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diff --git a/23113-h/23113-h.htm b/23113-h/23113-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..88378a3 --- /dev/null +++ b/23113-h/23113-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8814 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of To My Younger Brethren, by Handley C. G. Moule</title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center; font-weight: normal;} + + h1.pg {text-align: center; font-weight: bold;} + h3.pg {text-align: center; font-weight: bold;} + + p.h1 {font-family: serif; + font-size: 100%; + font-weight: normal; + text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; + margin: 1em auto 0.5em auto; + page-break-after: avoid !important; } + + p.h2 {font-family: serif; + font-size: 75%; + font-weight: normal; + text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; + margin: 1em auto 0.5em auto; + page-break-after: avoid !important; } + + hr { width: 65%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + hr.short {width:40%;} + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + +.pagenum {/* left-margin page numbers */ + display: inline; /* set to "none" to make #s disappear */ + font-size: 70%; /* tiny type.. */ + text-align: right; /* ..right-justified.. */ + position: absolute; + right: 95%; /* ..in the right margin.. */ + padding: 0 0 0 0 ; /* ..very compact */ + margin: 0 0 0 0; + font-weight: 400; /* normal weight */ + font-style: normal; + text-decoration: none; + color: silver; + text-indent: 0; + } /* page numbers */ + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .totoc {position: absolute; right: 2%; font-size: 60%; text-align: right;} /* Table of contents anchor */ + + .center {text-align: center;} + .right {text-align: right;} + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + a {text-decoration: none;} + + div.trans-note {border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; + margin: 3em 15%; padding: 1em; text-align: left;} + + div.para {margin:3em 15%; padding: 1em; text-align: left;} + + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i8 {display: block; margin-left: 8em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + border: solid black; + height: 5px; } + pre {font-size: 85%; } + + </style> +</head> +<body> + +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of To My Younger Brethren, by Handley C. G. Moule + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: To My Younger Brethren + Chapters on Pastoral Life and Work + +Author: Handley C. G. Moule + +Release Date: October 20, 2007 [EBook #23113] +[Most recently updated: October 1, 2020] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TO MY YOUNGER BRETHREN *** + + + + +E-text prepared by Colin Bell, Thomas Strong, +and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + +</pre> + +<div class="trans-note"><p class="center">Transcriber's Note:</p> + 1. Obvious misspellings and printing errors have been corrected.<br /> + <br /> + 2. Archaic word spellings have been retained.<br /> + <br /> + 3. List of books by the same author has been moved from the beginning to the + end of the book.<br /> + <br /> + 4. Footnotes have been placed immediately following the paragraphs in which they are noted.<br /> + <br /> + 5. Notation for Footnote 4, which is missing in the original, has been supplied.<br /> + <br /> + 6. A word that is missing at the beginning of Footnote 8 has been supplied as (I).<br /> + <br /> + 7. Capitalized headings within chapters are running page headers.<br /> + <br /> + 8. Running page headers which are designated by * reflect subject matter that occurs within + paragraphs in the original and are broken into paragraphs for the purpose of better readability + in this document.<br /> + <br /> + 9. Scripture references (e.g., Mal. 2.1; Acts xx. 19; 2 Tim. 1.12; etc.) which appear as sidenotes + in the original are placed within [ ] and immediately follow the quoted scripture or statement + pertaining to scripture to which they refer.<br /> + <br /> + 10. Redundant book heading and redundant chapter headings have been omitted.</div> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> + +<h1>TO MY YOUNGER<br /> +BRETHREN<br /></h1> +<h3>CHAPTERS ON PASTORAL LIFE AND WORK<br /></h3> +<h4>BY THE RIGHT REV.<br /></h4> +<h2>HANDLEY C.G. MOULE, D.D.</h2> +<h4>LORD BISHOP OF DURHAM<br /><br /><br /></h4> +<p class="h2">FOURTH EDITION<br /></p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p class="h2">LONDON<br /></p> +<p class="h1">HODDER AND STOUGHTON<br /></p> +<p class="h2">27, PATERNOSTER ROW<br /> +<br /> +1902</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><i>Printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury.</i></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> +<div class="para"><p class="h2">TO<br /> +<br /> +MY DEAR BROTHER AND VICAR,<br /><br /></p> +<p class="h1">THE REV. JOHN BARTON, M.A.,<br /><br /></p> +<p class="h2">INCUMBENT OF TRINITY CHURCH, CAMBRIDGE,<br /> +<br /> +AND RURAL DEAN,<br /> +<br /> +AND TO MY DEAR BROTHERS AND FRIENDS,<br /><br /></p> +<p class="h1">THE PRESENT AND PAST STUDENTS +<br /><br /> +OF RIDLEY HALL, CAMBRIDGE,<br /><br /></p> +<p class="h2">THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED.<br /><br /></p> +<p class='right'>H.C.G.M.</p></div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 10em;">"<i>Give those who teach pure hearts and wise,</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Faith, hope, and love, all warm'd by prayer;</i></span><br /> +<i>Themselves first training for the skies</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>They best will raise their people there.</i>"</span></p> +<p style="margin-left: 25em;"><span class="smcap">Armstrong.</span></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> +<h2 class="space">PREFACE.<br /></h2> + +<p>The following pages do not appear to need +any extended preface; their topic is set +forth in the first lines of the first chapter. +With what success it has been handled is +another matter.</p> + +<p>But as a writer reviews his own words, it is +inevitable that some sort of <i>envoi</i> should present +itself to his mind. In this case the <i>envoi</i> seems +to me to be the vital necessity of personal +holiness in the Christian Minister, in order to +the right working of the Christian Ministry; +a personal holiness which shall be no mere +form moulded from without but a life developed +into manifestation and action from within.</p> + +<p>Never did the Church of Christ more need +to remember this than at the present day.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span> +The strongest surface currents of the age are +against it; alike that of unregulated, hurrying, +indiscriminate enterprize, and that of an exaggerated +ecclesiasticism. In the one case the +worker's communion with God tends to be +sacrificed to the work, the fountain choked +for the sake of the stream. 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 man, and of course of +the Christian Minister. Sacred are the claims +of order and cohesion, but more sacred and +more vital still is the call to the individual constituent +of the community to come to the living +Personal Christ, "nothing between," and to +abide in innermost intercourse with Him, and +to draw every hour by faith on His great +grace.</p> + +<p>If these simple pages may at all, in His +most merciful hands, promote the holy cause +of such a hidden life and its fruitful issues, +it will indeed be happiness to the writer. In<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span> +these days of stifling materialism in philosophy, +and withering naturalism in theology, but in +which also the Holy Spirit, far and wide, is +breathing upon us in special mercy from above, +there is no duty more pressing on the Christian +than to seek, in the world of work, after that +life which is "lived in the flesh by faith in the +Son of God," and which is manifested in the +strong and patient "meekness of wisdom."</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Ridley Hall, Cambridge</span>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>April 22nd, 1892</i></span>.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 13em;"><i>Servant of God, be fill'd</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>With Jesu's love alone;</i><br /></span> +<i>Upon a sure foundation build,</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>On Christ the corner-stone;</i><br /></span> +<i>By faith in Him abide,</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Rejoicing with His saints;</i><br /></span> +<i>To Him with confidence, when tried,</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Make known all thy complaints.</i>"</span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 20em;"><span class="smcap">Moravian Hymn-book.</span></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span></p> + +<p><a name="toc" id="toc"></a></p> +<h2 class="space">CONTENTS.<br /></h2> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents" style="width: 90%;"> +<tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;">CHAPTER I.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;"><i>THE SECRET WALK WITH GOD</i></td> +</tr><tr> +<td align='left' style="width: 90%;"> </td> +<td align='right' style="width: 10%;"><span class="smcap">page</span></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>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—"<i>Tell Him all</i>"</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td> </td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;">CHAPTER II.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;"><i>THE SECRET WALK WITH GOD</i> (ii.).</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>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 Ordinal?—M. Henri Lasserre on +Devotional Literature and the Gospels—Study the +Bible unprofessionally—Bridges' quotation from +Witsius—Ridley in the Orchard</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_II">21</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span></td> +</tr><tr> +<td> </td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;">CHAPTER III.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;"><i>SECRET STUDY OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.</i></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>A fragmentary chapter—Higher Criticism—A technical +and innocent term—Actual assertions of certain critics—"Do +not follow this Book; follow Christ"—Weigh +facts before theories—Testimony of Nature and History +to Scripture—The Duke of Argyll in the <i>Nineteenth +Century</i>—Prediction—Problem of the Human +Knowledge of Jesus Christ—Current fulfilments of +Prophecy—Methods of Bible Study—The plough—The +spade—Specimen of spade-husbandry, in a +Church Congress Study of the Epistle to the Philippians</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_III">45</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td> </td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;">CHAPTER IV.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;"><i>THE DAILY WALK WITH OTHERS</i> (i.).</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Secret Communion with God must <i>accompany</i> 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-House, its opportunities +and risks—The duty of Example—Is it +remembered as it used to be?—"For their sakes I +sanctify Myself"—"Others" and their claims on us—Manner—Temper—Simeon's +patience—The Secret +of the Presence</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">79</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td> </td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;">CHAPTER V.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;"><i>THE DAILY WALK WITH OTHERS</i> (ii.).</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>"Take heed unto thyself"—Relations with Woman—Christian +chivalry—And Christian caution—Special<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span> +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"</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_V">101</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td> </td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;">CHAPTER VI.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;"><i>THE DAILY WALK WITH OTHERS</i> (iii.).</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>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 grace, +humility"—Subordination—Take sides against yourself—A +letter to <i>The Record</i> on Curates' grievances.</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">123</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td> </td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;">CHAPTER VII.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;"><i>PASTOR IN PARISH</i> (i.).</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>A boundless subject—Visiting—All-important—Prepare +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</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">147</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td> </td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;">CHAPTER VIII.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;"><i>PASTOR IN PARISH</i> (ii.).</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>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—Recollections<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span> +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</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">173</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td> </td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;">CHAPTER IX.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;"><i>THE CLERGYMAN AND THE PRAYER BOOK.</i></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>"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"</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">201</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td> </td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;">CHAPTER X.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;"><i>PREACHING</i> (i.).</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>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—<i>Attractive</i> 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 extempore?"—Length—Action</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_X">225</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span></td> +</tr><tr> +<td> </td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;">CHAPTER XI.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;"><i>PREACHING</i> (ii.).</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Further remarks on Attractiveness—And, in passing, 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 earnestly, interestingly, +fully"—Jesus Christ is <i>the Gospel</i>—Personal +conviction the essence of <i>Earnestness</i>—"Matter-of-Fact"—<i>Interest</i> +sustained by anecdote and illustration—But +still more by intelligibility and practicality—Expository +sermons—<i>Fulness</i> in the message—Jesus +Christ for us—And in us—The Holy Spirit must +work with the Word</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">249</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td> </td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;">CHAPTER XII.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="4" style="text-align: center;"><i>PREACHING</i> (iii.).</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Notes from a Sermon-Lecture—On diction, arrangement, +fidelity to the text, proportion of parts, accuracy—On +statements about revelation, justification, faith, grace—A +paper in <i>The Churchman</i> on Old Sermons—Be a +preacher indeed, whatever be the fashion of the time—The +Directory of 1645—Its instructions on "the +Preaching of the Word"—Spiritual Power in Preaching—How +sought and received—Farewell</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">273</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td> </td> +</tr><tr> +<td><i>Fordington Pulpit</i></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#FORDINGTON_PULPIT">301</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span></td> +</tr></table> + +<hr /> + +<p style="margin-left: 13.5em;"><i>"What contradictions meet</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>In Ministers' employ</i>!</span><br /> +<i>It is a bitter sweet</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>A sorrow full of joy</i>;</span><br /> +<i>No other post affords a place</i><br /> +<i>For equal honour or disgrace"</i></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 23em;"><span class="smcap">Olney Hymns.</span></p> + +<p>"<i>The Interpreter had Christian into a private Room, and bid +his Man open a Door; the which when he had done, Christian +saw a Picture of a very grave Person hang up against the Wall, +and this was the fashion of it: It had eyes lift up to Heaven, +the best of Books was in its hand, the Law of Truth was written +upon its lips, the World was behind his back; it stood as if it +Pleaded with Men, and a Crown of gold did hang over its +head.</i>"</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 25em;"><span class="smcap">Pilgrim's Progress.</span></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a><br /></h2><p class="totoc"><a href="#toc">CONTENTS</a></p> + +<p class="center"><i>THE SECRET WALK WITH GOD</i> (i.).</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 13em;"><i>Pastor, for the round of toil</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See the toiling soul is fed</i>;</span><br /> +<i>Shut the chamber, light the oil</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Break and eat the Spirit's bread</i>;</span><br /> +<i>Life to others would'st thou bring</i>?<br /> +<i>Live thyself upon thy King.</i></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> + +<p>Let me explain in this first sentence that +when in these pages I address "my +Younger Brethren," I mean brethren in the +Christian Ministry in the Church of England. +Let me limit my reference still further, by +premising that very much of what I say will be +said as to brethren who have lately taken holy +Orders, and are engaged in the work of +assistant Curacies.</p> + +<p class="center">AIM OF THE BOOK.</p> + +<p>Day by day, for many years past, my life +has lain among men preparing themselves for +just that work. As a matter of course my +thoughts have run incessantly in that direction. +Many a lecture in the library where we work +together, and many a conversation in dining-hall, +or by study fire, or in college garden, or +on country road, has given point to those +thoughts and enabled me, I trust, better to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +understand my younger Brethren, and with +more sympathy to make myself, as an elder +brother, understood by them. What I here +seek to do, with the gracious aid of our +blessed Master, is somewhat to extend the +range of such talks, and to ask a friendly +hearing from younger Brethren in the holy +Ministry with whom I have never had the +opportunity of speaking personally.</p> + +<p>I have not the least intention of writing a +treatise on the Christian Pastorate. To talk +to young Christian Ministers about some important +details of pastoral life and work, but +above all of life, inward and outward—this is +my simple purpose.</p> + +<hr class="short" /> + +<p class="center">THREE LINES OF PRAYER.