 we unite in special prayer1 without liturgical form1 for those members of the ,hall who have gone out into actual ministry4 ,as ,i lead my dear younger ,brethren in that supplication1 the heart feels itself full of many1 very many1 well-remembered faces1 characters1 lives4 ,it seems to see those many old friends scattered abroad in the ,lord's work-field2 and it sees1 of course1 a very large variety among them1 in the way of both character and circumstances4 ,but1 with all this consciousness of differences1 my thoughts and my petitions always1 by a deep necessity1 run for all alike along three main paths4 ,the first prayer is for the young ,clergyman's inner and secret ,life and ,walk with ,god4 ,the second is for his daily and hourly general ,intercourse with ,men4 ,the third is for his official ,ministrations of the ,word and ,ordinances of the ,gospel4 ,and in all these directions1 after all1 one desire1 one prayer1 has to be offered1 the prayer that everywhere and always1 from the inmost recesses of life to its largest and most public circumference1 the ,lord and ,master may take1 and keep1 full possession of the servant4 ,i pray that in secret devotion1 and in secret habits1 ,jesus ,christ may be intensely present with the man2 and that in common intercourse1 in all its parts1 ,he may be the constant and all-influencing ,companion1 to stimulate1 to control1 to chasten1 to gladden1 to empower2 and that in the preaching of the ,word the servant may really and manifestly speak from1 and for1 and in1 his ,lord2 and that in ministration of the sacramental and other ,ordinances he may truly and unmistakably walk before ,him in holy simplicity1 holy reverence1 and full spiritual reality1 serving the ,lord1 and serving the flock1 with all humility of mind4 ,acts xx4 #ai4 ,my present talks on paper will take very much the lines of these prayers4 ,secret walk with ,god1 common and general walk with men1 special ministrations--,i desire to say a little on each and all of these points1 and more or less in this order1 though without attempting too rigid an arrangement1 where one subject must often run over into another4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,secret ,,walk ,,with ,,god4 ,let me take up the first great topic of the three for a few preliminary words in this chapter3 ,,the ,,secret ,,walk ,,with ,,god of the young ,pastor of ,christ's flock4 ,,hindrances3 ,,work4 ,my brotherly reader will not need any long explanation or careful apology from me here4 ,he knows as well as ,i do1 on the one hand1 that a close secret walk with ,god is unspeakably important in pastoral life1 and1 on the other hand1 that pastoral life1 and not least in its early days1 is often allowed to hinder or minimize the real1 diligent work 7for it is a work indeed in its way7 of that close secret walk4 ,he finds all too many possible interferences with the inner working on the part of the outer4 ,such interferences come from very different quarters4 ,the new ,curacy1 the new duties and opportunities1 if the man has his heart in his ministry1 will prove intensely interesting1 and at first1 very possibly1 encouragement and acceptance may predominate over experiences of difficulty and trial4 ,services1 sermons1 visits to homes and to schools1 with all the miscellanies that attend an active and well-ordered parochial organization--these things are sure to have a special and exciting interest for most young men who have taken ,orders in earnest4 ,and it will be almost inevitable that the ,curate1 under even the most wise1 considerate1 and unselfish of ,incumbents1 should find work threatening rapidly to absorb so much1 not of time only but thought and heart1 that the temptation is to abridge and relax very seriously indeed secret devotion1 secret study of ,scripture1 and generally secret discipline of habits1 that all-important thing4 99,,hindrances3 ,,solitude4 ,then1 on the other hand1 there is a risk and trial from a region quite opposite4 ,the ,curate comes to his new work1 and takes up his abode in lodgings--alone4 ,only a few months ago1 perhaps only a few weeks ago1 he was in rooms at ,college1 amidst all the social as well as mental interests of ,university life1 and 7so it is1 thank ,god1 for many ,university men now7 feeling on every side the help of ,christian friendship and fellowship of the warmest and truest sort4 ,and now1 socially and as to fellowship in ,christ1 he is1 to speak comparatively1 alone4 ,i say1 comparatively4 ,very likely he has found in his ,incumbent a friend and elder brother1 perhaps a friend and loving father1 in the ,lord4 ,and most probably he will find among his people1 and that very soon if he is on the watch1 friends in ,christ1 gentle or simple4 ,he may be associated with a brother ,curate or ,curates2 and if so1 the inmost aim of both or all ought to be1 and in most cases will be1 not only to work in the same parish but to work heart to heart as in ,him4 ,nevertheless1 the ,vicar or ,rector1 though a friend1 is a very busy friend2 and so is the brother ,curate2 and the ,christian friend in the parish is after all only one of the many souls to whom the man has to minister1 and he must not forget those who perhaps need him most just because they are least congenial to him4 99,,its ,,dangers4 ,so the sense of change1 of solitude1 in such part of his life as is spent indoors1 may be1 and1 as ,i know1 very often is1 real and deep1 sad and sorrowful1 and in itself not wholesome1 to the young ,minister of ,christ4 ,possibly my reader knows nothing of all this2 but ,i think it more likely that at least he knows something of it4 ,and it needs his prompt and watchful dealing if it is not to hurt him greatly4 ,solitude will not by itself1 if ,i judge rightly1 help him to secret intercourse with ,god4 ,a feeling of solitude1 under most circumstances1 much more tends1 by itself1 to drive a man unhealthily inward1 in unprofitable questionings and broodings1 or in still less happy exercises of thought4 ,or it drives him unhealthily outward1 quickening the wish for mere stimulants and excitements of mind and interest4 ,aye1 let me not shrink from saying it1 it sometimes quickens a wish for stimulants in the most literal sense of the word4 ,exhausting and multifarious parochial work1 and the lonely bachelor quarters at the day's end1 have brought to many a young man sore temptations of that sort1 and sometimes they have won the battle1 to the wreck and ruin of the work and of the worker4 ,,hindrances ,,are ,,occasions4 ,well1 all these facts or possibilities are just so many reminders that the new ,curate's life will not1 of itself1 greatly help him to maintain and quicken his ,secret ,walk with ,god1 that vital necessity for his work4 ,it certainly will not do so directly2 it will1 directly1 be a problem1 not an aid4 ,but on that very account1 dear ,brother and reader1 your new conditions of life may prove indirectly a most powerful aid1 by being a constant and urgent occasion4 ,as you are a ,minister of ,christ1 your life and work will1 in the ,lord's sight1 be a failure1 yes1 ,i repeat it1 a failure1 be the outside and the reputation what they may1 if you do not walk with ,god in secret4 ,but therefore your life and work are a daily and hourly occasion for the positive resolve1 in ,his ,name1 that walk with ,him you will4 ,recognize the risks1 right and left1 the risks brought by pastoral activities and interests1 and those brought by pastoral loneliness and uncheerfulness4 ,remember the vital necessity amidst those risks4 ,and then you will the more deliberately purpose and plan how to guard your secret devotions1 and how to order your secret hours even when devotion is not your direct duty1 so that your ,lord shall be indeed there1 at the centre1 a living1 bright ,reality to you4 ,,secret ,,devotion4 ,let me plunge into the midst at once1 with a few simple suggestions on ,,secret ,,devotion4 ,,let ,,it ,,be ,,deliberate4 ,i ask my younger ,brother1 then1 to keep sacred1 with all his heart and will1 an unhurried time alone with the ,lord1 night and morning at the least4 ,i do not intrusively prescribe a length of time4 ,but ,i do most earnestly say that the time1 shorter or longer1 must be deliberately spent2 and even ten minutes can be spent deliberately1 while mismanagement may give a feeling of haste to a much longer season4 ,do not1 ,i beseech you1 minimize the minutes2 seek for such a fulness of the ,spirit of grace and of supplications1 ,zech4 xii4 #aj4 as shall draw you quite the other way4 ,but if the time1 any given night or morning1 must be short1 let it nevertheless be a time of quiet1 reverent1 collected worship and confession and petition4 ,one thing assuredly you can do3 you can1 if you will1 secure a real ,morning ,watch before your day's work begins4 ,i do not say it is easy4 ,young men very commonly sleep sounder and longer than we seniors do2 they are not always easy to rouse in a moment4 ,but they can direct some of their energy to contrive against themselves1 or rather for themselves1 how to secure a regular early rising to meet their ,lord4 ,most ingenious1 not to say amusing1 are some of the devices which friends of mine have confided to me2 schemes and stratagems to get themselves well awake in good time4 ,but after all1 in most lodging-houses surely it must be possible to be called early1 and to instruct the caller to show no mercy at the chamber door4 ,anyhow1 ,i do say that the fresh first interview with the all-blessed ,master must at all costs be secured4 ,do not be beguiled into thinking it can be arranged by a half-slumbering prayer in bed4 ,rise up--if but in loving deference to ,him4 ,appear in the presence chamber as the servant should who is now ready for the day's bondservice in all things but in this1 that he has yet to take the day's oath of obedience1 and to ask the day's grace sufficient1 and to read the day's promises and commands1 at the ,master's holy feet4 ,a ,,practical ,,suggestion4 ,i do not recommend an unpractical physical mortification as the rule for such early hours with ,god4 ,fully believing that there is a place for definite abstinence in the ,christian 7and certainly in the ministerial7 life1 ,i do not think that that place is1 as a rule1 the early morning hour4 ,very many men only procure a bad headache for the day by beginning any sort of earnest mental effort without food4 ,such men should take care accordingly to eat a chotee hzaree 7as old ,indians say71 a little breakfast1 however little1 before they pray and read4 ,there are appliances1 simple and inexpensive1 by which the man in lodgings can1 without giving any one trouble1 provide himself with his cup of cocoa or coffee as soon as he is up2 and he will be wise to do something of this sort1 if he is a man whose work by day is heavy for both body and spirit1 and who is thus specially apt to find the truth of what doctors tell us1 that sleep is1 in itself1 an exhausting process4 ,but at any cost1 my dear friend and ,brother in the ,ministry1 we must have our ,morning ,watch with ,god1 in prayer and in ,his ,word1 before all the day's action4 ,not even the earliest possible ,church service can rightly take the place of that4 ,,good ,,hours ,,at ,,night4 ,it is obvious to add that punctuality and early hours in the morning will bring into your life another rule2 that of punctuality and reasonably good hours at night4 ,no temptation is greater1 sometimes1 for the man alone than to ignore or break such a rule4 ,and no doubt the exigencies of pastoral life1 sometimes1 but surely not often1 make it hard to keep it4 ,but it is extremely important1 for the man who would walk closely and humbly with his ,god1 to end the day deliberately at ,his feet4 ,and here accordingly is another occasion for watchfulness1 and for method1 and for will4 ,do not drift into the night4 ,have a settled hour when1 as a habit1 you lay interests and intercourse of other sorts down1 and turn unhurried to the holy interview1 spreading open your ,bible by the lamp1 the ,bible marked and scored with signs of past research1 and then kneeling1 or standing1 or pacing1 for your prayer--your prayer which is to be the very simplest 7while most reverent7 speech with the ,lord4 ,,pray ,,as ,a ,,private ,,christian4 ,in such acts of worship1 morning and night1 thought for others1 for dear ones1 for parishioners1 for colleagues1 will have its full place of course4 ,let it be so1 with an ever-growing sense of the preciousness of the work of intercession4 ,but ,i do meanwhile say to my ,brother in ,christ1 take care that no pre-occupation with things pastoral allows you to forget the supreme need of drawing out of ,christ's fulness1 and out of the treasures of ,his ,word1 for your own soul and life1 as if that were the one and solitary soul and life in existence4 ,we ,clergy are in danger of becoming too official1 too clerical1 even in our prayers4 ,we are the ,lord's ,ministers2 we have a cure and charge of souls as the unordained ,christian has not2 and let us daily remember it1 humbly and reverently4 ,but also we are1 all the while1 sheep of the flock1 absolutely dependent on the ,shepherd1 men who for their own souls' acceptance1 and holiness1 and heaven1 must for themselves live at the ,fountain4 ,we have to serve others1 and lay ourselves out for them1 daily and hourly4 ,but on that very account1 that our selves may be1 if ,i may say so1 worth the laying out1 we must see that our selves are1 in their own innermost life and experience1 filled with the ,spirit of ,god1 filled with the presence of an indwelling ,lord ,jesus ,christ by the ,spirit4 ,and so we must worship ,him1 and draw on ,him1 and abide in ,him1 and acquaint ourselves with ,him1 just as if there were no flock at all1 that we may the better be of use to the flock4 ,,live ,,behind ,,your ,,ministry4 ,i am sure that this is an important point for the thought and practice of the young ,clergyman4 ,while never really forgetting his ordained character1 let him1 for the very purposes of his ordained work1 continually live behind not only the work but the character2 living in the presence1 in the love1 in the life1 of his ,lord and ,head1 simply in the character of the redeemed sinner1 the personal believer1 the glad younger ,brother of the glorious ,firstborn1 the living ,christian with the living ,christ2 knowing whom he has believed1 #b ,tim4 i4 #ab4 and walking by faith in ,him4 ,,for ,,the ,,ministry',s ,,sake4 ,do you so live1 by ,his grace and mercy8 ,is the sitting-room and the bedroom of your curacy-lodging the place where you habitually hold intercourse in this holy simplicity with ,him who has loved you and given ,himself for you8 ,then ,i venture to say that all the more for this1 by that same grace and mercy1 you shall be enabled to lay yourself out for others1 in your pastoral charge4 ,you shall understand other men better1 by thus securing for your own soul a deeper understanding of the ,lord ,jesus and a fuller sympathy 7if the word is reverent7 with ,him4 ,i hardly care to analyze how1 but somehow1 you shall more readily and closely get at men through this direct1 simple1 unofficial1 unclerical drawing very near indeed to ,god in ,christ4 ,the more you know ,him thus at first-hand the more shall you understand alike the needs of the human heart 7of which all individual hearts are but various instances71 and the supplies that are laid up for all its needs in ,him4 ,and so you shall go out among your people armed1 equipped1 with a truly heaven-given sympathy and tact4 ,true personal intercourse with the ,lord1 the very closest and deepest1 is the very thing to open the whole man out for others1 and to teach him how1 with a loving intuition1 to look into them and upon their things4 ,phil4 ii4 #d4 ,a ,,hymn4 ,in the next ,chapter ,i shall speak a little more about the young ,clergyman's secret devotion1 and secret study of the heavenly ,word4 ,but enough for the present4 ,and let me close with the quotation of a hymn1#a a new friend of mine1 but already a very dear one1 and thankfully added to the treasures of memory4 ,it puts in the simplest form possible1 while in a form most beautiful1 the vital truth that intercourse with ,god is the power for holy service4 ,happy the young ,clergyman whose secret daily life1 from its beginning in the ,morning ,watch1 on through the intercourse and energies of the day1 up to the evening hour of weariness and repose1 is a translation into experience of that blessed hymn4 #a ,by ,g4,m4 ,,taylor3 ,hymns of ,consecration and ,faith 7,second ,edition71 ,no4 #cdi4 ,,tell ,,him ,,all4 ,when thou wakest in the morning1 ,ere thou tread the untried way ,of the lot that lies before thee ,through the coming busy day2 ,whether sunbeams promise brightness1 ,whether dim forebodings fall1 ,be thy dawning glad or gloomy1 ,go to ,jesus--tell ,him all6 ,in the calm of sweet communion ,let thy daily work be done2 ,in the peace of soul out-pouring ,care be banish'd1 patience won ,and if earth with its enchantments ,seek thy spirit to enthral1 ,ere thou listen1 ere thou answer-- ,turn to ,jesus--tell ,him all6 ,then1 as hour by hour glides by thee1 ,thou wilt blessed guidance know2 ,thine own burthens being lighten'd1 ,thou canst bear another's woe2 ,thou canst help the weak ones onward2 ,thou canst raise up those that fall2 ,but1 remember1 while thou servest1 ,still tell ,jesus--tell ,him all6 ,and if weariness creep o'er thee ,as the day wears to its close1 ,or if sudden fierce temptation ,bring thee face to face with foes-- ,in thy weakness1 in thy peril1 ,raise to heaven a truthful call2 ,,strength ,,and ,,calm ,,for ,,every ,,crisis ,,come--,,in ,,telling ,,jesus ,,all4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,secret ,,walk ,,with ,,god 7ii74 ,he that would to others give ,let him take from ,jesus still2 ,they who deepest in ,him live ,flow furthest at ,his will4 ,i resume the rich subject of ,secret ,devotion1 ,secret ,communion with ,god4 ,not that ,i wish to enter in detail on either the theory or the practice of prayer in secret2 as ,i have attempted to do already in a little book which ,i may venture here to mention1 ,secret ,prayer4 ,my aim at present1 as ,i talk to my younger ,brethren in the ,ministry1 is far rather to lay all possible stress on the vital importance of the habit1 however it may prove best in individual experience to order it in practice4 ,as a man thinketh in his heart1 so is he ,prov4 xxiii4 #g42 and as a life worketh in its heart1 so is it4 ,and the heart of a ,christian ,minister's life is the man's ,secret ,communion with ,god4 ,let us ,clergymen take as one of our mottoes that deeply suggestive word of the ,lord by ,malachi1 where the ideal ,levi is depicted3 ,he walked with ,me in peace and equity1 and did turn many away from iniquity4 ,mal4 ii4 #f4 ,,the ,,lord',s ,,example4 ,remember with what a heavenly brightness that principle was glorified in the recorded life on earth of the great ,shepherd of the sheep1 ,,sn3 ,heb4 xiii4 #bj4 who in this also left us an example1 that we should follow ,his steps4 #a ,pet4 ii4 #bb4 ,never did man walk more genuinely with men than the ,son of ,man1 whether it was among the needy and wistful crowds in streets or on hill-sides1 or at the dinner-table of the ,pharisee1 or in the homes of ,nazareth1 ,cana1 and ,bethany4 ,no ,christian was ever so practical as ,jesus ,christ4 ,no disciple ever so directly and sympathetically served his own generation by the will of ,god ,acts xiii4 #cf4 as did the blessed ,master4 ,but all the while ,his soul dwelt apart in the ,father's presence1 and there continually rested and was refreshed1 ,john iv4 #cb1 #cd4 and there found the meat in the strength of which ,he travelled that great pilgrimage by way of the ,cross to the ,throne4 ,jesus ,christ1 our ,exemplar as well as our ,life1 did indeed live behind ,his work1 behind ,his ministry1 behind ,his ministerial character1 in the region of a ,filial ,communion in which ,his ,father was ,his all in all for peace and joy1 ,his law of action and ,his eternal secret of life4 ,and observe1 this habitual communion in the midst of active service did not at all supersede in ,his blessed experience the stated and definite work of worship and petition before and after the busy hours of service4 ,he was alone1 praying ,john vi4 #eg42 ,he continued all night in prayer to ,god2 and at last1 ,he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast1 and kneeled down and prayed4 ,luke ix4 #ah2 vi4 #ab2 xxii4 #da4 ,all this is not only matter for wondering notice1 as we read our ,new ,testament4 ,it is example1 it is model4 ,the ,head is thus showing ,his members the way1 the only way1 to maintain a life among men and for men which shall be full of good for them1 because itself ever filled with the life and presence of ,god4 ,,testimony ,,of ,,lucius ,,von ,,machtholf4 ,from a leaflet which came long ago into my hands1 ,i quote the experience of a ,german ,christian1 eminently successful in spiritual work2 a passage which will illustrate and bring home my appeal in this whole matter3-- ,when ,lucius von ,machtholf was asked how he carried on religious intercourse with individuals1 he wrote3--',i know no other tactics than first of all to be heartily satisfied with my ,god1 even if ,he should favour me with no sensible visible blessing in my vocation4 ,also to remember that preaching and conversation are not so much my work as the outcome of the love and joy of the ,holy ,ghost in my heart1 and1 afterwards1 on my lips4 ,further1 that ,i must never depend upon any previous fervour or prayers of mine1 but upon ,god's mercy and ,christ's dearly-purchased rights and holy intercession2 and cherishing a burning love to ,christ and to souls1 ,i must constantly seek for wisdom and gentleness4444 ,finally1 ,i would guard myself from imagining that ,i know beforehand what ,i should say1 but go to ,christ for every good word ,i have to speak1 even to a child1 and submit myself to the ,holy ,spirit1 as the ,searcher of hearts1 who1 knowing the individuals ,i have to do with1 will guide and teach me when1 where1 and how to speak4 ',be always following1 never going before4 ,it were better to be sick in a tent under a burning sun1 and ,jesus sitting at the tent door1 than to be enchanting a thousand listeners where ,jesus was not4 ,be as a day-labourer only in ,god's harvest-field1 ready to be first among the reapers in the tall corn1 or just to sit and sharpen another's sickle4 ,have an eye to ,god's honour1 and have no honour of your own to have an eye to4 ,lay it in the dust and leave it there4 ,never let your inner life get low in your search for the lives of others4' ,i dare to say that this quotation contains no mere counsels of perfection1 but principles which are indispensable for the ,minister of ,jesus ,christ who would be not only reputable1 popular1 and in the superficial sense of the word successful1 but--what his dear ,master would have him be for ,his work4 ,and the blessed spirit it suggests and exemplifies is a thing which cometh not in but by prayer and by at least such fasting as takes the shape of a most watchful secret self-discipline4 ,when von ,machtholf speaks of never depending on previous prayers it is obvious what he means2 not that prayer should not precede work1 but that nothing should satisfy the worker short of a living and present trust in a living and present ,lord4 ,but that trust is the very thing which is developed1 and prepared1 and matured1 in the life of genuine secret intercourse1 in which the ,lord is dealt with as man dealeth with his friend1 and gazed upon and 7,i may reverently say7 studied in ,his revealed ,character1 till the disciple does indeed know whom he has believed1 who ,he is that he should believe on ,him4 ,my soul shall be satisfied 444 when ,i remember ,thee1 when ,i meditate on ,thee1 in the night watches1 #b ,tim4 i4 #ab2 ,john ix4 #cf2 ,ps4 lxiii4 #e1 #f4 aye1 and in the ,morning ,watch also4 ,,urgent ,,present ,,need ,,to ,,maintain ,,secret ,,devotion4 ,i know not how to get away from this subject2 not only because of its intense connexion with the most blissful experiences of the believing soul1 but because of its unspeakably important bearing on the work of the ,ministry1 the ,ministry of our own time and of my reader's own generation4 ,never was there a period when the cry for enterprize and practical energy was louder2 and ,god knows there is occasion enough for the cry1 and for the answering resolve4 ,but never was there a time when the need was greater to distinguish true from false secrets of energy1 and to be content with nothing short of the deepest and most divine as our ultimate secret4 ,do you not well know what ,i mean8 ,is there not far and wide in the ,christian world--,i do not speak now of the exterior regions of avowed scepticism or indifference--a tendency to merge the whole idea of religion in that of philanthropic benevolence1 and thereby to draw inevitably the idea of philanthropy downward in the end into its least noble manifestations8 ,is it not a fashionable thing to regard the ,christian ,ministry1 for example1 as a useful and ready mechanism with which to work out the social and sanitary amelioration of the lives of the multitude1 and so to take him to be the best qualified ,clergyman who is1 perhaps1 the most muscular of ,christians1 or the cleverest at the invention or superintendence of recreations on a large scale1 or the quickest student and exponent of the principles or theories of political economy1 or possibly of socialistic enterprize8 ,but all this may leave entirely out the very life-blood of what the ,new ,testament means by the ,gospel of the grace of ,god2 and in many1 many cases it does entirely leave it out4 99,,naturalism ,,in ,,christian ,,work4 ,a conception of ,church work is widely entertained1 and thought to be adequate1 out of which is practically dropped all the mystery1 and all the mercy2 above all1 the work and message of the atoning ,cross and the dying ,lamb2 and the need of the sovereign grace of the ,holy ,ghost to begin and carry out the ,regeneration of the soul2 and the depth of our ,fall2 and the offered greatness and splendour of our ,new ,creation2 and that blessed hope1 the glorious appearing of the great ,god and our ,saviour ,jesus ,christ4 ,tit4 ii4 #ac4 ,it is just one wave of the great anti-supernatural tide of our time4 ,christian work is viewed as much as possible as man's work for man in this present world1 under the example1 doubtless1 of the beneficent life of our ,lord1 but not under the shadow of ,calvary1 nor in the light of ,pentecost1 nor in the definite prospect of an immortality of holy glory4 ,,how ,,to ,,counteract ,,it4 ,to counteract this tendency1 and to do so in the right way1 is one of the very noblest tasks set before the younger ,clergy of the ,english ,church in our time4 ,it is for them1 under ,god1 in a pre-eminent degree1 to find out the secret1 and then to live it out1 how to be at once the perfectly genuine man1 devoted to the service of men1 carrying what he is and what he believes into the actual surroundings of modern life1 not allowing illusions and poetic day-dreams to come between him and facts2 and also the convinced1 unwavering1 spiritual ,christian1 conversant with his own soul1 and with his living ,lord and ,saviour1 and with that sacred1 unalterable written ,word which that ,saviour put into ,his people's hands1 never to be taken out of them4 ,nothing is more wanted at present in the sphere of ,church life and work1 unless ,i am greatly mistaken1 than a generation of young ,clergymen 7soon to be seniors7 who shall conspicuously combine the best forms of practicality with an unmistakable chastened personal spirituality which is seen to be the pulse of their busy machine4 ,and if the spirituality is to be indeed genuine 7away with it if it is anything but genuine to the centre71 if it is to be quite different on the one hand from a thing of artificial phrases1 and on the other from merely formulated and regulated devoutness1 ,i am deeply sure that its only secret and preservative is a fully-maintained secret walk with ,god4 ,,god1 ,i ,,thank ,,thee4 ,i am rich1 and increased with goods1 and have need of nothing4 ,,sn3 ,rev4 iii4 #ag4 ,such was the thought and word of the ,laodicean long ago4 ,is it not in effect the thought1 if not the word1 of not a few hard workers and energetic enterprizers now8 ,what do ,i want with the dialect of ',christian experience'8 ,what have ,i1 with all these irons in the fire1 and a strong hammer and a strong hand with which to strike them1 what have ,i to do with 'old-world faiths' about sin and salvation1 about grace and conversion1 about pardon and justification8 ,what have ,i so pressingly to do with much prayer1 save in the form of much work8 ,god1 ,i thank ,thee that ,i am a worker2 let it be for others to dive into spiritual secrets1 if it is good for them to do so4 ,,thou ,,knowest ,,not4 ,i would not overdraw the picture4 ,and the words ,i have put into a possible mouth are words which1 if ,i heard1 ,i hope ,i should hear with every wish to judge them fairly and to see where any truth lay in them4 ,but none the less ,i am sure that those words not unjustly represent a type of thought widely prevalent among even ministerial workers1 and that it is a type of thought pregnant with disaster for ,christian work4 ,thou knowest not that thou art poor2 ,i counsel thee1 to buy of ,me2 ,i stand at the door and knock3 if any man hear ,my voice and open the door ,i will come in to him and sup with him1 and he with ,me4 ,rev4 iii4 #ag1 #ah1 #bj4 ,so said ,jesus ,christ to the ,laodicean4 ,and though it may seem paradoxical to compare a man involved in the rush of modern ,church work with the ,laodicean1 the comparison may not be always far astray1 nor the words of the ,lord in ,rev4 iii4 #ah out of place accordingly4 ,to be neither cold nor hot towards ,him is all too possible for us1 alas1 even when the irons in the fire are most numerous1 and even when they are being most briskly hammered4 ,,to ,,know ,,christ ,,is ,,indispensable4 ,so let us listen1 making a pause to do so4 ,perhaps just now the knock may be audible1 and certain articulate sounds may come from outside1 saying that a ,,person waits for readmission to ,,his place in our busy1 multifarious life1 and that ,,he can be content with nothing short of heart-intimacy with us1 and that we1 if we would not forsake our own mercy1 must be content with nothing short of heart-intimacy with ,,him4 ,i counsel thee to buy of ,me4 ,let us do it2 let us pay over1 at ,his feet1 our poor fancied wealth of self's energies and undertakings 7as regards our own good opinion of them71 receiving from ,him the heavenly gold of ,his own glorious grace and peace1 and the white robe of a living and loving conformity to ,his likeness1 and the eye-salve of ,his illumination1 in which we see things as ,he sees them4 ,it is better1 as von ,machtholf says it is1 to have ,him within the heart's chamber1 at once as ,guest and as ,host1 in that blessed inter-communion1 than to be apparently the most successful of organizers or of toilers1 strong in ourselves1 but without the secret of the ,presence of the ,lord4 ,it is scarcely needful1 ,i trust1 to explain what ,i do not mean4 ,my very last intention is to speak slightingly of devoted work and self-sacrificing endeavours1 whether or no they take the line which most approves itself to me4 ,a fainant in the ,english ,ministry to-day is something worse than even a cumberer of the ground2 he is1 ,i dare to say1 like a upas upon it1 blighting where he throws his shadow1 so conspicuous and so deadly must be the example of such a life in the ,minister of such a ,gospel4 ,but what ,i mean1 again and again1 is this1 that the days demand1 along with a thoroughgoing while prudent practicality1 more and more also of a profound reality of spiritual knowledge of the ,lord in those who labour in ,his ,name4 ,with the growing stress of our time we must have not less but more of this1 in those who are called to meet that stress4 ,this is vital1 if we would not be stifled and succumb as ,christians altogether4 ,so this is my plea1 dear ,brother in the ,ministry1 now making your first essays in some great city parish1 or wherever it may be3 cultivate1 as for your life1 secret intercourse with ,god4 ,,bible ,,study4 ,and with this view1 ,i now say specially1 cultivate such intercourse laying ,his holy ,word open before you4 ,i spoke in the previous ,chapter of the ,bible spread open by the evening lamp1 the ,bible marked with signs of diligent search4 ,with all my heart ,i mean to press that thought4 ,it will be best to reserve for another ,chapter certain suggestions on methods of ,bible study4 ,but ,i may1 and ,i will at once1 offer a few words on the subject in general4 ,it is a subject which lies near my heart1 and of the urgent importance of which ,i am very sure4 ,,the ,,ordination ,,charge4 ,above all then ,i would entreat you to be a ,bible student at whatever cost of other religious reading4 ,it is a very common thing to substitute1 practically1 for the ,bible a little library of livres de pit1 as the ,french would call them1 small good books4 ,not very long ago1 in the course of an ordination examination1 ,i came across an instructive instance4 ,in answer to a question in a ,pastoral ,paper for candidates for ,priest's ,orders1 a thoughtful young ,clergyman stated incidentally that he used every day with great profit certain devotional books1 and that about twice a week he took for definite meditation and prayer a passage from the ,gospels4 ,it struck me that here was a strange and sad inversion of the right order of proportion2 devotional books daily1 and the ,new ,testament 7in any sense of earnest meditative study7 about twice a week6 ,very different1 ,i thought1 is the view and teaching of the ,church of ,england in this matter of the spiritual reading of her ,ministers4 ,what does the ,church say1 through the ,bishop1 when the ,deacon is ordained ,presbyter8 ,seeing that you cannot by any other means compass the doing of so weighty a work1 pertaining to the salvation of man1 but with doctrine and exhortation taken out of the ,holy ,scriptures1 and with a life agreeable to the same2 consider how studious ye ought to be in reading and learning the ,scriptures4444 ,we have good hope that you will continually pray to ,god the ,father1 by the mediation of our only ,saviour ,jesus ,christ1 for the heavenly assistance of the ,holy ,ghost2 that1 by daily reading and weighing of the ,scriptures1 ye may wax riper and stronger in your ,ministry4 ,and ,i need not go about to prove that the ,church does not mean such daily reading and weighing to wait till the young man is actually ordained ,priest4 ,we should scarcely have had the ,first ,homily of the ,first ,book written1 if such had been her mind4 ,have you ever read over that ,voice of the ,church8 ,m4 ,,henri ,,lasserre ,,on ,,devotional ,,reading4 ,a remarkable confirmation of my present contention comes to us from an unexpected quarter4 ,i refer to the ,preface prefixed by that ardent ,roman ,catholic1 ,m4 ,henri ,lasserre1 to his remarkable ,french translation of the ,four ,gospels1 the book which1 ,december #d1 #ahhf1 received the cordial benediction of ,leo ,,xiii41 but within a twelvemonth1 such is the power behind the ,pope1 was placed on the ,index ,expurgatorius4 ,probably such passages as the following had much to do with this strange and sudden self-reversal of the judgment of the ,vatican4 ,a timid school1 after the crisis of the ,reformation1 which finds1 of course1 little favour with ,m4 ,lasserre1 and on which1 very unjustly1 he lays much of the blame of the practical prohibition of the ,bible within the ,catholic ,church1 a timid school tended thenceforth to strike from the hands of believers the divine ,book which makes the foundation of our faith1 and laboured to substitute for it by degrees a pious literature1 intended to furnish hearts and minds with a nourishment suited to their weakness1 a diet without danger4 ,some of these books1 we own without hesitation1 are excellent in themselves1 and have contributed to the sanctification of many souls4 ,however1 this is the exception4 ,in the majority of these works1 where1 alas1 the sugar of devotion takes the place of the salt of wisdom1 the eternal truths and the genuine teachings of the ,gospel were soon diluted1 and1 as it were1 lost in strange waters4444 ,one and all1 the better specimens and the deplorable 7les lamentables7 alike1 they are another thing altogether1 yes1 absolutely another thing1 than the ,gospel1 whose apostolic mission they have noiselessly usurped by an invasion insensible1 ,i had almost called it clandestine4444 ,the general ignorance of the ,gospels has been the one cause in ,france1 these twenty years1 of the success of the scandalous romance which appeared under the title of ,la ,vie de ,jsus4 ,among a people moderately familiar with the narratives of ,st ,matthew1 ,st ,mark1 ,st ,luke1 and ,st ,john 444 there would have been no need to refute it4 ,every one would have seen1 without assistance1 its flagrant falsifications1 its gross sophisms1 its absolute emptiness4 ,this deep-seated and complex evil1 this enervation of the ,christian spirit1 this anmia 7cette anmie7 of so many among us1 are an object of sorrowful anxiety 7proccupation7 for the ,catholic thinker 7pp4 x1 xxv74 ,,current ,,neglect ,,of ,,scripture4 ,for the ,protestant thinker too1 within a ,church which has now for centuries1 in every possible official way1 pressed home the reading of the ,bible upon her every member1 and of course upon her every ,minister1 there is material for similar anxieties1 mutatis mutandis4 ,bible study1 such as our ,lord and the ,apostles enjoined and encouraged1 is not on the increase amongst us1 to say the least of it2 certainly the ignorance of the blessed ,book even among candidates for holy ,orders is sometimes1 is not seldom1 very great indeed4 ,nay more1 there is sometimes1 however rarely as yet1 an ominous disposition even in clerical circles to shelve the ,bible4 ,quite lately ,i heard1 on excellent authority1 that a certain large ,clerical ,society1 revising its rules1 deliberately decided that the meetings shall not in future be begun with the reading of ,scripture4 ,my friend and ,brother1 do not swim even on the edges of such a current4 ,swim with all your might1 in your ,master's might1 against it4 ,,read ,,it ,,for ,,your ,,own ,,needs4 ,then lastly ,i put in my plea1 as ,i sought to do when we were considering the matter of secret prayer1 for such a secret study of the ,word of ,god as shall be unprofessional1 unclerical1 and simply ,christian4 ,resolve to read1 mark1 and inwardly digest so that not now the flock but the shepherd1 that is to say you1 may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life4 ,it will be all the better for the flock4 ,forget sometimes1 in the name of ,jesus ,christ1 the pulpit1 the mission-room1 the ,bible-class2 open the ,bible as simply as if you were on ,crusoe's island1 and were destined to live and die there1 alone with ,god4 ,you will be all the fresher1 all the more sympathetic and to the point1 when you do come to speak to the listening people about the ,book4 ,the discoveries which we make in it for our own souls are just the things which we cannot help reporting so as to interest and attract our brethren2 as least1 that is the sure tendency of things4 ,,bridges ,,and ,,witsius ,,on ,,bible ,,study4 ,let me write out a slightly abbreviated extract from a golden book1 unhappily no longer in print1 ,the ,christian ,ministry1 by that diligent student1 loving and laborious ,pastor1 and heavenly-minded man1 the remembrance of whom shines on me like a ray reflected from the ,chief ,shepherd's face1 the late ,rev4 ,charles ,bridges4#b #b ,he died at ,hinton ,martell1 in ,dorset1 #ahfi4 ,the maxim1 ,bonus textuarius est bonus theologus1 marks a grand ministerial qualification--'mighty in the ,scriptures4' ,the importance of this is beautifully expressed by ,witsius3 ',let the theologian ascend from the lower school of natural study to the higher department of ,scripture1 and sitting at the feet of ,god as his teacher1 learn from ,his mouth the hidden mysteries of salvation1 which eye hath not seen nor ear heard1 which none of the princes of this world knew2 which the most accurate reason cannot search out2 which the heavenly chorus of angels1 though always beholding the face of ,god1 desire to look into4 ,in the hidden book of ,scripture1 and nowhere else1 are opened the secrets of the most sacred wisdom4 ,let the theologian delight in these sacred ,oracles2 let him exercise himself in them day and night2 let him meditate in them2 let him live in them2 let him draw all his wisdom from them2 let him compare all his thoughts with them2 let him embrace nothing in religion which he does not find there4 ,the attentive study of the ,scriptures has a sort of constraining power4 ,it fills the mind with the most splendid form of heavenly truth4 ,it soothes the mind with an inexpressible sweetness2 it satisfies the sacred hunger and thirst for knowledge2 444 it imprints its own testimony so firmly on the mind1 that the believing soul rests on it with the same security as if it had been carried up into the third heaven and heard it from ,god's own mouth2 it touches all the affections1 and breathes the sweetest fragrance of holiness upon the pious reader1 even though he may not perhaps comprehend the full extent of his reading4444 ,we ought to draw our views of divine truths immediately from the ,scriptures themselves1 and to make no other use of human writings than as indices marking those chief points of theology from which we may be instructed in the mind of the ,lord' 7pp4 #gi1 #hj1 ed4 #ahcj74 99 99 99 99 99 ,,ridley ,,in ,,the ,,orchard4 ,in thy ,orchard1 ,pembroke ,hall1 wrote ,nicholas ,ridley within a few days of his fiery martyrdom1 7the wals1 buts1 and trees1 if they could speake1 would beare me witnes71 ,i learned without booke almost all ,paules epistles1 yea1 and ,i weene all the ,canonicall epistles1 save only the ,apocalyps4 ,of which study1 although in time a great part did depart from me1 yet the sweete smell thereof ,i trust ,i shall cary with me into heaven2 for the profite thereof ,i thinke ,i have felt in all my lyfe tyme ever after4 ,and so shall it be with us also1 if we go and do likewise in our lyfe tyme1 our period1 not at present of martyrdom but1 ,god knoweth it1 of need4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,secret ,,study ,,of ,,the ,,holy ,,scriptures4 ,like those ,emmaus travellers we go ,forth from the city-gate of things below2 ,christ at our side1 ,his ,scripture for our light1 ,here burning hearts and there the beatific sight4 ,already ,i have broken ground to some extent in the all-important subject of private ,bible ,study4 ,let me now put before my reader and ,brother a few more detailed remarks and suggestions on that subject4 ,such is the holy ,book1 and such is the variety of possible modes of study1 that all ,i can dream of doing is to touch some parts and sides of the matter which present themselves with special impressiveness to my own mind1 or which experience of the needs of friends has suggested to me somewhat particularly4 ,,higher ,,criticism4 ,to discuss the sacred problems of ,scripture ,inspiration is not my purpose here4 ,elsewhere#c ,i have attempted to deal with some of them4 ,all ,i would do here is1 in view of what is truly a present necessity1 to ask my ,brethren1 very deliberately1 not to be in haste to take up with the last and boldest word of what is called the ,higher ,criticism 7,i speak particularly now of its application to the ,old ,testament71 as if its advances were always towards light and fact4 ,i have no complaint against the term ,higher ,criticism1 which has a recognized place in literary technical language1 denoting that familiar and lawful process1 the study of books not for their grammar and style only1 but in order to infer from their whole phenomena what their age is1 and their structure1 and their character4 ,the ,higher ,criticism is a term pointing not to methods and results transcending ordinary intelligence1 but to a study which aims higher than grammatical and textual questions considered as final4 ,and thus of course the most earnest defender of the supernatural character of the ,scriptures may be1 and very often is1 as diligent a higher critic as the extremest anti-supernaturalist4 #c ,veni ,creator1 ch4 iii ,a ,,plea ,,for ,,caution4 ,it is not its definition in the abstract but its actual work and spirit1 as seen in many leading instances1 which constrain me to enter an earnest protest against a too easy confidence in this criticism of1 particularly1 the ,old ,testament ,scriptures4 ,it is a thing to give us pause when we are asked to accept it as proved1 or at least as extremely probable1 that righteous ,abel is a myth2 that there was little1 if any1 monotheism before ,abraham2 no theophany at ,sinai2 no ,wilderness-,tabernacle2 no record of the conquest of ,canaan written till long generations after the event2 not much written record at all till ,samuel2 few1 if any1 ,psalms before the age of the ,captivity1 if not before the age of the ,maccabees2 certainly two if not more ,isaiahs1 and probably hardly one ,daniel2 at least1 that the book bearing his name dates from the second century before ,christ1 and is in fact a ,palestinian story-book which has not1 perhaps1 even a nucleus of history within it4 ,it ought to make us stop and think when we are told that ,isaiah did not predict coming events2 indeed 7for the drift of this teaching goes very strongly in that direction71 that predictive prophecy is hardly to be recognized anywhere2 that it is better out of our thoughts2 that it is but soothsaying after all1 and that the true work of the prophet was not to fore-tell but to forth-tell1 to proclaim present and eternal principles1 which again were not revealed to him from above but arrived at by intuitions and meditations within his own consciousness4 ,it is a grave thing to be asked to believe1 as many would have us do1 that such was the lack of feeling for veracity in ancient ,judah that ,hilkiah1 ,jeremiah1 and ,huldah could arrange for the discovery of a fabricated ,deuteronomy1 and then 7see the narrative in the ,second ,book of ,kings7 xxii4 #h-bj4 get the prophetess to follow up the fabrication with awful denunciations--all fulfilled--in the name of ,,the ,,lord ,himself4 ,such theories we are asked to hold in face of our ,master ,christ's deliberate1 persistent1 manifold testimony to the supernatural character and authority of the ,old ,testament2 to the solidity of its records of fact1 to the reality of its predictive element--on which ,he stayed ,his sacred soul in ,gethsemane1 and on the ,cross itself4 ,it is no longer a question of details1 an inquiry whether the numerals are invariably authentic and accurate2 whether the minute particulars of a king's death as told in ,chronicles tally with the account in ,kings4 ,it is a question whether the ,old ,testament at large is not a singularly and flagrantly untrustworthy record4 ,it is a question whether its literature as a whole is not to be explained1 practically1 by natural causes2 including a causation by deliberate1 elaborate1 and interested untruth4 ,a ,,grave ,,alternative4 ,is it too much to say that the alternative has come to be this3 ,was our ,lord ,himself right or very gravely wrong about the nature of ,scripture8 ,did the ,spirit of ,pentecost guide the ,apostles into all truth1 or leave them under a vast illusion in this central matter of their witness8 ,do not follow this ,book1 young men2 follow ,christ3 so said a speaker of high ,christian reputation1 holding up a ,bible1 before a great gathering in ,america1 not long ago4 ,but what does this mean8 ,christ carries the ,book in ,his hand2 if you follow ,him you must follow it4 ,if you decline to follow the ,book1 your following ,him is a following--so far as at present you agree with ,him1 and not further4 ,,witnesses ,,for ,,scripture4 ,meantime1 what are some facts of the case1 facts not nearly so well remembered now as they should be8 ,one comprehensive fact is that the testimony of nature and of history goes1 as a whole1 to affirm the veracity of the ,scripture records1 and to do so more and more pointedly as research advances4 ,in a remarkable recent essay by the ,duke of ,argyll 7,nineteenth ,century1 ,january1 #ahia71 the growing accumulation of geological evidence for a ,great ,flood1 affecting at least the northern hemisphere1 and falling within the human period1 is forcibly set out by a master hand4 ,in the same paper is indicated the fast-gathering evidence1 now digging up month by month from the soil of ,palestine1 to the accuracy of the picture of ,canaan drawn in the ,pentateuch and ,joshua4 ,the ,ordnance ,survey of ,sinai has amply shown that the geology of the peninsula confirms down to minute details the record in ,exodus4#d ,and now the ,oxford ,arabic ,professor is making it1 at the least1 extremely likely that the ,hebrew written two centuries before ,christ was more modern by many generations than that presented by the ,book of ,daniel4#e #d ,see ,sir ,j4 ,,dawson3 ,modern ,science in ,bible ,lands1 ,the ,topography of the ,exodus4 #e ,see ,,margoliouth3 ,the ,place of ,ecclesiasticus in ,semitic ,literature4 ,i am only indicating and suggesting4 ,remembering the curiously similar history of ,new ,testament criticism during the recent past1 some of its stages running out their course within my own memory1 ,i cannot but think1 looking from the merely literary view-point1 that the days are not far off when the now powerful theories of revolutionary criticism will seem improbable4 ,and so ,i ask my younger ,brethren at least to pause before going with the strong1 deep stream4 ,,the ,,duke ,,of ,,argyll ,,quoted4 ,let me quote a few sentences from the ,duke of ,argyll's paper3-- ,,the ,,work ,,of ,,the ,,spade4 ,the assumption 444 that precision in research is undermining the credit of the ,hebrew ,scriptures1 is a presumption almost comically at variance with fact4 ,there is1 in particular1 one 'weapon of precision' which has of late been working wonders in precisely the opposite direction4 ,that weapon is the spade4 ,and what has it been unearthing8 ,everywhere over that narrow strip of our planet on which its human interests have been most impressive and profound--everywhere from ,tyre and ,sidon1 from ,carmel and ,lebanon1 on the west1 to ,babylon and ,nineveh and the boundary mountains of ,assyria on the east--the spade has been disentombing continuous and triumphant proof of the genuine antiquity and historical character of the ,jewish books4444 ,only the other day ,mr ,flinders ,petrie has told us how the spade has uncovered those impregnable walls of the ,amorite cities which were reported to invading ,israel by the spies of ,moses4444 ,i may be permitted to express a very strong opinion that in recent years ,christian writers have been far too shy and timid in defending one of the oldest and strongest outworks of ,christian theology4 ,i mean the element of true prediction in ,hebrew prophecy4 ,it may be true that in a former generation too exclusive attention had been paid to it4444 ,but the reaction has been excessive and irrational4 ,a great mass of connected facts1 and of continuous evidence1 remains--which cannot be gainsaid4 ,even if the greater prophets can be brought down to the very latest date which the very latest fancies can assign to them1 they depict and predict overthrows and vast revolutions in the ,east which did not take place for centuries 7pp4 #bh1 #cj74f #f ,professor ,huxley speaks of the hopeless position of ,christian divines 'raked by the fatal weapons of precision with which the enfants perdus of the advancing forces of science are armed4'444 ,perhaps he means the small arms of the modern critical school4 ,if he does1 then precision is the very last characteristic which belongs to it4 ,its methods are largely subjective4 ,here and there it may have a clearly ascertained fact to rest upon4 ,here and there it may have arrived at some tolerably secure results4 ,but in the main its methods are metaphysical1 resting on nothing but individual preconceptions1 applying tests and private canons of interpretation which are purely arbitrary 7,ibid41 p4 #bh74 99 99 99 99 99 ,,prediction4 ,the analysis of prophetic consciousness may be1 and in a great measure is1 impossible4 ,but the facts of prediction remain4 ,it remains that our ,lord ,himself predicted4 ,he foretold minutely ,his own death1 and the end of the ,city and the ,temple1 and the circumstances of the close of this on4 ,was ,he soothsaying8 ,it remains that ,he perpetually and most emphatically claimed to be the exact ,fulfilment of predictions which1 on any hypothesis1 were then ages old4 ,was ,he mistaken in their character and quality8 ,,christ',s ,,witness ,,to ,,the ,,bible4 ,in those last words ,i step1 as ,i well know1 upon a field of the most urgent controversy4 ,what is the weight to be assigned to our ever blessed ,lord's verdict upon the ,old ,testament as history and prophecy8 ,it is now asserted1 and by ,christian men1 that that verdict is not final2 that ,he in the days of ,his flesh so submitted to human limitations that ,he was liable to mistakes of fact just as ,his best contemporaries were2 that we adore ,christ1 and rely absolutely on ,him1 but it is on ,christ not as ,he was but as ,he is1 the glorified ,christ4 ,here is an unspeakably overawing subject4 ,i would not treat of it as if the question could be swept away in a sentence4 ,but ,i do1 as in our living ,master's presence1 venture to say that ,his witness to the nature and character of the ,old ,scriptures claims definitely to be ex cathedr4 ,true1 ,he doubtless spoke in this matter1 as elsewhere1 not in what may be called the technical style2 not every reference of ,his to ,moses need necessarily mean to assert precisely that ,moses wrote every clause of the ,pentateuch4 ,but the present question goes1 as we have remembered1 much deeper4 ,it asks whether or no the ,lord ,jesus was altogether and in principle mistaken4 ,he treated the ,law1 ,prophets1 and ,psalms as a solid structure of historic fact and supernatural promise1 divinely planned all through1 divinely carried out and up from the foundation1 and leading straight up to ,himself4 ,was it all the time true that large parts of them were no more historical than the ,false ,decretals on which the high ,papal claims were built8#g #g ,i may remind the reader that about the middle of the ninth century there were published1 by one ,isidore1 a collection of decisions and decrees1 purporting to be by the earliest ,bishops of ,rome1 all supporting the ,papal claims as known in the ,middle ,ages4 ,the collection was afterwards increased1 and in the middle of the twelfth century engrafted into ,gratian's ,decretum1 on which is based the ,canon ,law of the ,roman ,church4 ,these documents are undoubtedly fabrications long after date4 ,if we revise the opinion of our ,redeemer on this conspicuous point of ,his teaching1 where shall we securely pause8 ,certainly we cannot securely trust1 as oracular and final1 ,his own predictions of things still future1 at least in their details4 ,,he ,,has ,,affirmed ,,it ,,from ,,above4 ,one great utterance is often quoted as a confession that ,his conscious knowledge had limits2 ,mark xiii4 #cb4 ,quite true2 but what sort of confession is it8 ,it indicates in its very terms the vastness of ,his supernatural knowledge2 asserting ,his cognizance of the fact that the angels in heaven did not know that day and hour4 ,such an avowal of nescience is an implicit assertion of an immeasurable insight4 ,and has ,he not1 as the glorified ,christ1 thrown a light of affirmation on the opinions of the days of ,his flesh8 ,the glorified ,christ sent down the ,paraclete4 ,and the first and abiding work of the ,paraclete was to illuminate the ,apostles with a new understanding of the truth and glory of the ,old ,scriptures1 altogether in the lines of their crucified ,master's teaching about them4 ,unless indeed ,resurrection1 and ,ascension1 and ,pentecost are themselves to melt into the haze of myth6 ,the ,new ,testament is as full of the supernatural as the ,old4 ,reverently and humbly1 and with full recognition of a large place and lawful work for a true higher criticism in the literature of the ,old ,testament1 and of the ,new1 ,i yet decline to think that our ,lord's estimate of the nature of the ,bible is not to be final for me1 and that ,his reasonings from it are to be revised1 while yet ,i adore ,him as my ,light1 my ,life1 and my ,god4 ,and ,i ask my ,brethren to pause many times1 and on their knees1 before they think otherwise4 ,,present ,,fulfilments ,,of ,,prophecy4 ,as regards prediction1 let them look around them4 ,two great fulfilments of ,old ,testament prediction are going forward at this moment4 ,one is1 the vast work of missions1 whose whole aim is to make known to the ends of the earth the ,name of ,messiah1 ,son of ,david1 ,son of ,abraham1 ,son of ,god4 ,the other is1 the dispersion and yet permanence of the ,jewish race1 and 7may ,i not add1 in view of the facts of the last few years87 the beginnings of a re-population of ,palestine by the ,jews4 ,credible statistics assure us that they are now returning to their old land at the rate of many thousands in a year4 ,true1 no miracle brings them back4 ,but no thoughtful student has ever said that the miracle of prediction demands miracle in the circumstances of the fulfilment4 ,,bible ,,reading ,,is ,,the ,,best ,,defence ,,of ,,the ,,bible4 ,i have gone beyond my intended length in these observations4#h ,the present urgency of the subject1 which encounters us everywhere1 is my apology4 ,but now1 all the more gladly for the delay1 ,i hasten to a few simple words of suggestion on that practical duty of ,secret ,bible ,reading which is1 after all1 the best and surest antidote and preservative against scepticism about the ,bible1 if it is carried on at once thoroughly1 intelligently1 and as before the ,lord4 ,vain without it1 worse than vain1 will be the most diligent and successful study of the apologetics of the ,bible4 ,for the ,bible was given to be1 not a battle-field1 but a field of wheat1 and pasturage1 and flowers1 and a gold-field also all the while4 #h 7,i7 have elsewhere called attention to the following among works helpful at present in the controversy about ,scripture3 ,lord ,hatherley's ,continuity of ,scripture1 ,dr ,waller's ,authoritative ,inspiration1 ,dr ,cave's ,inspiration of the ,old ,testament4 ,let me add four able popular tractates3 ,cave's ,battle of the ,standpoints 7,queen's ,printers71 ,eckersley's ,historical ,value of the ,old ,testament 7,society for ,promoting ,christian ,knowledge71 ,g4 ,carlyle's ,moses and the ,prophets and ,seaver's ,authority of ,christ 7,elliot ,stock74 ,dr ,liddon's memorable sermon1 ,the ,worth of the ,old ,testament1 is full of helpful suggestions4 ,see too ,professor ,leathes' ,witness of the ,old ,testament to ,christ1 ,sir ,j4,w4 ,dawson's ,modern ,science in ,bible ,lands1 and ,bishop ,harold ,browne's ,messiah ,foretold4 ,i specially call attention to ,canon ,r4 ,girdlestone's recent book1 the work of a master1 ,the ,foundations of the ,bible1 most temperate1 judicial1 solid1 and establishing2 and to this must be added now 7#ahib7 ,bishop ,ellicott's excellent ,charge1 published by the ,s4,p4,c4,k4 under the title ,christus ,comprobator4 ,how then shall ,i read my ,bible so as at once spiritually and mentally to know it1 or rather1 to be always getting to know it8 ,the answer must be--at sundry times and in divers manners4 ,i must make time to read often1 however brief each time may be4 ,and ,i must use methods of study1 more than one1 in parallel lines4 ,as a sort of ground-work to all other methods ,i venture first to say1 be always reading the ,bible through1 however slowly1 or rapidly4 ,for certain purposes1 for instance in order to grasp the scope of a book1 as perhaps an ,epistle1 or the ,revelation1 or ,st ,john's ,gospel1 or the latter half of ,isaiah1 or the ,book of ,genesis1#i rapid reading may be quite reverently done4 ,in any case1 get as soon as you may1 and as often as is practicable and practical1 over the whole surface4 ,lord ,hatherley1 amidst the heavy occupations of a barrister's and judge's life1 used to read the whole ,book through carefully every year1 and this for more than thirty years4 ,i cannot say that ,i do the same4 ,but ,i aim to read the ,bible over carefully within every few years4 #i ,to touch on a very small point ,i write here the ,book of ,genesis1 not the ,book ,genesis4 ,english literature1 if ,i do not mistake1 is as unfamiliar with the latter phrase as it is with the city ,london4 ,,plough-,,husbandry4 ,then1 practise what ,i would call the plough-husbandry of the ,book4 ,make long furrows4 ,investigate what the ,scriptures have to say by topics1 by doctrines1 by leading words1 over great breadths of their surface2 keeping that subject1 that word1 all along in view4 ,bring all your mind to work that way1 in the light of the ,presence sought by prayer4 ,an occasional special form of such study may be illustrated by that admirable book1 written long ago1 but full of life still1 the late ,professor ,blunt's ,undesigned ,coincidences4 ,i was thankful in my first days of ministry to be led to put in practice its examples and suggestions by ploughing in the field of the ,new ,testament for the coincidences between the ,gospel narrative and the allusions to our blessed ,lord's life scattered over the ,epistles4 ,,spade-,,husbandry4 ,then1 practise also a diligent spade-husbandry in your ,bible study4 ,dig as well as plough4 ,in each narrow plot of the great field there are treasures hid4 ,dig a verse sometimes1 using perhaps the spade of parallel references4 ,dig a paragraph at other times2 a chapter2 a short book4 ,you are quite sure1 under the blessing of the ,master of the ,field1 to bring up rich results1 more or less4 ,i will close my talk upon the ,bible by offering a specimen of such spade-husbandry4 ,a few years ago1 at the ,church ,congress at ,wakefield1 ,i read a paper on ,bible-reading4 ,it mainly took the line of recommending earnestly the use of the ,biblical student's spade1 and then it illustrated the recommendation by the following spade-study of the ,epistle of ,st ,paul to the ,philippians2 given here just as it was read4 99 99 99 99 99 ,a ,,church ,,congress ,,paper ,,on ,,bible ,,study4 ,it has been laid on me to say a few words on the devotional study of the ,holy ,scriptures1 taking some one ,book of ,scripture1 and in some sort exemplifying such study from it4 ,i accept the theme1 with a deep sense both of its opportuneness in our busy period1 so full of temptations to the ,christian ,minister to postpone his ,bible-study to other things1 and of its sacred1 paramount1 vital importance4 ,may our divine and sovereign ,master be pleased to use my simple suggestions to call once more the attention especially of ,his ordained servants to the urgency of our need to be personal ,bible-students before ,him1 and to the strength and joy that lies in such study1 really pursued4 ,he1 in the days of ,his flesh1 was the supreme ,believer in the ,bible1 the supreme ,lover1 ,student1 ,expositor1 and ,employer of the ,bible4 ,with the letter of the ,bible ,he sustained ,himself and quelled the ,enemy in the ,temptation1 and the quotations ,he then selected suggest the minuteness of ,his study4 ,upon the written ,word ,he spent the whole ,easter afternoon4 ,accepted ,sacrifice for ,sin1 ,conqueror of ,death1 ,lord and ,head of ,life1 ,he had come that morning from the grave2 and ,he came as it were holding the ,scriptures in ,his hands4 ,he found around ,him in those earthly days a mass of religious popular opinions1 and ,he spoke ,his holy mind freely against the false among them4 ,but there was one opinion which ,he noticed only to sanction1 to sanctify1 to glorify4 ,it was the opinion that the ,scriptures were divine1 were charged with the authority of ,god4 ,i pray to ,him1 and trust ,him1 my ,master and ,lord1 to hold me now humbly firm to the end1 after many a struggle1 in ,his opinion of the ,holy ,scriptures4 ,i would enter into1 as ,he abode in1 their rest2 therefore ,i accept1 as ,he accepted1 their yoke4 ,i would feel what ,he felt1 that living incitement to their study which is indissolubly bound up1 if ,i mistake not1 with the firm persuasion of their supernatural character and authority4 ,i would read them1 as ,he read them1 above all things to act upon them in the life which we1 ,his followers1 have in ,him2 that life whose exercise and outcome means our whole walk here as well as hereafter4 ,i would regard them1 as it is apparent that ,he regarded them1 as being 7in a sacred sense7 self-sufficient2 not1 indeed1 to the self-sufficient reader1 but to the reader who prays in reverent simplicity that the ,holy ,spirit may dispel every moral mist1 every hindrance of heart and will1 from between him and the meaning of the written ,word2 and who intends in truthful sincerity to consent to1 to obey1 the discovered meaning2 and who is taking pains over the ,book4 ,it is a great joy to know how entirely this was the view of the matter held1 and loved1 and taught in the ancient ,church4 ,is there anything about which there is a larger consent of the ,fathers8 ,st ,athanasius loves to dilate on the ,greek3 autarkeia1 the self-sufficingness1 of 'the divine ,scriptures4' ,st ,cyril of ,jerusalem entreats his hearers to guide and fix their belief by the reading of the ,canonical books4 ,st ,chrysostom boldly accounts for all mischiefs by the lack of personal acquaintance with the ,scriptures4 ,we are in the nineteenth century1 almost in the twentieth1 and perhaps we therefore need1 even more than our elder brethren of the fourth1 to renew our energies in ,scripture-study by prayerful1 painstaking recollection of what the ,book is4 ,we need an ever fresh realization of what it is immortally1 unalterably2 the divinely trustworthy1 and therefore authoritative1 account of ,god's mind1 and specially and above all of ,god's mind concerning ,jesus ,christ and our relations to ,him1 our life by ,him1 our peace1 and power1 and hope1 in ,him4 ,and it is a few words about this aspect of ,scripture1 and the search of ,scripture1 that ,i now lay before you1 with humility and simplicity of purpose1 in the way of a description and example of a sort of study that has been a great blessing to myself4 ,take one of the holy ,books1 or a section of one of them2 and for this purpose shorter is better4 ,by a certain exercise of imagination suppose yourself to be reading a newly-discovered fragment of the apostolic age4 ,treat it somewhat as many of us have recently sought to treat ,bryennius' discovery1 ,the ,teaching of the ,twelve ,apostles4 ,what microscopic attention has been brought to bear upon that little book1 just because good evidence gives it a place in the first century1 and because it speaks of ,christ1 and of ,christians2 of faith1 worship1 ministry1 and life1 in a part of the primeval ,church6 ,now ,i attempt from time to time1 reverently but very simply1 to treat some inspired ,epistle somewhat in the same way4 ,i place myself before it as much as possible as if it were new to me and others4 ,i seek1 with something of the curiosity which such conditions would create1 to collect and arrange its theology and its ethics4 ,and then ,i bring in upon the results of my study the fact that it is ,god's ,word1 the ,word which ,i am to embrace1 and live upon1 and act upon1 to-day4 ,for example and suggestion1 let us turn to the ,,epistle ,,to ,,the ,,philippians2 few but golden pages1 precious product of those two years of ,st ,paul's physical imprisonment but blissful spiritual liberty4 ,to stimulate our consciousness of what the ,epistle contains to reward search1 and search alone1 let us try to place it before us as what it is not now1 but once was1 a newly-given oracle of ,god4 ,it was once read for the first time1 perhaps in the house of ,lydia4 ,let it be to us1 so far as thought can make it so1 what it was then4 ,and let us remember all the while that it is really even now new1 for it is immortal with the breath of the ,spirit of ,god4 ,it not only 'abideth1' but 'liveth1' for ever4 ,let us take two titles under which to classify the results of our inspection of this primitive ,document4 ,first1 its doctrine of ,christ2 then1 its doctrine of ,christian ,life4 ,as a subordinate third title we may collect what it indicates of ,christian life as exemplified in the ,writer's allusions to his own experience4 ,i4--,the ,christology of the ,epistle4 7#a7 ,we trace hints of the human history of ,christ4 ,he was man1 in reality and in seeming2 ,he died a death of suffering1 the death of the ,cross ii4 #g1 #h2 iii4 #aj42 ,he rose again1 for there is a power of ,his ,resurrection2 iii4 #aj4 and1 apparently1 ,he so left this earth that it was known that an immeasurable exaltation attended ,his going1 so that the heavens are now ,his seat ii4 #i41 from which ,he is definitely expected to return4 iii4 #bj4 7#b7 ,going back to antecedent and prehistoric matters of faith about ,him1 we find here that before ,he became man ,he subsisted in possession1 lawful and natural1 of the manifested reality ,greek3 morph of ,godhead1 equal to ,god ii4 #f44 ,his appearance as man was the sequel of ,his own action of will in that eternal state ii4 #g44 ,it was a novel and voluntary assumption of the condition of the ,bondservant1 the ,greek3 ,doulos1 of ,god4 ,antecedently possessing the ,greek3 morph of ,god1 ,he now de novo 'took' the ,greek3 morph of a bondservant4 ,what created beings in general are of course1 ,god's bondservants1 ,he had not been but now became2 a fact as astonishing in its region as the fact of ,his possession of the ,supreme ,nature is in its region4 ,he assumed this ,greek3 douleia1 we find1 because ,his essential work was to obey1 to 'become obeying1' yes1 to the extent of death ii4 #h42 which death was thus in ,him altogether voluntary1 part of a free undertaking to be not ,his own4 ,the immediate result for ,himself1 it next appears1 was an exaltation by ,god to supreme majesty under all these conditions4 ,as being all this1 possessor of ,deity and accepter of bondservice1 ,he was now de novo proclaimed as ,greek3 ,kyrios1 as ,lord1 in a sense interpreted by the adoration of the universe2 to the glory of ,god ,his ,father4 ,for it repeatedly appears in the ,epistle that ,god is ,his ,father2 ,he is the ,son of ,god ii4 #aa44 ,further1 all 'the riches of ,god in glory' i4 #b2 ii4 #aa4 are 'in ,him4' iv4 #ai4 ,it appears that in ,his exaltation ,he is embodied still1 for it is to likeness to the body of ,his glory that the body of our humiliation is to be changed at ,his expected return4 ,he is ,almighty 'to subdue all things1' and the subjugation is 'to ,himself4' iii4 #ba4 7#c7 ,as regards ,his relation to ,his followers1 such is it that their whole life and every exercise of it is mysteriously but emphatically said to be ,,in ,,him4 ,he1 the supreme ,bondservant1 is to them 7we continually read7 absolute ,lord4 ,his grace animates their spirit4 ,the divine ,spirit ministered to them is ,his i4 #b2 iv4 #bc44 ,their 'fruit of righteousness' is generated and produced 'through' ,him i4 #ai44 ,he is evermore and profoundly near to them4 ,their heart-emotions are 'in ,his heart4' i4 #aa2 iv4 #e4 ,to believe in ,him is their essential characteristic i4 #h44 ,to suffer for ,him is a special boon to them i4 #bi44 ,they live in expectation of ,his return1 ,his day4 i4 #f1 #aj2 ii4 #af2 iii4 #bj4 ,,ii4--,the ,epistle's account of ,christian ,life1 inward and outward4 ,we gather that the disciples are saints1 ,greek3 hagioi1 separated from self and sin to ,god2 brethren to one another2 the true ,israel1 citizens of the ,city above i4 #a1 #ad2 iii4 #c1 #bj2 iv4 #ba44 ,their being and life are so united to ,christ1 that they as ,christians 7and it is evidently assumed that this covers everything for them7 exist1 and are to act1 'in ,him4' ,in ,him1 we find1 they are 'saints' and 'brethren' i4 #a1 #ad2 iv4 #a1 #b2 ii4 #bi42 in ,him they are to 'stand fast'2 to be 'of one mind'2 to 'receive one another'2 to possess comfort1 consolation2 to glory2 to rejoice ii4 #a2 iii4 #a1 #c2 iv4 #d44 ,it is solemnly guaranteed1 under certain most holy and happy conditions1 that 'the peace of ,god ,himself shall'--the promise is positive--'keep safe their hearts and thoughts in ,him' iv4 #g42 wonderful words1 but perfectly distinct4 ,in them ,god 'has begun a good work1 to be carried for its completion up to the day of ,christ'2 and ,god is now 'working in them to will and to do for the sake of' ,his plan and purpose i4 #f2 ii4 #ac44 ,it is laid upon them accordingly1 in the profound inner rest of such union1 such possession1 such submission1 to 'work out their salvation1' to live out their life as the saved1 with the 'fear and trembling' of sacred reverence ii4 #ab44 ,they are 'to look each not on his own things1' but on the things of others1 in their ,lord's manner ii4 #d42 to hold together in loving and courageous union for the ,gospel1 standing fast in 'one soul1' under the 'one ,spirit's' power2 to keep their place in the midst of evil surroundings as the 'children of ,god' i4 #bh4 and the 'light-bearers' of 'the message of life4' ii4 #af4 ,they are to abstain totally1 in the power of their life in ,christ1 from all sin1 to 'do nothing' 7,i take all possible note of these 'alls' and 'nothings' as ,i study and classify7 'for strife or vainglory' ii4 #c42 to be 'anxious about nothing1 but in everything' to tell ,god their desires2 to 'do all things without murmurings and disputings' iv4 #f2 ii4 #ad42 to be 'unblamable1 unhurtful1 unblemished1 ,god's children1' not in a dreamland1 but in the realities of ,philippian life2 to bear fruit1 'fruit of righteousness1 which is through ,jesus ,christ1' ii4 #ae4 and so to bear it that at last it shall turn out1 in the day of the ,lord1 that they are 'filled' with it i4 #aa42 every branch is laden4 ,they are to let their 'moderation1' that is to say their yieldingness1 their self-lessness1 come out in common life1 'known to all men1' in the power of a ',lord at hand' iv4 #e42 to fill their thoughts with all that is good1 straightforward1 chastened1 pure iv4 #h42 to 'mind' the things in heaven iii4 #bj2 ii42 to have 'the mind of ,christ'2 to grow in spiritual perception1 along with the growth of love i4 #i42 to live the life expressed in that profound summary1 'worshipping ,god in the ,spirit 7or1 by the ,spirit of ,god72 exulting in ,christ ,jesus2 having no confidence in the flesh4' iii4 #c4 ,,iii4--,the ,life in ,christ exemplified in the ,writer4 ,here let us forget the ,apostle1 for he speaks wholly as the ,christian1 and in a way manifestly meant to be an instruction to all ,christians4 ,he appears1 then1 in our document1 as one whom ,christ has 'seized1' has 'grasped' iii4 #ab42 as one who has discovered in ,christ1 and in ,christ alone1 the supreme ,gain1 the supreme ,object of knowledge1 the supreme ,spiritual ,power as the ,risen ,one1 iii4 #aj4 the supreme ,interest and ,reason of life i4 #bj2 iii4 #g-ad1 the one possible supply of the unspeakable need of a valid ,righteousness before the ,judgment ,seat4 ,yes1 he must be 'found in ,him1 having the righteousness which is from ,god on terms of faith1' iii4 #i4 the faith which enters into ,christ4 ',in ,christ1' we discover1 the ,writer is1 everywhere and always4 ,his 'bonds' are 'in ,christ'2 his 'glory' is 'in ,christ' i4 #ac1 #bf42 his hopes and trusts about the common events of life are 'in ,christ'2 in ,christ he has 'found the secret' how to do all1 all he has to do1 in peace iv4 #ai1 #bd44 ,christ fills his present life iv4 #ac42 when he dies1 he will be so 'with ,christ' that it will be 'far better' than this present life1 though it is full of ,christ i4 #ba1 #bc44 ,he is the willing but most real bondservant of ,christ i4 #a44 ,his relations with ,christ so fill him with peace and the power of peace1 that extremely irritating rivalry and opposition at ,rome does not irritate him1 but occasions holy joy1 and the suspense about life and death in which ,nero keeps him is powerless1 wholly because of ,christ i4 #ab1 etc41 to evoke anything but a statement of the dilemma of blessings which life and death in the ,lord are to him i4 #ba1 etc44 ,on the other hand1 as the whole ,epistle indicates1 every pure human sensibility circulates naturally in this supernatural atmosphere ,e4g4 ii4 #bg1 #bh2 iv4 #aj44 ,and meanwhile1 though 'perfect1' in respect of reality of union and communication with his ,lord1 he is not yet 'perfected' in respect of application and results2 the goal1 the prize1 is yet to come4 iii4 #ab1 #ad4 ,and so ,i shut my ,epistle to the ,philippians1 leaving very much more in it for the next occasion4 ,such a study has not demanded long hours4 ,it has asked only interest1 purpose1 and painstaking1 a few such fragments of daily