</p> + +<p>One day in each week, at Ridley Hall, we +unite in special prayer, without liturgical form, +for those members of the Hall who have gone +out into actual ministry. As I lead my dear +younger Brethren in that supplication, the +heart feels itself full of many, very many, well-remembered +faces, characters, lives. It seems +to see those many old friends scattered abroad +in the Lord's work-field; and it sees, of course,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +a very large variety among them, in the way +of both character and circumstances. But, +with all this consciousness of differences, my +thoughts and my petitions always, by a deep +necessity, run for all alike along three main +paths. The first prayer is for the young +Clergyman's inner and secret Life and Walk +with God. The second is for his daily and +hourly general Intercourse with Men. The +third is for his official Ministrations of the +Word and Ordinances of the Gospel. And in +all these directions, after all, one desire, one +prayer, has to be offered, the prayer that everywhere +and always, from the inmost recesses of +life to its largest and most public circumference, +the Lord and Master may take, and keep, +full possession of the servant. I pray that in +secret devotion, and in secret habits, Jesus +Christ may be intensely present with the man; +and that in common intercourse, in all its parts, +He may be the constant and all-influencing +Companion, to stimulate, to control, to chasten, +to gladden, to empower; and that in the +preaching of the Word the servant may really +and manifestly speak from, and for, and in, his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +Lord; and that in ministration of the sacramental +and other Ordinances he may truly +and unmistakably walk before Him in holy +simplicity, holy reverence, and full spiritual +reality, "serving the Lord," and serving +the flock, "with all humility of mind." [Acts xx. 19.]</p> + +<p>My present talks on paper will take very +much the lines of these prayers. Secret walk +with God, common and general walk with men, +special ministrations—I desire to say a little on +each and all of these points, and more or less +in this order, though without attempting too +rigid an arrangement, where one subject must +often run over into another.</p> + +<hr class="short" /> + +<p class="center">SECRET WALK WITH GOD.</p> + +<p>Let me take up the first great topic of the +three for a few preliminary words in this +chapter: <span class="smcap">The Secret Walk with God</span> of the +young Pastor of Christ's flock.</p> + +<p class="center">HINDRANCES: WORK.</p> + +<p>My brotherly reader will not need any long +explanation or careful apology from me here. +He knows as well as I do, on the one hand, +that a close secret walk with God is unspeakably +important in pastoral life, and, on the +other hand, that pastoral life, and not least in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +its early days, is often allowed to hinder or +minimize the real, diligent work (for it is a +work indeed in its way) of that close secret +walk. He finds all too many possible interferences +with the inner working on the part +of the outer. Such interferences come from +very different quarters. The new Curacy, the +new duties and opportunities, if the man has +his heart in his ministry, will prove intensely +interesting, and at first, very possibly, encouragement +and acceptance may predominate +over experiences of difficulty and trial. Services, +sermons, visits to homes and to schools, +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 earnest. And it will be almost inevitable +that the Curate, under even the most +wise, considerate, and unselfish of Incumbents, +should find "work" threatening rapidly to +absorb so much, not of time only but thought +and heart, that the temptation is to abridge and +relax very seriously indeed secret devotion, +secret study of Scripture, and generally secret<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +discipline of habits, that all-important thing.</p> + +<p class="center">*HINDRANCES: SOLITUDE.</p> + +<p>Then, on the other hand, there is a risk and +trial from a region quite opposite. The Curate +comes to his new work, and takes up his abode +in lodgings—alone. Only a few months ago, +perhaps only a few weeks ago, he was in rooms +at College, amidst all the social as well as +mental interests of University life, and (so it is, +thank God, for many University men now) +feeling on every side the help of Christian +friendship and fellowship of the warmest and +truest sort. And now, socially and as to +fellowship in Christ, he is, to speak comparatively, +alone. I say, <i>comparatively</i>. Very +likely he has found in his Incumbent a friend +and elder brother, perhaps a friend and loving +father, in the Lord. And most probably he +will find among his people, and that very soon +if he is on the watch, friends in Christ, gentle or +simple. He may be associated with a brother +Curate or Curates; and if so, the inmost aim +of both or all ought to be, and in most cases +will be, not only to work in the same parish +but to work heart to heart as "in Him." +Nevertheless, the Vicar or Rector, though a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +friend, is a very busy friend; and so is the +brother Curate; and the Christian friend in +the parish is after all only one of the many +souls to whom the man has to minister, and +he must not forget those who perhaps need +him most just because they are least congenial +to him.</p> + +<p class="center">*ITS DANGERS.</p> + +<p>So the sense of change, of solitude, +in such part of his life as is spent indoors, may +be, and, as I know, very often is, real and deep, +sad and sorrowful, and in itself not wholesome, +to the young Minister of Christ. Possibly +my reader knows nothing of all this; but I +think it more likely that at least he knows +something of it. And it needs his prompt and +watchful dealing if it is not to hurt him greatly. +Solitude will not <i>by itself</i>, if I judge rightly, +help him to secret intercourse with God. A +feeling of solitude, under most circumstances, +much more tends, by itself, to drive a man +unhealthily inward, in unprofitable questionings +and broodings, or in still less happy exercises +of thought. Or it drives him unhealthily outward, +quickening the wish for mere stimulants +and excitements of mind and interest. Aye, +let me not shrink from saying it, it sometimes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +quickens a wish for "stimulants" in the most +literal sense of the word. Exhausting and multifarious +parochial work, and the lonely bachelor +quarters at the day's end, have brought to many +a young man sore temptations of that sort, and +sometimes they have won the battle, to the +wreck and ruin of the work and of the worker.</p> + +<p class="center">HINDRANCES ARE OCCASIONS.</p> + +<p>Well, all these facts or possibilities are just +so many reminders that the new Curate's life +will not, of itself, greatly help him to maintain +and quicken his Secret Walk with God, that +vital necessity for his work. It certainly will +<i>not</i> do so directly; it will, directly, be a problem, +not an aid. But on that very account, +dear Brother and reader, your new conditions +of life may prove indirectly a most powerful +aid, by being a constant and urgent <i>occasion</i>. +As you are a Minister of Christ, your life and +work will, in the Lord's sight, be a failure, yes, +I repeat it, a failure, be the outside and the +reputation what they may, if you do not walk +with God in secret. But therefore your life +and work are a daily and hourly occasion for +the positive resolve, in His Name, that walk +with Him you will. Recognize the risks, right<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +and left, the risks brought by pastoral activities +and interests, and those brought by pastoral +loneliness and uncheerfulness. Remember the +vital necessity amidst those risks. And then +you will the more deliberately purpose and +plan how to guard your secret devotions, and +how to order your secret hours even when +devotion is not your direct duty, so that your +Lord shall be indeed there, at the centre, "a +living, bright Reality" to you.</p> + +<p class="center">SECRET DEVOTION.</p> + +<p>Let me plunge into the midst at once, with +a few simple suggestions on <span class="smcap">Secret Devotion</span>.</p> + +<p class="center">LET IT BE DELIBERATE.</p> + +<p>I ask my younger Brother, then, to keep +sacred, with all his heart and will, an unhurried +time alone with the Lord, night and morning +at the least. I do not intrusively prescribe a +length of time. But I do most earnestly say +that the time, shorter or longer, must be <i>deliberately +spent</i>; and even ten minutes can be +spent deliberately, while mismanagement may +give a feeling of haste to a much longer season. +Do not, I beseech you, minimize the minutes; +seek for such a fulness of "the Spirit of grace +and of supplications," [Zech. xii. 10.] as shall draw +quite the other way. But if the time, any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +given night or morning, <i>must</i> be short, let it +nevertheless be a time of quiet, reverent, collected +worship and confession and petition. +One thing assuredly you can do: you can, if +you will, secure a real "Morning Watch" before +your day's work begins. I do not say it is +easy. Young men very commonly sleep sounder +and longer than we seniors do; they are not +always easy to rouse in a moment. But they +can direct some of their energy to contrive +against themselves, or rather <i>for</i> themselves, +how to secure a regular early rising to meet +their Lord. Most ingenious, not to say amusing, +are some of the devices which friends of mine +have confided to me; schemes and stratagems +to get themselves well awake in good time. +But after all, in most lodging-houses surely +it must be possible to be called early, and to +instruct the caller to show no mercy at the +chamber door. Anyhow, I do say that the +fresh first interview with the all-blessed Master +must at all costs be secured. Do not be beguiled +into thinking it can be arranged by a +half-slumbering prayer in bed. Rise up—if but +in loving deference to Him. Appear in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +presence chamber as the servant should who +is now ready for the day's bondservice in all +things but in this, that he has yet to take the +day's oath of obedience, and to ask the day's +"grace sufficient," and to read the day's +promises and commands, at the Master's holy +feet.</p> + +<p class="center">A PRACTICAL SUGGESTION.</p> + +<p>I do not recommend an unpractical physical +mortification as the rule for such early hours +with God. Fully believing that there is a place +for definite "abstinence" in the Christian (and +certainly in the ministerial) life, I do not think +that that place is, as a rule, the early morning +hour. Very many men only procure a bad +headache for the day by beginning any sort of +earnest mental effort without food. Such men +should take care accordingly to eat a <i>chotee +házaree</i> (as old Indians say), "a little breakfast," +however little, before they pray and read. +There are appliances, simple and inexpensive, +by which the man in lodgings can, without +giving any one trouble, provide himself with +his cup of cocoa or coffee as soon as he is up; +and he will be wise to do something of this +sort, if he is a man whose work by day is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +heavy for both body and spirit, and who is +thus specially apt to find the truth of what +doctors tell us, that "sleep is, in itself, an +exhausting process."</p> + +<p>But at any cost, my dear friend and Brother +in the Ministry, we must have our Morning +Watch with God, in prayer and in His Word, +before all the day's action. Not even the +earliest possible Church service can rightly take +the place of that.</p> + +<p class="center">GOOD HOURS AT NIGHT.</p> + +<p>It is obvious to add that punctuality and +early hours in the morning will bring into your +life another rule; that of punctuality and reasonably +good hours at night. No temptation is +greater, sometimes, for the man alone than to +ignore or break such a rule. And no doubt +the exigencies of pastoral life, sometimes, but +surely not often, make it hard to keep it. But +it is extremely important, for the man who +would walk closely and humbly with his God, +to end the day deliberately at His feet. And +here accordingly is another occasion for watchfulness, +and for method, and for will. Do not +<i>drift into the night</i>. Have a settled hour +when, as a habit, you lay interests and intercourse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +of other sorts down, and turn unhurried +to the holy interview, spreading open your +Bible by the lamp, the Bible marked and scored +with signs of past research, and then kneeling, +or standing, or <i>pacing</i>, for your prayer—your +prayer which is to be the very simplest (while +most reverent) speech with the Lord.</p> + +<p class="center">PRAY AS A PRIVATE CHRISTIAN.</p> + +<p>In such acts of worship, morning and night, +thought for others, for dear ones, for parishioners, +for colleagues, will have its full place +of course. Let it be so, with an ever-growing +sense of the preciousness of the work of intercession. +But I do meanwhile say to my +Brother in Christ, take care that no pre-occupation +with things pastoral allows you to forget +the supreme need of drawing out of Christ's +fulness, and out of the treasures of His Word, +for <i>your own</i> soul and life, as if that were the +one and solitary soul and life in existence. We +Clergy are in danger of becoming too official, +too clerical, even in our prayers. We <i>are</i> the +Lord's Ministers; we have a cure and charge +of souls as the unordained Christian has not; +and let us daily remember it, humbly and reverently. +But also we are, all the while, sheep of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +the flock, absolutely dependent on the Shepherd, +men who for their own souls' acceptance, +and holiness, and heaven, must for themselves +"live at the Fountain." We have to serve +others, and "lay ourselves out" for them, daily +and hourly. But on that very account, that +"our selves" may be, if I may say so, worth +the laying out, we must see that "our selves" +are, in their own innermost life and experience, +filled with the Spirit of God, filled with the +presence of an indwelling Lord Jesus Christ by +the Spirit. And so we must worship Him, +and draw on Him, and abide in Him, and +acquaint ourselves with Him, just as if there +were no flock at all, that we may the better be +of use to the flock.</p> + +<p class="center">LIVE BEHIND YOUR MINISTRY.</p> + +<p>I am sure that this is an important point for +the thought and practice of the young Clergyman. +While never really forgetting his ordained +character, let him, for the very purposes +of his ordained work, continually "live behind" +not only the work but the character; living in +the presence, in the love, in the life, of his +Lord and Head, simply in the character of the +redeemed sinner, the personal believer, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +glad younger Brother of the glorious Firstborn, +the living Christian with the living +Christ; "knowing whom he has believed," [2 Tim. i. 12.] +and walking by faith in Him.</p> + +<p class="center">FOR THE MINISTRY'S SAKE.</p> + +<p>Do you so live, by His grace and mercy? +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 +you? Then I venture to say that all the more +for this, by that same grace and mercy, you +shall be enabled to "lay yourself out" for +others, in your pastoral charge. You shall +understand other men better, by thus securing +for your own soul a deeper understanding of +the Lord Jesus and a fuller sympathy (if the +word is reverent) with Him. I hardly care +to analyze how, but somehow, you shall more +readily and closely "get at" men through this +direct, simple, unofficial, unclerical drawing very +near indeed to God in Christ. The more you +know Him thus at <i>first-hand</i> the more shall +you understand alike the needs of the human +heart (of which all individual hearts are but +various instances), and the supplies that are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +laid up for all its needs in Him. And so +you shall go out among your people armed, +equipped, with a truly heaven-given sympathy +and tact. True personal intercourse with the +Lord, the very closest and deepest, is the very +thing to open the whole man out for others, +and to teach him how, with a loving intuition, +to look into them and "upon their things." [Phil. ii. 4.]</p> + +<p class="center">A HYMN.</p> + +<p>In the next Chapter I shall speak a little +more about the young Clergyman's secret +devotion, and secret study of the heavenly +Word. But enough for the present. And +let me close with the quotation of a hymn,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> a +new friend of mine, but already a very dear +one, and thankfully added to the treasures +of memory. It puts in the simplest form +possible, while in a form most beautiful, the +vital truth that "intercourse with God is +the power for holy service." Happy the +young Clergyman whose secret daily life, from +its beginning in the "Morning Watch," on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +through the intercourse and energies of the +day, up to the evening hour of weariness and +repose, is a translation into experience of that +blessed hymn.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> By <span class="smcap">G.M. Taylor</span>: <i>Hymns of Consecration and Faith</i> +(Second Edition), No. 349.</p></div> + +<p class="center">"TELL HIM ALL."</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 12.5em;">"When thou wakest in the morning,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ere thou tread the untried way</span><br /> +Of the lot that lies before thee<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Through the coming busy day;</span><br /> +Whether sunbeams promise brightness,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whether dim forebodings fall,</span><br /> +Be thy dawning glad or gloomy,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Go to Jesus—tell Him all!</span><br /><br /> + +"In the calm of sweet communion<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Let thy daily work be done;</span><br /> +In the peace of soul out-pouring<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Care be banish'd, patience won</span><br /> +And if earth with its enchantments<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seek thy spirit to enthral,</span><br /> +Ere thou listen, ere thou answer—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Turn to Jesus—tell Him all!</span><br /><br /> + +"Then, as hour by hour glides by thee,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou wilt blessed guidance know;</span><br /> +Thine own burthens being lighten'd,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou canst bear another's woe;</span><br /> +Thou canst help the weak ones onward;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou canst raise up those that fall;</span><br /> +But, remember, while thou servest,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Still tell Jesus—tell Him all!</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span><br /><br /> + +"And if weariness creep o'er thee<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As the day wears to its close,</span><br /> +Or if sudden fierce temptation<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bring thee face to face with foes—</span><br /> +In thy weakness, in thy peril,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Raise to heaven a truthful call;</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Strength and calm for every crisis</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Come—in telling Jesus all</span>."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a><br /></h2><p class="totoc"><a href="#toc">CONTENTS</a></p> + +<p class="center"><i>THE SECRET WALK WITH GOD</i> (ii).</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 13.5em;"><i>He that would to others give</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Let him take from Jesus still;</i></span><br /> +<i>They who deepest in Him live</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Flow furthest at His will.</i></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> +<p>I resume the rich subject of Secret Devotion, + +Secret Communion with God. Not +that I wish to enter in detail on either the +theory or the practice of prayer in secret; as I +have attempted to do already in a little book +which I may venture here to mention, <i>Secret +Prayer.</i> My aim at present, as I talk to my +younger Brethren in the Ministry, is far rather +to lay all possible stress on the vital importance +of the habit, however it may prove best in +individual experience to order it in practice. +"As a man thinketh in his heart, so +is he"; [Prov. xxiii. 7.] and as a life worketh in its heart, so +is it. And the heart of a Christian Minister's +life is the man's Secret Communion with +God.</p> + +<p>Let us Clergymen take as one of our mottoes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +that deeply suggestive word of the Lord by +Malachi, where the ideal Levi is +depicted: "<i>He walked with Me</i> in peace and +equity, and did turn many away from iniquity." [Mal. ii. 6.]</p> + +<p class="center">THE LORD'S EXAMPLE.</p> + +<p>Remember with what a heavenly brightness +that principle was glorified in the recorded life +on earth of "the great Shepherd of +the sheep," [Heb. xiii. 20.] who in this also "left us an +example, that we should follow His +steps." [1 Pet. ii. 22.] Never did man walk more genuinely +with men than the Son of Man, whether it was +among the needy and wistful crowds in streets +or on hill-sides, or at the dinner-table of the +Pharisee, or in the homes of Nazareth, Cana, +and Bethany. No Christian was ever so +"practical" as Jesus Christ. No disciple +ever so directly and sympathetically "served +his own generation by the will of +God" [Acts xiii. 36.] as did the blessed Master. But all the +while "His soul dwelt apart" in the Father's +presence, and there continually rested and was +refreshed, [John iv. 32, 34.] and there found the "meat" +in the strength of which He travelled that +great pilgrimage by way of the Cross to the +Throne. Jesus Christ, our Exemplar as well<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +as our Life, did indeed live behind His work, +behind His ministry, behind His ministerial +character, in the region of a Filial Communion +in which His Father was His all in all for peace +and joy, His law of action and His eternal +secret of life. And observe, 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 service. "He was alone, praying"; [John vi. 57.] +"He continued all night in prayer +to God"; and at last, "He was +withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, +and kneeled down and prayed." [Luke ix. 18; vi. 12; xxii. 41.]</p> + +<p>All this is not only matter for wondering +notice, as we read our New Testament. It is +example, it is model. The Head is thus showing +His members the way, the only way, to +maintain a life among men and for men which +shall be full of good for them, because itself +ever filled with the life and presence of God.</p> + +<p class="center">TESTIMONY OF LUCIUS VON MACHTHOLF.</p> + +<p>From a leaflet which came long ago into +my hands, I quote the experience of a German +Christian, eminently successful in spiritual work;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +a passage which will illustrate and bring home +my appeal in this whole matter:—</p> + +<p>"When Lucius von Machtholf was asked +how he carried on religious intercourse with +individuals, he wrote:—'I know no other tactics +than <i>first of all to be heartily satisfied with my +God</i>, even if He should favour me with no +sensible visible blessing in my vocation. Also +to remember that preaching and conversation +are not so much <i>my</i> work as the outcome of +the love and joy of the Holy Ghost in my +heart, and, afterwards, on my lips. Further, +that I must never depend upon any previous +fervour or prayers of mine, but upon God's +mercy and Christ's dearly-purchased rights and +holy intercession; and cherishing a burning +love to Christ and to souls, I must constantly +seek for wisdom and gentleness.... Finally, +I would guard myself from imagining that I +know beforehand what I should say, but go to +Christ for every good word I have to speak, +even to a child, and submit myself to the Holy +Spirit, as the Searcher of hearts, who, knowing +the individuals I have to do with, will guide +and teach me when, where, and how to speak.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> +<p>"'Be always following, never going before. +It were better to be sick in a tent under a +burning sun, and Jesus sitting at the tent door, +than to be enchanting a thousand listeners +where Jesus was not. Be as a day-labourer +only in God's harvest-field, ready to be first +among the reapers in the tall corn, or just to +sit and sharpen another's sickle. Have an eye +to God's honour, and have no honour of your +own to have an eye to. Lay it in the dust and +leave it there. Never let your inner life get +low in your search for the lives of others.'"</p> + +<p>I dare to say that this quotation contains no +mere "counsels of perfection," but principles +which are indispensable for the Minister of +Jesus Christ who would be not only reputable, +popular, and in the superficial sense of the +word successful, but—what his dear Master +would have him be for His work. 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-discipline. When +von Machtholf speaks of "never depending on +previous prayers" it is obvious what he means;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +not that prayer should not precede work, but +that nothing should satisfy the worker short of +a living and present trust in a living and present +Lord. But that trust is the very thing which +is developed, and prepared, and matured, in the +life of genuine secret intercourse, in which the +Lord is dealt with as man dealeth with his +friend, and gazed upon and (I may reverently +say) studied in His revealed Character, till the +disciple does indeed "know <i>whom</i> he has believed," +"who He is that he should +believe on Him." "My soul shall +be satisfied ... when I remember Thee, when +I meditate on Thee, in the night watches," [2 Tim. i. 12; John ix. 36; +Ps. lxiii. 5, 6.] aye, and in the Morning Watch also.</p> + +<p class="center">URGENT PRESENT NEED TO MAINTAIN SECRET DEVOTION.</p> + +<p>I know not how to get away from this subject; +not only because of its intense connexion +with the most blissful experiences of the believing +soul, but because of its unspeakably +important bearing on the work of the Ministry, +the Ministry of our own time and of my reader's +own generation. Never was there a period +when the cry for enterprize and practical energy +was louder; and God knows there is occasion +enough for the cry, and for the answering<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +resolve. But never was there a time when the +need was greater to distinguish true from false +secrets of energy, and to be content with nothing +short of the deepest and most divine as our +ultimate secret. Do you not well know what +I mean? 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 benevolence, +and thereby to draw inevitably the idea of +philanthropy downward in the end into its least +noble manifestations? Is it not a fashionable +thing to regard the Christian Ministry, for +example, as a useful and ready mechanism +with which to work out the social and sanitary +amelioration of the lives of the multitude, and +so to take him to be the best qualified Clergyman +who is, perhaps, the most "muscular" of +Christians, or the cleverest at the invention or +superintendence of recreations on a large scale, +or the quickest student and exponent of the +principles or theories of political economy, or +possibly of socialistic enterprize? But all this +may leave entirely out the very life-blood of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +what the New Testament means by the Gospel +of the grace of God; and in many, many cases +it does entirely leave it out.</p> + +<p class="center">*"NATURALISM" IN CHRISTIAN WORK.</p> + +<p>A conception +of "Church work" is widely entertained, and +thought to be adequate, out of which is practically +dropped all the mystery, and all the +mercy; above all, the work and message of +the atoning Cross and the dying Lamb; and +the need of the sovereign grace of the Holy +Ghost to begin and carry out the Regeneration +of the soul; and the depth of our Fall; and +the offered greatness and splendour of our New +Creation; and "that blessed hope, the glorious +appearing of the great God and our +Saviour Jesus Christ." [Tit. ii. 13.] It is just one wave +of the great anti-supernatural tide of our time. +Christian work is viewed as much as possible +as man's work for man in this present world, +under the example, doubtless, of the beneficent +life of our Lord, but not under the shadow of +Calvary, nor in the light of Pentecost, nor in +the definite prospect of an immortality of holy +glory.</p> + +<p class="center">HOW TO COUNTERACT IT.</p> + +<p>To counteract this tendency, and to do so +<i>in the right way</i>, is one of the very noblest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +tasks set before the younger Clergy of the +English Church in our time. It is for them, +under God, in a pre-eminent degree, to find +out the secret, and then to live it out, how to +be at once the perfectly genuine <i>man</i>, devoted +to the service of men, carrying what he is and +what he believes into the actual surroundings +of modern life, not allowing illusions and poetic +day-dreams to come between him and facts; and +also the convinced, unwavering, spiritual <i>Christian</i>, +conversant with his own soul, and with his +living Lord and Saviour, and with that sacred, +unalterable written Word which that Saviour +put into His people's hands, never to be taken +out of them. Nothing is more wanted at +present in the sphere of "Church life and +work," unless I am greatly mistaken, than a +generation of young Clergymen (soon to be +seniors) 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 "machine." +And if the spirituality is to be indeed genuine +(away with it if it is anything but genuine to +the centre), if it is to be quite different on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +one hand from a thing of artificial phrases, and +on the other from merely formulated and regulated +devoutness, I am deeply sure that its only +secret and preservative is a fully-maintained +secret walk with God.</p> + +<p class="center">"GOD, I THANK THEE."</p> + +<p>"I am rich, and increased with goods, and +have need of nothing." [Rev. iii. 17.] Such was the +thought and word of the Laodicean long ago. +Is it not in effect the thought, if not the word, +of not a few hard workers and energetic enterprizers +now? "What do I want with the +dialect of 'Christian experience'? What have +I, with all these irons in the fire, and a strong +hammer and a strong hand with which to strike +them, what have I to do with 'old-world faiths' +about sin and salvation, about grace and conversion, +about pardon and justification? What +have I so pressingly to do with much prayer, +save in the form of much work? God, I thank +Thee that I am a worker; let it be for others +to dive into spiritual secrets, if it is good for +them to do so."</p> + +<p class="center">"THOU KNOWEST NOT."</p> + +<p>I would not overdraw the picture. And the +words I have put into a possible mouth are +words which, if I heard, I hope I should hear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +with every wish to judge them fairly and to +see where any truth lay in them. But none +the less I am sure that those words not unjustly +represent a type of thought widely +prevalent among even ministerial workers, and +that it is a type of thought pregnant with +disaster for Christian work. "Thou knowest +not that thou art poor"; "I counsel thee, to +buy of Me"; "I stand at the door and knock: +if any man hear My voice and open +the door I will come in to him and +sup with him, and he with Me." [Rev. iii. 17, 18, 20.] So said Jesus +Christ to the Laodicean. And though it may +seem paradoxical to compare a man involved +in the rush of modern "Church work" with +the Laodicean, the comparison may not be +always far astray, nor the words of the Lord +in Rev. iii. 18 out of place accordingly. To be +"neither cold nor hot" towards <i>Him</i> is all +too possible for us, alas, even when "the irons +in the fire" are most numerous, and even when +they are being most briskly hammered.</p> + +<p class="center">TO KNOW CHRIST IS INDISPENSABLE.</p> + +<p>So let us listen, making a pause to do so. +Perhaps just now the knock may be audible, +and certain articulate sounds may come from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +outside, saying that a <span class="smcap">Person</span> waits for readmission +to <span class="smcap">His</span> place in our busy, multifarious +life, and that <span class="smcap">He</span> can be content with nothing +short of heart-intimacy with us, and that we, +if we would not forsake our own mercy, must +be content with nothing short of heart-intimacy +with <span class="smcap">Him</span>.</p> + +<p>"I counsel thee to <i>buy</i> of Me." Let us do +it; let us pay over, at His feet, our poor +fancied wealth of self's energies and undertakings +(as regards our own good opinion of +them), receiving from Him the heavenly "gold" +of His own glorious grace and peace, and the +"white robe" of a living and loving conformity +to His likeness, and the "eye-salve" of His +illumination, in which we see things as He +sees them. It is better, as von Machtholf says +it is, to have Him within the heart's chamber, +at once as Guest and as Host, in that blessed +inter-communion, than to be apparently the +most successful of organizers or of toilers, +strong in ourselves, but without the secret of +the Presence of the Lord.</p> + +<p>It is scarcely needful, I trust, to explain +what I do <i>not</i> mean. My very last intention<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +is to speak slightingly of devoted work and +self-sacrificing endeavours, whether or no they +take the line which most approves itself to me. +A <i>fainéant</i> in the English Ministry to-day is +something worse than even a cumberer of the +ground; he is, I dare to say, like a upas upon +it, blighting where he throws his shadow, so +conspicuous and so deadly must be the example +of such a life in the Minister of such a Gospel. +But what I mean, again and again, is this, that +the days demand, along with a thoroughgoing +while prudent practicality, more and more also +of a profound reality of spiritual knowledge of +the Lord in those who labour in His Name. +With the growing stress of our time we <i>must</i> +have not less but more of this, in those who +are called to meet that stress. This is vital, +if we would not be stifled and succumb as +Christians altogether.</p> + +<p>So this is my plea, dear Brother in the +Ministry, now making your first essays in some +great city parish, or wherever it may be: cultivate, +as for your life, secret intercourse with God.</p> + +<p class="center">BIBLE STUDY.</p> + +<p>And with this view, I now say specially, +cultivate such intercourse <i>laying His holy Word<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +open before you</i>. I spoke in the previous +Chapter of the Bible spread open by the +evening lamp, the Bible marked with signs of +diligent search. With all my heart I mean +to press that thought. It will be best to +reserve for another Chapter certain suggestions +on methods of Bible study. But I may, +and I will at once, offer a few words on the +subject in general. It is a subject which lies +near my heart, and of the urgent importance +of which I am very sure.</p> + +<p class="center">THE ORDINATION CHARGE.</p> + +<p>Above all then I would entreat you to be +a Bible student <i>at whatever cost of other +religious reading</i>. It is a very common thing +to substitute, practically, for the Bible a little +library of <i>livres de piété</i>, as the French would +call them, small "good books." Not very long +ago, in the course of an ordination examination, +I came across an instructive instance. In +answer to a question in a "Pastoral Paper" +for candidates for Priest's Orders, a thoughtful +young Clergyman stated incidentally that he +used every day with great profit certain devotional +books, and that about twice a week +he took for definite meditation and prayer a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +passage from the Gospels. It struck me that +here was a strange and sad inversion of the +right order of proportion; devotional books +daily, and the New Testament (in any sense +of earnest meditative study) about twice a +week! Very different, I thought, is the view +and teaching of the Church of England in this +matter of the spiritual reading of her Ministers. +What does the Church say, through the Bishop, +when the Deacon is ordained Presbyter? +"Seeing that you cannot by any other means +compass the doing of so weighty a work, pertaining +to the salvation of man, but with +doctrine and exhortation taken out of the Holy +Scriptures, and with a life agreeable to the +same; consider how studious ye ought to be +in reading and learning the Scriptures.... +We have good hope that you will continually +pray to God the Father, by the mediation of +our only Saviour Jesus Christ, for the heavenly +assistance of the Holy Ghost; that, by daily +reading and weighing of the Scriptures, ye +may wax riper and stronger in your Ministry."</p> + +<p>And I need not go about to prove that the +Church does not mean such daily "reading and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +weighing" to wait till the young man is actually +ordained Priest. We should scarcely have had +the First Homily of the First Book written, if +such had been her mind. Have you ever read +over that "Voice of the Church"?</p> + +<p class="center">M. HENRI LASSERRE ON DEVOTIONAL READING.</p> + +<p>A remarkable confirmation of my present +contention comes to us from an unexpected +quarter. I refer to the Preface prefixed by that +ardent Roman Catholic, M. Henri Lasserre, to +his remarkable French translation of the Four +Gospels, the book which, December 4, 1886, +received the cordial benediction of Leo XIII., +but within a twelvemonth, such is "the power +behind the Pope," was placed on the <i>Index +Expurgatorius</i>. Probably such passages as +the following had much to do with this strange +and sudden self-reversal of the judgment of the +Vatican.</p> + +<p>"A timid school," after the crisis of the +Reformation, which finds, of course, little favour +with M. Lasserre, and on which, very unjustly, +he lays much of the blame of the practical +prohibition of the Bible within "the Catholic +Church," "a timid school tended thenceforth to +strike from the hands of believers the divine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +Book which makes the foundation of our faith, +and laboured to substitute for it by degrees a +pious literature, intended to furnish hearts and +minds with a nourishment suited to their weakness, +a diet without danger. Some of these +books, we own without hesitation, are excellent +in themselves, and have contributed to the +sanctification of many souls. However, this is +the exception. In the majority of these works, +where, alas, the sugar of devotion takes the +place of the salt of wisdom, the eternal truths +and the genuine teachings of the Gospel were +soon diluted, and, as it were, lost in strange +waters.... One and all, the better specimens +and the deplorable (<i>les lamentables</i>) alike, they +are another thing altogether, yes, absolutely +another thing, than the Gospel, whose apostolic +mission they have noiselessly usurped by an +invasion insensible, I had almost called it clandestine.... +The general ignorance of the +Gospels has been the one cause in France, +these twenty years, of the success of the scandalous +romance which appeared under the title +of <i>La Vie de Jésus</i>. Among a people moderately +familiar with the narratives of St Matthew,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +St Mark, St Luke, and St John ... there +would have been no need to refute it. Every +one would have seen, without assistance, its +flagrant falsifications, its gross sophisms, its +absolute emptiness. This deep-seated and complex +evil, this enervation of the Christian spirit, +this <i>anæmia</i> (<i>cette anémie</i>) of so many among us, +are an object of sorrowful anxiety (<i>préoccupation</i>) +for the Catholic thinker" (pp. x, xxv).