time as we must1 yes1 must1 make and take for the ,bible1 if we are not to starve our people and ourselves4 ,suffer me to repeat it with deep earnestness2 we must1 we absolutely must1 not merely devotionally read but devotionally search and penetrate this divine ,book4 ,and what shall come of the effort8 ,by the grace of ,god1 sought in the deep joy of a profound submission1 it shall come that we shall each one realize1 with a vernal newness and delight1 that ,christ is mine2 that the springs and secrets of this life in ,him are mine1 for the realities of my home1 my parish1 my study1 my soul4 ,i go 7it is for each one of us to say it7 with renewed thirst and certainty to ,him the eternal ,fountain2 ,i live1 ,i live1 yet not ,i2 and therefore ,i can work4 ,it will be 'with fear and trembling1' as ,i know myself to be indeed in the eternal ,presence2 yet it will be also in the power-giving 'peace that passeth understanding1 keeping the heart and thoughts1 in ,christ ,jesus1' a keeping that is not meant to vanish outside holy places and holy hours1 but to do its strongest and serenest work in the midst of crookedness and perverseness1 under the stress of toils and burthens1 as truly for me to-day as for the ,philippians and their ,teacher then4 ,the ,spirit breathes upon the ,word ,and brings the truth to sight2 ,precepts and promises afford ,a sanctifying light4 ,my soul rejoices to pursue ,the steps of ,him ,i love1 ,till glory breaks upon my view ,in brighter worlds above4 ,,cowper4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,the ,,daily ,,walk ,,with ,,others 7i474 ,when the watcher in the dark ,turns his lenses to the skies1 ,suddenly the starry spark ,grows a world upon his eyes3 ,be my life a lens1 that ,i ,so my ,lord may magnify ,we come from the secrecies of the young ,clergyman's life1 from his walk alone with ,god in prayer and over ,his ,word1 to the subject of his common daily intercourse4 ,let us think together of some of the duties1 opportunities1 risks1 and safeguards of the ordinary day's experience4 ,a ,,walk ,,with ,,god ,,all ,,day4 ,a word presents itself to be said at once1 about the connexion between the secret and the common walk of the servant of ,god4 ,the former is never to give way to the latter2 it is to run into it1 underground4 ,to walk with ,god all day is to be our distinct and practical purpose1 and not merely a sweet sentiment and holy aspiration of the hymn-book4 ,the man who prays in secret is to be the man who knows how to pray secretly in public4 ,the man who pores over the ,word all alone is to be the man who1 out in the open field of life1 sins not because he has hid that ,word in his heart ,ps4 cxix4 #aa42 and who1 being called upon by circumstances1 however casually1 to show himself actually a true man of the ,book1 is internally ready to do so4 ,nothing short of a life with ,christ behind our work1 always and everywhere1 is to content us ,pastors4 ,to live that life is from one point of view our wonderful privilege1 in our living union with our blessed ,head4 ,from another point of view it is our truest and deepest work1 as we watch and pray over our privilege1 and draw upon our ,head in the holy diligence of faith4 ,i have spoken already of this vital connexion between the walk with ,god in secret and the secret walk with ,god in public4 ,but it bears reiteration4 ,it is something gained if we only remind one another1 with the emphasis of repetition1 that such a life is our bounden duty and our blissful possibility3-- ,you may always be abiding1 if you will1 at ,jesu's side2 ,in the secret of ,his ,presence you may every moment hide4#aj #aj ,i quote from a beautiful hymn1 beginning1 ,in the secret of ,his ,presence4 ,it is given in part in several recent hymn-books1 but for its complete form see ,from ,india's ,coral ,strand1 7,home ,words ,office1 ,paternoster ,buildings17 a collection of the poems of its gifted writer1 a ,hindoo ,christian lady1 ,miss ,e4,l4 ,goreh4 ,but now1 what will be the surface and expression of such a hidden life1 as the young ,clergyman passes through his busy common day8 ,,life ,,in ,,lodgings4 ,let me speak first of his life indoors1 that is to say1 probably1 in his lodgings4 ,there the day at least begins and ends2 and1 in more ways than he is aware of till he sets himself to consider1 he may--or may not--glorify his ,master there4 ,he is quite certain to be watched1 whether the eyes are friendly or unfriendly to himself and to his message and ministry4 ,he will be watched of course not only as a man but as a ,minister4 ,and the results of the observation may be most important1 for good or for evil1 to the immediate observers2 and they are pretty sure to reach many other people through them4 ,what shall the harvest be8 ,,self-,,respect4 ,let one result be1 a clear impression in the house that you1 the new ,curate1 are a man of ,,self-,,respect4 ,perhaps that word will not be used1 any more than its ,greek equivalent1 ,greek3 aids1 that noble pre-,christian ethical term which lay ready and waiting to be glorified by the ,gospel4 ,but let ,self-respect be your principle and your practice1 and it will leave its impression1 by whatever word the impression may be described4 ,let the man be seen by those who are about him1 and who in one way or another wait on him1 to be quite simple while quite refined in ways and habits2 to be active and wholesome in the hours he keeps2 to hold self-indulgence under a strong bridle 7shall ,i say1 not least the self-indulgence which cannot do without the stimulant and without the pipe872 and he will be in a fair way to commend his message indoors4 ,let him be seen1 without the least affectation1 but unmistakably1 to find his main interests1 within doors as well as without1 in his ,lord and ,his cause and work2 to be the avowed ,christian at all hours2 and he will be doing hourly work for ,christ4 ,with it all1 let him be seen to be gentle to others while to himself severe2 let him1 while always self-respectful1 be always watchfully ,,considerate2 and his light will shine2 he will be an ,o,ecolampadius1 a ,house-light1 indeed4 ,,considerateness4 ,on that last point ,i must dilate a little2 on the point of ,considerateness4 ,i remember a conversation a few years ago with one of our college servants1 an excellent ,christian woman1 truly exemplary in every duty4 ,she was speaking of one of my dear student friends now labouring for the ,lord in a distant and difficult mission-field1 and giving him--after his departure from us--a tribute of most disinterested praise3 ,ah1 ,sir1 he was a consistent gentleman6 ,and then she instanced some of my friend's consistencies2 and ,i observed that they all reduced themselves to one word--,considerateness4 ,he was always taking trouble1 and always saving trouble4 ,he was always finding out how a little thought for others can save them much needless labour4 ,the things in question were not heroic4 ,the thoughtfulness for others concerned only such matters as the bath1 and the shoes1 and the clothes1 and some small details of hospitality4 ,but they meant a very great deal for the hard-worked caretaker1 and they were to her a means of quite distinct edification1 upbuilding1 in the assurance that ,christ and the ,gospel are indeed practical realities4 ,i break no confidence when ,i add1 by the way1 that my friend had not always been thus a consistent gentleman4 ,but the ,lord had found him1 and he had found the ,lord1 in the midst of his ,university life2 and he had learnt most deeply and effectually1 at the feet of ,jesus1 the consistency of ,considerateness4 ,i do press this aspect of our daily walk with all earnestness on my younger ,brethren4 ,i press it on them at least to think about it with painstaking attention4 ,no ,christian man1 as such1 means for one moment to be selfish4 ,but lack of attention does in very many cases indeed allow the real ,christian to contract1 or to continue1 selfish habits4 ,many good men quite fail to realize how selfish1 practically1 it is to be unpunctual4 ,you have your understood mealtimes in your lodging4 ,it may not be always possible to keep strictly to them2 the exigencies of work may make it honestly necessary now and again to be out of time4 ,but let nothing less than duty do so for you4 ,the breakfast kept standing because you are not up when you should be may very likely mean much needless trouble and much domestic disarrangement4 ,guests often brought in without any notice may mean the same4 ,,simplicity ,,at ,,table4 ,perhaps ,i need not say1 yet ,i will say it1 that the consistent servant of ,god1 whether at his own table or at his neighbour's1 will take heed unto himself not even to seem fastidious4 ,there are some men about whom1 if you know them1 you feel sure that they will not choose the best dish at the table2 and there are others1 ,i am afraid1 about whom you feel pretty sure that they will4 ,one man will not think1 or at least will not seem to think1 whether the meat is hot or cold2 and another will rather decidedly avoid the latter4 ,pardon the details2 they have something very real to do with our ,consistency4 ,,use ,,of ,,the ,,tongue4 ,and indeed we have need to ponder ,consistency when we come to the unruly member4 ,it is not often1 perhaps1 that the risks of the tongue are specially present in a bachelor's life in lodgings4 ,but they are not absent there4 ,friends come in1 and we will suppose that you and they are waited upon at your meal4 ,what does the servant hear8 ,much talk about other and absent persons8 ,unkind or flippant criticisms8 ,idle1 frivolous words8 ,very likely not1 thank ,god2 for we do want to remember our ,lord4 ,but let us take heed4 ,nothing is more conspicuously inconsistent in the ,christian than needless1 unloving discussion of the characters and lives of others2 nothing is more keenly noticed when overheard2 nothing more breaks the spell of influence for ,god4 ,quisquis amat dictis absentum rodere vitam1 ,hanc mensam vetitam noverit esse sibi4#aa #aa ,,possidonius3 ,de ,vit ,augustini1 c4 #bb4 ,such was the memento which ,st ,augustine had inscribed upon his dining-table4 ,he found it necessary to remind the ,bishops 7copiscopi7 whom he entertained not to misuse their ordained tongues4 ,and the ,pastors of the nineteenth century need it still1 quite as much as it was needed in the fifth4 ,,set ,a ,,watch4 ,it is impossible1 of course1 to lay down exhaustive rules for the ,christian guidance of conversation in detail4 ,it is quite certain that the ,gospel does not prescribe1 or intend1 that we should never speak except about things spiritual1 or even except about our special duties in the ,ministry4 ,but it is quite certain too that the ,gospel does prescribe inexorably the utmost watchfulness and self-discipline in the matter of the tongue1 for all who name the ,name of ,christ4 ,for every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account ,matt4 xii4 #cf42 ,let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth1 but such as is good to the use of edifying1 that it may minister grace unto the hearers ,eph4 iv4 #bi42 ,if any man among you seem to be devout 7,greek3 thrskos71 and bridleth not his tongue1 that man's devoutness 7,greek3 thrkeia7 is vain ,jas4 i4 #bf42 ,set a watch1 ,o ,lord1 before my lips4 ,ps4 cxli4 #c4 ,,life ,,in ,a ,,clergy-,,house4 ,i may say a few words in this connexion about the peculiar call for care and consistency where a group of young ,clergymen live together in a clergy-house4 99,,its ,,opportunities ,,and ,,needs4 ,it seems to me that such groups must in the nature of the case be either means of the greatest good in the mutual intercourse of their members1 or just the opposite4 ,as sure as corruptio optimi est pessima1 so sure it is that the young ,clergyman who is not consistent in temper1 word1 and habit1 is the most unhelpful specimen of the young man2 just because of the discord between his ministerial character and his personal4 ,and if1 say1 three or four young servants of ,god 7by profession7 domicile together and are not consistent1 ,i am afraid they will positively and actively draw one another1 without in the least meaning to do so1 away from the mind of ,christ and the walk with ,god4 ,do they allow themselves to engage in trivial foolish1 unkind talk8 ,do they so valiantly determine not to be goody-goody as tacitly to avoid all open-hearted1 loving1 reverent conversation about their ,lord and ,his truth8 ,are they much fonder of endless argument than of the ,word of ,god and prayer8 ,do their united devotions tend to be formal and perfunctory8 ,do they 7,i come back to that point again7 bridle not their tongues about the absent1 about those over them1 about those who differ from them8 ,then they are doing each other harm1 at a rapid rate1 by their collocation4 ,on the other hand1 are they each for himself living close to their ,master and ,friend in the secret chamber and in the inner heart8 ,are they walking humbly and gladly with their ,god1 much in prayer1 and having the ,scriptures often open8 ,and are they considering one another1 to provoke unto love and to good works8 ,are they remembering generally and habitually the sacredness of the duty of mutual influence and example1 in personal habits1 and otherwise8 ,are they determined each for himself to help his brethren in all things pure1 and just1 and lovable1 and of good report1 and to strengthen them to endure hardness1 and not to be ashamed of the blessed ,name8 ,then they are blessing one another in ,christ1 as few men otherwise can do4 ,but personal1 individual consistency is the absolute requisite to this2 each man must follow the ,lord for himself in faith and fear4 ,,the ,,duty ,,of ,,example4 ,i spoke just above of the sacredness of the duty of example4 ,it is a theme on which ,i entreat my younger ,brethren very often to reflect1 with self-scrutiny before their ,master3 ,i may be wrong1 but ,i cannot help thinking that here is a duty which is decidedly less remembered now1 among young ,christian men1 than it was in other days4 ,with exceptions many and bright1 ,i yet fear that there is a decline in this matter as a rule4 ,that unhappy individualism which is the bane of our day1 and which is the fatal enemy of all true and healthy individuality1 breathes its malaria through even earnest ,christian circles4 ,in the formation or allowance of personal habits1 in particular1 it is sadly common to see young ,christian men practically quite forgetful of the power and responsibility of example4 ,i do not think that this was quite so common twenty or thirty years ago4 ,not that ,i wish to take up the futile part of a mere laudator temporis acti2 ,i believe that the phenomenon has its reasons1 its law so to speak1 in the peculiar conditions of our day4 ,but then the ,christian man is never to be the slave of the conditions of his day1 while he is to serve his own generation by the will of ,god4 ,acts xiii4 #cf4 ,so ,i appeal most urgently to my reader1 if he should chance to need the friendly call1 to awake to a renewed attention to the responsibility of example1 and to watch accordingly over consistency in everything4 ,,for ,,their ,,sakes4 ,with the humblest reverence may ,i quote in this connexion the words of our blessed ,lord in the ,high ,priestly ,prayer8 ,for their sakes ,i sanctify ,myself4 ,so said ,,jesus ,,christ4 ,john xvii4 #ai4 ,perfectly holy personally1 ,he was yet always deliberately hallowing ,himself1 separating ,himself1 to the ,father's will and work1 for their sakes2 because of ,his relations with ,his disciples4 ,shall not we sinners1 at whatever interval1 yet really1 follow ,his steps in this also8 ,for their sakes1 for the sake of our brethren in the ,ministry1 for the sake of our servants1 for the sake of our neighbour of all sorts and kinds1 let us sanctify ourselves in a daily1 willing separation from the way of self to the will of ,god1 diligently seeking the expression of that will in ,his holy ,word4 ,it is the duty of every ,christian4 ,it is par excellence the duty of every ,christian ,minister1 from the oldest ,archbishop to the youngest ,deacon4 ,to take ,orders is to renounce all ideas of a selfishly private life4 ,our whole life henceforth is for their sakes2 even in those parts of it which must1 from another point of view1 be most jealously protected from officialism1 and lived as if for the time no one existed but the man and his ,god4 ,we are emphatically now their bondmen for ,jesus' sake4 #b ,cor4 iv4 #e4 ,others have now an indefeasible right not only to our ministry of ,ordinances1 and to our preaching1 and our visiting1 but to the example of our habits1 of our lives4 ,,manner4 ,following up the same line of remark1 let me say a word about our duty to others in the matter of manner4 ,it is sometimes1 surely1 forgotten by ,christian men that they have no right to be careless of their manner4 ,many an excellent and otherwise consistent ,clergyman seems to assume that1 whether with his brethren or with his parish neighbours1 his manner may take care of itself1 if he only does not mean it4 ,but well-meaning is a poor substitute for well-doing2 especially that otiose sort of well-meaning which only means not meaning ill4 99,,noblesse ,,oblige4 ,christians have no business with so poor and thin a phantom of virtue4 ,they are not at liberty not to think about a kindly courtesy of address1 and a manly deference towards elders1 and watchful honour given to woman #a ,pet4 iii4 #g41 and a manifested 7as well as felt7 sympathy of heart with all who ask it4 ,they are forbidden by the whole will and rights of their ,master to be loud and casual in intercourse2 to be moody and uncertain2 to be difficult to please1 easy to offend2 to think it a small thing to speak the word to others which may wound1 even lightly1 with any wound but the really faithful one of a loving caution or reproof in ,christ4 ,no one is to be so independent in one aspect as the ,christian man1 and particularly the ,christian ,minister4 ,few men have so strong a vantage-ground for independence as the ,clergyman of the ,english national ,church4 ,but it is the sort of independence which carries also the deepest obligation1 the strongest sort of noblesse oblige4 ,it is for their sakes4 ,and so the same man is bound to be also the most accessible1 the most attentive1 the most courteous and sympathetic4 ,avoiding carefully1 of course1 all affectation and unreality1 he is to take care that a ,christian reality within does show itself in a ,christian manner without4 ,let your moderation1 your oblivion of self1 be known unto all men4 ,phil4 iv4 #e4 ,let it be seen and felt1 in your rooms1 in your parish1 in your church4 ,,temper4 ,obviously this takes for granted the ,clergyman's recognition of the call to rule his spirit4 ,prov4 xvi4 #cb4 ,the temptation not to do so is very different for different men4 ,one man finds temper and patience sorely tried by things which do not even attract the attention of another4 ,but very few men indeed1 in the actual experiences of pastoral life1 whether in town or country1 quite escape for long together the stings which irritate and inflame4 ,but they must learn how to meet them in peace and patience1 unless they would take one of the most certain ways to dishonour their ,master and discredit their message4 ,the world has some very true instincts about the power of the ,gospel1 as it ought to be1 as it claims to be4 ,and one of them is that a ,christian as such is a man who ought always to keep his temper4 ,the ,christian ,clergyman is most certainly1 at least in an ironical sense1 expected never to be personally vexed and hot4 ,will it be so8 ,will he take ignorant rudeness pleasantly1 should it cross his way8 ,will he meet opposition patiently1 however firmly8 ,will he show that he remembers the text1 ,the bondservant of the ,lord must not strive8 #b ,tim4 ii4 #bd4 ,,the ,,rev4 ,c4 ,,simeon4 ,that text was the watchword of a great man of ,god1 the ,rev4 ,charles ,simeon1 in the early and exquisitely trying experiences of his long ministry 7#aghb-ahcf7 at ,trinity ,church1 ,cambridge4 ,the parishioners shut their house-doors in his face1 and locked their pew-doors against those who came to hear him4 ,every form of irritating parochial obstruction was employed4 ,and the young ,clergyman had by nature a very short temper1 and a very fearless spirit4 ,but he had found peace through the blood of the ,cross a few years before1 and the interests of his ,saviour were become all in all to him4 ,so his first thought was1 what would best commend ,jesus ,christ to the angry people8 ,and the words seemed to sound constantly in his soul1 by way of answer1 ,the servant of the ,lord must not strive4 ,never was tried patience more beautifully made perfect4 ,he was always giving way1 and always going on4 ,he carefully ascertained that it was illegal to lock the pew-doors2 but he did not take the law of those who locked them4 ,his soul was kept in peace2 and by degrees1 as might be expected1 a calmness which clearly was not cowardice but consistency won a victory whose effects are felt to this day through the whole ,church of ,england in the results of ,simeon's mighty influence4#ab #ab ,i may be permitted to refer to my brief sketch of ,mr ,simeon's ,life3 ,charles ,simeon 7,methuen1 #ahib71 ch4 iv4 ,,the ,,secret ,,of ,,peace4 ,how shall we1 in our measure1 whenever called to it1 not strive1 but let our oblivion of self be known unto all men--in the cottage1 in the villa1 in the vestry8 ,there is only one way4 ,it is by abiding in the ,secret of the ,presence1 in the pavilion where the strife of tongues may be heard indeed1 but cannot1 no1 cannot1 set the hearer on fire4 ,we must claim on our knees1 very often1 our ,master's power to keep the soul which ,he has made1 and which longs to manifest ,him ,in faith1 in meekness1 love1 ,in every beauteous grace1 ,from glory thus to glory changed ,as we behold ,his face4 ,,power ,,of ,a ,,consistent ,,life4 ,i have inevitably touched only some parts of the great subject of personal ministerial ,consistency4 ,more will be said later4 ,but the treatment on paper1 at almost any length1 must be incomplete at the best2 many an important side of the subject will need to be omitted4 ,my aim has been1 and will be1 to speak of those sides most1 if not only1 which are in special danger of neglect at the present day2 and this means of course the passing by of some large topics4 ,,pains ,,and ,,means4 ,but contributions1 however fragmentary1 to the study of ,consistency will not be in vain4 ,a ,minister's life is the life of his ministry1 says some one of other days with pithy force4 ,happy those labourers of the ,church1 says blessed ,quesnel1 the ,jansenist 7on ,mark vi4 #cc71 the sweet odour of whose lives draws the people to ,jesus ,christ4 ,we all recognize the beauty and truth of such sayings4 ,we all admit the fitness and duty of ,consistency4 ,but we must also recollect that in order to our consistency there is needed more than an abstract approbation2 we must attend1 we must reflect1 we must examine ourselves1 we must discipline ourselves1 as those who aim at an object at once lovely and necessary4 ,above all1 we must order our steps in our ,lord's ,word1 ,ps4 cxix4 #acc4 and we must maintain a living communion of spirit with our ,lord ,himself1 who is not only our ,exemplar1 our ,law1 and our ,king1 but also our ,secret1 our ,strength1 our ,life4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,the ,,daily ,,walk ,,with ,,others 7ii474 ,if ,jesus ,christ thou serve1 take heed1 ,whate'er the hour may be2 ,his brethren are obliged indeed ,by their nobility4 ,in the present chapter ,i follow the general principles of the last into some further details4 ,and ,i place before me as a sort of motto those twice-repeated words of the ,apostle1 ,,take ,,heed ,,unto ,,thyself4 ,these words1 it will be remembered1 are addressed in both places to the ,christian ,minister4 ,acts xx4 #bh2 #a ,tim4 iv4 #f4 ,at ,miletus ,st ,paul gathers round him the ,presbyters of ,ephesus1 and implores them to take heed to themselves1 and to the flock4 ,a few years later he writes to ,timothy1 commissioned 7whether permanently or not7 to be ,pastor of ,pastors in that same ,ephesus1 and lays it on his soul to take heed to himself1 and to the doctrine4 ,in each case the appeal to attend to self comes first1 as the vital preliminary to the other4 ,and in each case it takes the form of a solemn warning2 not only remember but ,,take ,,heed4 ,,take ,,heed ,,unto ,,thyself4 ,i have already tried to emphasize the duty of heed-taking1 in several directions4 ,but ,i come in this chapter to some important matters which seem specially to fall under such a heading2 matters in which the lack of prayerful heed may1 and often does1 work great and even fatal mischief in the lives of ,clergymen4 ,,relations ,,with ,,woman4 i4 ,let me first say a little1 in brotherly confidence and candour1 about the young ,clergyman's relations with ,woman in ordinary intercourse4 ,it would be waste of words to talk about the delicacy of the subject2 it is self-evident4 ,and it is obvious also that in a book like this the subject can be treated only in the way of general suggestion2 no vain attempt shall ,i make to state and discuss possible exceptional cases of social difficulty4 ,but it is quite necessary to say something on this matter1 for it is indeed a pressing and important thing in ministerial life4 ,i will begin1 then1 with the assumption that the young ,clergyman recognizes1 and seeks to practise1 the great ,gospel principle of a sanctified chivalry4 ,to the feminine vessel1 as to the weaker1 give honour1 writes ,st ,peter #a ,pet iii4 #g42 words which must be cut large and deep into our ministerial hearts if we are to live as true ,ministers and true men4 ,they have a particular reference to married life1 ,i know2 but their full scope is far wider4 ,and they are among the most wonderful utterances of the apostolic ,gospel1 when we read them in the light1 or rather under the contrasted darkness1 of the contemporary anti-chivalry of the ,rabbinic teaching about woman4 ,they are the utterance of ,peter1 the married man1 after his discipleship in the ,spirit at the feet of ,jesus1 the ,mother's ,son4 ,giving honour2 do not forget the phrase4 ,it lifts us into a higher and far healthier region than that of either mere fondness or mere admiration4 ,indeed1 it is all-important to remember what a deep gulph lies between two things which at first sight may be mistaken for one another--,admiration for ,women1 ,reverence for ,woman4 ,so let apostolic chivalry1 unaffected1 but watchful and practical1 govern your life1 by the grace of ,god4 ,let it be quite impartial as a principle4 ,you may possibly have to speak with a princess2 you are sure to have to speak and deal with very poor and ignorant women4 ,but each and all they are ,,woman1 and you must remember the ,apostle's word4 ,courtesy and consideration are due to them all1 as you are a man1 a ,christian1 a ,minister of ,god4 ,the expression may vary1 and within limits it must1 but the principle must be always there4 ,to the poorest woman give the wall in the street1 offer the best seat in the train4 ,,we ,,are ,,trusted4 ,i must here so far anticipate a future chapter as to point out how constantly this call to give honour must be remembered in pastoral visitation4 ,we ,clergy are trusted to an extraordinary degree in personal intercourse with female parishioners4 ,how often a pastoral call is paid1 whether at mansion or cottage1 when no man is at home6 ,take heed unto thyself then4 ,the call under those circumstances should be as brief as possible4 ,and the whole interview should be ruled by a heedful while unobtrusive respect and self-respect4 ,do not think a strong word of caution in this matter out of place and out of scale4 ,carelessness of even appearances here may wreck a life2 it may certainly blight an influence4 ,,when ,,and ,,how ,,to ,,take ,,heed4 ,but ,i do not forget that we are not yet concerned directly with pastoral visitation as such2 we are thinking of incidental social intercourse4 ,the young ,clergyman will sometimes1 however seldom1 find himself visiting in not exactly the pastoral sense of the word4 ,courteous hospitality will be shown him by neighbours2 and while he will very often decline these calls1 because his ,master's work in other and more obvious forms claims him1 sometimes he will accept them1 as his ,master did4 ,or his needful holiday has come1 and he is staying at a friend's house1 or is thrown into new intercourse at some health-resort4 ,and we will suppose that he is a bachelor1 and not engaged4 ,in what particular directions shall he take heed8 ,,know ,,thyself4 ,below and above all details1 he will take heed to remember his always present ,lord and ,friend1 and to live and talk as knowing that ,,he is the unseen ,listener to every conversation2 a recollection which ought to banish from our talk1 whether we talk with man or woman1 alike frivolity1 unkindness1 untruthfulness1 and dulness4 ,then1 to come to a few details under that great principle--the man will need to watch and be heedful in one or more quite different directions1 according to his character4 ,and ,god grant us all such honesty and simplicity before ,him as shall teach us to know at least something of our own characters1 especially in their weak points4 ,there ought to be no surer prescription for a true ,greek3 gnthi seauton than to walk in the light #a ,john i4 #g4 of the presence of ,him who sees everything just as it is1 and in that light to look at ourselves1 and the world1 and ,his ,word2 aiming every day1 not to be thought nice1 or to be thought remarkable1 but to let ,him shine out of our lives4 ,,the ,,duty ,,of ,,reserve4 ,one man1 then1 will need more than another to cultivate a quiet reserve and restraint of manner in social intercourse with young ladies4 ,it is the way of some men1 without thinking about it1 to be too demonstratively attentive4 ,it is the way of others to forget that they are not everywhere at home1 and to be far too familiarly friendly4 ,i look on every girl ,i meet as if she were my sister2 so said one young ,clergyman1 a very fine fellow indeed1 but certainly in this sentiment very much and very dangerously mistaken4 ,attentions and confidences may be meant as honestly as possible4 ,but if they go beyond a certain line 7soon reached7 they may most naturally be thought to mean something more2 to be a preliminary1 however distant1 to an offer4 ,and just possibly such a thought may not be unwelcome to the other person concerned4 ,and if so1 and if all the while nothing but courtesy was meant1 you1 my friend and ,brother1 without knowing it1 perhaps without ever knowing it1 may spoil the life of one who cannot possibly1 as a woman1 express herself to you4 ,i have known such a case in clerical life4 ,the man was a true man1 but he allowed himself1 for the pleasantness of it1 to be very agreeable where he meant no more than friendship4 ,great1 while silent1 was the sorrow that resulted4 ,take heed unto thyself4 ,,special ,,risks4 ,there are some parochial circumstances where even unusual caution is needed in this direction2 for reasons which ,i allude to with pain4 ,it is a fact1 ,i fear1 that in some parishes the ,curate is in danger of being rather actively pursued1 by here and there a parent1 as a possibly desirable son-in-law4 ,i have even heard of a certain ,incumbent who was given not indistinctly to understand that the coming ,curate would be less welcome if he was a man already married4 ,such a state of things is of course one of exceptional social risk and difficulty for a ,curate1 and for a young single ,rector or ,vicar still more so4 ,nothing will do but a very real heed-taking1 beginning always in secret with ,god1 and then quietly carried out with sanctified common-sense4 ,fatal mistakes1 really fatal to future usefulness in the ,ministry1 may very easily be made otherwise4 ,but then there is an opposite side to the question4 ,some young men1 not all certainly but a good many1 are in great danger of a rather exaggerated estimate of their own attractions and importance4 ,there are some junior ,clergymen who are1 if ,i do not mistake1 prone to think that most young ladies whom they meet are fascinated by them1 or are at least in imminent peril4 ,such delusions meet sometimes with not very gentle corrections4 ,but it is better to be forearmed against the delusion--as it most probably is a delusion in the given case4 ,and the best prophylactic is the old one2 a secret walk with ,god in the light1 and a recollection of the constant need of self-knowledge exactly where such knowledge is least pleasant4 ,i repeat it2 may the ,lord grant us each and every one ,his true ,greek3 gnthi seauton4 ,by a blessed paradox it is sure to prove the secret of a true self-oblivion2 for it means for certain1 among other things1 a truer and fuller sight of ,,him4 ,,matrimony ,,or ,,celibacy8 ,the subject thus before us is a very large one4 ,it connects itself with the whole question whether marriage or celibacy is the will of ,god in the man's ministerial life4 ,happily ,i have no need1 in the ,church of ,england1 to defend the holy estate of matrimony as if it were in the slightest measure incompatible with the fullest sanctification of life and of ministry4 ,personally my belief is that1 in the immense majority of cases1 the married ,clergyman is the more useful ,clergyman if 7an if of extreme importance7 his wife is altogether one with him in the ,lord4 ,but ,i distinctly think that there are very many exceptions to the matrimonial rule4 ,there are branches of ministerial work1 particularly in parts of the sacred missionary field1 where the single man seems to make the better ,minister4 ,and no true servant of ,god will allow himself to think first of an opening for marriage and then of an opening for ministry4 ,,one ,,in ,,the ,,lord4 ,here ,i pause to say what it lies much on my heart to say somewhere4 ,let the true man1 who is at present free in respect of marriage-engagements1 resolve that in the whole question of seeking or not seeking a wife he will consider first1 midst1 and last his ,master's work1 his ,master's ,ministry4 ,better a thousand times be the most solitary of human beings than choose with your eyes open a married life in which you will not find positive help 7not merely no positive hindrance7 in your work for the ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,beware of the temptation to seek the mere pretty face1 or the mere fortune large or small1 or mere accomplishments1 or indeed anything short of the truly converted believing heart and dedicated will4 99,,married ,,life ,,as ,,it ,,should ,,be4 ,the ,clergyman and his ,wife are sacredly bound to live their united life wholly for ,christ4 ,they are to help one another on in ,him1 to stimulate one another in work for others in ,him1 to give each other always mutual aid towards a constant growth in faith1 hope1 and love2 towards an ever better use of means1 and time1 and tongue1 and everything4 ,if their ,lord gives them children to train for ,him1 those children are to see their parents so living1 not only individually but together1 as to glorify and commend the ,gospel to them1 from the very first4 ,and the wider family of the parish1 sure to be observant1 is to see the same sight in measure4 ,happy the married ,pastor whose home and its life respond to such a description4 ,alas for the man whose passion1 blindness1 hurry1 self-will1 or whatever else it is1 has betrayed him into a condition of things which cannot be so described4 ,i may be writing for some readers to whom such a take heed unto thyself may be in point even as they read4 ,if so1 let me seize the occasion4 ,with not a few very sorrowful illustrations in my mind ,i lay all emphasis on this earnest word of affectionate warning4 ,and let me add to it another word1 as in duty bound1 and with the utmost solemnity1 knowing that the thing is vitally important4 ,i appeal to you not lightly to seek marriage1 not lightly to make engagement1 even where you have good assurance that all would be spiritually well1 if there is a real probability of a married life clogged with pecuniary perplexities4 ,you observe that ,i do not speak absolutely on this point2 ,i dare not4 ,i do not say1 ,do not do it2 ,i say1 ,do not lightly do it4 ,faith is one thing2 light-heartedness is another4 ,and sometimes light-heartedness means nothing better than a vague expectation that something will turn up4 ,perhaps what does turn up is a weary and distracting struggle with debt1 and a gradual habituation to a not very creditable life upon the means of others1 who very likely can spare only with difficulty what comes at length to be taken without gratitude4 ,i beseech my ,brother to suffer the word of exhortation4 ,,risks ,,of ,,debt4 ii4 ,i touch thus already on the second point about which ,i would fain cry1 ,take heed unto thyself4 ,that matter is ,money4 ,a few words here will sufficiently convey my appeal1 but those few must be pressing4 ,i appeal to my younger ,brethren to be watchful day by day in the matter of money4 ,at this moment there rises in my memory the face and name of a ,clergyman with whom1 long years ago1 ,i became acquainted about the time of his ordination4 ,he was unquestionably in earnest2 ,i believe that he truly knew his ,lord and ,master1 and was truly desirous to serve ,him in ,his flock4 ,but ,i am perfectly sure that he must have forgotten1 almost from the first1 to take heed unto himself in the matter of money4 ,,sn3 ,,pecuniary ,,intemperance4 ,perhaps he had brought with him from the ,university that fatal habit of pecuniary intemperance which sometimes gets a hold upon a man second in its grasp only to that of intemperance commonly so called4 ,unhappily the ways of modern college life too easily generate such a habit1 as ,university men are led more and more by their surroundings into a dread of appearing to be poor1 and are almost expected to cost their fathers more for the academical year of eight or nine months than they will earn in the clerical year of twelve4 ,but however it was1 my poor dear friend had about him the tendency to debt4 ,and not all his earnestness and his devoutness could maintain his influence when that tendency began to tell4 ,one post of duty had to be soon quitted for another1 and so again and again1 under this ever-recurring failure4 ,let us take heed unto ourselves4 ,,public ,,and ,,private ,,money4 ,in dealing with money which in any sense is public1 no care can be too great4 ,in a case well known to me1 a ,clergyman imperilled his whole influence1 to the verge of ruin1 by the simple but effectual process of allowing money collected for a church-object to be mixed and muddled with his private funds4 ,he was not business-like1 and he was not at all well off4 ,and somehow1 when the time of reckoning came1 the money had melted1 he knew not whither4 ,strenuous exertions on the part of friends replaced privately the missing collection2 but it was only just in time4 ,i have often heard our ,indian ,missionaries say how great and frequent is the difficulty raised by the apparent incapacity of some otherwise excellent native ,pastors to keep public and private money apart4 ,they mean all that is honourable2 but a friend comes in begging for a loan1 and there is the church fund at hand1 and of course the sum taken shall be soon repaid1 and of course it is not repaid4 ,but such difficulties are not confined to ,india4 ,the native ,pastors of ,england have great need to take heed unto themselves4 ,,the ,,accounts ,,in ,,good ,,order4 ,if possible1 let us make our lay parochial friends our secretaries1 and above all our treasurers4 ,but if it must be otherwise1 and often it must be1 let us take heed1 at any cost of pains4 ,to do so may be overruled to win a positive influence for the ,clergyman4 ,i well remember a dear friend of mine telling me1 with loyal pleasure1 of his holy and devoted ,vicar's care in this direction1 and its power over the keen-sighted and not always friendly members of the school-committee in his great parish4 ,every item of the books was accurate2 every halfpenny of receipts accounted for4 ,men could find no fault in that ,clergyman save concerning the ,law--and the ,gospel--of his ,god4 ,,investment-,,circulars4 ,perhaps ,i need only allude in passing to that crude sort of temptation put so freely before us ,clergy1 the circular advertisement of the mine which is to pay twenty per cent41 or of the company just formed 7,i have such a circular in my possession1 and keep it sacredly17 to promote the construction of a new projectile which shall make war more horrible than ever2 one condition to the success of the ,clergyman's investment being1 of course1 that war1 thus made more horrible than ever1 shall also be as frequent and continuous as possible4 ,but the schemes announced in these circulars are very various in character2 good1 indifferent1 and bad4 ,need ,i say that1 as a very safe rule1 they must all be viewed as bad from the point of view of the young ,clergyman's 7or indeed of the ,clergyman's7 purse8 ,it is a truism to remark that high interest means low security2 but even a truism can bear occasional repetition when it has to do with a good man's whole life and work1 and when the oblivion may mean acute or chronic misery4 ,such investments are for us a form of gambling1 almost as much so as the shameless circulars which we sometimes receive from foreign cities1 announcing the possibility of clearing a fortune at one stroke by a turn of the lottery machine4 ,does the sending of such missives to the ,english ,clergy mean that ,english ,clergymen sometimes answer them8 ,if so1 ,i say that it is strictly impossible that the man who so answers1 whether he loses or wins1 can also be walking with ,god1 and so working that the ,lord works with him4 ,so far as such acts go1 he is acting an awfully untrue part1 and his ,master knows it4 ,let us take heed unto ourselves4 ,,other ,,money-,,perils4 ,in conclusion1 ,i turn another way4 ,the whole question of the increase and investment of money is a very solemn and searching one for the ,christian1 clerical or lay4 ,there are holy men who say that we ought in no degree to lay up4 ,while ,i reverence their meaning1 ,i do not agree with them4 ,yet ,i do most deeply feel that their warnings raise a danger-signal in a direction opposite to that which we have been viewing1 but equally important4 ,some of my younger ,brethren have already a private competency2 others may be expecting one4 99,,when ,,riches ,,increase4 ,to others1 gifted in one way or another for marked acceptance in the ,church1 posts are1 or will be1 offered which even in these days bring a good income1 perhaps a growing one4 ,take heed unto thyself4 ,it is with deep significance that the ,word of ,god bids us not set our heart upon riches when they increase4 ,ps4 lxii4 #aj4 ,it is often observed1 ,i fear1 that a man's readiness to give diminishes in proportion to his power for giving4 ,there is a subtle fascination for many minds1 and among them for minds generous at first1 in an access of possessions2 the thirst for more sets in1 however imperceptibly1 and perhaps the ,christian1 perhaps the ,pastor1 has become--before he knows it--covetous2 caring a good deal for money4 ,let us take heed unto ourselves4#ac #ac ,i cannot help relating a pathetically amusing remark ,i once heard in a ,dorsetshire cottage4 ,i had looked in on the good housewife in the course of a long walk1 and she was telling me about the needs and straits of a recent time of illness4 ,the aged ,vicar of the large and thinly-peopled parish was a well-to-do man1 and not at all unkind in meaning and manner4 ,but he never gave alms1 or indeed material help of any kind4 ,poor ,mr ----1 said the cottager1 with the kindliest navet1 he never do give away anything4 ,there1 ,i suppose it be his affliction4 ,,lay ,,not ,,up ,,for ,,yourselves4 ,i am sure that the ,gospel has no censure for modest comforts and for simple refinements4 ,i am sure that it bids the ,christian1 whether ,pastor or not1 provide1 look beforehand1 with a view to save needless anxiety and disadvantage both for himself and yet more for them of his own house4 #a ,tim4 v4 #h4 ,but ,i am equally sure that it commands us even more emphatically not to lay up treasure upon earth2 not to make the sad mistake of thinking that the work of life is to get4 ,rather may ours be the spirit of a noble-hearted friend of mine1 now at rest for ever1 early called away from heroic ,missionary work4 ,he had found himself rapidly getting richer in a successful school-enterprize2 and recognized in this a summons to give it up1 and volunteer for the foreign field4 ,but ,i say no more4 ,probably to the great majority of my readers these last paragraphs seem little to the purpose1 at least at present4 ,but there are few lives in which1 sooner or later1 such reflections may not find a corner for application4 ,,the ,,motive4 ,meanwhile1 whether our call is to avoid debt or to avoid gathering1 we will look up for new motive power into our ,master's face4 ,him we love2 ,him we long to commend2 and to ,him we belong with all we have4 ,in ,his ,name1 and for ,his sake1 we will take heed unto ourselves4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,the ,,daily ,,walk ,,with ,,others 7iii474 ,thrice happy they who at ,thy side1 ,thou ,child of ,nazareth1 ,have learnt to give their struggling pride ,into ,thy hands to death3 ,if thus indeed we lay us low1 ,thou wilt exalt us o'er the foe2 ,and let the exaltation be ,that we are lost in ,thee4 ,let me say a little on a subject which1 like the last1 is one of some delicacy and difficulty1 though its problems are of a very different kind4 ,it is1 the relation between the ,curate and his ,incumbent2 or more particularly1 the ,curate's position and conduct with regard to the ,incumbent4 ,a ,,lecture ,,on ,,curates4 ,i need not explain that the legal aspect of this important matter is not in my view4 ,not long ago ,i listened1 in the library of ,ridley ,hall1 to an instructive lecture1 by a diocesan ,chancellor1 on the law of ,curates2 one of a series on ,church ,law delivered under the sanction of the ,university4 ,the ,lecturer informed the audience1 certainly he informed me1 of many points of practical moment not clearly known to us before4 ,he gave a sketch of the history of the licensed ,curate as an institution1 and made us aware that he is a modern institution1 comparatively speaking4 ,before the ,reformation the numerous host of chantry-priests was largely used to supplement the offices of the parochial ,clergy4 ,after the ,reformation1 for a very long while1 the pastoral arrangements did not include a special institution of ,assistants4 ,then1 as the unhappy system of pluralities grew large and common1 such as it was all through the eighteenth century and beyond it1 the ,curate meant not the active assistant of the resident ,pastor but the substitute for the non-resident--the ,curate-in-,charge4 ,it was not till well within these last hundred years that men were commonly to be found doing what we now understand so well as ,assistant-,curates' work4 ,the presence in the ,church of us ,assistant-,curates 7,i hold a licence myself1 and am therefore one of the company7 is at once an effect and a sign both of the great increase of population and of the concurrent increase throughout the ,church of ,england of the desire for fuller and more laborious ministrations4 ,a ,,chancellor',s ,,suggestions4 ,so our able ,lecturer led us through our own history2 and then he proceeded to instruct us in some main elements of our legal qualifications1 and duties1 and rights3 how to get into a ,curacy1 and how to get out of it2 what are the ,bishop's rights over the ,curate1 and how the ,archbishop may interpose if the ,curate pleads a grievance against the ,bishop4 ,but ,i trust that this and other ,lectures of the same course may see the light some day in a better form than a rough and passing report of mine4 ,my purpose in referring to them now is that ,i may call attention to one point on which the ,lecturer laid no little stress4 ,it was1 that it is the wisdom of the ,curate1 when he has once deliberately accepted a ,curacy1 to be thoroughly loyal all along2 to consider himself as at the ,vicar's beck and call2 to serve him heartily and unreservedly4 ,if tempted to do otherwise1 particularly if tempted to complain of the ,vicar to the ,bishop1 let him resist that temptation to the utmost of his power4 ,there may be sad exceptions1 and necessity knows no law2 but as a rule1 said my honoured friend1 ,i may assure you1 from a large experience1 that the ,curate who complains of his ,incumbent to his ,bishop injures not the ,incumbent but himself4 ,,loyalty4 ,our ,lecturer avowedly spoke not as a spiritual but as a legal counsellor4 ,i would now take up his words1 and from the point of view of the friend and ,brother in the ,lord say a little to my younger ,brethren1 engaged or about to be engaged in assistant ,curacies1 concerning the ,christian rightness and ,christian wisdom of taking the sort of line which the diocesan ,chancellor recommended4 ,,the ,,ideal ,,incumbent4 ,as ,i come to the subject1 let me say on the threshold that ,i am sure to be writing for many readers who little need the discourse1 at least at present4 ,you are working under a ,vicar or a ,rector whose example and also whose friendship is one of the greatest blessings of your life4 ,you see in him a man perhaps much older than yourself1 perhaps nearly your coeval1 but however a leader1 who is also1 in the ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 your brother1 and your most considerate while stimulating friend4 ,he consults you1 without forgetting his responsibility of ultimate direction4 ,he gladly and fully recognizes and honours your work done under his organization4 ,he has not the slightest wish to come between you and the affections of his parishioners among whom you move4 ,he cultivates1 in his busy life1 ,christian fellowship with you in private2 you pray together1 and talk together1 not only about the parish but about the ,lord1 and the ,word1 and your own souls4 ,he lets you find in him1 as he is glad to find in you1 just a man1 a friend1 a ,christian1 with trials and blessings of inner experience on which it is sometimes good to speak to one another2 a living soul1 companionable and human1 while in it ,christ dwells by faith4 ,you have experienced with happy uniformity your ,incumbent's patience1 sympathy1 fairness1 trustworthiness4 ,you have seen in him one who is himself always at work1 always watching for the flock2 who does not put on you this duty or that merely because it is irksome to himself1 but whose whole purposes are in the cause of ,god1 and who distributes labour in any and every interest but his own4 ,and perhaps you see this man honoured and loved by all around you1 as they too see and know him to be what he is4 ,you move about in the parish1 and you are quite sure to hear allusions to the ,vicar4 ,and as a rule1 perhaps1 they are all friendly1 all loyal1 all grateful4 ,you find yourself1 in short1 under no appreciable present temptation1 being 7as of course you are7 a true man yourself1 to do anything but identify yourself very gladly with him4 ,,yet ,,even ,,he ,,is ,,not ,,perfect4 ,but then1 even in this bright supposed case--a case of which the ,church of ,england contains hundreds of practical examples1 thank ,god--appreciable temptations in the other direction1 the wrong1 unhappy1 fatal direction1 may very conceivably creep upon you with time4 ,your admirable ,incumbent is all the while a mortal man1 and as such1 most certainly 7he himself above all men knows and owns it71 he is not perfect1 not quite equal to himself in every way4 ,perhaps he has come to be not perfect in physical health1 and thus he is obliged1 to his own grief1 to do less in this or that branch of activity than some of his people think he ought to do2 and then you are tolerably sure to hear some not very just and generous complaints in the parish4 ,perhaps domestic sorrow1 or domestic straits and care1 may have come in to becloud his spirit and to make his energies for a season flag4 ,perhaps among his many gifts you may find some gift a little lacking2 he may be manifestly less strong in the committee1 or in the labours of arrangement generally1 than in the pulpit or the class2 or it may be just the other way4 ,and you1 my dear friend1 may be 7or may think yourself to be7 somewhat strong where he is somewhat weak2 an opportunity for many subtle temptations4 ,the days and weeks go on2 and if you let the little rift of criticism widen1 and do not continually take it to your ,lord to be examined and mended1 other feelings--not born from above--may steal in between you and this good man1 your elder and leader in ,christ4 ,petty dislikes and impatience may rise in your heart about some trifling point of manner1 some momentary failure of sympathy1 some oblivion of arrangement or engagement due to a sore stress of work1 some very small matter of ,church order1 or ,christian dialect2 or who can tell what8 ,,grave ,,possible ,,temptations ,,to ,,disloyalty4 ,but also it is just possible that ,i am writing for some reader who finds himself in more grave and pressing difficulties than these4 ,my most honoured brethren the ,incumbents1 if any of them should cast their eyes over these chapters1 written by a ,curate mainly for ,curates1 will not blame me for saying that there are cases1 sad and sorrowful1 where the ,curate cannot honestly think with perfect happiness of his leader's work and influence4 ,perhaps that ,incumbent has run well1 nobly well1 but 7as it was of old with some primitive saints7 something or someone hindered him4 ,gal4 v4 #g4 ,perhaps he has lost first love and zeal1 and sunk1 he knows not how1 into an indolent clericalism1 or anticlericalism1 of thought and habit4 ,perhaps he has suffered care1 disappointment1 parochial conflicts1 to sour his spirit1 or at least to take his heart away from his people4 ,perhaps he has felt the sad influence of controversial battles1 and the love and richness of the old ,gospel has somewhat faded out of his life1 and conversation1 and sermons2 ,i do not refer to faithful care over distinctive and world-offending truth1 but to the controversial spirit1 which is altogether another thing4 ,perhaps he has somewhat lost command over temper2 perhaps he has not yet found in our ,lord's great fulness the open secret by which ,he supplies patience to ,his servants1 even when they are sorely vexed by man4 ,and just possibly difficulty between ,curate and ,vicar threatens to arise from some side-quarter2 from those who stand around the ,vicar1 who inevitably see him often and intimately1 who are active and important under-workers in his field1 and who may themselves be not quite fully governed by the ,spirit and ,word of ,god4 ,,beware ,,of ,,the ,,growth ,,of ,a ,,curate',s ,,party4 ,i have put a good many supposed cases4 ,how much ,i should rejoice if ,i could know that not one reader of this page could find any of my peradventures the least in point within his experience4 ,but ,i must emphasize one of them which is hardly a peradventure at all2 namely that the ,curate is practically certain1 sooner or later1 to find temptations presented to his loyalty by the conversation of parishioners4 ,there is not one parish in all ,england where everybody is pleased with the ,incumbent2 pleased always and about everything4 ,and if the given ,vicar or ,rector employs a ,curate1 and if that ,curate is you1 it will be a moral miracle if you never hear of such discontents4 ,you will hear of them1 very probably1 in ways which will offer you1 however faintly1 an opportunity of acting towards your chief a little as ,absalom acted towards ,david when he expressed certain pious wishes that he were made judge in the land in his father's place4 #b ,sam4 xv4 #a-f4 ,i do not for a moment mean that you are1 or ever will be1 a man of treacherous purposes2 the ,lord forbid4 ,but if you do not watch1 and are not in some measure forewarned1 you may easily be betrayed unawares1 quite unawares1 into speech or into action which will practically be treacherous to the man who is over you in ,christ1 and so toward ,christ's work and cause in the parish where you serve4 ,do you not know the possibilities to which ,i refer8 ,have they not crossed either your own path or that of some ,curate-friend of yours8 ,is there no such thing as an intimacy formed by the ,curate in some house where the ,incumbent is not liked1 and is that intimacy never used by the ,curate not for the noblest ends8 ,is there no weak listening to parochial gossip on the ,curate's part8 ,is there never any allowance by the younger man of a growth around him1 in ways which he could stop summarily1 if he tried1 of a certain unwholesome sort of preference and popularity8 ,is it not sometimes known that a ,curate condescends so low as to concur with criticisms or sarcasms on his chief1 or even to volunteer them8 ,alas for the parish where there is a ,curate's party1 small or more extensive4 ,happy the parish where no chance is given in that direction by either ,incumbent or ,curate4 ,happy the ,curate who is so truly loyal and dutiful1 it may be even under difficulties1 that he makes it quite unmistakable that1 if a party is to gather1 it must gather around some one else4 ,,how ,,to ,,repress ,,it4 ,some cases happily in point are present to my own mind4 ,i once knew of a parish in which the truly devoted ,vicar was1 however1 not popular2 he had sadly felt the weight of depression and disappointment1 and this had had a weakening reflex influence on his ministry4 ,he was joined by a ,curate1 a man in the prime of youth and vigour1 well qualified to attract confidence and affection1 and particularly gifted as a preacher4 ,very soon many parishioners showed a preference for the young man's ministrations in public1 and for his company in private2 it was a golden opportunity for the almost spontaneous formation of a ,curate's party4 ,by the grace of ,god1 the young ,clergyman was enabled both to see the position at once and1 by most decisive and manly speech and act1 in the right quarters1 to show1 without a chance of mistake1 that he considered his work as altogether identical with his ,vicar's1 never to be carried on for an hour outside a faithful subordination4 ,another instance may be given4 ,some years ago it was my duty to explain at a meeting the objects and work of the ,divinity ,hall with which ,i am connected4 ,quite incidentally1 while describing our course of teaching1 ,i mentioned my earnest desire always to caution my student-friends against giving the slightest encouragement to the rise of ,curates' parties4 99,,an ,,example4 ,at the close of the occasion1 a ,clergyman rose at the back of the parish-room where we met1 and said a few words1 as gladdening as they were unexpected4 ,he had come to the meeting-place with no knowledge of the meeting2 merely to keep an appointment4 ,but he happened to be the ,vicar of a large town parish1 and there to have had a friend of mine as his ,curate2 and he told us how this same ,curate had come to him at a time when the parish1 under circumstances inherited from past years1 was ripe and ready for partizanship and division4 ,nothing would have been needed but the ,curate's passive allowance of such tendencies to embarrass and spoil the difficult work of the ,vicar4 ,but my dear young friend was found in ,christ2 he knew his ,lord's will in the matter1 and he strove to do it4 ,by active discouragement he precluded the mischief completely1 and thus greatly strengthened his leader's hands for the work of ,god before him4 ,,the ,,lost ,,grace1 ,,humility4 ,surely few ,christian men have wider and nobler opportunity than ,curates have for the practice of that lost grace1 humility1 in its form of unselfish dutifulness1 good fidelity in all things4 ,tit4 ii4 #aj4 ,my ,brethren know the sort of humility ,i mean2 no artificial mannerism1 nothing in the least degree unworthy of the adult in ,christ4 ,what ,i do mean is that thing so scarce in our days1 the noble opposite to that individualistic spirit than which nothing is more narrow1 more low1 more hostile to all true1 genial development and greatness4 ,i mean the generous modesty which delights to recognize the claims of an elder1 of a leader2 which loves the idea of trustworthy service1 taking as its motto a more than princely ,ich ,dien4 ,i mean the temper of mind which sees the happiness of siding against ourselves1 of judging not others but ourselves2 the spirit which is much more anxious to vindicate a superior's reputation than our own1 more alert to ward criticism off from him than to shield our own head from its arrow4 ,i mean the life which shows that so far from being ashamed of the idea of subjection1 the man has learnt at the feet of ,jesus to think true service the truest freedom4 ,another day1 very probably1 the ,curate will find himself an ,incumbent1 and will have his own helping brother at his side4 ,it will be a happy thing then for both parties if he has thoroughly learnt that great qualification for command1 the experience of obedience2 and has cultivated the exercise of sympathy with his subordinate by having first striven in honest loyalty to take his chief's part against himself4 ,,take ,,part ,,against ,,yourself4 ,few1 very few1 are the cases where a man who has accepted a ,curacy with his eyes reasonably open finds that such is the friction of the position that his first duty is to seek a release4 ,there are such cases1 ,i am afraid4 ,but1 ,i say it again1 they are very few2 and in every case which looks as if it were one of them1 the ,curate should first exercise the severest scrutiny upon himself1 trying honestly to find1 in some magnifying mirror1 the beam in his own eye4 ,matt4 vii4 #c4 ,and even where such scrutiny still leaves it plain1 after consultation not only with sensible friends 7if necessary7 but of course with the ,lord ,himself1 that it is best to seek a change1 let it be remembered that1 up to the very last day of connexion1 the ,curate is still the ,curate1 bound to all possible loyalty and good faith4 ,,suffer ,,the ,,word4 ,it is with some misgivings of feeling that ,i have dwelt thus at length on difficulties and anxieties incident to the relationship of ,curate and ,incumbent4 ,but ,i do not think after all that ,i shall be misunderstood4 ,in the nature of the case1 the bright sides of the matter have hardly needed comment4 ,the ,curate who finds himself the favoured and advantaged helper of some true-hearted leader needs little counsel from me1 unless it be in face of the fact1 on which we have touched1 that the noblest leaders in the ,lord in the whole ,english ,church are not above parochial criticism1 or even parochial slander4 ,but ,i do know that there are ,curates whose circumstances are less favourable2 and ,i long to impress it upon them that few ,christians have a larger and more fruitful field than they for the cultivation of some of the crowning graces of the ,gospel4 ,it is for them to make no common proof of the power of the ,indwelling ,lord to subdue the iniquities of ,his people1 to hallow their inmost spirits1 to set before their lips the watch and ward of ,his blessed ,presence1 to drive utterly away from their pastoral souls the wretched spirit of sarcasm1 to enable them for an unselfish faithfulness when no eye but the unseen ,master's oversees4 ,,independence ,,and ,,loyalty4 ,it is no part of the system of the ,church of ,england1 as it is of that of the ,church of ,rome1 to put a man 7or a woman7 under the spiritual direction of a fellow-sinner1 who is to be1 for the directed1 the organ and representative of the will of ,god4 ,for such a method is no part of the apostolic ,gospel1 which never for a moment bids us surrender conscience into the keeping of another4 ,who art thou that judgest ,another's servant8 ,to his own ,master he standeth or falleth ,rom4 xiv4 #d42 words which deeply and decisively contradict the root-ideas of spiritual despotism1 for they teach us to think of our fellow-,christians1 as if--for purposes of the conscience--,he who is their ,master and ours was1 for them1 another ,master than ours4#ad ,yet the ideas of spiritual despotism are only the distortion or parody of ideas which are as true and sacred as the ,gospel can make them2 the ideas of self-abnegation for the good of others1 and of resolute denial of the miserable spirit which prefers self to others and talks about rights when we should be intent on duties4 ,the ,christian man1 and fortiori the ,minister of ,christ1 is called 7as we have seen in earlier pages7 to nothing less than a life in which1 while conscience is inviolable1 self is surrendered to ,christ1 in that practical sense of the words which means surrender1 for ,his sake1 to others1 in all things which concern not right and wrong but our self-will4 #ad ,i owe this remark to my friend the ,rev4 ,h4,e4 ,brooke4 ,,clothed ,,with ,,humility4 ,likewise1 ye younger1 submit yourselves unto the elder4 #a ,pet4 v4 #e4 ,i never forget how the ,apostle finishes the passage2 ,yea1 all of you1 be subject one to another1 and be clothed with humility1 ,greek3 egkoubsasthe tn tapeinophosynn1 tie humility round you as the servant ties on his apron4 ,most characteristic of the ,bible is the impartiality of the precept1 so given2 the ,elders in the ,church of ,god will not forget it on their side4 ,but nevertheless the stress of the precept bears upon the younger man4 ,he1 in the ,lord's order1 is especially to recollect the sacred duty of a willing1 loyal1 and open-eyed humility4 ,a ,,noble ,,subordination4 ,all the instincts of our time are against this4 ,but for the true disciple of ,jesus ,christ there is something stronger than any spirit of the age2 it is the ,spirit of ,god1 dwelling in the inmost soul4 ,by that wonderful power the ,christian ,curate1 who walks with the ,lord in secret1 and finds in ,him his way of purity and consistency in the more general aspects of his walk with others1 will daily be enabled for a bright and glad consistency in the path of ministerial subordination4 ,he will not cease to be a man1 who must observe and think2 nor will he necessarily hold it his duty never1 in all loyalty and respect1 to express to his ,vicar a differing wish or opinion4 ,but his bias will be against himself1 and for his chief1 if he indeed lets the ,spirit of ,god lead him1 and rule him1 and fill him4 ,for the ,lord's sake1 ,greek3 dia tou ,kyrion1 and by the ,lord's power1 ,greek3 dia tou ,kyriou1 he will carry the principle of a watchful submission not only into greater things1 but even into the smaller preferences of his elder and leader1 if they in the least degree affect the duties of the parish and the church4 ,a ,,letter ,,on ,,curates' ,,grievances4 ,i close this chapter with a quotation4 ,it is a letter written to the ,editor of the ,record1 in the spring of #ahhe1 after the perusal of a correspondence in that paper in which some grievances of ,evangelical ,curates had been set forth1 and in which it had been implied that such grievances might give some sufferers occasion to transfer their sympathies to another school4 ,after reading the recent correspondence1 ,i cannot forbear a few words expressive of the sad impression left upon my mind4 ,far be it from me to say that ,incumbents have no lessons to learn from this correspondence4 ,all ,incumbents who have1 by grace1 'the mind that was in ,christ ,jesus' will surely embrace every suggestion1 however painful in form1 which can stimulate them to larger manifestations of holy and self-forgetting sympathy1 perfectly compatible with the firm attitude 7which is also their duty7 of responsible direction4 ,but this thought leaves unaltered the mournful impression taken from the tone of the letters of my aggrieved ,brethren4 ,in one form or another one thought seemed to breathe in all2--the thought of my rights1 my position1 my gifts and opportunities1 and what was due from others in regard of them2 the complaint that others were not humble1 when the ,christian's first concern with humility is to derive it for himself from his ,lord4 ,such a spirit is not easily compatible with a true secret hourly walk with ,god and abiding in ,christ1 the sine qu non of fruit-bearing4 ,and fruit-bearing is the supreme inner aim of the true pastoral life1 fruit-bearing in the devoted doing of the ,master's present will4 ,in one letter ,i read with pain that 'it is no marvel' if men who cannot secure justice and happiness in one party should transfer their allegiance to another4 ,is it indeed 'no marvel'8 ,is it to be expected1 then1 in the holy ,ministry1 that convictions about divine truth should be modified by the personal claims and comfort of the holder1 if the word 'hold' may be used without severe irony in such a connexion8 ,can a saint and servant of ,god1 young or old1 ,vicar or ,curate1 walk closely with ,him all day1 truly given to ,him1 wholly submissive to ,his word and will1 and yet find it possible to deal with convictions so8 ,what are personal rights and exterior happiness weighed against the claims of what we have really grasped as truth in the presence of the ,lord8 ,it is well for us that martyrs and confessors1 and their worthy successors1 our ,evangelical ancestors of a century ago1 knew how to answer that question4 ,,conviction ,,sacred1 ,,self ,,nowhere4 ,i aim to speak with all humility and sympathy4 ,but ,i cannot but thus earnestly express the unalterable conviction that the only ministerial life which can be 'sanctified and meet for the ,master's use' is the life in which conviction is sacred1 in which ,christ is all1 and in which self is nowhere4 ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,pastor ,,in ,,parish 7i474 ,master1 to the flock ,i speed1 ,in ,thy presence1 in ,thy name2 ,show me how to guide1 to feed1 ,how aright to cheer and blame2 ,with me knock at every door2 ,enter with me1 ,i implore4 ,we have talked together about the young ,clergyman's secret life1 and private life1 and his life in 7so to speak7 non-clerical intercourse with others1 and now lastly of his life as it stands related to his immediate leader in the ,ministry4 ,in this latter topic we have already touched the great matter which comes now at once before us1 the man's work amongst his neighbours as he approaches them in his proper character1 as a ,pastor4 ,,the ,,pulse ,,of ,,the ,,machine4 ,how shall ,i speak of parish-work8 ,it would be a boundless subject if treated in detail and in the style of a directory of methods4 ,but such a treatment is far from my purpose4 ,to undertake it1 ,i should not only need to be a widely experienced ,pastor1 which ,i cannot claim to be1 for my life for many years has been mainly devoted to academic teaching2 ,i should need to be several widely experienced ,pastors bound up into one living volume4 ,so let no one expect to find here a prescription for the right plans and right practice of the many departments of the rural pastorate1 or of the urban1 or suburban2 directions how to organize work1 and how to develop it2 how to deal with the ,sunday ,school1 or the ,day ,school1 or the ,institute1 or the ,guild1 or the ,visitors' ,meeting1 or the ,missionary ,association4 ,my hope is rather to get behind all these things to the pulse of the busy machinery2 to offer a few hints to my younger ,brethren how to do it1 from the point of view of their personal and inner preparedness for the multifold work1 and to state some plain general principles which may run through all the doing4 ,,visiting4 ,i set before me then the ,curate1 and the ,parish1 with its demands for pastoral labour1 and particularly for ,visitation4 ,well do ,i know how immense the differences are between place and place in this same matter of visitation2 how the parish of a few hundreds1 or even of two or three thousand1 is one thing1 and the parish of ten1 or eighteen1 or twenty thousand is another4 ,i know that there are parishes1 in ,london for example1 where all the efforts of a staff of devoted ,clergy seem to fail to do more than touch the edges of the work of domestic visitation4 ,yet surely even in such cases that work must not1 and will not1 be quite given up as hopeless4 ,a little1 where only a little is possible1 is vastly better than none2 even if it be only the visitation of the sick1 and of those who immediately surround them1 and with whom the sick-visit gives the ,clergyman an opportunity4 ,such efforts1 where nothing more of the kind is possible1 if only done in an unmistakable spirit of love and self-sacrifice1 must carry good to the people4 ,and do not forget that they must1 quite as necessarily1 carry good to the ,clergyman4 ,for they are a means1 for which nothing else can be quite the substitute1 of bringing him into contact with the people's thoughts and lives in ways which will tell usefully 7as we have seen in an earlier page7 upon his whole ministry1 particularly upon his work in the pulpit1 and at the mission-room desk1 and in the open air4 ,but1 to be as practical as possible1 ,i will assume that the ,curacy is of a more normal kind than that just supposed4 ,the parish1 whether in country or in town1 is not so large as to make visitation from house to house impossible4 ,and the ,curate has had his work of this kind assigned him1 and is setting out upon it4 ,a good portion of every day 7though ,i hope it is possible to give a part of one day each week to some sort of wisely managed holiday7 is devoted to the district2 now for a steady round of calls1 door by door2 now1 in an irregularity not without method1 for visits to special cases of sickness1 or sorrow1 or other need4 ,,prepare ,,for ,,visitation ,,with ,,prayer4 ,what shall be my first suggestion8 ,it shall point to the ,throne of ,grace4 ,preface the pastoral round with special secret prayer4 ,sermons are usually 7,i wish it were always so now7 prefaced with prayer in the pulpit that the heavenly blessing may rest upon the ordinance4 ,is it less fitting1 less necessary1 to prepare for the afternoon's or evening's visitation with a secret petition in your own room that the apostolic ordinance of domestic visitation ,acts xx4 #bj1 #ba41 to be administered now by you1 may have the special grace of ,god in it8 ,pray for yourself1 my younger ,brother4 99,,pray ,,for ,,spiritual ,,readiness ,,and ,,spiritual ,,fulness4 ,ask that you may go out well furnished with the peace1 and patience1 and wisdom laid up for you in your ,lord2 that you may have by the ,holy ,spirit a right judgment in all things2 that you may have the tongue of the taught1#ae to speak a word in season to them that are weary2 whatever sort of weariness it is4 ,pray for that secret skill of discernment which can see the difference of spiritual states1 and allot warning or comfort not at random but in due season4 ,pray for that readiness for the unexpected which is best secured and best maintained in a close and conscious intimacy with your ,saviour4 ,the man found in ,him will be found ready in spirit 7and that is after all the essential in spiritual work7 for the sudden question1 whether anxious or captious1 for the sudden rudeness of ignorance or opposition1 and again for the chronic and so to speak passive difficulty of indifference4 ,the tongue of the taught1 while the taught man is found in ,christ1 will ever be sweet1 wise1 and truthful1 as the owner of it goes his round4 ,but we must seek for it2 ,he will be enquired of for this thing4 ,,sn3 ,ezek4 xxxvi4 #cg4 #ae ,isai4 l4 #d4 ,obviously the word learned in our ,version is there used in its old ,english sense1 instructed1 taught4 ,no slight on book-learning is ever conveyed in the ,scriptures4 ,but the man in view here is not the highly-educated person1 but the believer who has listened with the ear of the taught 7see the end of the verse71 as a disciple at the ,master's feet2 and so goes forth to speak with the tongue of the taught1 as a messenger who has learned sympathy1 insight1 holy tact and truthfulness1 from the ,master's heart4 ,the whole passage is full of the blessed ,messiah ,himself1 ,i know4 ,but it has its reflected reference for all ,his true followers1 and above all for all ,his true ,ministers4 ,may ,he give us1 in ,his mercy1 for every act of our messenger-work1 both the ear and the tongue of ,his taught ones4 ,then1 as you pray for yourself1 you will pray also for the people you are about to visit4 ,perhaps they are as yet strange to you1 and you can ask for them only in general4 ,but if you know anything at all about them it will be worth while to individualize your prayer1 however briefly4 ,special1 detailed prayer is a power with ,god4 ,and it is a power with man too4 ,to be dealing with one for whom you know you have prayed is already to have a foothold there4 ,perhaps you may have an opportunity to say1 quite naturally1 that you have been praying for him2 and this may very possibly be a direct vehicle of blessing4 ,you will go out then1 as directly as possible1 from the secret place of heavenly intercourse4 ,that is a bracing atmosphere3 ,fresh