</p> + +<p class="center">CURRENT NEGLECT OF SCRIPTURE.</p> + +<p>For the Protestant thinker too, within +a Church which has now for centuries, in +every possible official way, pressed home the +reading of the Bible upon her every member, +and of course upon her every Minister, +there is material for similar anxieties, <i>mutatis +mutandis</i>. Bible study, such as our Lord and +the Apostles enjoined and encouraged, is not +on the increase amongst us, to say the least of +it; certainly the ignorance of the blessed Book +even among candidates for holy Orders is +sometimes, is not seldom, very great indeed. +Nay more, there is sometimes, however rarely +as yet, an ominous disposition even in clerical +circles to shelve the Bible. Quite lately I +heard, on excellent authority, that a certain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +large Clerical Society, revising its rules, deliberately +decided that the meetings shall <i>not</i> in +future be begun with the reading of Scripture. +My friend and Brother, do not swim even on +the edges of such a current. Swim with all +your might, in your Master's might, against it.</p> + +<p class="center">READ IT FOR YOUR OWN NEEDS.</p> + +<p>Then lastly I put in my plea, as I sought to +do when we were considering the matter of +secret prayer, for such a secret study of the +Word of God as shall be <i>unprofessional, unclerical, +and simply Christian</i>. Resolve to +"read, mark, and inwardly digest" so that not +now the flock but the shepherd, that is to say +you, "may embrace and ever hold fast the +blessed hope of everlasting life." It will be +all the better for the flock. Forget sometimes, +in the name of Jesus Christ, the pulpit, the +mission-room, the Bible-class; open the Bible +as simply as if you were on Crusoe's island, +and were destined to live and die there, alone +with God. You will be all the fresher, all the +more sympathetic and to the point, when you +do come to speak to the listening people about +the Book. The discoveries which we make in +it for our own souls are just the things which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +we cannot help reporting so as to interest and +attract our brethren; as least, that is the sure +tendency of things.</p> + +<p class="center">BRIDGES AND WITSIUS ON BIBLE STUDY.</p> + +<p>Let me write out a slightly abbreviated extract +from a golden book, unhappily no longer +in print, <i>The Christian Ministry</i>, by that +diligent student, loving and laborious Pastor, +and heavenly-minded man, the remembrance of +whom shines on me like a ray reflected from +the Chief Shepherd's face, the late Rev. Charles +Bridges.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> He died at Hinton Martell, in Dorset, 1869.</p></div> + +<p>"The maxim, <i>Bonus textuarius est bonus +theologus</i>, marks a grand ministerial qualification—'mighty +in the Scriptures.' The importance +of this is beautifully expressed by Witsius: +'Let the theologian ascend from the lower +school of natural study to the higher department +of Scripture, and sitting at the feet of +God as his teacher, learn from His mouth the +hidden mysteries of salvation, <i>which eye hath +not seen nor ear heard, which none of the princes +of this world knew</i>; which the most accurate +reason cannot search out; which the heavenly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +chorus of angels, though always beholding the +face of God, <i>desire to look into</i>. In the hidden +book of Scripture, and nowhere else, are opened +the secrets of the most sacred wisdom. Let +the theologian delight in these sacred Oracles; +let him exercise himself in them day and night; +let him meditate in them; let him live in +them; let him draw all his wisdom from them; +let him compare all his thoughts with them; let +him embrace nothing in religion which he does +not find there. The attentive study of the +Scriptures has a sort of constraining power. +It fills the mind with the most splendid form +of heavenly truth. It soothes the mind with +an inexpressible sweetness; it satisfies the +sacred hunger and thirst for knowledge; ... it +imprints its own testimony so firmly on the +mind, 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 mouth; it touches all the affections, and +breathes the sweetest fragrance of holiness upon +the pious reader, even though he may not perhaps +comprehend the full extent of his reading.... We +ought to draw our views of divine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +truths immediately from the Scriptures themselves, +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'" (pp. 79, +80, ed. 1830).</p> + +<hr class="short" /> + +<p class="center">RIDLEY IN THE ORCHARD.</p> + +<p>"In thy Orchard, Pembroke Hall," wrote +Nicholas Ridley within a few days of his fiery +martyrdom, "(the wals, buts, and trees, if they +could speake, would beare me witnes), I learned +without booke almost all Paules epistles, yea, +and I weene all the Canonicall epistles, save +only the Apocalyps. Of which study, although +in time a great part did depart from me, yet +the sweete smell thereof I trust I shall cary +with me into heaven; for the profite thereof +I thinke I have felt in all my lyfe tyme ever +after."</p> + +<p>And so shall it be with us also, if we go and +do likewise in our "lyfe tyme," our period, not +at present of martyrdom but, God knoweth it, +of need.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a></h2><p class="totoc"><a href="#toc">CONTENTS</a></p> + +<p class="center"><i>SECRET STUDY OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.</i></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 10em;"><i>Like those Emmaus travellers we go</i><br /> +<i>Forth from the city-gate of things below</i>;<br /> +<i>Christ at our side, His Scripture for our light</i>,<br /> +<i>Here burning hearts and there the beatific sight.</i></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47</a></span></p> + +<p>Already I have broken ground to some +extent in the all-important subject of private +Bible Study. Let me now put before my reader +and Brother a few more detailed remarks and +suggestions on that subject. Such is the holy +Book, and such is the variety of possible modes +of study, 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 mind, or which experience of the +needs of friends has suggested to me somewhat +particularly.</p> + +<p class="center">HIGHER CRITICISM.</p> + +<p>To discuss the sacred problems of Scripture +Inspiration is not my purpose here. Elsewhere<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> +I have attempted to deal with some of +them. All I would do here is, in view of what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +is truly a "present necessity," to ask my +Brethren, very deliberately, not to be in haste +to take up with the last and boldest word of +what is called the Higher Criticism (I speak +particularly now of its application to the Old +Testament), as if its "advances" were always +towards light and fact. I have no complaint +against the term Higher Criticism, which has +a recognized place in literary technical language, +denoting that familiar and lawful process, +the study of books not for their grammar and +style only, but in order to infer from their +whole phenomena what their age is, and their +structure, and their character. The Higher +Criticism is a term pointing not to methods +and results transcending ordinary intelligence, +but to a study which aims "higher" than +grammatical and textual questions considered +as final. And thus of course the most earnest +defender of the supernatural character of the +Scriptures may be, and very often is, as +diligent a "higher critic" as the extremest +anti-supernaturalist.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>Veni Creator</i>, ch. iii</p></div> + +<p class="center">A PLEA FOR CAUTION.</p> + +<p>It is not its definition in the abstract but its +actual work and spirit, as seen in many lead<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>ing +instances, which constrain me to enter an +earnest protest against a too easy confidence in +this criticism of, particularly, the Old Testament +Scriptures. It is "a thing to give us +pause" when we are asked to accept it as +proved, or at least as extremely probable, that +righteous Abel is a myth; that there was little, +if any, monotheism before Abraham; no theophany +at Sinai; no Wilderness-Tabernacle; no +record of the conquest of Canaan written till +long generations after the event; not much +written record at all till Samuel; few, if any, +Psalms before the age of the Captivity, if not +before the age of the Maccabees; certainly +two if not more Isaiahs, and probably hardly +one Daniel; at least, that the book bearing his +name dates from the second century before +Christ, and is in fact a Palestinian story-book +which has not, perhaps, even a nucleus of +history within it. It ought to make us stop +and think when we are told that Isaiah did not +predict coming events; indeed (for the drift of +this teaching goes very strongly in that direction), +that predictive prophecy is hardly to be +recognized anywhere; that it is better out of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +our thoughts; that it is but "soothsaying" +after all, and that the true work of the prophet +was not to fore-tell but to "<i>forth</i>-tell," to proclaim +present and eternal principles, which +again were not revealed to him from above but +arrived at by intuitions and meditations within +his own consciousness. It is a grave thing to +be asked to believe, as many would have us +do, that such was the lack of feeling for veracity +in ancient Judah that Hilkiah, Jeremiah, and +Huldah could arrange for the "discovery" of +a fabricated Deuteronomy, and then (<i>see the</i> +<i>narrative</i> in the Second Book of +Kings [xxii. 8-20.]) get the prophetess to follow up the +fabrication with awful denunciations—all fulfilled—in +the name of <span class="smcap">the Lord</span> Himself. Such +theories we are asked to hold in face of our +Master Christ's deliberate, persistent, manifold +testimony to the supernatural character and +<i>authority</i> of the Old Testament; to the solidity +of its records of fact, to the reality of its predictive +element—on which He stayed His sacred +soul in Gethsemane, and on the Cross itself. +It is no longer a question of details, an inquiry +whether the numerals are invariably authentic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +and accurate; whether the minute particulars +of a king's death as told in Chronicles tally +with the account in Kings. It is a question +whether the Old Testament at large is not a +singularly and flagrantly untrustworthy record. +It is a question whether its literature as a whole +is not to be explained, practically, by "natural +causes"; including a causation by deliberate, +elaborate, and interested untruth.</p> + +<p class="center">A GRAVE ALTERNATIVE.</p> + +<p>Is it too much to say that the alternative has +come to be this: Was our Lord Himself right +or very gravely wrong about the nature of +Scripture? Did the Spirit of Pentecost guide +the Apostles into all truth, or leave them under +a vast illusion in this central matter of their +witness? "Do not follow this Book, young +men; follow Christ": so said a speaker of high +Christian reputation, holding up a Bible, before +a great gathering in America, not long ago. +But what does this mean? Christ carries the +Book in His hand; if you follow Him you must +follow it. If you decline to follow the Book, +your following Him is a following—so far as +at present you agree with Him, and not further.</p> + +<p class="center">WITNESSES FOR SCRIPTURE.</p> + +<p>Meantime, what are some facts of the case,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +facts not nearly so well remembered now as +they should be? One comprehensive fact is +that the testimony of nature and of history +goes, as a whole, to affirm the veracity of the +Scripture records, and to do so more and more +pointedly as research advances. In a remarkable +recent essay by the Duke of Argyll +(<i>Nineteenth Century</i>, January, 1891), the growing +accumulation of geological evidence for a +Great Flood, affecting at least the northern +hemisphere, and falling within the human +period, is forcibly set out by a master hand. +In the same paper is indicated the fast-gathering +evidence, now digging up month by month +from the soil of Palestine, to the accuracy of +the picture of Canaan drawn in the Pentateuch +and Joshua. The Ordnance Survey of Sinai +has amply shown that the geology of the +peninsula confirms down to minute details the +record in Exodus.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> And now the Oxford +Arabic Professor is making it, at the least, +extremely likely that the Hebrew written two +centuries before Christ was more modern by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +many generations than that presented by the +Book of Daniel.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> See Sir <span class="smcap">J. Dawson</span>: <i>Modern Science in Bible Lands</i>, "The +Topography of the Exodus."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>See</i> <span class="smcap">Margoliouth</span>: <i>The Place of Ecclesiasticus in Semitic +Literature</i>.</p></div> + +<p>I am only indicating and suggesting. Remembering +the curiously similar history of New +Testament criticism during the recent past, +some of its stages running out their course +within my own memory, I cannot but think, +looking from the merely literary view-point, +that the days are not far off when the now +powerful theories of revolutionary criticism will +seem improbable. And so I ask my younger +Brethren at least <i>to pause</i> before going with +the strong, deep stream.</p> + +<p class="center">THE DUKE OF ARGYLL QUOTED.</p> + +<p>Let me quote a few sentences from the Duke +of Argyll's paper:—</p> + +<p class="center">THE WORK OF THE SPADE.</p> + +<p>"The assumption ... that precision in research +is undermining the credit of the Hebrew +Scriptures, is a presumption almost comically +at variance with fact. There is, in particular, +one 'weapon of precision' which has of late +been working wonders in precisely the opposite +direction. That weapon is the spade. And +what has it been unearthing? Everywhere<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +over that narrow strip of our planet on which +its human interests have been most impressive +and profound—everywhere from Tyre and +Sidon, from Carmel and Lebanon, on the west, +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 books.... +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 Moses....</p> + +<p>"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 theology. I mean the element +of true prediction in Hebrew prophecy. +It may be true that in a former generation too +exclusive attention had been paid to it.... +But the reaction has been excessive and +irrational. A great mass of connected facts, +and of continuous evidence, remains—which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +cannot be gainsaid. Even if the greater prophets +can be brought down to the very latest +date which the very latest fancies can assign to +them, they depict and predict overthrows and +vast revolutions in the East which did not take +place for centuries" (pp. 28, 30).<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> "Professor Huxley speaks of the hopeless position of Christian +divines 'raked by the fatal weapons of precision with which +the <i>enfants perdus</i> of the advancing forces of science are +armed.' ... Perhaps he means the small arms of the modern +critical school. If he does, then precision is the very last characteristic +which belongs to it. Its methods are largely subjective. +Here and there it may have a clearly ascertained fact to rest +upon. Here and there it may have arrived at some tolerably +secure results. But in the main its methods are metaphysical, +resting on nothing but individual preconceptions, applying tests +and private canons of interpretation which are purely arbitrary" +(<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 28).</p></div> + +<hr class="short" /> + +<p class="center">PREDICTION.</p> + +<p>The analysis of prophetic <i>consciousness</i> may +be, and in a great measure is, impossible. But +the facts of prediction remain. It remains +that our Lord Himself predicted. He foretold +minutely His own death, and the end of the +City and the Temple, and the circumstances +of the close of this æon. Was He "soothsaying"? +It remains that He perpetually and +most emphatically claimed to be the exact<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +Fulfilment of predictions which, on any hypothesis, +were then ages old. Was He mistaken +in their character and quality?</p> + +<p class="center">CHRIST'S WITNESS TO THE BIBLE.</p> + +<p>In those last words I step, as I well know, +upon a field of the most urgent controversy. +What is the weight to be assigned to our ever +blessed Lord's verdict upon the Old Testament +as history and prophecy? It is now asserted, +and by Christian men, that that verdict is not +final; 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 were; that we adore Christ, +and rely absolutely on Him, but it is on Christ +not as He was but as He is, the glorified +Christ. Here is an unspeakably overawing +subject. I would not treat of it as if the +question could be swept away in a sentence. +But I do, as in our living Master's presence, +venture to say that His witness to the nature +and character of the Old Scriptures claims +definitely to be <i>ex cathedrâ</i>. True, He doubtless +spoke in this matter, as elsewhere, not in +what may be called the technical style; not +every reference of His to "Moses" need neces<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>sarily +mean to assert precisely that Moses wrote +every clause of the Pentateuch. But the +present question goes, as we have remembered, +much deeper. It asks whether or no the Lord +Jesus was altogether and in principle mistaken. +He treated the Law, Prophets, and Psalms as +a solid structure of historic fact and supernatural +promise, divinely planned all through, +divinely carried out and up from the foundation, +and leading straight up to Himself. 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 built?<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> I may remind the reader that about the middle of the ninth +century there were published, by one Isidore, a collection of +decisions and decrees, purporting to be by the earliest Bishops +of Rome, all supporting the Papal claims as known in the Middle +Ages. The collection was afterwards increased, and in the +middle of the twelfth century engrafted into Gratian's <i>Decretum</i>, +on which is based the Canon Law of the Roman Church. These +documents are undoubtedly fabrications long after date.</p></div> + +<p>If we revise the opinion of our Redeemer +on this conspicuous point of His teaching, +where shall we securely pause? Certainly we +cannot <i>securely</i> trust, as oracular and final, His +own predictions of things still future, at least +in their details.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center">HE HAS AFFIRMED IT FROM ABOVE.</p> + +<p>One great utterance is often quoted as a +confession that His conscious knowledge had +limits; Mark xiii. 32. Quite true; but what +sort of confession is it? It indicates in its +very terms the vastness of His supernatural +knowledge; asserting His cognizance of the +fact that <i>the angels in heaven did not know</i> that +day and hour. Such an avowal of nescience is +an implicit assertion of an immeasurable insight.</p> + +<p>And has He not, <i>as the glorified Christ</i>, +thrown a light of affirmation on the "opinions" +of the days of His flesh? The glorified Christ +sent down the Paraclete. 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 Scriptures, altogether +in the lines of their crucified Master's teaching +about them. Unless indeed Resurrection, and +Ascension, and Pentecost are themselves to +melt into the haze of myth! The New Testament +is as full of the supernatural as the Old.</p> + +<p>Reverently and humbly, and with full recognition +of a large place and lawful work for a +true higher criticism in the literature of the +Old Testament, and of the New, I yet decline<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +to think that our Lord's estimate of the nature +of the Bible is not to be final for me, and that +His reasonings from it are to be revised, while +yet I adore Him as my Light, my Life, and +my God. And I ask my Brethren to pause +many times, and on their knees, before they +think otherwise.</p> + +<p class="center">PRESENT FULFILMENTS OF PROPHECY.</p> + +<p>As regards prediction, let them look around +them. Two great fulfilments of Old Testament +prediction are going forward at this +moment. One is, the vast work of missions, +whose whole aim is to make known "to the +ends of the earth" the Name of Messiah, Son +of David, Son of Abraham, Son of God. The +other is, the dispersion and yet permanence of +the Jewish race, and (may I not add, in view +of the facts of the last few years?) the beginnings +of a re-population of Palestine by the +Jews. Credible statistics assure us that they +are now returning to their old land at the rate of +many thousands in a year. True, no "miracle" +brings them back. But no thoughtful student +has ever said that the miracle of prediction +demands miracle in the circumstances of the +fulfilment.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center">BIBLE READING IS THE BEST DEFENCE OF THE BIBLE.</p> + +<p>I have gone beyond my intended length in +these observations.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> The present urgency of +the subject, which encounters us everywhere, +is my apology. But now, all the more gladly +for the delay, I hasten to a few simple words +of suggestion on that practical duty of Secret +Bible Reading which is, after all, the best and +surest antidote and preservative against scepticism +about the Bible, if it is carried on at +once thoroughly, intelligently, and as before +the Lord. Vain without it, worse than vain,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +will be the most diligent and successful study +of the apologetics of the Bible. For the Bible +was given to be, not a battle-field, but a field +of wheat, and pasturage, and flowers, and a +gold-field also all the while.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> (I) have elsewhere called attention to the following among +works helpful at present in the controversy about Scripture: +Lord Hatherley's <i>Continuity of Scripture</i>, Dr Waller's <i>Authoritative +Inspiration</i>, Dr Cave's <i>Inspiration of the Old Testament</i>. +Let me add four able popular tractates: Cave's <i>Battle of the +Standpoints</i> (Queen's Printers), Eckersley's <i>Historical Value of +the Old Testament</i> (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge), +G. Carlyle's <i>Moses and the Prophets</i> and Seaver's <i>Authority of +Christ</i> (Elliot Stock). Dr Liddon's memorable sermon, <i>The +Worth of the Old Testament</i>, is full of helpful suggestions. See +too Professor Leathes' <i>Witness of the Old Testament to Christ</i>, +Sir J.W. Dawson's <i>Modern Science in Bible Lands</i>, and Bishop +Harold Browne's <i>Messiah Foretold</i>. I specially call attention +to Canon R. Girdlestone's recent book, the work of a master, +<i>The Foundations of the Bible</i>, most temperate, judicial, solid, +and establishing; and to this must be added now (1892) Bishop +Ellicott's excellent Charge, published by the S.P.C.K. under the +title <i>Christus Comprobator</i>.</p></div> + +<p>How then shall I read my Bible so as at +once spiritually and mentally to know it, or +rather, to be always getting to know it? The +answer must be—"at sundry times and in +divers manners." I must make time to read +often, however brief each time may be. And +I must use methods of study, more than one, +in parallel lines.</p> + +<p>As a sort of ground-work to all other methods +I venture first to say, be always reading the +Bible <i>through</i>, however slowly, or rapidly. +For certain purposes, for instance in order +to grasp the scope of a book, as perhaps an +Epistle, or the Revelation, or St John's Gospel, +or the latter half of Isaiah, or the Book of +Genesis,<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> rapid reading may be quite reverently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +done. In any case, get as soon as you may, +and as often as is practicable and practical, over +<i>the whole surface</i>. Lord Hatherley, amidst the +heavy occupations of a barrister's and judge's +life, used to read the whole Book through carefully +every year, and this for more than thirty +years. I cannot say that I do the same. But +I aim to read the Bible over carefully within +every few years.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> To touch on a very small point I write here "the Book of +Genesis," not "the Book Genesis." English literature, if I do +not mistake, is as unfamiliar with the latter phrase as it is with +"the city London."</p></div> + +<p class="center">PLOUGH-HUSBANDRY.</p> + +<p>Then, practise what I would call the <i>plough-husbandry</i> +of the Book. "Make long furrows." +Investigate what the Scriptures have to say +by topics, by doctrines, by leading words, over +great breadths of their surface; keeping <i>that</i> +subject, <i>that</i> word, all along in view. Bring all +your mind to work that way, in the light of the +Presence sought by prayer. An occasional +special form of such study may be illustrated +by that admirable book, written long ago, but +full of life still, the late Professor Blunt's <i>Undesigned +Coincidences</i>. 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +allusions to our blessed Lord's life scattered +over the Epistles.</p> + +<p class="center">SPADE-HUSBANDRY.</p> + +<p>Then, practise also a diligent <i>spade-husbandry</i> +in your Bible study. Dig as well as plough. +In each narrow plot of the great field there are +treasures hid. Dig a verse sometimes, using +perhaps the spade of parallel references. Dig +a paragraph at other times; a chapter; a short +book. You are quite sure, under the blessing +of the Master of the Field, to bring up rich +results, more or less.</p> + +<p>I will close my talk upon the Bible by +offering a specimen of such spade-husbandry. +A few years ago, at the Church Congress at +Wakefield, I read a paper on Bible-reading. +It mainly took the line of recommending +earnestly the use of the Biblical student's +"spade," and then it illustrated the recommendation +by the following "spade-study" of +the Epistle of St Paul to the Philippians; +given here just as it was read.</p> + +<p class="center">A CHURCH CONGRESS PAPER ON BIBLE STUDY.</p> + +<p>"It has been laid on me to say a few words +on the devotional study of the Holy Scriptures, +taking some one Book of Scripture, and in some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +sort exemplifying such study from it. I accept +the theme, with a deep sense both of its opportuneness +in our busy period, so full of temptations +to the Christian Minister to postpone his +Bible-study to other things, and of its sacred, +paramount, vital importance. 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 Him, and to the strength and +joy that lies in such study, really pursued. He, +in the days of His flesh, was the supreme Believer +in the Bible, the supreme Lover, Student, +Expositor, and Employer of the Bible. With +the letter of the Bible He sustained Himself +and quelled the Enemy in the Temptation, and +the quotations He then selected suggest the +minuteness of His study. Upon the written +Word He spent the whole Easter afternoon. +Accepted Sacrifice for Sin, Conqueror of +Death, Lord and Head of Life, He had come +that morning from the grave; and He came +as it were holding the Scriptures in His +hands.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> +<p>"He found around Him in those earthly +days a mass of religious popular opinions, and +He spoke His holy mind freely against the +false among them. But there was one opinion +which He noticed only to sanction, to sanctify, +to glorify. It was the opinion that the Scriptures +were divine, were charged with the +authority of God.</p> + +<p>"I pray to Him, and trust Him, my Master +and Lord, to hold me now humbly firm to the +end, after many a struggle, in His opinion of +the Holy Scriptures. I would enter into, as +He abode in, their rest; therefore I accept, as +He accepted, their yoke. I would feel what +He felt, that living incitement to their study +which is indissolubly bound up, if I mistake not, +with the firm persuasion of their supernatural +character and authority. I would read them, +as He read them, above all things to act upon +them in the life which we, His followers, have +in Him; that life whose exercise and outcome +means our whole walk here as well as hereafter. +I would regard them, as it is apparent +that He regarded them, as being (in a sacred +sense) self-sufficient; not, indeed, to the self<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>-sufficient +reader, but to the reader who prays +in reverent simplicity that the Holy Spirit may +dispel every moral mist, every hindrance of +heart and will, from between him and the +meaning of the written Word; and who +intends in truthful sincerity to consent to, to +obey, the discovered meaning; and who is +taking pains over the Book.</p> + +<p>"It is a great joy to know how entirely this +was the view of the matter held, and loved, and +taught in the ancient Church. Is there anything +about which there is a larger consent of +the Fathers? St Athanasius loves to dilate +on the αὐτάρκεια, the self-sufficingness, of 'the +divine Scriptures.' St Cyril of Jerusalem +entreats his hearers to guide and fix their +belief by the reading of the Canonical books. +St Chrysostom boldly accounts for all mischiefs +by the lack of personal acquaintance with the +Scriptures.</p> + +<p>"We are in the nineteenth century, almost +in the twentieth, and perhaps we therefore +need, even more than our elder brethren of +the fourth, to renew our energies in Scripture-study +by prayerful, painstaking recollection of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +what the Book is. We need an ever fresh +realization of what it is immortally, unalterably; +the divinely trustworthy, and therefore authoritative, +account of God's mind, and specially +and above all of God's mind concerning Jesus +Christ and our relations to Him, our life by +Him, our peace, and power, and hope, in Him. +And it is a few words about this aspect of +Scripture, and the search of Scripture, that I +now lay before you, with humility and simplicity +of purpose, in the way of a description and +example of a sort of study that has been a +great blessing to myself.</p> + +<p>"Take one of the holy Books, or a section +of one of them; and for this purpose shorter is +better. By a certain exercise of imagination +suppose yourself to be reading a <i>newly-discovered</i> +fragment of the apostolic age. Treat +it somewhat as many of us have recently sought +to treat Bryennius' discovery, <i>The Teaching of +the Twelve Apostles</i>. What microscopic attention +has been brought to bear upon that little +book, just because good evidence gives it a +place in the first century, and because it speaks +of Christ, and of Christians; of faith, worship,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +ministry, and life, in a part of the primeval +Church! Now I attempt from time to time, +reverently but very simply, to treat some inspired +Epistle somewhat in the same way. I +place myself before it as much as possible as +if it were new to me and others. I seek, with +something of the curiosity which such conditions +would create, to collect and arrange its +theology and its ethics. And then I bring in +upon the results of my study the fact that +it is God's Word, the Word which I am to +embrace, and live upon, and act upon, to-day.</p> + +<p>"For example and suggestion, let us turn to +the <span class="smcap">Epistle to the Philippians</span>; few but golden +pages, precious product of those two years of +St Paul's physical imprisonment but blissful +spiritual liberty. To stimulate our consciousness +of what the Epistle contains to reward +search, and search alone, let us try to place it +before us as what it is not now, but once was, +a newly-given oracle of God. It was once read +for the first time, perhaps in the house of +Lydia. Let it be to us, so far as thought can +make it so, what it was then. And let us<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +remember all the while that it is really even +now new, for it is immortal with the breath of +the Spirit of God. It not only 'abideth,' but +'liveth,' for ever.</p> + +<p>"Let us take two titles under which to classify +the results of our inspection of this primitive +Document. First, its doctrine of Christ; then, +its doctrine of Christian Life. As a subordinate +third title we may collect what it indicates of +Christian life as exemplified in the Writer's +allusions to his own experience.</p> + +<p>"I.—The Christology of the Epistle.</p> + +<p>"(1) We trace hints of the <i>human history</i> of +Christ. He was man, in reality and in seeming; +He died a death of suffering, the +death of the Cross [ii. 7, 8; iii. 10.]; He rose again, for there +is a power of His Resurrection iii. 10.]; +[and, apparently, He so left this earth that it +was known that an immeasurable exaltation +attended His going, so that the +heavens are now His seat [ii. 9.], from which He is +definitely expected to return. +[iii. 20.]</p> + +<p>"(2) Going back to antecedent and prehistoric +matters of faith about Him, we find +here that before He became man He subsisted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +in possession, lawful and natural, of the manifested +reality μορφὴ of Godhead, +equal to God [ii. 6.]. His appearance as man was +the sequel of His own action of will in that +eternal state [ii. 7.]. It was a novel and +voluntary assumption of the condition of the +Bondservant, the Δοῦλος, of God. Antecedently +possessing the μορφὴ of God, He now <i>de novo</i> +'took' the μορφὴ of a bondservant. What +created beings in general are of course, God's +bondservants, He had not been but now became; +a fact as astonishing in its region as +the fact of His possession of the Supreme +Nature is in its region. He assumed this +δουλεία, we find, because His essential work +was to obey, to 'become obeying,' yes, to the +extent of death [ii. 8.]; which death was +thus in Him altogether voluntary, part of a free +undertaking to be not His own. The immediate +result for Himself, it next appears, was +an exaltation by God to supreme majesty +under all these conditions. As being all this, +possessor of Deity and accepter of bondservice, +He was now <i>de novo</i> proclaimed as Κύριος, as +Lord, in a sense interpreted by the adoration<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +of the universe; to the glory of God His +Father. For it repeatedly appears +in the Epistle that God is His Father; He is +the Son of God[ii. 11.]. Further, all 'the +riches of God in glory' [i. 2; ii. 11.] are 'in Him.' [iv. 19.] +It appears that in His exaltation He is embodied +still, for it is to likeness to the body of His +glory that the body of our humiliation is to +be changed at His expected return. He is +Almighty 'to subdue all things,' and +the subjugation is 'to Himself.' [iii. 21.]</p> + +<p>"(3) As regards His relation to His followers, +such is it that their whole life and every +exercise of it is mysteriously but emphatically +said to be <span class="smcap">in Him</span>. He, the supreme Bondservant, +is to them (we continually read) +absolute Lord. His grace animates their spirit. +The divine Spirit ministered to them +is His [i. 2; iv. 23.]. Their 'fruit of righteousness' +is generated and produced 'through' +Him [i. 19.]. He is evermore and profoundly near +to them. Their heart-emotions are +'in His heart.' [i. 11; iv. 5.] To believe in Him +is their essential characteristic [i. 8.]. To +suffer for Him is a special boon to them [i. 29.].<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +They live in expectation of His return, His day. [i. 6, 10; ii. 16; iii. 20.]</p> + +<p>"II.—The Epistle's account of Christian +Life, inward and outward.</p> + +<p>"We gather that the disciples are saints, +ἅγιοι, separated from self and sin to God; +brethren to one another; the true +Israel, citizens of the City above [i. 1, 14; iii. 3, 20; iv. 21.]. +Their being and life are so united to Christ, that +they as Christians (and it is evidently assumed +that this covers <i>everything</i> for them) exist, and +are to act, 'in Him.' In Him, we find, they +are 'saints' and 'brethren' [i. 1, 14; iv. 1, 2; ii. 29.]; in Him they are to +'stand fast'; to be 'of one mind'; to +'receive one another'; to possess comfort, consolation; +to glory; to rejoice [ii. 1; iii. 1, 3; iv. 4.]. It is +solemnly guaranteed, under certain most holy +and happy conditions, that 'the peace of God +Himself shall'—the promise is positive—'keep +safe their hearts and thoughts in +Him' [iv. 7.]; wonderful words, but perfectly distinct. +In them God 'has begun a good work, to be +carried for its completion up to the day of +Christ'; and God is now 'working +in them to will and to do for the sake of'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +His plan and purpose [i. 6; ii. 13.]. It is laid upon them +accordingly, in the profound inner rest of such +union, such possession, such submission, to +'work out their salvation,' to live out their life +as the saved, with the 'fear and trembling' of +sacred reverence [ii. 12.]. They are 'to look +each not on his own things,' but on the things +of others, in their Lord's manner [ii. 4.]; to +hold together in loving and courageous union +for the Gospel, standing fast in 'one soul,' under +the 'one Spirit's' power; to keep their +place in the midst of evil surroundings as the +'children of God' [i. 28.] and the 'light-bearers' of 'the +message of life.' [ii. 16.] They are to abstain +totally, in the power of their life in Christ, from +all sin, to 'do nothing' (I take all possible note of +these '<i>alls</i>' and '<i>nothings</i>' as I study and classify) +'for strife or vainglory' [ii. 3.]; to be 'anxious +about nothing, but in everything' to tell +God their desires; to 'do all things +without murmurings and disputings' [iv. 6; ii. 14.]; to be +'unblamable, unhurtful, unblemished, God's +children,' not in a dreamland, but in the realities +of Philippian life; to bear fruit, 'fruit +of righteousness, which is through Jesus Christ,' [ii. 15.]<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +and so to bear it that at last it shall turn out, in +the day of the Lord, that they are 'filled' with +it [i. 11.]; every branch is laden. They are +to let their 'moderation,' that is to say their +yieldingness, their self-lessness, come out in +common life, 'known to all men,' in the power +of a 'Lord at hand' [iv. 5.]; to fill their +thoughts with all that is good, +straightforward, chastened, pure [iv. 8.]; to 'mind' the +things in heaven [iii. 20; ii.]; to have 'the mind +of Christ'; to grow in spiritual perception, along +with the growth of love [i. 9.]; to live +the life expressed in that profound summary, +'worshipping God in the Spirit (or, by the +Spirit of God); exulting in Christ Jesus; +having no confidence in the flesh.' [iii. 3.]</p> + +<p>"III.—The Life in Christ exemplified in the +Writer.