airs and heavenly odours breathe around ,the throne of grace2 and those airs can quicken the young ,pastor's spirit for the heaviest hours of a sultry afternoon or evening1 till he comes back weary to his rooms1 tired in the ,lord's work1 but not tired of it1 as dying ,whitefield said4 ,so you go forth with real prayer4 ,it is your wonderful privilege1 thus going to carry nothing less than the blessed ,fulness of the ,holy ,ghost for your inmost equipment4 ,i say deliberately1 nothing less than the heavenly ,fulness--a far different thing from a mere stir and lift of the emotions4 ,that most divine gift is a calm excess of tranquil power1 received humbly by the prayer of faith4 ,it is not meant to be a rare luxury2 it is a daily and hourly offer1 a provided viaticum for every stage of walk and duty4 ,can we work aright for ,god while any corner of our being has no room for ,god1 and is not possessed by ,him8 ,,method4 ,then1 for true prayer and true practicality are the closest and most harmonious friends1 you will of course aim with forethought and persistency at method in the pastoral work4 ,the visits will be arranged as far as possible with economy of space2 no difficult task in most town parishes1 while in the country1 of course1 the matter is often much less easy4 ,and you will study also economy of time4 ,your round is a work of sacred business4 ,the minutes1 the quarters of an hour1 are never to run loose and unobserved4 ,who that has ever visited in a parish does not know the need of remembering that point1 so easily forgotten8 ,here we visit a pleasant1 welcoming neighbour1 and it is all too easy to stay on1 perhaps to little real purpose1 with the secret satisfaction of knowing that the next and much less attractive call must be shortened in proportion4 ,here1 less willingly1 we are detained by one of those ingenious tongues which make it so difficult to get in a word1 or to stop the unprofitable continuity of topics4 ,all these cases1 and endless kindred ones1 need a little foresight and firmness1 and a little of the skill which is soon learnt by open heart and open eyes4 ,,economy ,,of ,,time4 ,obviously this line of caution is more needed by some men than by others4 ,but it is needed by not a few2 particularly in respect of the temptation to lengthen out unduly the visits that are pleasant to the visitor4 ,one young ,clergyman known to me1 an indefatigable and devoted visitor1 needed a strong reminder in this direction in the early days of his ministry4 ,he would visit a sick person1 who proved more or less responsive to his efforts1 and would allow himself to over-visit1 to an unwise extent1 going often more than once a day1 and long after the state of the invalid made such attentions urgent4 ,and other work of course suffered in proportion4 ,wesley's precept to his workers needs our remembrance often2 ,go not where you are wanted1 but where you are wanted most4 ,,but ,,avoid ,,hurry4 ,but a risk on the other hand must be remembered4 ,economy of time must never mean hurry of manner1 a thing which is nearly if not quite fatal to the usefulness of a visit4 ,it is perfectly possible to combine promptitude with quiet2 to come manifestly on business1 and yet not in a bustle4 ,we ,clergymen may learn many valuable lessons in this1 as in some other parts of our work1 from our medical friends4 ,observe how a wise and kindly doctor visits his parishioners4 ,he knows exactly why he comes2 he knows that other patients are wanting him1 in long succession2 he knows that he must observe and advise as promptly and as much to the point as possible2 and he knows that all must be done with a quiet1 strong1 untroubled manner1 if it is to be done aright4 ,i spoke in a previous chapter about the sacred duty of watching and regulating manner4 ,this is to be done at all times of intercourse1 but above all in pastoral visits4 ,to speak only of this point of hurry or calm of manner2 it is most important4 ,the right manner will make a visit of five minutes practically longer than a twenty minutes' visit which gives all through it the impression that the ,clergyman must be off4 ,one of the most admirable ,pastors ,i have ever known1 the late ,rev4 ,charles ,clayton1 of ,cambridge1#af did much of his work by five-minute visits4 ,but they were always visits in which the whole thought was given to the case before him1 and the word in season came from full knowledge of his flock and from an unmistakably pastoral heart4 #af ,afterwards ,rector of ,stanhope and ,canon of ,ripon4 ,,impartial ,,courtesy4 ,a duty which you will carefully remember throughout your round is that of quiet ,christian courtesy2 impartially shown to rich1 to middling1 and to poor4 ,i say impartially1 with a view to both ends of the scale4 ,some men 7perhaps not many1 but some7 seem to think that ministerial courage and fidelity in dealing with well-to-do parishioners demand a certain dropping of the courtesies of life2 a very great mistake4 ,many more men are tempted to forget that their visits to the poorest should be1 in the essence of the matter1 as courteous as when they go to the portal which carries a brass knocker4 ,at the door of the dingiest cottage1 or dingier lodging1 never forget that you ask for entrance2 it is your neighbour's castle-door2 and you are not a sanitary inspector4 ,if you happen to come in at the meal-time of the roughest and dirtiest1 apologize as naturally and honestly as you would if you intruded on the wealthy churchwarden's well-set luncheon4 ,among the very lowest1 do all you can to honour parents before their children 7,i know it is nearly impossible in some sad cases72 and always honour old age4 ,,be ,,natural4 ,surely one good maxim on manner with our poorer neighbours is to aim to address them very much as we would address our neighbours of our own class4 ,a patronizing manner is most certainly a very great pity1 and almost sure to be resented4 ,but so1 too1 is the ostentatious hail-and-well-met manner which is sometimes assumed2 an over-drawn imitation1 perhaps1 of the workman's manner with his fellows4 ,this is a mistake1 because it is almost always unnatural4 ,few gentlemen get better at others by ceasing to act and speak as gentlemen4 ,let us talk quite quietly and pleasantly1 as just what we are1 and as those who most unaffectedly honour all men1 #a ,pet4 ii4 #ag4 and we shall not go far astray2 always supposing that the matter of our talk is sensible1 true1 and to the purpose4 ,,the ,,sick-,,room4 ,to turn aside for a moment to the special and sacred work of ,visitation of the ,sick4 ,it is not to be lightly done1 as if it were an easy part of our duty1 quite obvious in its aims and methods4 ,the greatest judgment is often needed in the sick-room4 ,we need quickness to perceive how much conversation the invalid can bear1 if the case is one of great pain1 or 7what often makes undue length even more irksome7 great weakness4 ,we need an insight into the best side of approach to conscience1 or to will4 ,we need the skill which knows how to question enough1 but not too much1 not as the inquisitor but as the helper4 ,many another matter will call for sanctified common-sense in the sick-room2 a restful voice1 easy1 quiet movements1 and the like4 ,and let me say that where you are visiting a chronic case1 and need to call again and again1 if a day and hour for the next visit is mentioned it should be kept to with jealous punctuality4 ,nothing is more trying to the suffering and weary than uncertainty and suspense4 ,i have known of much harm done to good men's influence by their neglect of punctuality with sick people4 ,,punctuality4 ,of punctuality generally ,i can 7and surely need7 speak only in passing4 ,it is a primary duty of the busy but patient work of the pastorate4 ,to be neglectful of it is to set up and keep up a needless and mischievous friction in our intercourse with others1 and indefinitely to injure our influence in many ways4 ,no man ever waited five minutes for me in my life1 unless for reasons quite beyond my power2 such was a remark of ,charles ,simeon's in his last days4 ,we may be for ever unable to say this of our own past4 ,but if so1 shall it not be true for us also from this day forward8 ,,use ,,of ,,the ,,bible ,,in ,,visiting4 ,thus prepared by secret and special intercourse with ,god1 and recollecting some simple maxims about practical points1 you go out into the parish4 ,but no2 let me suggest one other preliminary1 which1 before most rounds of pastoral visiting1 cannot be out of place4 ,you will take in your pocket two books1 if not more2 one1 your visiting register and diary1 the other--your ,bible4 ,of the use to be made of the note-book ,i need not speak4 ,about that to be made of the ,book of ,god let me say a very few words4 ,i do not mean at all that you will make the reading of the ,holy ,scriptures a matter of form or routine2 a thing which must be done1 as an opus operandum1 wherever there is a chance4 ,but ,i do mean that you should have the ,book always ready for use1 and be prompt to sow the incorruptible seed #a ,pet4 i4 #bc4 from house to house as ,god gives opportunity4 ,remember1 it is a ,book sadly little known by the very large majority of your people2 so that every natural and naturally-taken occasion to let it speak1 in private as well as in public1 is a contribution to that urgent need of our modern world1 ,bible-knowledge4 ,remember again that1 despite all the wretched unsettlements of belief amongst us1 the ,bible is still the ,bible1 for untold multitudes2 it is owned by them1 whether or no it is used1 as the ,oracle of ,god4 ,let us let the ,book speak at the open ear of such a conviction1 however dimly the conviction is entertained4 ,and then remember that the ,bible1 whatever be the state of current opinion about it1 is as a fact the ,oracle of ,god1 and its immortal and life-conveying words have a mysterious fitness all their own to be the vehicle of the ,spirit's voice to the human heart4 ,offer it1 as often as you can1 to be that vehicle4 ,,choose ,a ,,passage ,,beforehand4 ,two simple expedients for effective use of the ,scriptures in a parish round are presented to me by my own past experience1 gathered from several years of regular parochial work4 ,one is1 the choice of some short pregnant passage which shall be1 for that round1 the passage to be read not once only but in house after house1 unless1 of course1 there is special reason to the contrary4 ,such a reiteration1 so ,i have often found1 is a great help to the visitor1 who probably feels on each new occasion that a new power and point appear in the passage1 and that it seems each time easier to speak from it1 however briefly1 to the soul4 ,the other expedient which my experience recommends is to be prepared1 whenever a hopeful opportunity occurs1 to leave a ,scripture message visibly behind you as you go4 ,i used to carry with me a little sheaf of slips of paper1 on each of which was printed the request1 ,please read this passage1 and think about it4 ,a short message from the heavenly ,word would be written on the slip in pencil as ,i was about to go2 and this visible and personal invitation to read and think proved often a real remembrance from the ,lord4 ,,the ,,visiting ,,pastor ,,at ,,work4 ,but now you are actively engaged from door to door4 ,if you are a new-comer1 and particularly if it is also a district 7in the great ,city perhaps7 where visitation has been an unwonted thing1 you must be prepared of course for very various sorts of reception4 ,but assuredly in most districts by far1 and at most doors1 the man who exercises common tact and courtesy1 and is plainly trying to do his duty in a loving and earnest spirit1 and is known already1 or now introduces himself1 as the ,clergyman1 will be civilly and often gladly met4 99,,our ,,advantage ,,as ,,ministers ,,of ,,the ,,english ,,church4 ,let me pause for a moment to remind you of one great and valuable advantage which is ours as the ,ministers of the ,national ,church and the servants of the parochial system4 ,all honour to devoted servants of ,god in the ,ministry of other denominations2 in numberless instances they have done in the past1 and are doing now1 work which the ,national ,church has either neglected1 or has been unable to overtake2 and the power of the ,lord has been and is present with them to bless4 ,but nevertheless ,i for one thank ,god for a ,national ,church1 and recognize in that ,church's historical and practical position a unique opportunity and an immense advantage1 so it be used faithfully and in loyalty to the ,lord and ,his ,word4 ,and one feature of that position of opportunity is this1 that it is the popularly 7and rightly7 recognized duty of the ,church of ,england ,clergyman to ask admission at every door1 so far as he can go to every door1 within his portion of the national vineyard4 ,to a large degree this is understood to be our duty1 our business1 as it is not understood to be that of other ,ministers of religion2 and this is a fact which for the man who will use it with good sense and unobtrusive diligence is an invaluable introduction4 ,a younger ,brother of my own1 whose work began in a ,liverpool ,curacy1 told me of his experience in this matter4 ,his district contained a very miscellaneous population2 almost all the great dissenting ,churches were represented1 and there were many ,roman ,catholics1 and not a few ,jews4 ,but the ,curate went to every door1 as in duty bound2 as a friend1 a neighbour1 a ,christian1 but distinctly as one of the ,clergy of the parish4 ,and with one solitary exception1 an instance in which a ,jew repulsed him1 he was not only admitted but welcomed everywhere in his character as the ,clergyman4 ,of course there are1 as ,i have said just above1 streets and lanes where it is not quite so4 ,another friend of mine1 labouring in ,east ,london1 found that his black coat and white tie suggested to some of the people only the guess that he was--the undertaker2 so strange to them was the presence of a ,clergyman1 or the idea of his duty4 ,the same friend1 by the way1 found that there was one sure prescription for securing a welcome on a second visit--to make the people laugh before the first visit was over4 ,he was no careless ,pastor1 who forgot that he was in quest of souls1 and that the message of the ,lord is no jest4 ,but his experience was that in that strange lapsed population the rapport between man and man set up by an honest laugh was important as the first step to something very different which was to follow4 ,,come ,,to ,,the ,,point4 ,in the ordinary pastoral round no such ingenious merriment will be necessary2 though you will of course aim not only to be but to be seen to be happy in your work1 and in your ,master2 bright with a light which is as natural in its influence as it is divine in its origin4 ,in the ordinary round one great principle to be remembered1 if ,i am right1 is that you should come to the point as soon as possible4 ,some earnest men greatly shrink from this1 and aim at the souls of their people by very circuitous routes4 ,as a rule1 ,i am sure1 there is little need to do so2 we are expected to be about our ,master's business1 and to deliver ,his messages without needless delay4 ,i would not counsel the general verbal adoption of one good country ,parson's salutation1 who always opened the cottage door with1 ,how are you8 ,how is your soul8 ,but ,i have no doubt it was a good greeting for many a parishioner of his2 and the principle of it is good for almost every pastoral visit4 ,yes1 we shall do well to take people very much for granted1 coming before them as we do 7unless we quite forget our true character7 as the ,lord ,jesus ,christ's messengers and delegates1 whatever else we are4 ,,keep ,,it ,,always ,,in ,,view4 ,most certainly and obviously the ,pastor will often allude to common human interests1 and should indeed know something and have something to say and do about temporal problems1 things of body and estate4 ,but then ,i do hold that he should draw all things this supremely important way4 ,all his pastoral intercourse should bear somehow upon the question of the state before ,god of the person or persons visited2 upon conviction of sin1 or comfort in grace1 or ,christian conduct2 upon ,christ and the soul1 upon holiness and immortality1 as the ,gospel brings them out into the light4 #b ,tim4 i4 #aj4 ,a ,,difficult ,,case ,,well ,,met4 ,there are cases most certainly where this has to be done with peculiar tact and caution unless quite obvious mischief is to be done instead of good4 ,but let the man be always lying in wait1 and he will very seldom do so quite in vain4 ,an instance occurs to me1 in the work of a most honoured veteran in the ,ministry4 ,he called on a new parishioner1 a lady of his own class1 and soon found out that she was politely but resolutely arranging to keep ,jesus ,christ out of the conversation2 so cleverly that he fairly failed to break the fence4 ,just as he was leaving1 for he could not go without one mention of his ,master1 he said1 as the last word of his courteous farewell1 ,the ,lord bless you4 ,that was all2 but it was enough to carry in it the ,spirit's message4 ,the utterance stayed in the parishioner's soul1 sounding solemnly on4 ,it was impossible to be offended2 it was impossible not to think4 ,and the issue was1 in ,god's time1 a real and deep conversion4 ,a ,,happy ,,rebuke ,,to ,,cowardice4 ,but1 ,i repeat it1 such difficulties in the daily round need not be very frequent1 if we do not create them for ourselves4 ,how often the very persons to whom we think it wiser not to speak openly about the ,lord ,jesus ,christ 7remember1 it is about ,,him1 even more than about themselves1 we are to speak7 are longing to hear us do so6 ,in the early days of my ordination ,i remember visiting an invalid gentleman1 who had known me 7for it was my ,father's parish7 all my life2 and ,i was very cowardly in his case about coming to the point of ,christ and the soul4 ,several visits1 let me confess it with shame1 were paid before ,i found myself able to propose that we should open the ,bible together1 and then pray4 ,i was moved to the inmost heart by the actual tears of delight with which the proposal was welcomed4 ,and not seldom1 if we do not come to the point1 our people will bring us to it4 ,a very dear friend of mine1 a few years ago1 was going his first circuits in a large ,london parish1 and paid one among many first visits4 ,he allowed it to be a mere visit of introductory civilities2 but he need not have been so cautious4 ,as he rose to go the good woman on whom he had called said to him1 ,you will have a word of prayer with me1 will you not8 ,the ,vicar always does4 ,go1 labour on1 spend and be spent2 ,thy joy to do the ,father's will2 ,it is the way the ,master went2 ,should not the servant tread it still8 ,go1 labour on while it is day1 ,the world's dark night is hastening on2 ,speed1 speed thy work1 cast sloth away2 ,it is not thus that souls are won4 ,,bonar4 ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,pastor ,,in ,,parish 7ii474 ,work on in hope2 the plough1 the sickle wield2 ,thy ,master is the harvest's ,master too2 ,he gives the golden seed1 ,he owns the field1 ,and does ,himself what ,his true servants do4 ,i take up again the all-important subject of ,pastoral ,visitation1 for the same sort of informal and fragmentary treatment as that attempted in the last chapter1 and with the same feeling that the subject is practically inexhaustible4 ,,let ,,the ,,visitor ,,be ,a ,,teacher1 ,,watching ,,for ,,opportunities4 ,one object which the visitor will do well to keep steadily before him is1 to be a teacher as he goes4 ,i have said something of this already1 in recommending my ,brethren to seize every good occasion for bringing in the ,bible1 and words about the ,bible4 ,but the whole work of instruction needs remembrance in our private intercourse with parishioners4 ,of course we shall avoid with watchful and willing care the magisterial manner1 the too didactic tone4 ,and only when obvious occasions present themselves shall we even seem to set ourselves to teach2 as when we are distinctly asked what is the meaning of this doctrine1 or that passage of ,scripture1 or that phrase of the ,prayer ,book1 or how to meet that difficulty of belief4 ,such moments do come2 in some pastoral lives they come frequently2 and whether the inquiry is made in a friendly spirit1 with a real wish for information1 or whether1 as sometimes1 it is the question of a critic or a caviller1 it is an opportunity for which1 in the ,lord's grace1 we should stand quite ready4 ,to be sure we may have sometimes to remember that sensible precept of the ,rabbis1 ,teach thy tongue to say1 ,i do not know2 the answer1 often1 of the truest and deepest-sighted wisdom4 ,but even when answering so1 instruction may be given1 as we state the reasons for the answer4 ,and we shall at least have the opportunity while so doing to bring in that other maxim1 which we owe1 ,i think1 to the late ,archbishop ,whately1 ,never allow what you do know to be disturbed by what you do not know2 a principle of very wide application4 ,but ,i am thinking now rather of the every-day sort of pastoral call and conversation1 in which perhaps the parishioner visited may be anything but a caviller1 and anything but even a questioner2 much too ready1 perhaps1 to take everything about ,christian truths for granted1 which1 alas1 means too often to take them as understood1 to take them as believed1 when there is little understanding of the matter1 or even thought about it4 ,now it is a great thing when a pastoral visitor has the art 7which needs to be considered1 and to be acquired7 of putting here and there into a quiet and friendly talk1 best of all towards the close1 some sentence which sets out a great truth clearly1 strongly1 and in a shape which may wake attention and help remembrance4 ,that is the kind of didactic work which ,i earnestly recommend4 99,,the ,,pastoral ,,teacher',s ,,topics4 ,if possible1 let no visit close without some such utterance1 if only one4 ,it may be about the very foundations of all ,christian truth2 about the certainty of ,christian facts1 the ,resurrection above all2 about the ,person of the ,lord ,jesus2 about ,his finished work of ,atonement2 about faith1 and our acceptance as believers in ,him1 and our victory and deliverance in temptation by the power of the ,holy ,ghost through faith2 about sin1 its true nature1 its guilt1 its end4 ,or it may be about the holy practicalities of ,christian conduct2 about the ,lord's call to us to break with everything that is against ,his will2 about that deep1 far-reaching truth of the ,gospel that1 while the sinner is saved by faith only1 he is saved on purpose that he may serve1 on purpose that he may walk and please ,god1 #a ,thess4 iv4 #a4 and that he may do this above all in the duty that lies near1 in the plain things of the home1 the business1 the handicraft1 the social circle4 ,or it may be about the mighty claims of the ,missionary cause1 about the strangely forgotten fact that the ,christian ,church exists mainly in order to evangelize the non-,christian world4 ,or it may be about the principles and duties of ,church membership and ,christian ordinances2 the true nature of worship2 the sacred duty of united worship2 the call to hallow the ,lord's ,day2 the precious benefits of the ,sacraments of ,christ1 explained with the holy reverence and equally holy simplicity and moderation of the ,catechism and the ,articles4 ,,need ,,for ,,such ,,work4 ,i need not fill my pages with numberless details4 ,for my plea is that we should rather hold ourselves ready for the natural rise of such or such topics1 and for a clear instructive word in season upon them1 than that we should propose a theme and deliver a discourse4 ,but ,i cannot too earnestly remind my ,brethren how great the need of instruction is among many of our kindly neighbours1 even among our neighbours who go regularly to ,church and are constantly to be seen at the ,table of the ,lord4 ,,christ ,a ,,blessed ,,angel4 ,let me take one pre-eminent subject as my illustration3 the foundation-truth of the ,godhead of our ,blessed ,redeemer4 ,are you at all aware how widely spread is ignorance and error on that subject1 far beyond the limits of the ,unitarian#ag community8 ,i remember a pastoral visit long ago to a slowly dying parishioner1 a labouring man somewhat stricken in years1 who had been a church-goer1 though not a communicant4 ,i soon fell into a conversation with my friend which took a sort of catechetical shape2 my aim was to see where the soul's hopes for eternity really rested4 ,who and ,what was ,,jesus1 whose name ,i know he humbly reverenced8 ,was ,he a good ,man8 ,yes4 ,but anything more8 ,there was a long hesitation1 and then the dear man expressed a faltering persuasion that the ,lord could not be less than a blessed angel4 ,that case1 ,i am well convinced1 is very much more representative than some of us may think4 ,at a recent ,church ,congress ,i heard some remarks in just this direction from ,bishop ,walsham ,how1 who speaks from a large pastoral experience2 his anxiety about the immense extent of popular ignorance or misbelief about the ,saviour's ,person was at least as great as mine4 #ag ,a term which ,i use under protest4 ,if a ,unitarian means a believer in the ,unity of the ,godhead1 every orthodox ,christian is a true ,unitarian4 ,only1 he is a ,trinitarian also1 from another side4 ,i may venture to refer on this subject to a small book of my own1 ,outlines of ,christian ,doctrine1 p4 #bj4 ,,all ,,my ,,sufferment ,,here4 ,and so too is ignorance and misbelief about the work of ,his ,cross1 and of ,his ,holy ,spirit4 ,i hope ,i shall have all my sufferment here1 said one poor invalid to me in old days1 speaking indeed from a very comfortless bed1 in the slow pains of a dire disease4 ,she had been long within sound of clear1 bright ,christian teaching4 ,but deep in the soul1 unmoved and ah1 so difficult to dislodge1 lay that notion of an atoning value in our own pains which is a radical contradiction to the glorious paradox of the perfect and unique work of ,calvary3-- ,thy pains1 not mine1 ,o ,christ1 ,upon the shameful tree ,have paid the law's full price1 ,and purchased peace for me4 ,thy ,cross1 not mine1 ,o ,christ1 ,has borne the awful load ,of sins that none in heaven ,or earth could bear but ,god4#ah #ah ,bonar1 ,hymns of ,faith and ,hope 7,first ,series74 ,,the ,,truth ,,of ,,the ,,holy ,,spirit4 ,as regards the ,person and the ,work of the blessed ,spirit1 great and general is the oblivion1 and manifold are the mistakes4 ,i fear that even in the best instructed congregations1 under the clearest public teaching1 there are all too many who1 practically1 have not so much as heard whether there be any ,holy ,ghost4 ,acts xix4 #b4 ,the belief in ,his glorious ,personality is faint and vague4 ,the confusion of ,his ,presence and ,power with our better feelings is very1 very common4 ,the solemn questions which the ,scripture bids us put to ourselves1 ,rom4 viii4 #i4 whether or not we have the ,spirit of ,christ--not merely a ,christian spirit in the sense of tone and temper1 but the ,holy ,ghost1 proceeding from the ,son1 and uniting the true believer to ,him--are little understood1 and rarely used upon the man by himself4 ,and the very thought of such a presence and such a power of the ,lord the ,life-,giver as shall fill us with the ,spirit ,eph4 v4 #ah4 is not yet existent1 ,i fear1 in the minds of many even earnest ,christians4 ,here are fields1 large and fruitful1 for the teaching visitor's cultivation4 ,and so are the other possible subjects indicated above2 such as the claims of the ,lord upon our personal consistency in little things2 ,his solemn call to all ,his people to be1 directly or indirectly1 the evangelists of the world2 and the nature of ,his blessed sacramental ,institutions4 ,,the ,,truth ,,of ,,the ,,sacraments4 ,on that last subject it is not my intention to enter at any length4 ,but a few words ,i may take this occasion to say1 and ,i will assume that ,i am speaking to a younger ,brother who in the main agrees with me in what are commonly called ,evangelical ,church principles4 ,let me first then counsel you to take care that no one shall be able1 lawfully1 to charge you with making light of the ,sacraments1#ai or with leaving uncertain your belief as to their divine purpose and function4 ,a ministry which is silent about them1 and indistinct in its teaching on them1 cannot in this respect be fully true to either the ,prayer ,book or the ,bible4 ,let your instructions on this great subject1 in public and in private1 be definite1 reverent1 and full of thankfulness and praise for those great gifts of ,god4 ,then on the other hand1 do not1 if ,i may speak freely1 while with all respect1 think to honour the ,sacraments by exaggeration1 by speaking more of them than of that far greater thing1 the blessed ,grace of ,god in ,christ1 of which they are the sure witnesses and effectual signs4#bj ,if ,i do not mistake1 one of the most prevalent tendencies of current thought in the ,church now is the tendency to invert1 in a certain way1 the relations between ,sacrament and ,grace2 to develop a doctrine of the ,sacrament such that the doctrine of ,grace can be seen only1 as it were1 through it4 ,and the result is1 very often1 so at least it seems to me to be1 a very poor and attenuated presentation of the glorious things said in ,scripture about the grace of ,god which bringeth salvation1 ,tit4 ii4 #aa4 and about the work of pure and simple1 but mysteriously mighty1 faith in our appropriation of ,christ's merits and our reception of ,christ's living power by the ,holy ,ghost4 ,let no such inversion mark your teaching4 ,and if ,i may give one further suggestion1 ,i would say1 remind yourself frequently of the very words of the ,prayer ,book 7including the ,catechism7 and the ,articles on these great subjects4 ,and inform yourself to some extent1 at first hand1 of the views of the men who cast our ,services and our ,articles into their practically present shape2 the views of ,cranmer1 of ,ridley1 of ,jewell1 and1 just after them1 of ,hooker2 not forgetting one great foreign theologian1 ,henry ,bullinger1 who exercised a special influence on the ,english divines of ,edward and ,elizabeth's time in the matter of sacramental doctrine4#ba ,you will find in him a full measure of holy reverence1 and at the same time a luminous clearness and definiteness of exposition4 ,the central idea of his teaching is the idea of the ,covenant ,seal1 the instrument of solemn1 valid1 legal conveyance4 #ai ,i mean of course ,baptism and the ,supper of the ,lord1 which alone the ,church of ,england recognizes as ,christian ,sacraments1 ,sacramenta ,evangelica1 ,sacraments of the ,gospel 7see ,art4 xxv41 par4 #b74 #bj ,certa testimonia1 efficacia signa 7,art4 xxv474 ,it is worth the while to point out that a sign is effectual when it effectually does the work of a sign1 not some quite different work4 ,a seal is an effectual seal1 not because1 conceivably1 its matter could be used as a powerful medicine1 but because1 attached to its document1 it effectually seals the document's validity4 ,a seal is in this respect a special sort of effectual sign4 ,and so are the ,sacraments4 #ba ,see the ,parker ,society's collection of authors for ,bullinger's ,decades1 or ,doctrinal ,sermons2 officially recognized as a body of divinity by the ,church of ,england in ,elizabeth's reign4 ,,mistakes ,,about ,,church ,,doctrine4 ,while on the subject of ,church ,doctrine1 ,i may go a little further1 and remind you how very likely you are to discover in your rounds many mistakes about both the doctrine and the government of the ,church of ,england4 ,i have had considerable experience of such questions in the way of private pastoral ministry2 ,i have found pious dissenters1 or church-people whom they had influenced1 fully persuaded that the ,church of ,england teaches unconditional regeneration in the hour of ,baptism1 that she teaches at least a near approach to ,transubstantiation1 that she entrusts to her priests the power of conferring or withholding the divine forgiveness1 and that1 officially and in set terms1 she unchurches all communities not episcopally organized4#bb ,it is well to be quite sure that these beliefs about the ,church are mistakes1 provably such1 in the light of the ,prayer ,book and ,articles1 and of history4 ,it has been my happiness to bring some such questioners as ,i have described to sincere and conscientious communion with the ,church of ,england1 in a loyalty which leaves ample room for loving sympathy with all true ,christians4 ,and the chief means has been the production of proof that the ,church herself1 as distinguished from particular teachers and leaders in the ,church1 does not teach the tenets alleged4 #bb ,as regards the ,scottish and ,continental ,protestant ,churches it is not too much to say that1 with the very rarest exceptions1 ,english ,church writers of all schools regarded them as ,sister ,churches of the ,reformation--till about #ahcj4 ,,defective ,,views ,,of ,,sin4 ,but to come back to matters more primary than even these2 ,i must remind my younger ,brother that there is1 all around him1 in the average circles of even church-going people1 a sorrowfully faint insight into the sinfulness of ,,sin2 into the terrible realities of its guilt before ,god 7a point too often absent from even earnest modern teaching71 and of its power2 yes1 and into its true nature1 as it comes out1 not in outbursts of word or deed1 or in practices which public opinion condemns1 but in imagination1 in desire1 in tone4 ,it may surprise us 7when we think how very elementary are the spiritual principles involved71 but ,i fear it is a fact1 that sin is regarded by vast numbers of church-people 7,i am not thinking at all of the lapsed masses now7 as a matter of little importance if it does not come out in some very positive form4 ,multitudes among us are quite insensible to the spiritual penetration of the law of ,god1 and have never given a thought to the question of a heart-surrender to ,his will in everything1 and the sin of merely withholding that surrender4 ,then1 to take another primary subject of a different class2 there is a wide and general ignorance of the great lines of ,christian ,evidence1 and a large open door accordingly for the active attacks of shallow1 or subtle1 unbelief4 ,few have ever been taught in any definite way the supreme significance in this respect of the fact of the ,lord's ,resurrection1 and its mighty walls of proof2 and the reasons for our belief that the ,bible is indeed not of man but of ,god2 the witness of history to prophecy2 and so on4 ,,let ,,us ,,drop ,,seeds ,,of ,,teaching4 ,i owe an almost apology for this long talk about subjects of doctrine1 and practice1 and evidence4 ,but ,i have kept all along the purpose of this chapter in view4 ,i wish to remind my ,brethren how very much they may do1 in the course of visitation1 to drop seeds of fact1 of truth1 of principle1 in careful1 thoughtful words1 the product of private reading and reflection1 called out by some natural occasion4 ,undoubtedly1 the subjects ,i have outlined are themes for the pulpit1 and for the ,bible class1 as well as for the visit4 ,but my feeling is that the visit gives opportunities quite of its own for didactic work4 ,we ought to be natural everywhere2 but we are sometimes suspected1 or imagined1 to be less so in public than in private2 and besides1 in private we give and take2 we are open to question and answer2 and this may give quite special advantage to the word spoken1 quietly and pleasantly1 but pointedly1 in the pastoral interview4 ,,purchase ,,the ,,opportunity4 ,the priest's lips should keep knowledge4 ,mal4 ii4 #g4 ,the ,clergyman should be ready everywhere to be the teacher on the great subjects which he is supposed to make his own4 ,he will never intrude instruction1 or parade it2 but he will everywhere be on the watch for the occasion for it1 ,greek3 exagorazomenos ton kairon1 purchasing the opportunity1 ,eph4 v4 #aj4 at the cost of care4 ,,visitation ,,of ,,the ,,sick4 ,and here ,i may come again to that important branch of visitation1 the visitation of the sick4 ,the ,church1 as we well know1 provides a ,form of ,visitation2 most helpful and suggestive in its principles and outline for all4 ,but it is1 as you are aware1 imposed by the ,canon 7lxvii47 only on such ,clergymen 7very scarce personages7 as have no licence to preach4 ,as a fact1 we ,presbyters are left to our own discretion in this sacred part of our work2 and that discretion we should seek prayerfully to cultivate4 ,how different are the circumstances in each one of an average series of sick-visits6 ,as ,i write the words1 such a series from my own past days rises up before me2 and ,i transcribe a few recollections from the book of memory4 ,a ,,series ,,of ,,visits4 ,w4,s4 is a retired tradesman1 a thoughtful and rather reticent man2 brought up a ,socinian1 and professedly such still4 ,i am trying to lay siege to him1 not without merciful tokens of hope from the ,lord4 ,and the simple plan is1 not to open the controversy between ,socinus and ,scripture1 but to arrange that each visit shall have its short ,scripture reading1 its friendly talk1 and its prayer1 all bearing mainly on the deadliness of sin and the wonder and glory of salvation4 ,i happen to know that the married daughter of ,w4,s41 a very intelligent woman1 was brought from heresy to a divine ,saviour's feet by means of a sermon1 not on ,christ's ,godhead1 but on the sinfulness of sin4 ,t4,h4 is a sturdy old blacksmith1 old enough to have been bred in the infidel school of ,carlile 7quite another person than ,carlyle71 and steeped in old-fashioned ,chartism4 ,he always has the newspaper on his now helpless knees1 never the ,bible2 but he almost always has some ,bible difficulty ready for me4 ,it is pleasant to be able this afternoon to show him1 holding the page up before his eyes1 that his last stumbling-block is one of his own 7or his friends'7 bold invention4 ,he meets civility always civilly1 and never resents a natural transition from the last bit of politics to the ,gospel4 ,but it is a hard1 sad case4 ,the ,lord only knows how the apparently motionless conscience fares4 ,t4,g4 is a fine1 manly artizan1 a coach-painter1 scarcely yet in middle life2 lately the somewhat bitter and very self-satisfied critic of his good and devoted wife's simple faith4 ,i have had rather discouraging talks with ,t4,g4 before to-day2 but now he is very ill1 and a few ,sunday afternoons ago he sent across the road for the ,curate1 who to his own solemn joy found him broken down in unmistakable conviction of sin1 asking what he must do to be saved4 ,it is a blessed thing to visit him now1 for already the rays of the eternal sun are shining between the clouds of a deeply genuine repentance2 and the visitor's task is plain1-- ,to teach him all the mercy1 while he shows him all the sin4 ,soon it will be my happiness1 ,i hope1 to administer to him1 as a penitent believer1 with his now happy wife and a faithful friend1 the precious ,communion2 and ,i look forward to see him depart in due time in the peace of ,god1 to be with ,christ1 for whom already he has learnt to testify4 ,then comes another visit1 to one of our bettermost neighbours2 this door bears1 or ought to bear1 the proverbial brass knocker4 ,but be the door what it may be1 there is great need and great mercy inside it4 ,the dear man1 ,w4,t41 lately in active professional life in the home civil-service1 is sinking under the most agonizing of human maladies1 and it is very near the close2 this is the second visit to-day1 in his urgent need4 ,but1 blessed be ,god1 grace1 once absent1 has found its way through the terrible obstacle of pain1 and his scarcely articulate utterance--intelligible to his visitor only because now so familiar--speaks of the joy and rest of the ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 and of the sufferer's longing for the salvation of another soul1 a soul very dear to him4#bc #bc ,wonderful to say 7it is to me very wonderful71 ,i have known more than one bright conversion take place amidst the untold pangs of such an illness4 ,such visits tell upon the heart1 and upon the head1 and perhaps the round among the suffering has been long enough to-day4 ,to-morrow we will try to get a quiet half-hour with ,w4,r41 a shopkeeper1 sinking in consumption2 a man of no common natural refinement and thoughtfulness1 but long troubled with that sort of scepticism which is generated 7who knows in how many cases87 by the mysteries1 not of ,god's revelation1 but of ,his providence4 ,for him1 too1 the visitor's business is to lay a gentle siege1 here a little1 and there a little1 trying never to lose patience with objections and difficulties1 but rather to sympathize with them as to their pains1 and then to suggest the answer in ,jesus ,christ4 ,and oh joy1 the ,lord is finding the way in1 through ,his ,word1 and the clouds are passing away from the man's mind1 and soul1 and forehead1 as he is getting to know ,,whom he believes4#bd #bd ,i possess a beautiful little ,bible given me by dear ,w4,r41 who has now been many years with ,christ4 ,such a gift is a very sacred treasure to a ,pastor4 ,then we can walk round the corner--how the beloved streets and lanes rise up in memory before me as ,i write6--to see ,j4,f41 a young printer1 dying in the brightest joy and peace1 won from carelessness to a solid faith by the work and witness of earnest dissenting ,christians1 but glad and thankful to receive the ,communion of the ,lord from his dear ,vicar1 or his ,vicar's son4 ,and then five minutes' walk takes us to a tiny alley in the denser part of the widespread parish1 where a poor life-long cripple1 ,w4,g41 lies day and year upon his little bed--little1 because though the head is full-sized1 and the brain within it is an adult brain1 the body has never grown since childhood4 ,here is a case for steady sympathy1 and also for gentle and steady aiming at instruction as well as comfort4 ,and then1 not far off1 we will take the privilege of a quiet visit to an aged ,christian woman1 ,j4,n4 ,in long past years loving saints found her pining in extreme poverty1 and sunk in a dull1 despairing indifference4 ,now it is a great spiritual help to sit in her little attic beside her1 and draw her on to speak 7she is no loquacious person by nature1 and needs drawing on7 about the needs of the soul1 and the glorious fulness of the ,son of ,god4 ,she is no common ,christian2 not only in life but in thought this appears4 ,at the time of her conversion1 she could not read a letter4 ,since then1 she has repeatedly read with great spiritual insight and enjoyment ,archbishop ,leighton's ,commentary on ,st ,peter4 ,here is a room in which the visitor learns quite as much as he teaches4 ,and so he does in a still smaller and much darker room1 three minutes' distant from ,j4,n4's4 ,there lies blind ,r4,w41 in his strong days the head-servant of an old farmer of our village1 and to all appearance as little capable of spiritual interests as the animals he fed4 ,but on his sick-bed1 the comfortless couch of many declining years1 a loving visitor1 a devoted lady-worker1 has found him out1 and the ,lord has found him out through her4 ,he never knew ,a from ,b in his life1 and never will4 ,but do you want proof of the power of grace to quicken mind1 as well as to convert soul8 ,come with me up the stairs into dear old ,r4,w4's darksome room1 and in the course of our talk you shall hear his quavering voice saying things1 quite humbly and naturally1 about the glory of his ,saviour1 and the way of salvation1 and the joy and peace of his heart in ,god1 which are not only loving ascriptions but clear and sound divinity4 ,it is good to be with him4 ,i have spoken mainly1 though not only1 of cases of warm interest and encouragement4 ,of course there are sorrowful and heart-trying visits to the sick4 ,one such1 to poor old ,t4,h41 ,i have described4 ,and we might see the much older ,a4,c41 a woman of near ninety years1 who seems impenetrable to the true light1 though grateful and kindly towards the visitor2 and ,b4,f41 older still1 ninety-six1 so vain of her age that it is difficult to get her off the beloved theme2 and ,j4,g41 a steady1 self-righteous man2 and ,c4,w41 clever1 and disposed to scoff2 and ,t4,b41 known to be leading a very evil life1 civil1 but immovable4 ,,resolve ,,to ,,be ,a ,,visitor4 ,the work is very various1 very interesting1 and full of the call for long patience1 while full1 too1 of blessed encouragements and surprises4 ,but the time would fail me4 ,ah1 let me not close without saying to my younger ,brother how deeply humbling to me are the memories of those pastoral days1 and humbling above all as ,i look back and wish now1 in vain for ever1 that ,i had visited more1 among both the sick and the whole4 ,enter not into judgment with ,thy servant1 ,o ,lord2 ,to ,thee only it appertaineth to forgive sins4 ,my dear younger ,brother1 resolve that by the grace of ,god you will be a visitor1 whatever else you are1 or are not4 ,and be a visitor who respects his neighbours1 who feels with them1 whose heart lives with them1 and who on the other hand watches over his call to instruct them1 to clear up and deepen their thoughts of self1 and ,god1 and life1 and death1 and salvation1 and duty1 and eternity4 ,a ,,conversion ,,at ,,eighty-,,six4 ,go1 labour on2 spend and be spent4 ,there is a sure reward1 seen or not seen as yet2 and often the most unlikely quarter shall prove the quarter of blessing1 and the last shall be first4 ,one recollection1 drawn out of my earliest childhood1 shall close this wandering talk4 ,it is of dear old ,mrs ,e41 then aged quite eighty-six4 ,she must have been born under the rule of ,king ,george the ,second4 ,a farmer's widow1 she had been absolutely and perfectly respectable all her life1 and was entirely satisfied with her state and her prospects for the next world4 ,my dear ,father1 and his devoted ,curate of those days1 the ,rev4 ,w4,d41 not seldom saw her1 but without leaving any apparent impression on her conscience4 ,at last that conscience woke4 ,the ,curate read a chapter1 in her hearing1 to her pious invalid daughter1 who had sought her mother's conversion for years in prayer1 and had lived true ,christianity all the while in her mother's home4 ,and on a sudden1 something in that chapter 7it was the third of ,romans7 said to the old lady1 ,you have lived eighty years in the world1 and never done a single thing for the love of ,god4 ,the conviction was tremendous in its depth and quality1 and it lasted long4 ,but a very bright light followed1 and shone with holy fulness through what proved to be several remaining years of beautiful old age4 ,she rejoiced in her adorable ,saviour with joy unspeakable1 a joy meanwhile perfectly sober and full of the good fruits of loving righteousness4 ,she died at last1 singing1 or rather musically murmuring1 ,rock of ,ages4#be ,and my recollection1 across seven-and-forty years1 is of that dear old lady of the past1 sitting upright in her parlour1 as my ,mother led me in to see her1 and wearing a look upon her face which ,i can only now describe as a remembered ray of light4 #be ,my dear ,father1 many years ago1 published a full narrative of ,mrs ,e4's last days1 in a little volume of pastoral recollections1 ,pardon and ,peace4 ,i love1 ,i love my ,master2 ,i will not go out free2 ,for ,he is my ,redeemer1 ,he paid the price for me4 ,i would not leave ,his service1 ,it is so sweet and blest1 ,and in the weariest moments ,he gives the truest rest4 ,,miss ,f4,r4 ,,havergal4 ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,the ,,clergyman ,,and ,,the ,,prayer ,,book4 ,dear pages of ancestral prayer1 ,illumined all with ,scripture gold1 ,in you we seem the faith to share ,of saints and seers of old4 ,whene'er in worship's blissful hour ,the ,pastor lends your heart a voice1 ,let his own spirit feel your power1 ,and answer1 and rejoice4 ,in the present chapter ,i deal a little with the spirit and work of the ,clergyman in his ministration of the ordered ,services of the ,church1 reserving the work of the ,pulpit for later treatment4 ,,the ,,prayer ,,book ,,not ,,perfect ,,but ,,inestimable4 ,let me begin by a brief reminder of the greatness of the spiritual treasure which we possess in the ,book by which we minister4 ,how shall ,i speak of it as ,i would8 ,the ,prayer ,book isn't inspired1 ,i know1 said an old coast-guardsman some years ago to a friend of mine1 but1 sure and certain1 'tis as bad as inspired6 ,i find the ,liturgy1 said another veteran1 ,charles ,simeon1 as superior to all modern compositions as the work of a philosopher on any deep subject is to that of a schoolboy who understands scarcely anything about it4 ,all that the ,church of ,england needs to make her the glory of all ,churches1 said ,simeon's friend1 the late ,rev4 ,william ,marsh1 is the spirit of her own services4 ,i am not so blind as to maintain that our ,book is ideally perfect1 and that its every sentence is infallible4 ,it is not quite literally as bad as inspired4 ,after using it in ministration for nearly five-and-twenty years ,i own to the wish that here and there the wording1 or the arrangement1 or the rubrical direction1 had been otherwise in some detail1 perhaps in some important detail4 ,i do certainly wish very earnestly indeed that the ,revisers of #affa-b had expressed themselves more happily in that ,rubric about ,ornaments which within recent years has proved--little as they expected it1 or intended it1 to do so--such a fertile field of discord4 ,but for all this1 my five-and-twenty years' ministerial use of the ,prayer ,book has only deepened my sense of its inestimable general value and greatness4 ,if a temperate and equitable revision were possible at the present time ,i should welcome the prospect on most accounts4 ,but it seems to me plain that it is not at present possible4 ,and meanwhile ,i thank ,god from my inmost heart for the actual ,prayer ,book as a whole4 ,let me point out a very few of the claims of the ,book on our love and gratitude2 and now specially in view of what we may sometimes hear said about it by ,christians not of our own ,church4 i4 ,observe its profound and searching spirituality4 ,it is quite true that in a certain sense the ,book takes all who use it for granted2 it assumes them to be worshippers in spirit and in truth2 it does not pray for them1 or lead them in public worship to pray for themselves1 as for those who do not know and love ,god1 who have not come to ,christ4 ,but then what form of public1 common prayer can well do this8 ,and meantime the ,book does1 especially in the service of the ,communion1 and particularly in that too often omitted part of it1 the longer ,exhortation1 beginning ,dearly beloved in the ,lord1 throw the worshipper back upon himself for self-examination4 ,this is just the method of ,st ,paul in his addresses to the ,christian community4 ,he writes to all as saints1 faithful1 elect1 sanctified4 ,what does he mean8 ,does he mean that those glorious terms are satisfied by the fact that all have been baptized1 or even that all are communicants at the sacred ,table8 ,not at all4 ,he takes all for granted as being what they profess to be1 when he greets the community4 ,rom4 viii4 #i2 #a ,cor4 xvi4 #bb2 #b ,cor4 xiii4 #e2 ,gal4 v4 #f4 ,but he says also1 ,if any man have not the ,spirit of ,christ he is none of ,his2 ,if any man love not the ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 let him be anathema2 ,examine yourselves1 whether ye be in the faith2 prove your own selves4 ,know ye not that ,jesus ,christ is in you--except ye be ,greek3 adokimoi1 counterfeits8 ,in ,jesus ,christ neither circumcision availeth anything1 nor uncircumcision1 but faith which worketh by love4 ,such sentences throw a flood of holy and searching light on the sense in which ,st ,paul took them all for granted4 ,and the ,prayer ,book is in true harmony with both parts of the ,apostle's method4 ,,what ,,it ,,takes ,,for ,,granted ,,in ,,the ,,worshipper4 ,and then1 think what the ,book does thus searchingly and helpfully take for granted4 ,it assumes a deep sense of sin1 such a sense as is indeed grievous unto us4 ,it takes for granted our deep desire both for pardon and for spiritual victory4 ,it assumes our desire to be kept this day without sin2 to follow the only ,god with pure hearts and minds2 to be continually given to all good works2 to be enabled by the ,lord to live according to ,his will2 to have all our doings ordered by ,his governance2 to have such love to ,him poured into our hearts that we may love ,him above all things4 ,it assumes our desire to read1 mark1 learn1 and inwardly digest all the ,holy ,scriptures4 ,it assumes our readiness to suffer on earth for the testimony of the truth1 looking up steadfastly to heaven1 and by faith beholding the glory that shall be revealed4 ,it assumes our adoring devotion to our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 and that we present ourselves1 our souls and bodies1 a reasonable1 holy1 and living sacrifice1 to our ,god4 ,i heard a few years ago of a remarkable case of secession from the ,church of ,england4 ,a thoughtful and conscientious man left us because1 as he said1 he could no longer seem to concur in such words of intense spiritual reality and surrender while he did not fully mean them4 ,on his principles1 ,i fear there ought to be a large exodus from our ,church4 ,but that is not the fault of the ,church1 or of the ,church's ,book4 ,it is the fault of the worshippers1 and it is a solemn call to us not so much to criticize the ,liturgy as to examine ourselves4 ,,the ,,prayer ,,book ,,as ,a ,,weapon4 ,in this connexion ,i am reminded of a characteristic saying of an honoured friend of mine1 now at rest with the ,lord after a long and faithful ministry4 ,he was one of those men who instinctively speak strongly1 perhaps sometimes roughly2 but such roughness is often useful4 ,the ,prayer ,book1 said he1 is always handy to throw at people's heads2 figuratively1 of course1 not literally4 ,he slung it out in vigorous quotations from his pulpit1 point blank at the unreality1 and formalism1 and pharisaism1 and love of this present evil world1 which too often underlies the most precise churchmanship and the most punctual church-going4 ,my old friend's strong word may carry a suggestion to some of my younger ,brethren2 though ,i would advise their deferring a projectile use of the ,book till they are seniors in the ,church4 ,but the youngest ,minister of ,christ1 in all loving modesty1 may reach many a conscience 7beginning with his own7 by well-timed words from the ,prayer ,book1 showing what the ,book takes for granted in the worshipper4 ,,scripturality ,,of ,,the ,,book4 ii4 ,next ,i point to the abundant and loyal ,scripturality of the ,prayer ,book4 ,i venture to say that no ,service ,book in the world is quite like ours in this4 ,this characteristic lies on the surface2 in the wealth of ,scripture poured out in every service before the people2 ,psalms1 ,lessons1 ,canticles1 ,epistle1 ,gospel1 ,introductory ,sentences1 ,decalogue1 ,comfortable ,words4 ,at the ,font1 in the ,marriage ,ordinance1 at the ,grave1 it is still the same2 ,scripture1 in our mother tongue1 full and free1 runs everywhere4 ,and below the surface it is the same4 ,take almost any set of responses1 or any single prayer1 and see the strong warp of the ,bible in it all4 99,,the ,,preface ,,on ,,the ,,bible4 ,and then go for a moment from the ,services to the ,preface of the ,book1 and see what the ,fathers of our ,english ,liturgy thought and intended about the place of the ,holy ,scriptures in worship4 ,i hope my ,brethren have all read that ,preface with care2 ,i mean1 of course1 the whole length of introductory matter which precedes the ,tables of ,lessons2 nothing of it later than #affb1 most of it 7indeed all but the first section1 written by ,sanderson7 dating in substance from #aedi4bf ,i hope it has all been read by you2 but ,i am not quite certain of it1 so little attention is at present called to those important and authoritative statements of principle4 ,but however well you may already know them1 they will repay another reading2 and so you will be reminded again that the really first thought in the minds of the men who gave us our ,prayer ,book in ,english was to let the ,word of ,god have free course and be glorified in all the worship of the people4 #b ,thess4 iii4 #a4 ,those men were learned in the past1 and they reverenced history and continuity4 ,but they reverenced still more the heavenly ,word1 and where they found the ample reading and hearing of it impeded by even immemorial usage1 the usage had to give way1 without reserve1 to the ,bible4 #bf ,i do not forget that some modifications in detail1 as to the ,lectionary1 are quite recent4 ,yes1 the ,prayer ,book is1 whatever else it is1 searchingly1 overflowingly ,scriptural2 full of the ,bible1 full of ,christ4 ,let us drink its principles and its manner in1 that they may come out in our life and our preaching4 ,and now for a few simple practical suggestions on our ministerial use of the ,book4 ,,use ,,the ,,book ,,with ,,diligence4 i4 ,first1 ,i would entreat my younger ,brother to resolve in the ,lord's name that his own use of the ,prayer ,book in his ministration be to him a thing of sacred importance and personal reality4 ,we need to form such a resolve deliberately1 and to watch and pray over it4 ,do we not know what strong temptations lie in the other direction8 ,we have to use these forms over and over again2 before many years are over perhaps we could take a whole service1 except the appointed ,scriptures1 without looking at the book3 is it not too easy under such conditions to read as those who read not1 and to pray as those who pray not8 ,and all too often the ,clergyman1 younger or older1 allows himself almost consciously1 almost on principle1 to form an inadequate estimate of his ,prayer-,book work4 ,perhaps he regards the prayers as in such a sense the voice of the ,church that he is willing to be little more than a machine through which the ,church offers them4 ,or perhaps on the other hand he lets himself forget their immense importance1 under a strong1 and just1 sense of the sacred importance of the ,sermon4 ,he is alive and awake in the pulpit1 and seeks his ,lord's presence there1 and realizes it as sought2 but in the desk--he goes by himself1 and much of his precious time there is spent in thought which wanders to the ends of the earth while his voice does its decent but somnambulatory part alone4 99,,use ,,it ,,with ,,living ,,reality4 ,i can only appeal with all my heart to my younger ,brother not to let it be thus with him4 ,and the only effective recipe against the trouble is faith1 exercised in prayer and watching1 with a full recollection of the urgent importance of the matter4 ,for indeed it is all-important that the servant of ,god should be given wholly to his work1 at the reading desk1 at the lectern1 at the ,table1 at the ,font4 ,,pray ,,the ,,prayers4 ,it is easy to say1 as it is often said1 that we must not preach the prayers1 must not obtrude our personality in leading the devotions of the congregation2 that our part is to be regular and audible1 and otherwise to efface ourselves4 ,most certainly we ought not to preach the prayers1 in public any more than in private4 ,but then1 we ought to pray them4 ,most certainly we ought not to obtrude our personality upon the thought of the worshippers4 ,but then1 we ought to serve them with our personality1 and we can best do this1 surely1 by a spirit and a manner which is unmistakably that of the fellow-worshipper1 who feels himself to be in the presence of the ,king1 and knows that the petitions and the promises are for him at least a holy reality4 ,i am perfectly well aware that it is not easy to steer between a more or less mechanical manner and a demonstrative one1 and that perhaps of two evils the former is the less4 ,but ,i am sure it is possible to steer the right line1 by using sanctified common-sense1 and asking for a little candid counsel from those who hear us1 and above all by being what we seek to seem--true worshippers1 spiritually awake and humbly reverent4 ,as long as man is man1 so long will the law of sympathy hold good4 ,and by that law it is certain that the way to promote1 so far as we can1 a spirit and tone of true worship in our people is to possess--and to show--that spirit ourselves1 as we lead1 and also join1 their worship4 ,never declaim the prayers1 but always pray them1 from the soul and with the voice4 ,,give ,,attendance ,,to ,,the ,,reading ,,of ,,the ,,lessons4 ii4 ,i spoke just now of what we should do at the lectern4 ,let me earnestly press upon my ,brethren the great duty of rightly reading the ,lessons4 ,do you want to carry out the will and purpose of the ,church of ,england8 ,as we have seen1 that purpose is above everything to glorify the ,word of ,god4 ,see then that the ,lesson1 as read by you1 is as audible1 as intelligible1 as impressive as you can make it4 ,take care beforehand that you understand its points1 its arguments1 its emphasis4 ,take counsel with yourself1 and perhaps with others1 about ways and means for bringing these things out in your public reading4 ,remember that for very many of your people 7,i fear ,i am right in saying so7 the ,church ,lessons are the most solid pieces of ,scripture they ever hear1 or ever read4 ,many years ago it was not uncommonly said that in these days of universal reading we might perhaps abbreviate our ,church ,lessons4 ,but since that time it has been more fully and sadly realized1 by very many of us at least1 that universal reading does not mean universal ,bible reading by any means1 but much rather universal newspaper and novel reading4 ,the heavenly ,book is terribly unfamiliar to multitudes of churchgoers1 as you will find1 if you ask1 when you go about your parish2 of this we have already thought4 ,therefore1 make all you can of the reading of the ,lessons in public worship4 ,greek3 ,proseche t anagnsei1 says the ,apostle to ,timothy1 ,give attention to the reading #a ,tim4 iv4 #ac42 does he not mean1 be diligent in reading the ,scripture to the people8 ,the precept is as much as ever in point in our day4 ,,opportunities ,,offered ,,by ,,the ,,occasional ,,services4 iii4 ,as regards the occasional services1 ,public and ,private ,baptism1 ,marriage1 ,burial1 ,i would earnestly counsel my ,brother to put personality into his reading in them all1 in the moderate sense indicated above4 ,the fact that such occasions are necessarily more or less special in their interest for some at least of those present should never be forgotten2 bring the power of a sympathetic interest and earnestness to bear upon it4 ,in administering ,public ,baptism ,i have often realized this to a very peculiar degree4 ,who can feel the least fondness for little children1 and have the slightest insight into a parent's heart1 and not do so8 ,our service is undoubtedly long2 very long indeed when accompanied by a chorus of perhaps several little crying voices4 ,but let the servant of ,god be in it1 and he will find himself much more touched than troubled by the babies' lamentations as he speaks to the sponsors about the young helpless souls1 and turns to the ,lord of all grace to dedicate them to ,him and to invoke ,his blessing on them for time and eternity1 and then applies the watery ,seal of all the promises to their small foreheads4 ,i have always found it very hard to get through that service with a perfectly steady voice2 and after all1 why should we be so careful to do so8 ,private ,baptism is indeed a special occasion4 ,there are reasons1 no doubt1 why it must not be too readily administered2 in some parishes parents1 for one reason or another1 too often try to secure a christening in private1 on insufficient grounds1 with no intention of a public dedication afterwards4 ,but when the case is clear1 and you are at the little suffering one's side1 perhaps with a distressed mother close beside it and you1 see to it that you so minister the rite1 so read the few precious words1 as both to sympathize and to teach4 ,let me add that ,private ,baptism often brings the ,clergyman into a house where religion is utterly neglected2 and the opportunity may be a priceless one1 if the power of love and spiritual reality is with you in the work4 ,and when you officiate at a ,wedding1 different as the conditions are from those just remembered1 still do not forget that for at least some there present the hour is a deeply moving one4 ,and is not the ,marriage ,service a noble one to read1 to interpret1 with its peculiar mingling of immemorial and archaic simplicity with a searching depth of scriptural exhortation1 and a bright wealth of divine benedictions8 ,throw the power of a true man's solemnized sympathy into your reading of that service4 ,,problems ,,connected ,,with ,,the ,,use ,,of ,,the ,,burial ,,service4 ,of the ritual of the ,grave ,i hardly need to speak4 ,i know only too well that there are funerals and funerals4 ,there are occasions of unrelieved sadness4 ,there are occasions when the ,minister's heart is chilled by a manifest and utter indifference4 ,but the saddest1 dreariest of burials is an opportunity for the ,lord4 ,whether or no you see your way to give an address1 let it be seen that you are dealing with ,god in the prayers1 and read the ,lessons as one that pleadeth with men4 ,a brief word in passing on the problem raised by some of the phrases of our ,burial ,service4 ,let me call attention to the studied generality of the words1 ,in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life4 ,before #affb this ran in sure 444 hope of resurrection1 etc41 which1 as you will observe1 expressly applied the hope to that case of burial2 the change was evidently made on purpose to relieve conscience in the matter4 ,then remember that the whole service is constructed1 like all our services1 for the member of the ,christian community taken on his profession2 and that assumption1 unless flagrant facts withstand it1 is to be made1 in public ordinance1 as much at the grave as elsewhere4 ,and do not forget that hope1 be it ever so trembling1 is never forbidden at a grave-side4 ,i am no advocate of what is called the larger hope2 ,i dare not be4 ,but ,i am deeply convinced that mercies of the ,lord1 in cases quite beyond our possible knowledge1 are experienced in the very act of departure4 ,betwixt the stirrup and the ground ,mercy ,i sought1 mercy ,i found4 ,that instance has many parallels2 and ,god only knows their limits4 ,never should we say1 whatever we may awfully fear1 that such and such a soul is to our knowledge lost4 ,as regards the practical management of extreme cases1 the young ,clergyman will of course act altogether under his ,incumbent4 ,and the young ,incumbent will remember that he can have recourse to his ,bishop for counsel4 ,,the ,,holy ,,communion4 iv4 ,let me say one special word on our administration of the precious ritual of the ,table of the ,lord4 ,i am not attempting here any discussion of its doctrinal aspects in detail4 ,for myself1 as ,i have said elsewhere1 ,i make no secret of long-settled ,evangelical convictions4 ,i regard the ,holy ,eucharist as above all things else the ,lord's way of sealing to ,his true ,israel the unutterable benefits of the ,new and ,everlasting ,covenant1 rather than an occasion on which ,he infuses into them ,his glorified ,manhood4 ,his sacred ,body and ,blood are1 for me1 the ,body and the ,blood as they were1 once for all1 at ,calvary1 and as they are not therefore literally now2 and my participation in them is accordingly my participation in the virtues of the ,atoning ,sacrifice1 there once and for ever wrought and offered4 ,but this is by the way4 ,i speak now of our spirit and manner in the administration1 in respect of some principles which are little if at all affected1 it seems to me1 by even grave differences of doctrinal theory4 ,alas1 at the present day it is too often the case that the communicant is fairly bewildered by the varieties of ,communion ritual1 or by the complications of it4 ,ought this to be so1 on any theory of the ,eucharist8 ,did ,i for one believe our adorable and beloved ,,lord to be locally present 7,i use the words not technically but practically7 on the ,holy ,table as nowhere else here on earth1 ,i think that all my instinct would go towards a reverence whose depth was manifested not by an elaborate ceremonial but by the most solemn possible simplicity of act4 ,a ritual whose details must be matter of careful practice1 and which suggests almost the need of a ,spanish master-of-the-ceremonies--ought that to be the natural effect of an1 as it were1 invisible ,presence8 ,,simplicity ,,and ,,reverence4 ,but probably ,i write for readers whose inclinations or risks lie little in that direction4 ,and for them ,i say1 let your administration of the blessed ,communion always combine a manifest reverence and a restful simplicity4 ,the ,lord is there1 the ,master of ,his own ,table1 the ,prince of ,his own ,covenant1 ready to give ,his people ,his royal ,seal by your hands4 ,and ,his people are there1 to have their sacred interview with ,him4 ,do not obstruct their view1 their colloquy2 humbly aid it4 ,be their servant1 as in ,,his presence2 obtrude yourself as little as you possibly can4 ,,addresses ,,on ,,the ,,prayer ,,book4 ,as ,i draw the chapter to a close1 ,i make one practical recommendation to my younger ,brethren4 ,it is1 to do what they can to interest their people in the ,prayer ,book1 and to promote its intelligent use1 by taking what opportunities they can to talk to them about it4 ,many a private occasion for this will no doubt present itself4 ,but if now and then a simple lecture on the history of the ,prayer ,book can be given1 and if possible well illustrated1 it will be very useful2 and so will be a series of week-night devotional addresses on the teaching of the ,prayer ,book4 ,and let not the need of plain matter-of-fact explanation of obsolete terms and technical phrases be forgotten on such occasions4 ,of course the ,curate will carefully consult his ,incumbent on the whole matter4 ,but few of my elder ,brethren will not feel with me that such talks upon the ,prayer ,book1 carefully considered and conducted1 whether by ,incumbent or by ,curate1 may be of the greatest use1 under our ,master's blessing4 ,,more ,,ceremonial1 ,,less ,,worship4 ,one last word1 and ,i have done with these suggestions4 ,an ,english ,bishop once told me that he had lately met a gentleman who1 after ten years' residence abroad1 returned to ,england1 and to his place as a worshipper in our ,churches4 ,do you remark particularly any change or advance in what you see there8 ,i observe on the one hand much more ceremonial1 on the other hand1 apparently1 much less worship4 ,fewer kneel1 fewer respond1 fewer around me seem devoutly attentive4 ,less worship6 ,is it so indeed8 ,let the very opposite be the case1 so far as our influence and teaching can have effect1 with our fathers' ,prayer ,book in our hands1 and in our hearts4 ,lo1 ,god is here2 ,him day and night ,th' united quires of angels sing2 ,to ,him1 enthron'd above all height1 ,heaven's hosts their noblest praises bring2 ,disdain not1 ,lord1 our meaner song1 ,who praise ,thee with a stammering tongue4 ,being of beings1 may our praise ,thy courts with grateful fragrance fill2 ,still may we stand before ,thy face1 ,still hear and do ,thy sovereign will2 ,to ,thee may all our thoughts arise1 ,ceaseless1 accepted sacrifice4 ,j4 ,,wesley1 from ,,tersteegen ,,chapter ,x4 ,,preaching 7i474 ,earthen vessels1 frail and slight1 ,yet the golden ,lamp we bear2 ,master1 break us1 that the light ,so may fire the murky air2 ,skill and wisdom none we claim1 ,only seek to lift ,thy ,name4 ,i have on purpose reserved the subject of ,preaching for our closing pages4 ,preaching is1 from many points of view1 the goal and summing up of all other parts and works of the ,ministry4 ,what we have said already about the ,clergyman's life and labour1 in secret1 in society1 in the parish2 what we have said about his study and use of the ,book of ,common ,prayer2 all1 so far as it has been true1 ought to contribute its suggestions as we approach this great theme4 ,,the ,,pulpit ,,the ,,central ,,point4 ,for1 indeed1 the ,pulpit 7,i use the word in its widest application1 wide enough to cover the mission-room desk1 or the preaching place in the open air7 is no mere isolated item in the midst of other matters which call for a ,clergyman's attention4 ,if the man is working1 and ordering his work1 aright1 the ,pulpit will not be a something which has to be taken by the way1 a link in a long chain in which committees1 clubs1 and social gatherings1 and the like1 are other and co-ordinate links4 ,it will be a sacred central point1 the living heart of the busy life1 to which everything will bear relation4 ,to the ,pulpit everything will somehow converge1 and from the ,pulpit everything will be influenced4 ,as the ,pastor moves about amongst his people1 he will be gathering incessantly1 from all parochial places and seasons1 material which will tell upon his sermons2 he will be getting to know his people's minds and lives with an intimacy which will give his preaching to them a point which otherwise it could not have4 ,and when he stands in the ,pulpit1 this continually accumulating knowledge will come out1 not indeed in the way of diluting or distorting his ,gospel1 but so as to give its eternal and holy message a point and closeness of application which will ensure its coming home1 as ,god gives the blessing4 ,,temptations ,,to ,,forget ,,this4 ,it needs thought and care to keep the parish and the sermon thus en rapport4 ,but such thought and care is infinitely well worth taking4 ,the ,clergyman who longs to be useful for his ,lord in the highest degree he can be1 cannot possibly think lightly of his sermons4 ,yet he may be tempted1 half unconsciously1 to treat them too lightly in practices1 particularly if he is beset with a consciousness that he is not a born preacher1 or if he stands in the opposite danger of having a fatal facility of speech4 ,let the ,clergyman only remember that his sermon1 his public delivery of instruction1 of exhortation1 in the ,lord's name1 is not to be an exhibition of his own powers of thought or utterance1 but a faithful message-bearing to his own flock1 in the light of what he knows of ,christ and the ,word on the one side1 and of the needs of the flock on the other1 and he will find a most useful encouragement1 or a most useful corrective1 as the need may be4 ,o my ,lord1 ,i am not eloquent1 ,exod4 iv4 #aj4 will be no disheartening thought1 as he carries to the pulpit the ever-growing weight of pastoral experience1 all giving point and freshness to the unalterable message4 ,and the secret temptation to think the sermon a light thing because mere words come easy1 will be powerfully counteracted in the other case not only by contact with the realities of life in the daily work1 but by remembering that the sermon will have to do with not an abstract audience but these particular souls and lives thus laid on the man's conscience and affections4 ,,the ,,pastor ,,preaches ,,to ,,those ,,particular ,,hearers4 ,let me repeat it as earnestly as ,i can4 ,the sermon1 if it is to be what it should be1 should be affected at every point by the facts of the preacher's own inner life1 and by those of his intercourse with his people4 ,those facts must1 of course1 be thoughtfully weighed and handled4 ,the tact which is so important in a ,pastor1 and which is best learned and developed in the school of ,christ's love1 will see instinctively how to apply in preaching the experience gained in prayer1 in conversation1 in every branch of ministering life4 ,we shall remember that indefinite harm1 not good1 may be done when a man1 particularly a young man1 unwisely preaches what may fairly seem to be personalities2 ,i have known some sad instances in point here4 ,but taking that for granted1 assuming the good sense and sympathy of the preacher1 ,i am quite sure that the most eloquent sermon1 adapted to any audience1 is far less likely to be blessed and used by our ,lord than the sermon which is penetrated with the ,pastor's personal intimacy with that particular audience1 and which goes therefore straight from him to them4 ,it has been well said that preaching may be described as truth through personality2 not merely the presentation somehow of so many facts and thoughts1 but the presentation of them through the medium of a living man1 who brings into the pulpit his heart1 his character1 his experience1 and so gives out his message4 ,we may add to this suggestive dictum that the true pastoral sermon is also truth to personalities2 the living man's delivery of the message to living men and women whose life1 more or less1 he knows4 ,and so it presupposes some real amount of pastoral intercourse1 intelligently brought to bear on pulpit work4 ,,prepare ,,sermon ,,in ,,the ,,parish4 ,i linger a little over these thoughts1 though they are little more than introductory4 ,for experience tells me how easily1 in these days1 the ,clergyman is tempted to dislocate his parish work from his sermons1 to the great loss of one or both parts of his duty4 ,and if once he begins to think of his sermons as a thing really apart1 which must be got through somehow1 but rather as a mere duty than as a vital ministerial function1 the results will be sad for the sermons4 ,so ,i lay stress on the thought that the sermon-preparation ought to go on not only in the study1 over the ,word1 but in the parish1 over the hearers of it4 ,the more constantly this is recollected1 and put in practice1 the less fear will there be that the sermon will be a weariness either to people or to preacher4 ,,labour ,,in ,,the ,,word4 ,but let me1 however1 entreat my younger ,brother1 by any and every means1 to watch and pray against a slack or low view of his function as a preacher4 ,from very many quarters at the present day we are invited to slight our sermon-labour4 ,sometimes it is work1 organization1 committees1 which is set against the sermon2 sometimes it is the reading-desk and the ,communion ,table--the liturgical functions of the ,ministry4 ,let pastoral activities and holy rites alike have ample place in our thoughts and work2 but for ,christ's sake1 my ,brother in the ministry of the ,word and ,sacraments1 do not forget the ,word4 ,a ,christian ,church where preaching sinks to a low ebb1 where the labour of public teaching and exhortation is neglected1 in favour either of machinery or ritual1 cannot possibly--,i dare to say it deliberately--be in a truly healthy state now1 and most assuredly is not laying up health and strength for years to come4 ,for the very life of our flocks1 and of our ,church1 and for the dear glory of our ,master1 let us labour in the ,word and teaching4 #a ,tim4 v4 #ag4 ,,litho ,,sermons4 ,is it necessary1 in the case of any reader of these pages1 that ,i should not only appeal thus in general1 but add one special entreaty--always to preach your own sermons8 ,probably it is not necessary2 but it may be safe ,phil4 iii4 #b4 nevertheless4 ,not long ago ,i was distressed to read1 in the advertisement columns of an excellent ,church newspaper1 a conspicuous announcement of a series of litho sermons1 that is1 ,i suppose1 sermons so printed as to look like manuscript4 ,if such literature has a sale1 it is a miserable fact4 ,can these discourses possibly be either written by a man of the ,spirit1 or used by such a man8 ,i say1 ,no4 ,the production of them 7in order to be lithographed71 and the use of them in their litho state1 are untruthful acts1 untruthful in the very sanctuary of truth4 ,the ,lord pardon--and the ,lord forbid6 ,better the most stammering and incoherent utterances of a man who loves the ,lord1 and the ,word1 and the flock1 and who in ,christ's ,name does his best1 than the unhallowed1 and usually1 ,i think1 vapid glibness of such acted as well as spoken falsehoods4#bg ,and surely1 the more the ,clergyman keeps his pulpit and his parish in living relation1 the less will he be tempted1 be it ever so remotely1 by any exigencies1 to dream of expedients such as these4 #bg ,i am far from saying that the preacher should never get help from other men's sermons4 ,this may be done honestly and usefully1 in many ways4 ,but to let another man's sermon pass as one's own is a sin4 ,,dr ,,south ,,in ,,the ,,afternoon4 ,quite conceivably1 there may be rare occasions when another man's sermon may be rightly used by you4 ,but then1 of course1 you will do it honestly and above-board1 telling your people whose it is4 ,in ,addison's ,sir ,roger de ,coverley there is a pleasant scene1 where the venerable ,knight asks the ,parson who the preacher for next ,sunday is to be4 ,the ,bishop of ,st ,asaph in the morning1 replies the good man1 and ,dr ,south in the afternoon4#bh ,that is1 he was about to read1 openly and honestly1 a sermon of ,beveridge's1 and then a sermon of ,south's2 neither1 certainly1 in lithograph4 ,i do not say he did the best for his people in so doing2 most certainly he could not speak home to the details of their village life1 and its temptations1 if he spoke only in the phrase of the two classical pulpit-masters4 ,that rapport of parish and pulpit of which ,i have spoken could not have been much felt1 at least on that coming ,sunday4 ,but the good ,parson was honest1 however4 ,the practice of which ,i speak is not honest4 #bh ,he then shewed us his list of preachers for the whole year1 where ,i saw with a great deal of pleasure ,archbishop ,tillotson1 ,bishop ,sanderson1 ,dr ,barrow1 ,dr ,calamy1 with several living authors4 7,spectator1 ,no4 #ajf1 ,july #bnd1 #agaa47 ,calamy by the way was a ,presbyterian1 made one of the ,king's chaplains at the ,restoration4 ,,we ,,must ,,preach ,,attractively4 ,let me come now to a closer view of the preacher's work1 and ,i will be as practical as possible4 ,i have besought my ,brother to let nothing tempt him to push his preaching into a neglectful corner4 ,let me now beseech him to remember that he must not only be a diligent preacher1 but do his very best to commend his preaching to his people1--to be1 in a right sense1 attractive4 ,i deliberately say1 attractive4 ,that word1 of course1 suggests some very undesirable applications4 ,it is only too possible to aim at attractiveness by bad methods4 ,we may tone down the ,gospel-message1 leaving out unpopular and man-humbling truths1 and try to attract people so4 ,we may strive to attract them to hear us by doubtful external accessories 7of very different kinds71 which1 after all1 will rather attract attention--for a season--to themselves1 than to the message1 and the ,lord4 ,but none the less it is every ,clergyman's plain duty to make his preaching1 so far as he can1 lawfully attractive4 ,it is his duty to see that he preaches ,christ ,crucified2 and the offence of the ,cross ,gal4 v4 #aa4 will always occur1 sooner or later1 in such preaching2 but it is his duty to see that there is no other offence in it1 so far as he can help it4 ,if he so speaks of sin1 and righteousness1 and judgment1 that the unregenerate heart does not like it1 though the preacher has spoken wisely and in love1 that is not the preacher's fault4 ,if he has so magnified ,christ1 and the glory and fulness of ,his salvation1 that it sounds like exaggeration to the unspiritual hearer1 though the words have been said in all reverent reality1 that is not the preacher's fault4 ,but it is his fault if he has repelled his hearers from his message by what is not the message1 but his own setting of it2 his spirit1 manner1 his delivery1 his neglect of some plain precautions against prejudice and weariness4 ,of a few such precautions ,i come now to speak2 and first1 of what ,i may call the most external amongst them4 ,,needful ,,and ,,needless ,,offences4 ,beginning1 then1 with physical precautions against needless offences1 ,greek3 skandala1 in our preaching ,i say first1 let us do our best to be audible4 ,,audibility3 ,,means ,,to ,,it4 ,the word sounds almost amusingly commonplace4 ,but it must be said4 ,many more of us ,clergymen than know it1 or think about it1 are not audible4 ,the lack of training for the bodily work of the pulpit1 in our ,church1 is serious2 far more is done in this way among our ,nonconformist brethren4#bi ,and accordingly there are numbers of young ,english ,clergymen who read and speak without a thought of methodical audibility4 ,they do not articulate distinctly4 ,they do not remember that the pace and force of utterance1 fit for a private room1 are quite unfit for a large building4 ,they do not know1 perhaps1 how extremely important is the articulation of consonants1 and of final syllables of words1 and of closing words in a sentence4 ,they do not know that a certain equability 7not monotony7 of voice is necessary1 if the utterance is to carry to the end of a long church1 or a church of many pillars4 #bi ,let me cordially commend the ,rev4 ,j4,p4 ,sandlands' book1 ,the ,voice and ,public ,speaking4 ,mr ,sandlands has done1 and is doing1 admirable work as an oral teacher of clerical elocution1 in the intervals of his parochial labours4 ,,pleasant ,,audibility4 ,or again1 they do not know1 or do not remember1 that audibility is not secured by mere loudness and bigness of voice1 nor again by raising the voice to a high pitch4 ,people tell you to speak up1 said that excellent elocutionist1 ,mr ,simeon2 but ,i say1 speak down1 down as regards the musical scale4 ,again1 the larger the building the more accentuated must be the articulation1 and the more limited the variation of pitch2 but too often this is not thought of by the preacher4 ,further1 it has to be remembered1 but it is frequently forgotten1 that the audibility we should aim at is a pleasant and attractive audibility4 ,it is a great thing to be easily heard2 which of us does not know the combined physical and mental labour of listening to a sermon1 or a speech1 which only reaches us indistinctly8 ,but it is a greater thing to be pleasantly heard2 heard so that the listener finds nothing to tire and repel in the utterance4 ,here1 of course1 different voices give very different advantages2 but there are some common secrets1 so to speak1 which all--who will make a sacred business of it--may profitably and effectively use4 ,above all1 there is the secret of quiet naturalness2 the watchful avoidance 7do not forget this7 of tricks and mannerisms in delivery2#cj the watchful cultivation of the sort of utterance which we should use in an earnest conversation on grave subjects1 with only such differences as are suggested by the size of the place in which we speak4 ,of some other common secrets ,i shall speak when ,i come to the question of style and phrase4 #cj ,i have known a sermon which in matter and style were really excellent made1 to some hearers at least1 almost unendurable by the accident that the preacher had got the habit of 7needlessly7 clearing his throat at the end of almost every sentence4 ,,find ,a ,,candid ,,friend4 ,how shall we best work upon such hints8 ,very largely1 by the use of the plainest common-sense and every-day observation on our own part4 ,but largely also by trying to find some friend1 equally kind and candid1 who will help us to hear ourselves as others hear us4 ,for myself1 after twenty-five years1 ,i welcome more and more gratefully every such criticism as the occasion presents itself4 ,let the ,curate ask his ,vicar to tell him without mercy if his utterance1 his articulation1 is clear2 if his manner is natural2 if his preaching is or is not easy to listen to in these respects4 ,and let friend ask friend2 let pastor ask parishioner2 let husband ask wife6 ,,good ,,english4 ,there are other directions in which we must cultivate attractiveness4 ,there is ,english style4 ,here1 again1 gifts differ widely in detail1 yet there are common secrets open to common use4 ,it is open to every one to avoid1 on the one hand1 an ambitious1 long-worded style2 on the other1 a style which many young men of our time are in more danger of patronizing--the slovenly1 shapeless style1 in which the ,queen's ,english is very freely handled1 and into which the broken ,english of an ever-growing slang not seldom makes its way4 ,these defects have only to be recognized1 surely1 to be avoided1 by keeping our eyes open as we read and our ears as we hear1 and by remembering that the sacred message of the ,king1 while it is too great to be tricked out with false rhetoric1 is also too great to be slighted1 not to say insulted1 by a really careless phraseology4 ,a ,,good ,,style ,,is ,a ,,practical ,,power4 ,pains will be needed1 of course1 as we pursue the object of a good style4 ,we must watch and think4 ,we must read and observe good models1 the written words of men who have proved themselves powerful preachers to the people1 and indeed of men generally who are known masters of ,english4 ,we shall have1 again1 to consult candid friends4 ,but my point is1 that all this is abundantly worth our while4 ,a neat1 straight1 well-worded sentence is not a mere literary luxury4 ,it is a practical power4 ,it is far easier to listen to than a careless1 formless sentence is1 and it is far easier to remember4 ,the truth which it conveys is much more likely1 therefore1 to find its way securely into the mind1 and to lie there ready for the vivifying touch of the ,spirit of ,god4 ,i emphasize this matter of style1 for in many quarters it is much neglected1 and some of my younger ,brethren do1 if ,i mistake not1 entertain the thought that the simplicity of the ,gospel is best set forth1 and ,god most honoured1 where plans and methods of language are neglected4 ,to speak about a good style to those who think so1 may seem perhaps little else than a recommendation to bid for human applause in the line of literature4 ,but my intention is far enough from this4 ,mere literary ambition1 the quest of the glory of self in this as in every other line1 is a forbidden thing to the true bondservant of the ,lord4 ,but it is by no means forbidden him1 for his ,lord's sake1 to aim at clearness1 point1 force of expression1 that the message may be the better taken in4 ,god is as little glorified by a bad style as by a bad voice1 or bad handwriting1 or bad reasoning4 ,and by a good style ,i mean not a style polished and elaborated to please fastidious tastes 7the best taste1 by the way1 is best pleased with correct simplicity71 but a style which shall be both pure and plain in word and phrase1 understandable of the people yet such as not to vex those who care for their native tongue1 and just enough formed and pointed to make attention pleasant to the ear4 ,for average audiences1 ,i know no style more perfectly answering my idea than that of ,mr ,spurgeon1#ca in his printed sermons of recent years4 ,and ,i happen to know that ,mr ,spurgeon has always taken great and systematic pains with his ,english4 #ca ,since these words were written this great ,christian and preacher has passed away to his ,master's presence4 ,,french ,,hearers ,,of ,,english4 ,some preachers need much more than others a hint to keep their sentences straight1 and to avoid the tangle of parentheses1 long or short4 ,here1 again1 ,mr ,spurgeon gives me an admirable illustration4 ,his sentences1 never thin or weak in matter1 are always straight4 ,if any of my younger ,brethren are tempted1 as ,i confess ,i am1 in the digressive direction1 ,i would recommend them 7if they usually preach without writing7 to write a sermon now and then1 and rigorously to exclude1 or re-write1 all sentences which transgress4 ,it occurred to me recently1 when acting as a summer chaplain in ,switzerland1 to find the benefit of a different corrective4 ,on one particular ,sunday ,i had among my hearers in the morning a ,french ,presbyterian1 in the afternoon a ,french ,roman ,catholic1 each understanding a little ,english2 and in each case ,i had special reasons for hope and longing that the sermon might bring some spiritual help4 ,instinctively1 ,i avoided every expression which could in the least complicate my ,english and thus obscure the message to my foreign friends4 ,and so thankful was ,i for the pruning of periods that resulted1 that ,i am much disposed1 in all future preaching1 to put mentally before me those same two hearers4 ,,written ,,or ,,extempore8 ,on that great question1 ,shall ,i preach from writing1 or not8 ,i say very little4 ,speaking quite generally1 and thinking now only of the regular church congregation1 not of the mission-room or open air1 ,i would advise my younger ,brethren to write for some while1 but usually with an ultimate view to speech without writing4 ,no hard rule can be laid down4 ,one man is so gifted that from the first he can express himself correctly and well without any manuscript before him4 ,another finds1 all his life through1 that he speaks best1 and his people listen best1 when he reads 7vividly and naturally7 from his prayerfully-prepared manuscript4 ,but on the whole1 ,i repeat it1 writing is the best discipline for a man in his early days of ,ministry1 while beyond doubt the freely-spoken sermon1 like the freely-spoken speech1 7carefully enough prepared as to matter and order17 is usually best to listen to1 and therefore should be the preacher's goal4 ,some men write their sermons and then learn them by heart for delivery4 ,for myself1 ,i own this would be a severe ordeal to nerve2 and in very few cases1 if ,i am right1 does it produce a perfectly natural effect4 ,not long ago1 if not now1 it was a frequent custom in ,scotland2 and one amusing story comes to my mind4 ,a good minister1 known to a near relative of mine1 always thus mandated his sermon1 and punctually delivered it word for word4 ,one day a tremendous hailstorm assailed the church windows1 and not only did his parishioners fail to hear him1 but literally he lost the sound of his own voice4 ,yet he dared not stop1 lest memory should play him false2 and when the storm ceased1 ,i found myself1 he said1 with some surprise1 in a quite distant part of the sermon4 ,,order ,,and ,,division4 ,another important aid to attractiveness is order and division1 simply and sensibly managed4 ,nothing is much more repellent1 at least to modern hearers1 than an excess of arrangement2 headings and subdivisions overdone4 ,but nothing is more helpful to attention than a simple1 natural1 luminous division1 present in the preacher's mind1 announced to the audience1 and faithfully carried out4 ,remember this1 among many other things1 in the choosing of the text2 ceteris paribus1 that text is best which best lends itself to natural division4 ,,pains ,,and ,,faith4 ,there are many other points1 more or less of the exterior kind1 so to speak1 which concern the attractiveness of our preaching4 ,there is the question of length1 which can only be settled by careful and prayerful consideration of special circumstances1 with recollection of the general principles that the morning sermon should be short compared with that of the evening1 and that he who would reach the hearts of the poor must not give them sermonettes1 but sermons4 ,there is the question of action1 a large subject4 ,all that ,i can say is1 that some action is almost always a help to attention1 but that it proves the very opposite as soon as it seems uneasy1 or a mannerism4 ,i have yet to deal with some thoughts about the preacher's message1 and the inmost secrets of his power4 ,meanwhile1 may our ,lord and ,master enable us so to labour in the ,word that we shall think no means too humble which will really help us to make ,his message plain1 and no dependence on ,him too absolute for the longed-for spiritual results4 ,would ,i describe a preacher1 such as ,paul1 ,were he on earth1 would hear1 approve1 and own1 ,paul should himself direct me4 ,i would trace ,his master-strokes1 and draw from his design4 ,i would express him simple1 grave1 sincere1 ,in doctrine uncorrupt2 in language plain1 ,and plain in manner2 decent1 solemn1 chaste1 ,and natural in gesture2 much impress'd ,himself1 as conscious of his awful charge1 ,and anxious mainly that the flock he feeds ,may feel it too2 affectionate in look1 ,and tender in address1 as well becomes ,a messenger of grace to guilty men4 ,,cowper4 ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,preaching 7ii474 ,for ,thy sake1 beloved ,lord1 ,i will labour in ,thy ,word2 ,on the knees1 in patient prayer2 ,at the desk1 with studious care2 ,in the pulpit1 seeking still ,there to utter all ,thy will4 ,i pursue the subject of attractive preaching1 taking still the word attractive in its worthiest sense1 and again laying stress on the necessity of attractiveness of the right sort4 ,we have looked a little already at some of the external requisites to this end2 now let us approach some which have to do with matter more than manner4 ,,considerateness4 ,on the way1 ,i pause to say a word in general on one of the reasons why we should do our best to speak so that our hearers shall care to hear4 ,the supreme reason is manifest2 it is the glory of our ,master and the good of souls4 ,for ,his sake1 and for the flock's sake1 we long and must strive to speak so as to draw their attention to ,his message and to ,himself4 ,but subordinate to this great motive1 and in fullest harmony with it1 there is another2 and this is a motive which1 once clearly apprehended1 will affect not our preaching only1 but all parts of our ministry--our conduct of public worship1 our pastoral visitation1 our whole intercourse with our neighbours4 ,i mean1 the simple motive of a loyal and faithful considerateness for others1 as we are on the one hand ,christian men and ,english gentlemen1 and on the other hand servants1 not masters1 of the ,church and parish4 ,possibly this aspect of the ,pastor's public and official ministry may not have presented itself distinctively as yet to my younger ,brother2 but it cannot be recognized and acted upon too early4 ,some things in our clerical position and functions tend in their own nature to make us forget it1 if we are not definitely awake to it beforehand4 ,in some respects the ,clergyman1 even the youngest ,curate1 has dangerous opportunities for in considerate public action4 ,take the management of divine ,service in illustration4 ,in his manner of reading1 his tone1 his pace1 the ,clergyman may allow himself1 only too easily1 to think of himself alone4 ,in the reading-desk1 or at the ,table of the ,lord1 he may consult only his own likes and dislikes in attitude1 gesture1 and air4 ,but if so1 he is greatly failing in the homely duty of loyal considerateness4 ,what will be most for the happiness and edification of the congregation8 ,what will least disturb and most assist true devotion8 ,how shall the ,minister best secure that the worshippers shall remember the ,master and not be uncomfortably conscious of the servant8 ,the answers to such questions will of course vary considerably under varying conditions2 but it is the principle of the questions which ,i press home4 ,our office1 and the common consent and usage of the ,christian people1 give us a position of independence in such matters which has its advantages1 but also its very great risks2 and it is for us accordingly to handle that independence with the utmost possible considerateness4 ,this thought was much upon my own mind lately during the interesting experiences of a ,continental summer chaplaincy1 to which ,i referred in the last chapter4 ,as usual in a health resort abroad1 the ,english residents represented many different shades of ,church opinion and practice4 ,by the convictions of many long years1 ,i am an ,evangelical ,churchman1 in the well-understood sense of the term2 and of those convictions ,i am not at all ashamed4 ,my manner of conducting public worship1 especially in the ,communion ,office1 would probably make it plain at once to most worshippers where ,i stand as a ,churchman4 ,but that does not mean1 ,i trust1 that ,i am to allow myself to be inconsiderate of the feelings of others in the matter2 and on the occasions referred to it was my earnest and anxious aim to remember this with regard to worshippers1 and particularly communicants1 whose beliefs1 or however whose sympathies1 were what is called higher than my own4 ,on their account ,i sought to make it plain that no rubrical direction was neglectfully treated by me1 and that reverence of manner and action was a sacred thing in my eyes--a reverence not elaborated1 but attentive4 ,i hope ,i should have been reverently careful whatever the composition of the congregation was2 but under the circumstances the duty of this obvious sort of ministerial considerateness was laid on my heart with special weight4 ,that duty bears in many directions4 ,it is1 ,i venture to say1 inconsiderate1 on the one hand1 when the ,clergyman conducts the services of the ,church with a disturbing artificiality of performance4 ,it is inconsiderate1 on the other hand1 when he conducts them with any1 even the least1 real slovenliness and inattention4 ,,temptations ,,to ,,forget ,,it4 ,but if all this is true of the desk and of the blessed ,table1 it is true also1 and in a high degree1 of the pulpit4 ,singularly independent1 up to a certain point1 is the position of the preacher4 ,he chooses his own text2 he assigns himself 7at least in theory7 his own length of discourse2 he is entitled1 under the gis of the law of the land1 to speak on to the end without interruption2 he is bound1 within the limits of a sanctified common-sense1 to speak with the authority of his commission4 ,here are powerful temptations to an inconsiderate man1 perhaps especially to an inconsiderate young man1 to show much inconsideration4 ,and therefore1 here is a pre-eminent occasion for the true ,pastor1 who thinks1 prays1 loves1 and is humble1 to practise the beautiful opposite4 ,shall you and ,i seek grace to do so8 ,,respect ,,elder ,,hearers4 ,put yourself often1 my dear ,brother1 while ,i do the same1 into the position--which we once occupied always1 and often do still--of the hearer4 ,you1 the ,curate1 or the young ,incumbent1 have recently come into the parish1 and you are full of a young man's energy and enterprize1 and a little infected perhaps with a common and natural belief of your time of life1 but a belief not quite true to facts1 that the world is made for young men4 ,and among your hearers1 week by week1 as you preach from that pulpit1 sit men and women who were working1 and thinking1 and perhaps believing1 literally long before you were born4 ,put yourself in their place4 ,into many of their experiences1 and their sympathies born of experience1 you cannot possibly enter personally4 ,you cannot feel personally how this or that innovation of language or manner1 this or that too crude statement of your message1 this or that baldly new and perhaps by no means true theory1 aired as if it were all obvious and of course1 must look and sound to them4 ,you cannot feel it all2 but you can think about it4 ,perhaps these are educated and refined people1 and accustomed all their lives to value clear thought and pure diction1 in any case accustomed to carefulness in the matter and manner of the sermon4 ,you cannot enter into all their mental habits in your own mental workings2 but you can take account of them1 and in a loyal and thoughtful considerateness you can remember them in practice1 and honestly aim so to prepare and to preach as to conciliate the thoughtful and the elders4 ,such considerateness will not mean the stifling of prayerful conviction1 or the failure to be faithful as the messenger of the ,lord4 ,but it will mean a severity upon yourself as regards the tone and spirit of your thoughts1 and also as the manner of your utterance4 ,you will take pains1 even at a heavy cost to self 7and such costs are always gains in the end71 so to minister as to attract the attention of the flock1 not to yourself1 but to your blessed ,master and ,his ,word2 preaching not yourself1 but ,christ ,jesus as ,lord1 and yourself their servant for ,jesus' sake4 #b ,cor4 iv4 #e4 ,with this aim of ,attractiveness1 then1 in our minds1 and with this motive of ,considerateness beside it1 let us come to some thoughts in detail about the matter of preaching4 ,and here first ,i must bring in another word to meet the word attractive4 ,that word is faithful4 ,,wrong ,,kinds ,,of ,,attractiveness4 ,as a matter of most obvious fact 7we noticed it in the previous chapter71 there is a false and useless attractiveness1 as well as a true4 ,there is the poor and miserable attractiveness--it draws a certain class of modern hearers--of mere brevity2 the ten-minute sermon4 ,there are no doubt exceptional occasions when ten minutes1 or even five1 may be the right limit to our utterance2 but there is something wrong with both sermon and audience if in the regular ministration of ,god's holy ,word the preacher must at once begin to stop4 ,there is again the specious and spurious attractiveness of excitement and froth of manner1 or of a merely emotional appeal to perhaps not the deepest emotions1 an attraction which has little in it of that divine magnet which draws the will and lifts the soul in regenerate faith and surrender4 ,there is the attraction1 tempting1 but futile for the true purposes of the pulpit1 of the sermon which is after all only a lecture1 or a leading article2 full of the topics of the day1 of the hour2 full perhaps of some celebrated name just immortalized by death#cb2 but not full of the eternal message for which the pulpit exists4 ,most certainly there is no divine rule which excludes from the sermon all allusions to politics1 to society1 to science1 to great men2 but there is a divine rule1 running through the whole precept and example of the ,new ,testament1 which keeps such things always subordinate to the supreme work of preaching ,jesus ,christ4 #cb ,i went longing to hear about ,christ1 and it was only ,newman from beginning to end4 ,this was the actual lament of an anxious soul1 one ,sunday in #ahij4 ,,faithfulness4 ,across all our thoughts how to secure attractiveness1 as a co-ordinate line which fixes attention to the true point1 runs the word ,faithfulness4 ,the preacher is to be attractive while faithful1 faithful while attractive4 ,and he is to be attractive not for the sake of so being1 but in order that he may win an entrance for the words of faithfulness1 to his ,master's praise4 ,,we ,,are ,,messengers4 ,yes1 this is what we are to be as preachers4 ,we are to seek mercy of the ,lord to be faithful4 #a ,cor4 vii4 #be4 ,we are not popular leaders1 looking for a cry1 or passing one on4 ,we are not speculative thinkers1 feeling out a philosophy1 communicating our guesses at truth to a company of friends who happen to be interested in the investigation4 ,we are messengers1 watchmen1 and stewards of the ,lord4 ,we are in commissioned charge of a divine1 authentic1 and unalterable message4 ,we are the expounders of a ,word which liveth and abideth for ever1 #a ,pet4 i4 #bc4 a ,word which man is always trying to judge and to disparage1 but which will judge man at the last day4 ,joh4 xii4 #dh4 ,we are the bondservants of an absolute ,master1 who is at once our ,sender and our ,message1 and who overhears our every word in its delivery4 ,it is a grave mistake1 as we saw in our last chapter1 to think that faithfulness means a repellent utterance of the faithful ,word4 ,tit4 i4 #i4 ,but it is at least an equal mistake to think that attractiveness means a modification of that ,word1 which to the end of our world's day will still be a folly and a stumbling-block1 #a ,cor4 i4 #bc4 in some respects1 to the unconverted soul1 and will always have its searching point and edge for the converted soul also4 ,but this consideration here is only by the way4 ,i return from it to the matter of a right and faithful attractiveness and some of its higher conditions4 ,,secrets ,,for ,,true ,,attractiveness4 ,preach the ,gospel--earnestly1 interestingly1 fully4 ,such1 ,i believe1 is the prescription given1 by the great preacher whom ,i cited in the last chapter1 to the ,pastor who would fill his church1 and keep it full4 ,in the first instance1 no doubt1 ,mr ,spurgeon gives it as a prescription to the ,nonconformist ,pastor2 but it is quite as much to the purpose for the ,conformist1 so far as he is a ,minister of the ,word4#cc ,what ,i have to say in these present pages shall run on the lines of that sentence of good counsel4 #cc ,and let it never be forgotten that this is his primary function in the mind of the ,church of ,england4 ,see the ,priest's ,ordination1 particularly its ,exhortations1 its ,commission1 and its final ,collect4 ,,preach ,,the ,,gospel4 i4 ,preach the ,gospel1 that is to say ,jesus ,christ1 in ,his ,person1 ,his ,work1 ,his ,offices1 ,his ,teaching1 all applied to the souls and lives of men4 ,would you truly and permanently attract1 with an attraction which ,god will bless8 ,let that be your first condition4 ,i do not dilate upon it here1 but with all the earnestness possible ,i lay it upon my younger ,brother's heart as we pass on4 ,preach the ,gospel1 that is to say the ,lord1 in all ,he is for man as man is a sinner1 a mortal1 a mourner1 a worker4 ,do not let ,christ be one subject among others4 ,as little can the sun be one among the planets4 ,he is the ,subject2 all others get their reality and importance for us preachers by their relation to ,him4 ,in particular ,i venture to say1 do not let occasional1 temporal1 local topics1 even very important ones1 dislodge ,christ1 the ,lord ,jesus ,christ of the whole ,bible1 from ,his royal place in your preaching2 and do not forget continually 7though not monotonously7 to keep to the front the fact that ,he is the sinner's ,saviour4 ,more will be said later about that point of view1 but ,i state it at once4 ,speak indeed of ,christ as ,exemplar1 ,ideal1 ,friend1 ,man of ,men2 but do not let your brethren forget that1 first of all1 ,christ died for our sins1 according to the ,scriptures1 #a ,cor4 xv4 #c4 and that ,his primary practical relation to us is always that of ,saviour to sinner4 ,that truth is not altogether in fashion now4 ,but it is eternal2 it is deep as the human soul1 and as the ,law of ,god1 and as such it is a mighty condition to attractiveness1 wisely and truly handled4 ,it corresponds to the inmost facts of the hearers' being1 whether they are aware of it yet or not2 and is there not here the most powerful of magnets1 at least in posse8 ,,preach ,,it ,,earnestly4 ii4 ,preach the ,gospel earnestly4 ,this does not mean necessarily with vehemence1 or even with fervour1 of manner4 ,some men's delivery is fervent1 or even vehement1 in the most natural way possible2 and let such men preach so1 if they will do it thoughtfully and to the purpose4 ,but the slightest artificial cultivation of such qualities1 or of the semblance of them1 is a great practical mistake4 ,and earnestness is at once a wider and a simpler matter all the while4 ,the man who preaches earnestly is the man who is altogether in earnest1 and speaks out his conviction and his purpose4 99,,preach ,,it ,,as ,a ,,witness4 ,he is the man who has the ,lord's message deep in his own soul1 and is conscious of its vast importance for the souls of others4 ,he is the man who does not merely discuss1 or explain1 or even expound1 however soundly and luminously1 but whose words--well chosen1 well weighed1 well ordered--are also the living words of one who testifieth that he hath seen4 ,joh4 iii4 #aa4 ,yes1 the essence of the right sort of earnestness is the witness-character of the preacher4 ,what is a witness8 ,one who has personal knowledge of the matter of his words #b ,tim4 i4 #ab4--;,i know whom ,i have believed4 ,is there not a great need at this time1 in our dear ,church1 of more such witness-preaching8 ,i do not mean preaching that advertises the preacher as a remarkable ,christian1 certainly not preaching that puts for one moment our testimony on a level with the infallible ,word once written4 ,but ,i do mean the preaching which1 by one of the surest laws of our nature1 attracts attention to that ,word in a living way by the preacher's manifest confession that its message is a mighty reality and certainty to himself4 ,some years ago ,i heard an account of the peculiarly impressive preaching of a young ,mission-clergyman4 ,it was described to me as remarkable not for energy of manner1 or warmth of diction1 but for the impression left on all hearers that the truths handled by the man were for himself absolute and present facts4 ,he stated them with a directness and quietness which was emphatically matter-of-fact4 ,this sort of preaching is earnest indeed4 ,,preach ,,it ,,interestingly4 iii4 ,preach the ,gospel interestingly4 ,how shall we secure this8 ,some recipes for interest are familiar4 ,there is the method of illustration2 there is the method of anecdote3 both excellent1 and almost indispensable4 ,only1 they are methods which have their risks1 and must be used with care4 ,illustrations are apt to overwhelm the thing illustrated1 the moment much detail is allowed2 and they are apt to go on three feet1 or even upon one1 instead of upon four2 and they may be drawn from quarters too remote to strike the hearers with effect4 ,anecdotes have the same risks2 and1 besides1 they need1 if they are to be used aright1 to be carefully sifted and verified4 ,i say this not to disparage what in some preachers' hands is a most powerful and also a most delicate weapon2 yet the caution is certainly needed1 especially by younger men4 ,,interest ,,of ,,explanation4 ,but the surest secrets of interesting preaching lie deeper than anecdote and illustration4 ,one of them1 a very simple one to state1 is clearness of thought1 and of the expression and explanation of thought4 ,i entreat my ,brother to be an explanatory preacher1 by which ,i mean1 not that he should treat his brethren as if they were his children 7unless indeed it is a children's sermon71 but that he should handle familiar religious terms with the resolve to make them live and speak to the ordinary hearer4 ,nothing is more opiate-like than a sentence which is unreal to the hearer because it is mere phraseology4 ,nothing can be made more interesting than familiar phraseology 7supposing it to be true and important7 so treated as to speak its meaning out fresh and living in modern ears4 ,,interest ,,of ,,exposition4 ,another deep and unfailing secret of interest1 so that it be used intelligently and prayerfully1 is close akin to this last4 ,it lies in the right sort of expository preaching4 ,i have in my mind such exposition as will be found in ,dr ,vaughan's sermons on the ,philippian ,epistle4 ,the charm and power of those sermons lie1 ,i know1 very much in the extraordinary excellence1 the curiosa simplicitas1 of their literary style1 so unpretentious and so masterly4 ,but it lies also in the fact that the preacher takes us over a familiar ,scripture passage1 verse by verse1 phrase by phrase1 and translates it into the dialect of present circumstances4 ,let me heartily commend this sort of preaching from my own parochial experience in past days4 ,in a congregation consisting chiefly of the poor1 ,i found that the most intelligent and sustained interest was excited by a series of ,sunday evening sermons on a selected chapter or paragraph1 in which the aim was first to paraphrase the sacred phrases1 as it were1 into modern shapes1 and then at the close to enforce some main message of the portion4 ,the method is as old as the ,homilies of ,chrysostom1 and older4 ,,interest ,,of ,,practicality4 ,another secret of