</p> + +<p>"Here let us forget the Apostle, for he +speaks wholly as the Christian, and in a way +manifestly meant to be an instruction to all +Christians. He appears, then, in our document, +as one whom Christ has 'seized,' has +'grasped' [iii. 12.]; as one who has discovered in Christ, +and in Christ alone, the supreme Gain, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +supreme Object of knowledge, the supreme +Spiritual Power as the Risen One [iii. 10.], +the supreme Interest and Reason of +life [i. 20; iii. 7-14], the one possible supply of the unspeakable +need of a valid Righteousness before the Judgment +Seat. Yes, he must be 'found in Him, +having the righteousness which is +from God on terms of faith,' [iii. 9.] the faith which +enters into Christ. 'In Christ,' we discover, +the Writer is, everywhere and always. His +'bonds' are 'in Christ'; his 'glory' is +in Christ' [i. 13, 26.]; his hopes and trusts about the common +events of life are 'in Christ'; in +Christ he has 'found the secret' how to do all, +all he has to do, in peace [iv. 19, 24.]. Christ fills +his present life [iv. 13.]; when he dies, he will be so +'with Christ' that it will be 'far better' +than this present life, though it is full of Christ [i. 21, 23.]. +He is the willing but most real bondservant +of Christ [i. 1.]. His relations with Christ +so fill him with peace and the power of peace, +that extremely irritating rivalry and opposition +at Rome does not irritate him, but occasions +holy joy, and the suspense about life +and death in which Nero keeps him is powerless,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> +wholly because of Christ [i. 12, etc.], to evoke anything +but a statement of the dilemma of blessings +which life and death in the Lord are +to him [i. 21, etc.]. On the other hand, as the whole +Epistle indicates, every pure human sensibility +circulates naturally in this supernatural +atmosphere [<i>E.g.</i> ii. 27, 28; iv. 10.]. And meanwhile, though +'perfect,' in respect of reality of union and +communication with his Lord, he is not yet +'perfected' in respect of application and results; +the goal, the prize, is yet to come. [iii. 12, 14.]</p> + +<p>"And so I shut my Epistle to the Philippians, +leaving very much more in it for the +next occasion. Such a study has not demanded +long hours. It has asked only interest, purpose, +and painstaking, a few such fragments of daily +time as we must, yes, <i>must</i>, make and take for +the Bible, if we are not to starve our people +and ourselves. Suffer me to repeat it with +deep earnestness; we must, we absolutely +must, not merely devotionally read but devotionally +search and penetrate this divine Book. +And what shall come of the effort? By the +grace of God, sought in the deep joy of a +profound submission, it shall come that we shall<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +each one realize, with a vernal newness and +delight, that Christ is mine; that the springs +and secrets of this life in Him are mine, for the +realities of my home, my parish, my study, my +soul. I go (it is for each one of us to say it) +with renewed thirst and certainty to Him the +eternal Fountain; I live, I live, yet not I; and +therefore I can work. It will be 'with fear and +trembling,' as I know myself to be indeed in +the eternal Presence; yet it will be also in the +power-giving 'peace that passeth understanding, +keeping the heart and thoughts, in Christ Jesus,' +a keeping that is not meant to vanish outside +holy places and holy hours, but to do its +strongest and serenest work in the midst of +crookedness and perverseness, under the stress +of toils and burthens, as truly for me to-day as +for the Philippians and their Teacher then."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 13em;">"<i>The Spirit breathes upon the Word</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>And brings the truth to sight;</i><br /></span> +<i>Precepts and promises afford</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>A sanctifying light.</i><br /><br /></span> + +"<i>My soul rejoices to pursue</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>The steps of Him I love,</i><br /></span> +<i>Till glory breaks upon my view</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>In brighter worlds above.</i>"<br /></span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 23em;"><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2><p class="totoc"><a href="#toc">CONTENTS</a></p> + +<p class="center"><i>THE DAILY WALK WITH OTHERS</i> (i.).</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 13em;"><i>When the watcher in the dark</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Turns his lenses to the skies</i>,<br /></span> +<i>Suddenly the starry spark</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Grows a world upon his eyes</i>:<br /></span> +<i>Be my life a lens, that I</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>So my Lord may magnify</i></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p> + +<p>We come from the secrecies of the young +Clergyman's life, from his walk alone +with God in prayer and over His Word, to the +subject of his common daily intercourse. Let +us think together of some of the duties, opportunities, +risks, and safeguards of the ordinary +day's experience.</p> + +<p class="center">A WALK WITH GOD ALL DAY.</p> + +<p>A word presents itself to be said at once, +about the connexion between the secret and +the common walk of the servant of God. The +former is never to <i>give way to</i> the latter; it is +to <i>run into</i> it, underground. "To walk with +God <i>all day</i>" is to be our distinct and practical +purpose, and not merely a sweet sentiment and +holy aspiration of the hymn-book. The man +who prays in secret is to be the man who knows<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +how to pray secretly in public. The man who +pores over the Word all alone is to be the man +who, out in the open field of life, "sins not" +because he has "hid that Word in +his heart" [Ps. cxix. 11.]; and who, being called upon by +circumstances, however casually, to show himself +actually a true "man of the Book," is +internally ready to do so. Nothing short of +"a life with Christ behind our work," always +and everywhere, is to content us Pastors. +To live that life is from one point of view +our wonderful <i>privilege</i>, in our living union +with our blessed Head. From another point +of view it is our truest and deepest <i>work</i>, +as we watch and pray over our privilege, and +draw upon our Head in the holy diligence of +faith.</p> + +<p>I have spoken already of this vital connexion +between the walk with God in secret +and the secret walk with God in public. +But it bears reiteration. It is something +gained if we only remind one another, with +the emphasis of repetition, that such a life +is our bounden duty and our blissful possibility:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"You may always be abiding, if you will, at Jesu's side;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the secret of His Presence you may every moment hide."<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> I quote from a beautiful hymn, beginning, "In the secret of +His Presence." It is given in part in several recent hymn-books, +but for its complete form see <i>From India's Coral Strand</i>, (<i>Home +Words</i> Office, Paternoster Buildings,) a collection of the poems +of its gifted writer, a Hindoo Christian lady, Miss E.L. Goreh.</p></div> + +<p>But now, what will be the surface and expression +of such a hidden life, as the young +Clergyman passes through his busy common +day?</p> + +<p class="center">LIFE IN LODGINGS.</p> + +<p>Let me speak first of his life indoors, that +is to say, probably, in his lodgings. There the +day at least begins and ends; and, in more ways +than he is aware of till he sets himself to consider, +he may—or may not—glorify his Master +<i>there</i>. He is quite certain to be watched, +whether the eyes are friendly or unfriendly to +himself and to his message and ministry. He +will be watched of course not only as a man +but as a Minister. And the results of the +observation may be most important, for good +or for evil, to the immediate observers; and +they are pretty sure to reach many other people +through them. "What shall the harvest be?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center">SELF-RESPECT.</p> + +<p>Let one result be, a clear impression in the +house that you, the new Curate, are a man +of <span class="smcap">self-respect</span>. Perhaps that <i>word</i> will not +be used, any more than its Greek equivalent, +αἰδὼς, that noble pre-Christian ethical term +which lay ready and waiting to be glorified by +the Gospel. But let Self-respect be your principle +and your practice, and it will leave its +impression, by whatever word the impression +may be described. Let the man be seen by +those who are about him, and who in one way +or another wait on him, to be <i>quite simple while +quite refined</i> in ways and habits; to be active +and wholesome in the hours he keeps; to hold +self-indulgence under a strong bridle (shall I +say, not least the self-indulgence which cannot +do without the stimulant and without <i>the pipe</i>?); +and he will be in a fair way to commend his +message indoors. Let him be seen, without +the least affectation, but unmistakably, to find +his main interests, within doors as well as without, +in his Lord and His cause and work; to +be the avowed Christian at all hours; and he +will be doing hourly work for Christ. With it +all, let him be seen to be "gentle to others"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +while "to himself severe"; let him, while +always self-respectful, be always watchfully +<span class="smcap">considerate</span>; and his light will shine; he +will be an Œcolampadius, a <i>House-light</i>, +indeed.</p> + +<p class="center">CONSIDERATENESS.</p> + +<p>On that last point I must dilate a little; on +the point of Considerateness. I remember a +conversation a few years ago with one of our +college servants, an excellent Christian woman, +truly exemplary in every duty. She was speaking +of one of my dear student friends now +labouring for the Lord in a distant and difficult +mission-field, and giving him—after his departure +from us—a tribute of most disinterested +praise: "Ah, Sir, he <i>was</i> a consistent gentleman!" +And then she instanced some of my +friend's consistencies; and I observed that they +all reduced themselves to one word—Considerateness. +He was always taking trouble, and +always saving trouble. He was always finding +out how a little thought for others can save +them much needless labour. The things in +question were not heroic. The thoughtfulness +for others concerned only such matters as the +bath, and the shoes, and the clothes, and some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +small details of hospitality. But they meant a +very great deal for the hard-worked caretaker, +and they were to her a means of quite distinct +"edification," upbuilding, in the assurance that +Christ and the Gospel are indeed practical +realities. I break no confidence when I add, +by the way, that my friend had not always +been thus "a consistent gentleman." But the +Lord had found him, and he had found +the Lord, in the midst of his University +life; and he had learnt most deeply and effectually, +at the feet of Jesus, the consistency of +Considerateness.</p> + +<p>I do press this aspect of our daily walk with +all earnestness on my younger Brethren. I +press it on them at least <i>to think about it</i> with +painstaking attention. No Christian man, as +such, means for one moment to be selfish. But +lack of attention does in very many cases indeed +allow the real Christian to contract, or to continue, +selfish habits. Many good men quite +fail to realize how selfish, practically, it is to be +unpunctual. You have your understood mealtimes +in your lodging. It may not be always +possible to keep strictly to them; the exigencies<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +of work may make it honestly necessary now +and again to be out of time. But let nothing +less than duty do so for you. The breakfast +kept standing because you are not up when you +should be may very likely mean much needless +trouble and much domestic disarrangement. +Guests often brought in without any notice may +mean the same.</p> + +<p class="center">SIMPLICITY AT TABLE.</p> + +<p>Perhaps I need not say, yet I will say it, that +the consistent servant of God, whether at his +own table or at his neighbour's, will "take +heed unto himself" not even to <i>seem</i> fastidious. +There are some men about whom, if you know +them, you feel sure that they will <i>not</i> choose the +best dish at the table; and there are others, +I am afraid, about whom you feel pretty sure +that they will. One man will not think, or at +least will not seem to think, whether the meat +is hot or cold; and another will rather decidedly +avoid the latter. Pardon the details; they +have something very real to do with our +Consistency.</p> + +<p class="center">USE OF THE TONGUE.</p> + +<p>And indeed we have need to ponder Consistency +when we come to "the unruly member." +It is not often, perhaps, that the risks of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +the tongue are specially present in a bachelor's +life in lodgings. But they are not absent there. +Friends come in, and we will suppose that you +and they are waited upon at your meal. What +does the servant hear? Much talk about other +and absent persons? Unkind or flippant criticisms? +Idle, frivolous words? Very likely +not, thank God; for we do want to remember +our Lord. But let us take heed. Nothing is +more conspicuously inconsistent in the Christian +than needless, unloving discussion of the +characters and lives of others; nothing is more +keenly noticed when overheard; nothing more +breaks the spell of influence for God.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"<i>Quisquis amat dictis absentum rodere vitam,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Hanc mensam vetitam noverit esse sibi.</i>"<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <span class="smcap">Possidonius</span>: <i>De Vitâ Augustini</i>, c. 22.</p></div> + +<p>Such was the memento which St Augustine +had inscribed upon his dining-table. He found +it necessary to remind the Bishops (<i>coëpiscopi</i>) +whom he entertained not to misuse their ordained +tongues. And the Pastors of the nineteenth +century need it still, quite as much as +it was needed in the fifth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center">"SET A WATCH."</p> + +<p>It is impossible, of course, to lay down exhaustive +rules for the Christian guidance of +conversation in detail. It is quite certain that +the Gospel does not prescribe, or intend, that +we should never speak except about things +spiritual, or even except about our special +duties in the Ministry. But it is quite certain +too that the Gospel does prescribe inexorably +the utmost watchfulness and self-discipline in +the matter of the tongue, for all who name the +Name of Christ. "For every idle word that +men shall speak they shall give account" [Matt. xii. 36.]; +"Let no corrupt communication proceed +out of your mouth, but such as is +good to the use of edifying, that it may minister +grace unto the hearers" [Eph. iv. 29.]; "If any man among +you seem to be devout (θρῆσκος), and +bridleth not his tongue, that man's devoutness +(θρηκεία) is vain" [Jas. i. 26.]; "Set a watch, +O Lord, before my lips." [Ps. cxli. 3.]</p> + +<p class="center">LIFE IN A CLERGY-HOUSE.</p> + +<p>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-house."</p> + +<p class="center">*ITS OPPORTUNITIES AND NEEDS.</p> + +<p>It seems to me +that such groups must in the nature of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> +case be <i>either</i> means of the greatest good in +the mutual intercourse of their members, <i>or</i> +just the opposite. As sure as <i>corruptio optimi +est pessima</i>, so sure it is that the young Clergyman +who is not consistent in temper, word, +and habit, is the most unhelpful specimen of +the young man; just because of the discord +between his ministerial character and his +personal. And if, say, three or four young +servants of God (by profession) domicile together +and are <i>not</i> consistent, I am afraid they +will positively and actively draw one another, +without in the least meaning to do so, away +from the mind of Christ and the walk with God. +Do they allow themselves to engage in trivial +foolish, unkind talk? Do they so valiantly +determine "not to be goody-goody" as tacitly +to avoid all open-hearted, loving, reverent +conversation about their Lord and His truth? +Are they much fonder of endless argument +than of the Word of God and prayer? Do +their united devotions tend to be formal and +perfunctory? Do they (I come back to that +point again) "bridle not their tongues" about +the absent, about those over them, about those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +who differ from them? Then they are doing +each other harm, at a rapid rate, by their +collocation. On the other hand, are they each +for himself living close to their Master and +Friend in the secret chamber and in the inner +heart? Are they walking humbly and gladly +with their God, much in prayer, and having +the Scriptures often open? And are they considering +one another, to provoke unto love and +to good works? Are they remembering generally +and habitually the sacredness of the duty +of mutual influence and example, in personal +habits, and otherwise? Are they determined +each for himself to help his brethren in all +things pure, and just, and lovable, and of +good report, and to strengthen them to +endure hardness, and not to be ashamed of +the blessed Name? Then they are blessing +one another in Christ, as few men otherwise +can do. But personal, individual consistency +is the absolute requisite to this; each man +must follow the Lord <i>for himself</i> in faith +and fear.</p> + +<p class="center">THE DUTY OF EXAMPLE.</p> + +<p>I spoke just above of the sacredness of the +duty of example. It is a theme on which I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +entreat my younger Brethren very often to +reflect, with self-scrutiny before their Master: +I may be wrong, but I cannot help thinking +that here is a duty which is decidedly less +remembered now, among young Christian men, +than it was in other days. With exceptions +many and bright, I yet fear that there is a +decline in this matter as a rule. That unhappy +<i>individualism</i> which is the bane of our day, and +which is the fatal enemy of all true and healthy +<i>individuality</i>, breathes its malaria through even +earnest Christian circles. In the formation or +allowance of personal habits, in particular, it +is sadly common to see young Christian men +practically quite forgetful of the power and +responsibility of example. I do not think that +this was quite so common twenty or thirty +years ago. Not that I wish to take up the +futile part of a mere <i>laudator temporis acti</i>; I +believe that the phenomenon has its reasons, +its law so to speak, in the peculiar conditions +of our day. But then the Christian man is +never to be the slave of the conditions of his +day, while he <i>is</i> to "serve his own +generation by the will of God." [Acts xiii. 36.] So I appeal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> +most urgently to my reader, if he should chance +to need the friendly call, to awake to a renewed +attention to the responsibility of example, and +to watch accordingly over consistency in everything.</p> + +<p class="center">"FOR THEIR SAKES."</p> + +<p>With the humblest reverence may I quote in +this connexion the words of our blessed Lord +in the High Priestly Prayer? "<i>For their +sakes I sanctify Myself.</i>" [John xvii. 19.] So said +<span class="smcap">Jesus Christ</span>. Perfectly holy personally, He +was yet always deliberately hallowing Himself, +separating Himself, to the Father's will and +work, "for their sakes"; because of His relations +with His disciples. Shall not we sinners, +at whatever interval, yet really, "follow His +steps" in this also? "For their sakes," for the +sake of our brethren in the Ministry, for the +sake of our servants, for the sake of our neighbour +of all sorts and kinds, let us "sanctify +ourselves" in a daily, willing separation from +the way of self to the will of God, diligently +seeking the expression of that will in His holy +Word. It is the duty of every Christian. It +is <i>par excellence</i> the duty of every Christian +Minister, from the oldest Archbishop to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> +youngest Deacon. To take Orders is to renounce +all ideas of a selfishly <i>private</i> life. Our +whole life henceforth is "for their sakes"; +even in those parts of it which must, from +another point of view, be most jealously protected +from officialism, and lived as if for the +time no one existed but the man and his God. +We are emphatically now "their bondmen for +Jesus' sake." [2 Cor. iv. 5.] "Others" have now +an indefeasible right not only to our ministry +of Ordinances, and to our preaching, and our +visiting, but to the example of our habits, of +our lives.</p> + +<p class="center">MANNER.</p> + +<p>Following up the same line of remark, let +me say a word about our duty to others in the +matter of <i>manner</i>. It is sometimes, surely, forgotten +by Christian men that they have no right +to be careless of their manner. Many an excellent +and otherwise consistent Clergyman seems +to assume that, whether with his brethren or +with his parish neighbours, his manner may +take care of itself, if he only "does not mean +it." But well-meaning is a poor substitute for +well-doing; especially that otiose sort of well-meaning +which only means not meaning ill.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +["NOBLESSE OBLIGE."] Christians have no business with so poor and +thin a phantom of virtue. They are not at +liberty not to think about a kindly courtesy +of address, and a manly deference towards +elders, and watchful "honour" given +to woman [1 Pet. iii. 7.], and a <i>manifested</i> (as well as felt) +sympathy of heart with all who ask it. They +are forbidden by the whole will and rights of +their Master to be loud and "casual" in intercourse; +to be moody and uncertain; to be +difficult to please, easy to offend; to think it +a small thing to speak the word to others +which may wound, even lightly, with any +wound but the really "faithful" one of a loving +caution or reproof in Christ. No one is to be +so independent in one aspect as the Christian +man, and particularly the Christian Minister. +Few men have so strong a vantage-ground for +independence as the Clergyman of the English +national Church. But it is the sort of independence +which carries also the deepest obligation, +the strongest sort of <i>noblesse oblige</i>. It is "for +their sakes." And so the same man is bound to +be also the most accessible, the most attentive, +the most courteous and sympathetic. Avoid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>ing +carefully, of course, all affectation and +unreality, he is to take care that a Christian +reality within does show itself in a Christian +manner without. "Let your moderation, your +oblivion of self, be <i>known unto all +men</i>." [Phil. iv. 5.] Let it be seen and felt, in your rooms, +in your parish, in your church.</p> + +<p class="center">TEMPER.</p> + +<p>Obviously this takes for granted the Clergyman's +recognition of the call to "rule +his spirit." [Prov. xvi. 32.] The temptation not to do so is +very different for different men. One man +finds temper and patience sorely tried by things +which do not even attract the attention of +another. But very few men indeed, in the +actual experiences of pastoral life, whether in +town or country, quite escape for long together +the stings which irritate and inflame. But +they <i>must</i> learn how to meet them in peace +and patience, unless they would take one of the +most certain ways to dishonour their Master +and discredit their message. The world has +some very true instincts about the power of the +Gospel, as it ought to be, as it claims to be. +And one of them is that a Christian as such is +a man who ought always to keep his temper.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +The Christian Clergyman is most certainly, at +least in an ironical sense, "expected" never +to be <i>personally</i> vexed and hot. Will it be +so? Will he take ignorant rudeness pleasantly, +should it cross his way? Will he meet opposition +patiently, however firmly? Will he +show that he remembers the text, "The +bondservant of the Lord must not +strive"? [2 Tim. ii. 24.]</p> + +<p class="center">THE REV. C. SIMEON.</p> + +<p>That text was the watchword of a great +man of God, the Rev. Charles Simeon, in the +early and exquisitely trying experiences of his +long ministry (1782-1836) at Trinity Church, +Cambridge. The parishioners shut their house-doors +in his face, and locked their pew-doors +against those who came to hear him. Every +form of irritating parochial obstruction was +employed. And the young Clergyman had by +nature a very short temper, and a very fearless +spirit. But he had found peace through the +blood of the Cross a few years before, and +the interests of his Saviour were become all +in all to him. So his first thought was, what +would best commend Jesus Christ to the angry +people? And the words seemed to sound<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +constantly in his soul, by way of answer, "The +servant of the Lord must not strive." Never +was tried patience more beautifully made perfect. +He was always giving way, and always +going on. He carefully ascertained that it +was illegal to lock the pew-doors; but he <i>did +not take the law</i> of those who locked them. +His soul was kept in peace; and by degrees, +as might be expected, 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 influence.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> I may be permitted to refer to my brief sketch of Mr Simeon's +Life: <i>Charles Simeon</i> (Methuen, 1892), ch. iv.</p></div> + +<p class="center">THE SECRET OF PEACE.</p> + +<p>How shall we, in our measure, whenever +called to it, "not strive," but "let our oblivion +of self be known unto all men"—in the cottage, +in the villa, in the vestry? There is only one +way. It is by abiding in the Secret of the +Presence, in the "pavilion" where "the strife +of tongues" may be heard indeed, but cannot, +<i>no, cannot</i>, set the hearer on fire. We must +claim on our knees, very often, our Master's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> +power to keep the soul which He has made, +and which longs to manifest Him</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 13em;">"In faith, in meekness, love,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In every beauteous grace,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From glory thus to glory changed<br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As we behold His face."</span></p> + +<p class="center">POWER OF A CONSISTENT LIFE.</p> + +<p>I have inevitably touched only some parts +of the great subject of personal ministerial Consistency. +More will be said later. But the +treatment on paper, at almost any length, must +be incomplete at the best; many an important +side of the subject will need to be omitted. My +aim has been, and will be, to speak of those +sides most, if not only, which are in special +danger of neglect at the present day; and this +means of course the passing by of some large +topics.</p> + +<p class="center">PAINS AND MEANS.</p> + +<p>But contributions, however fragmentary, to +the study of Consistency will not be in vain. +"A Minister's life is the life of his ministry," +says some one of other days with pithy force. +"Happy those labourers of the Church," says +blessed Quesnel, the Jansenist (on Mark vi. 33), +"the sweet odour of whose lives draws the +people to Jesus Christ." We all recognize the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +beauty and truth of such sayings. We all +admit the fitness and duty of Consistency. But +we must also recollect that in order to our consistency +there is needed more than an abstract +approbation; we must attend, we must reflect, +we must examine ourselves, we must discipline +ourselves, as those who aim at an object at +once lovely and necessary. Above all, we must +order our steps in our Lord's Word," [Ps. cxix. 133.] +and we must maintain a living communion of +spirit with our Lord Himself, who is not only +our Exemplar, our Law, and our King, but +also our Secret, our Strength, our Life.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></h2><p class="totoc"><a href="#toc">CONTENTS</a></p> + +<p class="center"><i>THE DAILY WALK WITH OTHERS</i> (ii.).</p> + +<p class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></p> +<p style="margin-left: 13em;"><i>If Jesus Christ thou serve, take heed</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Whate'er the hour may be</i>;</span><br /> +<i>His brethren are obliged indeed</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>By their nobility.</i><br /></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the present chapter I follow the general +principles of the last into some further +details. And I place before me as a sort of +motto those twice-repeated words of the Apostle, +<span class="smcap">Take Heed unto Thyself</span>.</p> + +<p>These words, it will be remembered, are addressed +in both places to the Christian +Minister [Acts xx. 28; 1 Tim. iv. 6.]. At Miletus St Paul gathers +round him the Presbyters of Ephesus, and implores +them to take heed to themselves, and +to the flock. A few years later he writes to +Timothy, commissioned (whether permanently +or not) to be Pastor of Pastors in that same +Ephesus, and lays it on his soul to take heed +to himself, and to the doctrine. In each case +the appeal to attend to "self" comes first, as +the vital preliminary to the other. And in each<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +case it takes the form of a solemn warning; not +only "remember" but "<span class="smcap">take heed</span>."</p> + +<p class="center">TAKE HEED UNTO THYSELF.</p> + +<p>I have already tried to emphasize the duty +of "heed-taking," in several directions. But +I come in this chapter to some important +matters which seem specially to fall under +such a heading; matters in which the lack +of prayerful heed may, and often does, work +great and even fatal mischief in the lives of +Clergymen.</p> + +<p class="center">RELATIONS WITH WOMAN.</p> + +<p>i. Let me first say a little, in brotherly confidence +and candour, about the young Clergyman's +<i>relations with Woman</i> in ordinary intercourse.</p> + +<p>It would be waste of words to talk about the +delicacy of the subject; it is self-evident. And +it is obvious also that in a book like this the +subject can be treated only in the way of +general suggestion; no vain attempt shall I +make to state and discuss possible exceptional +cases of social difficulty. But it is quite necessary +to say something on this matter, for it +is indeed a pressing and important thing in +ministerial life.</p> + +<p>I will begin, then, with the assumption that +the young Clergyman recognizes, and seeks to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +practise, the great Gospel principle of a sanctified +chivalry. "To the feminine vessel, as to +the weaker, give honour," writes +St Peter [1 Pet iii. 7.]; words which must be cut large and +deep into our ministerial hearts if we are to +live as true Ministers and true men. They +have a particular reference to married life, I +know; but their full scope is far wider. And +they are among the most wonderful utterances +of the apostolic Gospel, when we read them in +the light, or rather under the contrasted darkness, +of the contemporary <i>anti</i>-chivalry of the +Rabbinic teaching about woman. They are +the utterance of Peter, the married man, after +his discipleship in the Spirit at the feet of +Jesus, the Mother's Son. "<i>Giving honour</i>;" +do not forget the phrase. It lifts us into a +higher and far healthier region than that of +either mere fondness or mere admiration. Indeed, +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 Women, Reverence for Woman.</p> + +<p>So let apostolic chivalry, unaffected, but +watchful and practical, govern your life, by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +grace of God. Let it be quite impartial as +a principle. You may possibly have to speak +with a princess; you are sure to have to +speak and deal with very poor and ignorant +women. But each and all they are <span class="smcap">Woman</span>, +and you must remember the Apostle's word. +Courtesy and consideration are due to them +all, as you are a man, a Christian, a Minister +of God. The expression may vary, and +within limits it must, but the principle must +be always there. To the poorest woman give +the wall in the street, offer the best seat in +the train.</p> + +<p class="center">WE ARE TRUSTED.</p> + +<p>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 +visitation. We Clergy are <i>trusted</i> to an extraordinary +degree in personal intercourse with +female parishioners. How often a pastoral call +is paid, whether at mansion or cottage, when no +man is at home! "Take heed unto thyself" +<i>then</i>. The call under those circumstances +should be as brief as possible. And the whole +interview should be ruled by a heedful while +unobtrusive respect and self-respect. Do not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +think a strong word of caution in this matter +out of place and out of scale. Carelessness of +even appearances here may wreck a life; it +may certainly blight an influence.</p> + +<p class="center">WHEN AND HOW TO TAKE HEED.</p> + +<p>But I do not forget that we are not yet concerned +directly with pastoral visitation as such; +we are thinking of incidental social intercourse. +The young Clergyman will sometimes, however +seldom, find himself visiting in not exactly the +pastoral sense of the word. Courteous hospitality +will be shown him by neighbours; and +while he will very often decline these calls, +because his Master's work in other and more +obvious forms claims him, sometimes he will +accept them, as his Master did. Or his needful +holiday has come, and he is staying at a +friend's house, or is thrown into new intercourse +at some health-resort. And we will +suppose that he is a bachelor, and not engaged. +In what particular directions shall he +take heed?</p> + +<p class="center">"KNOW THYSELF."</p> + +<p>Below and above all details, he will take +heed to remember his always present Lord and +Friend, and to live and talk as knowing that +"<span class="smcap">He</span> is the unseen Listener to every conversa<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>tion"; +a recollection which ought to banish from +our talk, whether we talk with man or woman, +alike frivolity, unkindness, untruthfulness, and +dulness. Then, 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 +directions, according to his character. And God +grant us all such honesty and simplicity before +Him as shall teach us to know at least something +of our own characters, especially in their +weak points. There ought to be no surer +prescription for a true γνῶθι σεαυτόν than to +walk in the light" [1 John i. 7.] of the presence +of Him who sees everything just as it is, and +in that light to look at ourselves, and the world, +and His Word; aiming every day, not to be +thought "nice," or to be thought remarkable, +but to let Him shine out of our lives.</p> + +<p class="center">THE DUTY OF RESERVE.</p> + +<p>One man, then, will need more than another +to cultivate a quiet reserve and restraint of +manner in social intercourse with young ladies. +It is the way of some men, without thinking +about it, to be too demonstratively attentive. +It is the way of others to forget that they are +not everywhere at home, and to be far too<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +familiarly friendly. "I look on every girl I +meet as if she were my sister;" so said one +young Clergyman, a very fine fellow indeed, +but certainly in this sentiment very much and +very dangerously mistaken. Attentions and +confidences may be meant as honestly as possible. +But if they go beyond a certain line +(soon reached) they may most naturally be +thought to mean something more; to be a +preliminary, however distant, to an offer. And +just possibly such a thought may not be unwelcome +to the other person concerned. And if +so, and if all the while nothing but courtesy +was meant, you, my friend and Brother, without +knowing it, perhaps without ever knowing +it, may <i>spoil the life</i> of one who cannot possibly, +as a woman, express herself to you. I have +known such a case in clerical life. The man +was a true man, but he allowed himself, for the +pleasantness of it, to be very agreeable where +he meant no more than friendship. Great, +while silent, was the sorrow that resulted. Take +heed unto thyself.</p> + +<p class="center">SPECIAL RISKS.</p> + +<p>There are some parochial circumstances +where even unusual caution is needed in this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +direction; for reasons which I allude to with +pain. It is a fact, I fear, that in some parishes +the Curate is in danger of being rather actively +pursued, by here and there a parent, as a possibly +desirable son-in-law. 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 +married. Such a state of things is of course +one of exceptional social risk and difficulty for +a Curate, and for a young single Rector or +Vicar still more so. Nothing will do but a +very real "heed-taking," beginning always in +secret with God, and then quietly carried out +with sanctified common-sense. Fatal mistakes, +really fatal to future usefulness in the Ministry, +may very easily be made otherwise.</p> + +<p>But then there is an opposite side to the +question. Some young men, not all certainly +but a good many, are in great danger of a +rather exaggerated estimate of their own attractions +and importance. There are some junior +Clergymen who are, if I do not mistake, prone +to think that most young ladies whom they +meet are fascinated by them, or are at least in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +imminent peril. Such delusions meet sometimes +with not very gentle corrections. But it +is better to be forearmed against the delusion—as +it most probably <i>is</i> a delusion in the +given case. And the best prophylactic is the +old one; a secret walk with God "in the light," +and a recollection of the constant need of self-knowledge +exactly where such knowledge is +least pleasant. I repeat it; may the Lord +grant us each and every one His true γνῶθι σεαυτόν. +By a blessed paradox it is sure to +prove the secret of a true self-oblivion; for it +means for certain, among other things, a truer +and fuller sight of <span class="smcap">Him</span>.</p> + +<p class="center">MATRIMONY OR CELIBACY?</p> + +<p>The subject thus before us is a very large +one. It connects itself with the whole question +whether marriage or celibacy is the will of God +in the man's ministerial life. Happily I have +no need, in the Church of England, to defend +"the holy estate of matrimony" as if it were +in the slightest measure incompatible with the +fullest sanctification of life and of ministry. +Personally my belief is that, in the immense +majority of cases, the married Clergyman is +the more useful Clergyman <i>if</i> (an "if" of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +extreme importance) his wife is <i>altogether one +with him in the Lord</i>. But I distinctly think +that there are very many exceptions to the +matrimonial rule. There are branches of +ministerial work, particularly in parts of the +sacred <i>missionary</i> field, where the single man +seems to make the better Minister. And no +true servant of God will allow himself to think +first of an opening for marriage and then of an +opening for ministry.</p> + +<p class="center">"ONE IN THE LORD."