interest1 permanent and effectual1 is practicality in preaching4 ,i protest1 whenever ,i can1 and ,i hope to do so to the last1 against the common but unhappy fallacy of an outcry against doctrine3 ,give us not a creed1 but a life4 ,the whole ,new ,testament1 the whole ,bible1 protests against such a sentence4 ,there1 a divine creed is always seen as necessary for a divine life4 ,supernatural facts1 livingly apprehended1 are necessary for supernatural peace and power in this formidable natural world4 ,but then1 on the other side1 it is a fallacy almost as fatal to preach the supernatural fact and truth without a constant and practical application of them to the crude and stern realities of life4 ,a young pastoral preacher was once1 in my hearing1 warmly and lovingly thanked for his pulpit-work1 on the eve of his quitting his ,curacy2 and the point on which his humble friends dwelt was that he had always preached ,christ1 and always showed them how to make use of ,his presence and power in the actual circumstances of their lives4 ,eloquent words1 aye and true words1 spoken in vacuo1 will be dull to most hearers2 eternal truths laid alongside the weekday work and temptation will always be interesting4 ,,preach ,,the ,,gospel ,,fully4 iv4 ,preach the ,gospel fully4 ,here is our great ,nonconformist's last adverb1 in his recipe for attractive preaching4 ,its point is not so obvious perhaps as that of the other words1 but it is nobly true4 ,the ,gospel is1 as ,i have said1 and as we know1 nothing less than ,jesus ,christ the ,lord1 in ,his whole harmonious glory of ,person1 ,work1 and ,word4 ,it is deeply true that in that mighty and manifold theme there are points which must be always prominent and ruling2 and most surely the man-humbling and soul-blessing truths of the ,atoning ,sacrifice are such points4 ,first of all 7we have recalled that all-significant sentence already71 first of all1 ,christ died for our sins4 #a ,cor4 xv4 #c4 ,alas for the ,church1 for the congregation1 for the pulpit1 where that is forgotten1 obscured1 or put into a secondary1 or perhaps a tertiary place6 ,one thing is certain2 that pulpit cannot be bearing its right witness meanwhile to the exceeding sinfulness of sin--not merely the deformity of sin1 but the awful evil and condemnable guilt of sin4 ,,sn3 ,rom4 vii4 #ac4 ,but then it is a thing to be regretted 7and corrected7 when the ,pastor's preaching is always and only concerned with the urgent need1 and wonderful provision1 for the pardon and acceptance of the believing sinner4 ,i dare to say it is impossible that such preaching should be permanently1 or even long1 interesting and attractive1 and this because of the nature of the case4 99,,preach ,,pardon1 ,,but ,,more ,,also4 ,man's fallen and sinful soul needs pardon unspeakably1 and always1 but it needs it as a means to an end2 and that end is nearness to ,god1 conformity to ,him1 power to do ,his blessed will as ,his servant for ever4 ,for this same great end the soul needs1 even in the range of truths which are of the order of means1 to learn more than the glorious rudiments of forgiveness4 ,it needs to know something of the heavenly ,offices of the once ,crucified ,one3 ,his ,mediation1 ,suretyship1 and ,intercession2 ,his ,priesthood2 ,his ,royalty2 ,his ,headship4 ,in ,him lie stored the divine treasures with which our whole extent of need is to be met4 ,and the preacher who would permanently attract his people1 by bringing out of his storehouse things eternally old and new1 must seek and pray to preach ,christ fully4 ,,christ ,,for ,,us ,,and ,,in ,,us4 ,to some devoted men it seems impossible not to be always preaching the glory of ,christ for us2 others can never leave the precious theme of ,christ in us4 ,but if they are not missioners1 but pastors1 they will assuredly find that a permanent attraction can only be secured by doing what the ,word of ,god does--setting forth both glorious sets of truths in fulness1 in harmony1 and in application to the realities of sin and of life4 ,so we have thought awhile about attractive preaching4 ,need ,i say again what the sort of attractiveness is which ,i have in view8 ,it is indeed1 on the surface1 attraction to the church1 attraction to the sermon2 but its whole inner purpose is an attraction which neither church nor sermon can in the least degree cause1 but which the ,eternal ,spirit1 sovereign and loving1 can cause through them--an attraction to ,jesus ,christ1 in true repentance1 living faith1 genuine surrender1 and patient1 happy service4 ,ye servants of ,god1 your ,master proclaim1 ,and publish abroad ,his wonderful ,name2 ,the ,name all victorious of ,jesus extol1 ,his kingdom is glorious and rules over all4 ,then let us adore and give ,him ,his right1 ,all glory and power1 all wisdom and might1 ,all honour and blessing with angels above1 ,and thanks never ceasing1 and infinite love4 ,c4 ,,wesley4 ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,,preaching 7iii474 ,eternal ,fulness1 overflow to me ,till ,i1 ,thy vessel1 overflow for ,thee2 ,for sure the streams that make ,thy garden grow ,are never fed but by an overflow3 ,not till ,thy prophets with ,thyself run o'er ,are ,israel's watercourses full once more4 ,again ,i treat of the sermon4 ,we have looked1 my younger ,brother and ,i1 at some main secrets and prescriptions for attractive preaching4 ,what shall ,i more say on the subject of the pulpit8 ,in the first place ,i will offer a few miscellaneous suggestions1 and then come in closing to the deepest theme of the whole matter--,spiritual ,power in ,preaching4 ,,notes ,,for ,a ,,sermon-,,lecture4 ,i address myself to write1 soon after delivering to my students1 in the library adjoining my study1 a lecture on ,preaching4 ,let me call it rather1 a talk on ,sermons1 which is a term less grandiose and much more true2 for in fact the discourse has been a most informal series of remarks and suggestions on topics suggested by a collection of sermons written for me1 and which ,i now came to give back1 annotated1 to their writers4 ,it occurs to me to offer my kind reader a written version of some of these remarks just made viv voce to my friends4 ,they happen to touch on a variety of points which are not unimportant in themselves and also typical of very many more4 ,for the purposes of the lecture1 they have been divided between matters of form and matters of substance2 and ,i report them1 or rather some of them1 in that order4 ,i4 ,remarks on ,diction1 ,style1 etc4 7a7 ,take care to pull the sentences together1 to avoid loose and redundant phrases and words4 ,why write grief and sorrow1 fatigued and tired out1 attacks and assaults8 ,a subtle intellect may see distinctions here1 but it is too much for me1 and1 ,i am sure1 for most plain people in church4 7b7 ,respect the ,queen's ,english4 ,the one who lives a ,christian life is scarcely ,english2 say the man1 not the one4 ,like ,adam and ,eve walked in ,paradise6 ,this is a serious1 though common1 piece of bad grammar4 ,say1 ,like ,adam1 when he walked1 but ,as ,adam walked4 7c7 ,remember that the genius of ,english eschews a large use of connecting words1 particularly in spoken discourse4 ,not often is a sentence the better for an and at the beginning4 ,many a therefore and because are well away1 if you would speak with freedom and vigour4 ,,avoid ,,rhetorical ,,diction4 7d7 ,avoid altogether such touches of expression as characterise verse1 or rhetorical prose4 ,i find in one sermon the sentence1 ,think you ,st ,paul trembled at the prospect8 ,please re-write this1 and say1 ,do you think ,st ,paul was afraid8 ,for you certainly would not say1 speaking however gravely1 to your friend1 ,think you that we shall have a fine day to-morrow8 ,rhetorical phrases rarely give an impression of practical reality4 7e7 ,do not speak in the pulpit as if you were writing notes for an edition of the ,epistles4 ,what does the labourer 7and what do many hearers more highly educated than he7 think when you say1 on ,rom4 v4 #a1 that weighty manuscript authority gives another reading8 ,and what does he think you mean when you talk about ,shel8 ,by the way1 when you quote ,scripture in the pulpit1 passingly1 to a general congregation1 ,i would advise you to quote not the ,revised ,version1 but the ,authorized1 which will surely be the ,english ,bible for many long days yet4 ,unless you have before you some special difference between the two ,versions1 on which you can stop to speak explicitly1 quote the familiar 7and inimitable7 diction of #afaa4 ,,preach ,,what ,,can ,,be ,,reported4 7f7 ,prepare your sermon1 and preach it1 so that it shall be easy to report4 ,one sermon here before me would be as hard as possible to retail at home4 ,it is on ,rom4 v4 #a1 and it says some excellent things upon it4 ,but it brings in holiness of heart where the text speaks only of acceptance of person1 and it mingles the two topics so ingeniously together that the impression is seriously complicated4 ,think of the pious daughter yonder in church1 going home to her infirm old mother1 and trying to answer the question1 ,what did the gentleman preach about to-night8 ,let us do our best to preach sermons which are not only sound1 but portable4 7g7 ,take care to keep the sermon in tune with the text4 ,here is a manuscript on ,psal4 v4 #ab1 a verse of exultant joy2 but the last passage of the sermon1 the passage which ought to concentrate the whole message1 is full of solemn warning4 ,warn by all means2 do not forget to sound the watchman's trumpet4 ,ezek4 xxxiii4 ,but sound it in the right place4 ,,cut ,,the ,,preface ,,short4 7h7 ,here is a sermon sadly spoiled by a long introduction4 ,it tells us much about the circumstances of the inspired writer1 but so as to throw little light on the message of the text4 ,here is another1 on the wonderfully definite hope of blessedness after death given us in ,phil4 i4 #ba4 ,this also is ruined by its introduction1 which truly begins ab ovo1 discussing the genesis of man's belief in immortality6 ,that preface would leave1 in the actual delivery of the sermon1 about five minutes for the handling of the precious words1 ,to depart and to be with ,christ1 which is far better4 ,generally1 be shy of much introduction and preface in the pulpit4 ,i do not mean that we are never to elucidate connexions and contexts4 ,but1 remember limits4 ,your minutes are few1 ah1 so few1 for such a ,message1--,christ ,jesus in ,his fulness1 for man's need in its depth4 ,pass quickly through the porch into that ,church4 ,,be ,,accurate ,,in ,,statement4 7i7 ,when you refer to ,scripture facts1 be accurate2 a slip-shod habit there may fatally prejudice a not quite friendly hearer who knows something of the ,bible2 and it will certainly do no good to any hearer4 ,here is a sermon on ,phil4 i4 #ba1 and it speaks of ,st ,paul as writing to ,philippi from his dark cell4 ,but ,st ,luke says that he was in his own hired house1 ,acts xxviii4 #cj4 or at worst1 his own hired rooms4 ,here again ,i read of ,david as returning to ,jerusalem1 the city of his fathers4 ,but his fathers had lived and died at ,bethlehem2 and ,jerusalem was in heathen hands till ,david himself took it6 #b4 ,remarks on ,points in the ,substance of the ,sermons4 7a7 ,are you quite sure that the ,patriarchs had no anticipation of a life eternal8 ,many lecturers1 and many editors1 now say so4 ,but the ,epistle to the ,hebrews says that they desired a better country1 that is an heavenly ,heb4 xi4 #af42 and that is better evidence for this purpose than any inferences 7or beliefs7 of modern scholarship4 ,true1 the old saints say little explicitly about their hope4 ,but many things lie deep in a man's faith1 and in his experience too1 about which1 for various reasons1 he may say very little4 ,,revelation ,,was ,,not ,,intuition4 7b7 ,i do not like this sentence1 which says that the later ,prophets had a fuller perception of the eternal future than their predecessors4 ,not that ,i blame the phrase in itself2 but ,i dislike its associations4 ,there runs a strong drift in modern theology1 as we all know1 towards the explanation of ,scripture by perception rather than by revelation4 ,the ,lord appeared unto me2 ,the ,lord spake unto me2 say the ,prophets1 and they appeal occasionally to supernatural attestation of their assertions4 ,but the modern expository savant1 wiser to be sure than the ,prophet1 assures us that they arrived at their messages by observation1 by meditation1 by development of thought and character1 and practically by nothing different from these things4 ,accordingly1 their inspiration was strictly speaking the same in kind as that of a ,chrysostom1 or a ,luther1 or a ,shakespeare4 ,do not you say so1 or imply that it is so4 ,do not go for mere company's sake with the current of naturalistic thought4 ,sure ,i am that you are most unlikely1 if you do1 to be the instrument of supernatural effects in your preaching4 ,,what ,,is ,,justification8 7c7 ,what is ,justification8 ,it is1 the making man just4 ,is it indeed8 ,i should read that sentence with alarm1 if ,i did not know the writer6 ,its sentiment is practically ,roman ,catholic4 ,moreover1 it puts a meaning on the word in question1 contradicted by the common usages of language2 an important consideration when we study a ,scriptural theological term4 ,when ,i justify my opinion ,i do not make it right1 but vindicate it as already right4 ,when the ,hebrew judge justified the righteous1 ,deut4 xxv4 #a he did not improve him1 but pronounced him satisfactory to the law4 ,and when ,god1 for ,christ's sake1 justifies you who believe in ,jesus1 ,he does not in that act make you good2 ,he pronounces you1 for ,his ,son's sake1 to be satisfactory to ,his ,law1 for purposes of your personal acceptance4 ,,why ,,does ,,faith ,,justify8 7d7 ,why has faith such power to justify8 ,because1 carried out to its fullest extent1 it implies assimilation to its ,object4 ,here again ,i should be alarmed1 if ,i did not know the writer's general convictions1 which are sound enough4 ,but this particular sentence again is in full harmony with ,romanist doctrine4 ,and1 as a fact1 with the ,bible open1 and with usages of common language before us1 it can easily be exposed as a confusion of words and thought4 ,faith1 carried out ever so fully1 is just faith still2 personal reliance1 personal confidence on ,god in ,his ,word4 ,that reliance is ,his appointed 7and divinely natural7 way for our reception of ,jesus ,christ4 ,for our ,justification1 it receives ,christ in ,his merits2 it does that1 and that only1 and always4 ,for our ,sanctification1 it receives ,christ in ,his inward power1 by the ,holy ,ghost4 ,but faith is just faith1 to the end4 7e7 ,we are not forced to receive salvation4 ,most true4 ,he enforceth not the will4 ,but do not forget on the other hand to magnify the necessity of grace1 preventing grace1 ,act4 x4 that is to say1 ,god ,himself working in us to will to receive our salvation4 ,the two sides of truth are both divine4 ,phil4 ii4 #ac4 ,do not neglect either1 whether you can harmonize them or not here below4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,end ,,of ,,the ,,lecture4 ,such are some specimens of a ,saturday morning's talk in our library4 ,they are taken1 just as they come1 from notes constructed after the study of a set of some twenty sermons1 written1 and then commented upon1 without the slightest thought that any public or permanent use would be made of the materials thus given4 ,but perhaps the remarks may be in point to some of my readers all the more because of the unstudied nature of the materials4 ,let me say1 before ,i quite leave this part of my subject1 that adverse criticism was by no means my only work this morning in the lecture-room4 ,it was my happiness1 on the other hand1 to commend thankfully many a clear setting of living truth1 and many a sentence of forcible point and of true beauty1 happy omens for future years1 in which1 if it please ,god1 the torch shall be carried on1 bright and clear1 when we elders shall be heard no more4#cd #cd ,ungracious as it may seem1 ,i must betray one less pleasant confidence of such occasions4 ,sometimes ,i have had to note in sermon ,,mss4 a strange neglect of punctuation1 and1 here and there1 a little aberration from received usages of spelling6 ,no ,clergyman ought to think such matters beneath his notice4 ,his people1 some1 if not many of them1 will from time to time receive letters or other written messages from him2 these ought to be unmistakably the writing of the educated gentleman4 ,is it too much to say also that the handwriting ought to be clear and easy8 ,it is distressing1 certainly to one who has many letters to read daily1 to see how rare such handwriting is now4 ,,my ,,cases ,,of ,,old ,,sermons4 ,but now let me return from this discursive report of a sermon-lecture to some more central thoughts about the ,preaching of the ,word4 ,sacred1 solemn theme6 ,i was made to realize its character in a peculiar way quite lately1 when reading a heart-searching and most instructive essay1 by the ,rev4 ,r4 ,glover1 ,vicar of ,st ,luke's1 ,west ,holloway1 entitled1 ,my ,cases of ,old ,sermons4#ce ,the essay was simply an experienced preacher's review of many years of pulpit labour1 in the light of the collected and ordered manuscripts which silently represented it4 ,the writer had much to say1 to my great profit1 about his methods of preparation and delivery1 and about the pains taken to distribute the choice of texts widely and impartially over the field of ,scripture4 ,then he went on to speak of the ascertained spiritual history of some of those many sermons2 the messages to souls which in this or that instance they had carried2 the savour of life unto life1 or perhaps1 alas1 of death unto death1 which had to his knowledge breathed from them4 ,the impressions left on my mind were1 above all others1 two2 first1 the call to thorough diligence in preparation1 if the preacher is to give his account with joy2 and then1 the indescribable solemnity and greatness of the work of a true pastor-preacher4 #ce ,in ,the ,churchman of ,august1 #ahia4 99,,be ,a ,,preacher ,,indeed4 ,i may seem to reiterate too much1 but ,i must say again1 with new emphasis1 to my younger ,brother1 resolve to be a preacher indeed1 by the grace of ,god4 ,do not let secondary things1 however good1 distort your attention from that supremely sacred commission1 ,preach the ,word2 be instant1 in season1 out of season#cf #b ,tim4 iv4 #b42 reprove1 rebuke1 exhort1 with all long-suffering and doctrine4 ,for1 the ,apostle significantly proceeds1 the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine4 ,therefore1 an age impatient of thorough ,scriptural preaching is the very age in which to seek1 in wisdom and courage1 to make much of it4 ,do not let organization spoil your preaching-work4 ,do not let current events spoil it4 ,do not let elaboration of ritual spoil it4 ,do not let organist and choir rule over you1 and claim for music the precious moments called for by the ,word4 #cf ,that is1 irrespective of your own convenience4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,the ,,directory4 ,let me present to my reader1 in this last chapter1 an extract from an old book which however may be new to him4 ,the book is not one which as a whole ,i greatly love2 how could ,i8 ,it is that sternly-imposed substitute for the ,book of ,common ,prayer1 commonly known as the ,parliamentary ,directory of #afde2 the exact title is1 ,a ,directory for the ,publique ,worship of ,god in the ,three ,kingdomes4#cg ,its associations are altogether with an unhappy time1 in which it was a seriously penal offence1 at least in theory1 to use the ,prayer ,book even at a sick friend's bedside4 ,yet great men of ,god had a hand in the making of the ,directory2 and their words are well worth the reading4 ,in particular1 ,i find in the volume one passage1 full of golden wisdom1 a precious message to all ,christian preachers4 ,it is the section which ,i now quote exactly as it first appeared1 and which is entitled #cg ,it is printed in ,w4,k4 ,clay's ,book of ,common ,prayer ,illustrated4 ,parker1 #ahda4 ,,of ,,the ,,preaching ,,of ,,the ,,word4 99,,the ,,directory ,,on ,,preaching4 ,preaching of the ,word1 being the power of ,god unto ,salvation1 and one of the greatest and most excellent ,works belonging to the ,ministry of the ,gospell1 should bee so performed1 that the ,workman need not bee ashamed1 but may save himself1 and those that heare him4 ,it is presupposed 7according to the ,rules for ,ordination7 that the ,minister of ,christ is in some good measure gifted for so weighty a service1 by his skill in the ,originall ,languages1 and in such ,arts and ,sciences as are handmaids unto ,divinity1 by his knowledge in the whole ,body of ,theology1 but most of all in the holy ,scriptures1 having his senses and heart exercised in them above the common sort of ,beleevers2 and by the illumination of ,gods ,spirit1 and other gifts of edification1 which 7together with reading and studying of the ,word7 he ought still to seek by ,prayer1 and an humble heart1 resolving to admit and receive any truth not yet attained1 when ever ,god shall make it known unto him4 ,all which hee is to make use of1 and improve1 in his private preparations1 before hee deliver in publike what he hath provided4 ,,choice ,,of ,,the ,,text4 ,ordinarily1 the subject of his ,sermon is to be some ,text of ,scripture1 holding forth some principle or head of ,religion2 or suitable to some speciall occasion emergent2 or hee may goe on in some ,chapter1 ,psalme1 or ,booke of the holy ,scripture1 as hee shall see fit4 ,let the ,introduction to his ,text be brief and perspicuous1 drawn from the ,text itself1 or context1 or some parallel place1 or generall sentence of ,scripture4 ,if the ,text be long 7as in ,histories and ,parables it sometimes must be7 let him give a briefe summe of it2 if short1 a ,paraphrase thereof1 if need be3 ,in both1 looking diligently to the scope of the ,text1 and pointing at the chief heads and grounds of ,doctrine1 which he is to raise from it4 ,,how ,,the ,,text ,,is ,,to ,,be ,,handled4 ,in ,analysing and dividing his ,text1 he is to regard more the order of matter1 then of words2 and neither to burden the memory of the hearers in the beginning with too many members of ,division1 nor to trouble their minds with obscure terms of ,art4 ,in raising ,doctrines from the ,text1 his care ought to bee1 ,first1 that the matter be the truth of ,god4 ,secondly1 that it be a truth contained in or grounded on that ,text1 that the hearers may discern how ,god teacheth it from thence4 ,thirdly1 that he chiefly insist upon those ,doctrines which are principally intended1 and make most for the edification of the hearers4 ,the ,doctrine is to be expressed in plaine termes2 or if any thing in it need explication1 is to bee opened1 and the consequence also from the ,text cleared4 ,the parallel places of ,scripture confirming the ,doctrine are rather to bee plaine and pertinent1 then many1 and 7if need bee7 somewhat insisted upon1 and applyed to the purpose in hand4 ,the ,arguments or ,reasons are to bee solid2 and1 as much as may bee1 convincing4 ,the illustrations1 of what kind soever1 ought to bee full of light1 and such as may convey the truth into the ,hearers heart with spirituall delight4 ,if any doubt1 obvious from ,scripture1 ,reason1 or ,prejudice of the ,hearers1 seem to arise1 it is very requisite to remove it1 by reconciling the seeming differences1 answering the reasons1 and discovering and taking away the causes of prejudice and mistake4 ,otherwise1 it is not fit to detain the hearers with propounding or answering vaine or wicked ,cavils1 which as they are endlesse1 so the propounding and answering of them doth more hinder than promote edification4 ,hee is not to rest in generall ,doctrine1 although never so much cleared and confirmed1 but to bring it home to speciall use1 by application to his hearers3 ,which albeit it prove a worke of great difficulty to himselfe1 requiring much prudence1 zeale1 and meditation1 and to the naturall and corrupt man will bee very unpleasant2 yet hee is to endeavour to perform it in such a manner that his auditors may feele the ,word of ,god to be quick and powerfull1 and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart2 and that if any unbeleever or ignorant person bee present1 hee may have the secrets of his heart made manifest1 and give glory to ,god4 ,,how ,,the ,,message ,,is ,,to ,,be ,,applied4 ,in the ,use of ,instruction or information in the knowledge of some truth1 which is a consequence from his ,doctrine1 he may 7when convenient7 confirm it by a few firm arguments from the ,text in hand1 and other places in ,scripture1 or from the nature of that ,common place in ,divinity1 whereof that truth is a branch4 ,in ,confutation of false ,doctrines1 he is neither to raise an old ,heresie from the grave1 nor to mention a blasphemous opinion unnecessarily2 but if the people be in danger of an errour1 he is to confute it soundly1 and endeavour to satisfie their judgements and consciences against all objections4 ,in exhorting to ,duties1 he is1 as he seeth cause1 to teach also the meanes that help to the performance of them4 ,in ,dehortation1 ,reprehension1 and publique ,admonition 7which require speciall wisdome7 let him1 as there shall be cause1 not only discover the nature and greatnesse of the sin1 with the misery attending it1 but also shew the danger his hearers are in to be overtaken and surprised by it1 together with the remedies and best way to avoyd it4 ,in applying ,comfort1 whether generall against all tentations1 or particular against some speciall troubles or terrours1 he is carefully to answer such objections1 as a troubled heart and afflicted spirit may suggest to the contrary4 ,it is also sometimes requisite to give some ,notes of tryal 7which is very profitable1 especially when performed by able and experienced ,ministers1 with circumspection and prudence1 and the ,signes cleerely grounded on the ,holy ,scripture7 whereby the ,hearers may be able to examine themselves1 whether they have attained those ,graces1 and performed those duties to which he ,exhorteth1 or be guilty of the sin ,reprehended1 and in danger of the judgments ,threatened1 or are such to whom the ,consolations propounded doe belong2 that accordingly they may be quickened and excited to ,duty1 humbled for their ,wants and ,sins1 affected with their ,danger1 and strengthened with ,comfort1 as their condition upon examination shall require4 ,and1 as he needeth not alwayes to prosecute every ,doctrine which lies in his ,text1 so is he wisely to make choice of such ,uses1 as by his residence and conversing with his flocke1 he findeth most needfull and seasonable3 and1 amongst these1 such as may most draw their soules to ,christ1 the ,fountaine of light1 holinesse and comfort4 ,this method is not prescribed as necessary for every man1 or upon every ,text2 but only recommended1 as being found by experience to be very much blessed of ,god1 and very helpful for the people's understandings and memories4 ,,in ,,what ,,spirit ,,the ,,preacher ,,is ,,to ,,work4 ,but the ,servant of ,christ1 whatever his ,method be1 is to perform his whole ,ministery2 #a4 ,painfully1 not doing the work of the ,lord negligently4 #b4 ,plainly1 that the meanest may understand1 delivering the truth1 not in the entising words of mans wisdome1 but in demonstration of the ,spirit and of power1 least the ,crosse of ,christ should be made of none effect3 abstaining also from an unprofitable use of unknown ,tongues1 strange phrases1 and cadences of sounds and words1 sparingly citing sentences of ,ecclesiasticall1 or other humane ,writers1 ancient or moderne1 be they never so elegant4 #c4 ,faithfully1 looking at the honour of ,christ1 the conversion1 edification and salvation of the people1 not at his own gains or glory3 keeping nothing back which may promote those holy ends1 giving to every one his own portion1 and bearing indifferent respect unto all1 without neglecting the meanest1 or sparing the greatest in their sins4 #d4 ,wisely1 framing all his ,doctrines1 ,exhortations1 and especially his ,reproofs1 in such a manner as may be most likely to prevaile1 shewing all due respect to each mans person and place1 and not mixing his own passion or bitternesse4 #e4 ,gravely1 as becometh the ,word of ,god1 shunning all such gesture1 voice and expressions as may occasion the corruptions of men to despise him and his ,ministry4 #f4 ,with loving affection1 that the people may see all coming from his ,godly zeale1 and hearty desire to doe them good4 ,and ,,doctrine ,,and ,,life4 #g4 ,as taught of ,god1 and perswaded in his own heart1 that all that he teacheth1 is the truth of ,christ2 and walking before his flock as an example to them in it2 earnestly1 both in private and publique1 recommending his labours to the blessing of ,god1 and watchfully looking to himselfe and the flock whereof the ,lord hath made him overseer4 ,so shall the ,doctrine of truth be preserved uncorrupt1 many soules converted1 and built up1 and himselfe receive manifold comforts of his labours even in this life1 and afterward the ,crown of ,glory laid up for him in the world to come4 ,where there are more ,ministers in a ,congregation than one1 and they of different guifts1 each may more especially apply himselfe to ,doctrine or ,exhortation1 according to the guift wherein he most excelleth1 and as they agree between themselves4 ,,spiritual ,,power ,,in ,,preaching4 ,i have little to say after the recitation of this passage of pregnant and solemn counsel4 ,that little shall be given to a supreme aspect of the whole subject2 ,i mean1 ,spiritual ,power in ,preaching4 ,who that knows the ,lord1 and contemplates the preacher's work1 does not long for ,spiritual ,power8 ,by that longing he means no ambitious wish to be remarkable1 nor any unwholesome craving to be a leader in scenes of religious excitement4 ,he means the deep desire to be an effectual messenger of his ,master2 to be the living channel of the ,holy ,spirit's energy in ,his converting1 sanctifying1 strengthening1 perfecting work4 ,he knows that it is possible to be truly orthodox1 and yet not to be this2 to be eloquent1 to be impressive1 to be impassioned1 and yet not to be this2 to be unimpeachably truthful1 reasonable1 intellectually convincing1 and yet all the while not to be this4 ,how shall he be a vehicle of spiritual power8 ,,the ,,open ,,secret4 ,the ,scriptural answer is very simple1 but it goes deep4 ,if a man would have spiritual power with men1 and prevail1 he must be real with his ,lord4 ,what he says1 he must first know1 he must first live4 ,as regards ,,him who is at once his ,master and his ,gospel1 he must indeed know whom he has believed1 #b ,tim4 i4 #aj4 and1 in calm but entire simplicity1 submit himself under ,his hands4 ,granted a true creed1 and a humble faith in its ,subject1 he must1 in quiet reality1 yield himself unto ,god1 if he would be used by ,him4 ,observe the ,apostle's phrase2 ,yield yourselves1 ,greek3 parastsate heautous3 not1 yield to ,god 7though that is implied71 but1 yield yourselves1 hand yourselves over1 to ,god1 as you would hand over a tool1 a weapon ,rom4 vi4 #ac44 ,and another aspect of the same thing appears in the same ,apostle's later words3 ,if a man purge himself of these1 he shall be a vessel unto honour1 sanctified 7to71 and meet for1 the ,master's use1 ,greek3 hgiasmenon euchrston t ,despot4 #b ,tim4 ii4 #ba4 ,the deepest secret of spiritual power1 in ,god's sense of the phrase1 lies there4 ,let the man be watchful over his ,scriptural creed1 and let him discipline his life1 and let him toil in his study1 and among his people4 ,none of these things can be spared2 they are all vital4 ,but the central secret1 which they as it were enclose and protect1 lies in the words ,surrender in faith4 ,and the ,christian man's heart must be its own inquisitor1 before ,god1 in the inquiry after the point1 or points1 where you1 where ,i1 need to make that surrender for ourselves4 ,in the void thus left1 in the chasm thus cut deep into our ambitions1 into our self-love1 the mighty ,spirit in ,his tranquil fulness will spring up4 ,and then1 whether we know it or not1 we ,ministers of the ,word shall assuredly be vehicles of spiritual power1 to our ,lord's praise4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,farewell4 ,so let me close these fragmentary words spoken to my younger ,brethren4 ,may ,god's mercy be upon the writer4 ,upon the readers1 whom he loves in the ,lord1 may grace and peace come every hour and day1 in secret1 in society1 in holy ministration of ,word and ,ordinance4 ,and in due time1 when they are no longer juniors but1 if the ,lord will1 veterans and leaders in the work1 may they in turn pass on the message to those who follow1 in the name of ,jesus ,christ4 ,amen4 ,,christianity is so great and surprising in its nature that1 in preaching it to others1 ,i have no encouragement but in the belief of a continued divine operation4 ,it is no difficult thing to change a man's opinions4 ,it is no difficult thing to attach a man to my person and notions4 ,it is no difficult thing to convert a proud man to spiritual pride1 or a passionate man to passionate zeal for some religious party4 ,but to bring a man to love ,god1 to love the law of ,god while it condemns him1 to loathe himself before ,god1 to tread the earth under his feet1 to hunger and thirst after ,god in ,christ1 and after the mind that was in ,christ1 this is impossible4 ,but ,god has said it shall be done2 and bids me go forth and preach1 that by me1 as ,his instrument1 ,he may effect these great ends2 and therefore ,i go4 ,,cecil4 ,,fordington ,,pulpit3 ,a ,,preacher',s ,,weekday ,,thoughts1 ,written1 in #ahgh1 in the ,church of the ,author's ,baptism1 and where he first ,ministered as his ,father's ,curate4 ,many voices yester-even ,made these walls and arches ring ,with their high-sung hopes of ,heaven1 ,and the glories of its ,king2 ,now my footfall sounds alone ,on the aisle's long path of stone1 ,save that yonder from the loft1 ,with a solemn tone and soft1 ,beating on with muffled shock1 ,conscience-waking1 speaks the clock4 ,holy scene1 and dear as holy1 ,let me ponder thee this hour1 ,not in aimless melancholy1 ,but in quest of ,heaven-given power2 ,seeking here to win anew ,contrite love and purpose true2 ,near the ,font whose dew-drops cold ,fell upon my brow of old1 ,near the well-remember'd seat ,set beside my ,mother's feet2 ,near the ,table where ,i bent ,at that earliest ,sacrament4 ,let me1 through this narrow door1 ,climb the ,pulpit's steps once more4 ,blessed place6 the ,master's ,word1 ,child and man1 ,i hence have heard2 ,awful place6 for hence1 in turn1 ,i have taught1 so slow to learn4 ,to the silence now to hearken ,here ,i mount and stand alone1 ,while the spaces round me darken ,and the ,church is all my own2 ,while the sun's last glories fall ,from the window of the tower1 ,tracing slow their parting hour ,on the stones of floor and wall4 ,seems a secret ,voice to thrill ,all the dusky air so still2 ,turns a soul-compelling gaze ,on me from the sunset haze3 ,sure the eternal ,shepherd's hand ,beckons me awhile apart1 ,bids me in ,his presence stand ,while ,he looks me through the heart4 ,sinful preacher1 ask again ,in this nearness of thy ,lord1 ,how to ,,him has rung thy strain1 ,when it seem'd to speak ,his ,word4 ',midst thy brethren's listening numbers ,hast thou felt1 with heart sincere1 ,how1 in thought that never slumbers1 ,this great ,listener stood more near8-- ,listening to ,his own high ,name ,spoken by ,his creature's breath2 ,how from out the ,heavens ,he came1 ,how ,he pour'd ,his soul in death1 ,how ,he triumph'd o'er the grave1 ,how ,he lives on high to save1 ,how ,he yet again shall come1 ,lord of glory and of doom4 ,has ,he found thy message true8 ,truth1 and truly spoken too8 ,utter'd with a purpose whole1 ,from a self-forgetful soul1 ,bent on nothing save the fame ,of the dear redeeming ,name1 ,and the pardon1 life1 and bliss ,of the souls ,he bought for ,his8 ,think6--,but ah1 from thoughts like these ,hasten1 sinner1 to thy knees4 ,printed by ,hazell1 ,watson ,viney1 ,la41 ,london and ,aylesbury4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,by ,,the ,,same ,,author4 ,,the ,,epistle ,,to ,,the ,,romans4 #gs4 #f;d4 ,,colossian ,,studies4 ,crown #hvo41 cloth1 #es4 ,,to ,,my ,,younger ,,brethren ,,on ,,pastoral ,,life ,,and ,,work4 #es4 ,,outlines ,,of ,,christian ,,doctrine4 #bs4 #f;d4 7,in the ,theological ,educator ,series47 ,,veni ,,creator3 ,,thoughts ,,on ,,the ,,holy ,,spirit ,,of ,,promise4 ,third ,edition4 ,crown #hvo1 #es41 cloth4 ,,life ,,in ,,christ ,,and ,,for ,,christ4 #cbmo1 #as41 cloth4 ,,need ,,and ,,fulness4 #as41 cloth4 ,,patience ,,and ,,comfort4 #as41 cloth4 ,,thoughts ,,on ,,christian ,,sanctity4 #as41 cloth4 #cjth ,thousand4 ,,thoughts ,,on ,,union ,,with ,,christ4 #as41 cloth4 #bbnd ,thousand4 ,,thoughts ,,on ,,the ,,spiritual ,,life4 #as41 cloth4 #abth ,thousand4 ,,secret ,,prayer4 #as41 cloth1 #aath ,thousand4 ,,at ,,the ,,holy ,,communion4 ,thoughts for ,preparation and ,communion4 #as41 cloth4 ,,the ,,pledge ,,of ,,his ,,love4 ,thoughts on the ,lord's ,supper1 #as41 cloth4 ,,the ,,new ,,birth4 ,a ,brief ,enquiry and ,statement4 #b;d4 ,,the ,,cleansing ,,blood4 ,a ,study of #a ,john i4 #g4 #b;d4 ,,justifying ,,righteousness4 #d;d4 ,,the ,,christian ,,and ,,the ,,world4 #b;d4 ,,the ,,net ,,and ,,the ,,deliverance4 #a;d4 ,a ,,morning ,,act ,,of ,,faith4 #c;d4 per dozen4 ,,the ,,christian',s ,,own ,,calendar ,,of ,,personal ,,and ,,family ,,events4 #as4 #f;d4 ,with an ,introduction by ,rev4 ,h4,c4,g4 ,,moule4 ,,prayers ,,for ,,the ,,home4 #bs4 #f;d4 ,,the ,,christian',s ,,victory ,,over ,,sin4 #b;d4 ,,grace ,,and ,,godliness4 ,chapters on ,ephesians4 #bs4 #f;d4 ,,christ ,,is ,,all4 ,sermons4 #bs4 #f;d4 ,,commentaries ,,on ,,the ,,romans 7#cs4 #f;d472 ,,ephesians 7#bs4 #f;d472 ,,philippians 7#bs4 #f;d472 ,,colossians 7#bs4 #f;d47 in the ,cambridge ,bible for ,schools and ,colleges2 and on the ,,philippians in the ,cambridge ,greek ,testament4 ,also on the ,,romans in the ,expositor's ,bible 7#gs4 #f;d474 ,,between ,,my ,,lord ,,and ,,me4 ,a ,card containing ,morning and ,evening ,acts of ,faith and ,devotion4 #b;d4 ,,charles ,,simeon4 7,in ,english ,leaders of ,religion47 #bs4 #f;d4 ,,bishop ,,ridley ,,on ,,the ,,lord',s ,,supper4 ,a ,reprint from the ,original ,edition1 with ,life of ,ridley1 ,notes1 ,appendices1 etc41 and ,illustrations4 #es4 ,,in ,,the ,,house ,,of ,,the ,,pilgrimage4 ,hymns and ,sacred ,songs1 #bs4 #f;d4