</p> + +<p>Here I pause to say what it lies much on my +heart to say somewhere. Let the true man, +who is at present free in respect of marriage-engagements, +resolve that in the whole question +of seeking or not seeking a wife he will +consider first, midst, and last his Master's work, +his Master's Ministry. 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 (not +merely no positive hindrance) in your work +for the Lord Jesus Christ. Beware of the +temptation to seek the mere pretty face, or +the mere fortune large or small, or mere accomplishments, +or indeed anything short of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +the truly converted believing heart and dedicated +will.</p> + +<p class="center">*MARRIED LIFE AS IT SHOULD BE.</p> + +<p>The Clergyman and his Wife are +sacredly bound to live their united life wholly +for Christ. They are to help one another +on in Him, to stimulate one another in work +for others in Him, to give each other always +mutual aid towards a constant growth in faith, +hope, and love; towards an ever better use of +means, and time, and tongue, and everything. +If their Lord gives them children to train for +Him, those children are to see their parents +so living, not only individually but together, as +to glorify and commend the Gospel <i>to them</i>, +from the very first. And the wider family of +the parish, sure to be observant, is to see the +same sight in measure. Happy the married +Pastor whose home and its life respond to +such a description. Alas for the man whose +passion, blindness, hurry, self-will, or whatever +else it is, has betrayed him into a condition of +things which cannot be so described.</p> + +<p>I may be writing for some readers to whom +such a "take heed unto thyself" may be in +point even as they read. If so, let me seize +the occasion. With not a few very sorrowful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +illustrations in my mind I lay all emphasis on +this earnest word of affectionate warning. And +let me add to it another word, as in duty bound, +and with the utmost solemnity, knowing that +the thing is vitally important. I appeal to you +not lightly to seek marriage, not lightly to +make engagement, even where you have good +assurance that all would be spiritually well, if +there is a real probability of a married life +<i>clogged with pecuniary perplexities</i>.</p> + +<p>You observe that I do not speak absolutely +on this point; I dare not. I do not say, +Do not do it; I say, Do not <i>lightly</i> do +it. Faith is one thing; "light-heartedness" +is another. And sometimes light-heartedness +means nothing better than a vague expectation +that "something will turn up." Perhaps what +does turn up is a weary and distracting struggle +with debt, and a gradual habituation to a not +very creditable life upon the means of others, +who very likely can spare only with difficulty +what comes at length to be taken without gratitude. +I beseech my Brother to "suffer the +word of exhortation."</p> + +<p class="center">RISKS OF DEBT.</p> + +<p>ii. I touch thus already on the second<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +point about which I would fain cry, Take heed +unto thyself. That matter is <i>Money</i>. A few +words here will sufficiently convey my appeal, +but those few must be pressing. I appeal to +my younger Brethren to be watchful day by +day in the matter of money. At this moment +there rises in my memory the face and name +of a Clergyman with whom, long years ago, +I became acquainted about the time of his +ordination. He was unquestionably in earnest; +I believe that he truly knew his Lord and +Master, and was truly desirous to serve Him +in His flock. But I am perfectly sure that he +must have forgotten, almost from the first, to +take heed unto himself in the matter of money.</p> + +<p class="center">*PECUNIARY INTEMPERANCE.</p> + +<p>Perhaps he had brought with him from the +University that fatal habit of <i>pecuniary intemperance</i> +which sometimes gets a hold upon a +man second in its grasp only to that of intemperance +commonly so called. Unhappily the +ways of modern college life too easily generate +such a habit, as University men are led more +and more by their surroundings into a dread +of appearing to be poor, and are almost expected +to cost their fathers more for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> +academical year of eight or nine months than +they will earn in the clerical year of twelve. +But however it was, my poor dear friend <i>had</i> +about him the tendency to debt. And not all +his earnestness and his devoutness could maintain +his influence when that tendency began +to tell. One post of duty had to be soon +quitted for another, and so again and again, +under this ever-recurring failure. Let us take +heed unto ourselves.</p> + +<p class="center">PUBLIC AND PRIVATE MONEY.</p> + +<p>In dealing with money which in any sense +is public, no care can be too great. In a case +well known to me, a Clergyman imperilled his +whole influence, to the verge of ruin, by the +simple but effectual process of allowing money +collected for a church-object to be mixed and +"muddled" with his private funds. He was +not business-like, and he was not at all well off. +And somehow, when the time of reckoning +came, the money had melted, he knew not +whither. Strenuous exertions on the part of +friends replaced privately the missing collection; +but it was only just in time. I have +often heard our Indian Missionaries say how +great and frequent is the difficulty raised by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +the apparent incapacity of some otherwise excellent +native Pastors to keep public and private +money apart. They mean all that is honourable; +but a friend comes in begging for a loan, +and there is the church fund at hand, and of +course the sum taken shall be soon repaid, and +of course it is <i>not</i> repaid. But such difficulties +are not confined to India. The native Pastors +of England have great need to take heed unto +themselves.</p> + +<p class="center">THE ACCOUNTS IN GOOD ORDER.</p> + +<p>If possible, let us make our lay parochial +friends our secretaries, and above all our treasurers. +But if it must be otherwise, and often +it must be, let us take heed, at any cost of +pains. To do so may be overruled to win a +positive influence for the Clergyman. I well +remember a dear friend of mine telling me, +with loyal pleasure, of his holy and devoted +Vicar's care in this direction, and its power +over the keen-sighted and not always friendly +members of the school-committee in his great +parish. Every item of the books was accurate; +every halfpenny of receipts accounted for. Men +could find no fault in that Clergyman save concerning +the Law—and the Gospel—of his God.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center">INVESTMENT-CIRCULARS.</p> + +<p>Perhaps I need only allude in passing to +that crude sort of temptation put so freely +before us Clergy, the circular advertisement +of the mine which is to pay twenty per cent., +or of the company just formed (I have such +a circular in my possession, and keep it +sacredly,) to promote the construction of a +new projectile which shall make war more +horrible than ever; one condition to the success +of the Clergyman's investment being, of course, +that war, thus made more horrible than ever, +shall also be as frequent and continuous as +possible. But the schemes announced in these +circulars are very various in character; good, +indifferent, and bad. Need I say that, as a +very safe rule, they must all be viewed as +bad from the point of view of the young +Clergyman's (or indeed of the Clergyman's) +purse? It is a truism to remark that high +interest means low security; but even a truism +can bear occasional repetition when it has to +do with a good man's whole life and work, +and when the oblivion may mean acute or +chronic misery. Such investments are for us +a form of gambling, almost as much so as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> +the shameless circulars which we sometimes +receive from foreign cities, announcing the +possibility of clearing a fortune at one stroke +by a turn of the lottery machine. Does the +sending of such missives to the English Clergy +mean that English Clergymen sometimes +answer them? If so, I say that it is strictly +impossible that the man who so answers, +whether he loses or wins, can also be walking +with God, and so working that the Lord works +with him. So far as such acts go, he is acting +an awfully untrue part, and his Master knows +it. Let us take heed unto ourselves.</p> + +<p class="center">OTHER MONEY-PERILS.</p> + +<p>In conclusion, I turn another way. The +whole question of the increase and investment +of money is a very solemn and searching one +for the Christian, clerical or lay. There are +holy men who say that we ought in no degree +to "lay up." While I reverence their meaning, +I do not agree with them. Yet I do +most deeply feel that their warnings raise a +danger-signal in a direction opposite to that +which we have been viewing, but equally +important. Some of my younger Brethren +have already a private competency; others<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> +may be expecting one.</p> + +<p class="center">*"WHEN RICHES INCREASE."</p> + +<p>To others, gifted in +one way or another for marked acceptance +in the Church, posts are, or will be, offered +which even in these days bring a good income, +perhaps a growing one. Take heed unto +thyself. It is with deep significance that the +Word of God bids us not set our +heart upon riches <i>when they increase</i> [Ps. lxii. 10.]. It is +often observed, I fear, that a man's readiness to +give diminishes in proportion to his power for +giving. There is a subtle fascination for many +minds, and among them for minds generous +at first, in an access of possessions; the thirst +for more sets in, however imperceptibly, and +perhaps the Christian, perhaps the Pastor, +has become—before he knows it—covetous; +caring a good deal for money. Let us take +heed unto ourselves.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> I cannot help relating a pathetically amusing remark I once +heard in a Dorsetshire cottage. I had looked in on the good +housewife in the course of a long walk, and she was telling me +about the needs and straits of a recent time of illness. The +aged Vicar of the large and thinly-peopled parish was a well-to-do +man, and not at all unkind in meaning and manner. But he +never gave alms, or indeed material help of any kind. "Poor +Mr——," said the cottager, with the kindliest <i>naïveté</i>, "he never +<i>do</i> give away anything. There, <i>I suppose it be his affliction</i>."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p></div> + +<p class="center">"LAY NOT UP FOR YOURSELVES."</p> + +<p>I am sure that the Gospel has no censure +for modest comforts and for simple refinements. +I am sure that it bids the Christian, whether +Pastor or not, "<i>provide</i>," look beforehand, +with a view to save needless anxiety and +disadvantage both for himself and yet more +"for them of his own house." [1 Tim. v. 8.] But I am +equally sure that it commands us even more +emphatically not to lay up treasure upon earth; +not to make the sad mistake of thinking that +the work of life is to get. Rather may ours +be the spirit of a noble-hearted friend of +mine, now at rest for ever, early called away +from heroic Missionary work. He had found +himself rapidly getting richer in a successful +school-enterprize; and recognized <i>in this</i> a +summons to give it up, and volunteer for the +foreign field.</p> + +<p>But I say no more. Probably to the great +majority of my readers these last paragraphs +seem little to the purpose, at least at present. +But there are few lives in which, sooner <i>or +later</i>, such reflections may not find a corner +for application.</p> + +<p class="center">THE MOTIVE.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, whether our call is to avoid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> +debt or to avoid gathering, we will look up +for new motive power into our Master's face. +Him we love; Him we long to commend; and +to Him we belong with all we have. In His +Name, and for His sake, we will take heed +unto ourselves.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2><p class="totoc"><a href="#toc">CONTENTS</a></p> + +<p class="center"><i>THE DAILY WALK WITH OTHERS</i> (iii.).</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 13em;"><i>Thrice happy they who at Thy side</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Thou Child of Nazareth</i>,<br /></span> +<i>Have learnt to give their struggling pride</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Into Thy hands to death</i>:<br /></span> +<i>If thus indeed we lay us low</i>,<br /> +<i>Thou wilt exalt us o'er the foe</i>;<br /> +<i>And let the exaltation be</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>That we are lost in Thee.</i></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p> + +<p>Let me say a little on a subject which, like +the last, is one of some delicacy and difficulty, +though its problems are of a very different +kind. It is, the relation between the Curate +and his Incumbent; or more particularly, the +Curate's position and conduct with regard to +the Incumbent.</p> + +<p class="center">A LECTURE ON CURATES.</p> + +<p>I need not explain that the legal aspect of +this important matter is not in my view. Not +long ago I listened, in the library of Ridley +Hall, to an instructive lecture, by a diocesan +Chancellor, on the law of Curates; one of a +series on Church Law delivered under the sanction +of the University. The Lecturer informed +the audience, certainly he informed me, of many +points of practical moment not clearly known +to us before. He gave a sketch of the history<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> +of the licensed Curate as an institution, and +made us aware that he is a modern institution, +comparatively speaking. Before the Reformation +the numerous host of "chantry-priests" +was largely used to supplement the offices of +the parochial Clergy. After the Reformation, +for a very long while, the pastoral arrangements +did not include a special institution of Assistants. +Then, as the unhappy system of +pluralities grew large and common, such as +it was all through the eighteenth century and +beyond it, "the Curate" meant not the active +assistant of the resident Pastor but the substitute +for the non-resident—the Curate-in-Charge. +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' work. The presence in +the Church of us Assistant-Curates (I hold a +licence myself, and am therefore one of the +company) 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 ministrations.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center">A CHANCELLOR'S SUGGESTIONS.</p> + +<p>So our able Lecturer led us through our +own history; and then he proceeded to instruct +us in some main elements of our legal +qualifications, and duties, and rights: how to +get into a Curacy, and how to get out of +it; what are the Bishop's rights over the +Curate, and how the Archbishop may interpose +if the Curate pleads a grievance against the +Bishop. 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 mine. My purpose in +referring to them now is that I may call attention +to one point on which the Lecturer laid +no little stress. It was, that it is the wisdom +of the Curate, when he has once deliberately +accepted a Curacy, to be thoroughly loyal all +along; to consider himself as "at the Vicar's +beck and call"; to serve him heartily and +unreservedly. If tempted to do otherwise, +particularly if tempted to complain of the Vicar +to the Bishop, let him resist that temptation to +the utmost of his power. "There may be sad +exceptions, and necessity knows no law; but +<i>as a rule</i>," said my honoured friend, "I may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> +assure you, from a large experience, that the +Curate who complains of his Incumbent to +his Bishop injures not the Incumbent but +himself."</p> + +<p class="center">LOYALTY.</p> + +<p>Our Lecturer avowedly spoke not as a +spiritual but as a legal counsellor. I would +now take up his words, and from the point of +view of the friend and Brother in the Lord say +a little to my younger Brethren, engaged or +about to be engaged in assistant Curacies, +concerning the Christian rightness and Christian +wisdom of taking the sort of line which the +diocesan Chancellor recommended.</p> + +<p class="center">THE IDEAL INCUMBENT.</p> + +<p>As I come to the subject, let me say on the +threshold that I am sure to be writing for many +readers who little need the discourse, at least +at present. You are working under a Vicar +or a Rector whose example and also whose +friendship is one of the greatest blessings of +your life. You see in him a man perhaps much +older than yourself, perhaps nearly your coeval, +but however a leader, who is also, in the Lord +Jesus Christ, your brother, and your most considerate +while stimulating friend. He consults +you, without forgetting his responsibility of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> +ultimate direction. He gladly and fully recognizes +and honours your work done under his +organization. He has not the slightest wish to +come between you and the affections of his +parishioners among whom you move. He +cultivates, in his busy life, Christian fellowship +with you in private; you pray together, and +talk together, not only about the parish but +about the Lord, and the Word, and your +own souls. He lets you find in him, as he +is glad to find in you, just a man, a friend, +a Christian, with trials and blessings of inner +experience on which it is sometimes good +to speak to one another; a living soul, companionable +and human, while in it Christ +dwells by faith. You have experienced with +happy uniformity your Incumbent's patience, +sympathy, fairness, trustworthiness. You have +seen in him one who is himself always at work, +always watching for the flock; who does not +put on you this duty or that merely because +it is irksome to himself, but whose whole +purposes are in the cause of God, and who +distributes labour in any and every interest but +his own.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p> + +<p>And perhaps you see this man honoured +and loved by all around you, as they too see +and know him to be what he is. You move +about in the parish, and you are quite sure +to hear allusions to the Vicar. And as a rule, +perhaps, they are all friendly, all loyal, all +grateful. You find yourself, in short, under +no appreciable present temptation, being (as of +course you are) a true man yourself, to do +anything but identify yourself very gladly +with him.</p> + +<p class="center">YET EVEN HE IS NOT PERFECT.</p> + +<p>But then, even in this bright supposed case—a +case of which the Church of England +contains hundreds of practical examples, thank +God—appreciable temptations in the other +direction, the wrong, unhappy, fatal direction, +may very conceivably creep upon you with +time. Your admirable Incumbent is all the +while a mortal man, and as such, most certainly +(he himself above all men knows and +owns it), he is not perfect, not quite equal to +himself in every way. Perhaps he has come +to be not perfect in physical health, and thus he +is obliged, to his own grief, to do less in this +or that branch of activity than some of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +people think he ought to do; and then you +are tolerably sure to hear some not very just +and generous complaints in the parish. Perhaps +domestic sorrow, or domestic straits and +care, may have come in to becloud his spirit +and to make his energies for a season flag. +Perhaps among his many gifts you may find +some gift a little lacking; he may be manifestly +less strong in the committee, or in the labours +of arrangement generally, than in the pulpit +or the class; or it may be just the other way. +And you, my dear friend, may be (or may +think yourself to be) somewhat strong where +he is somewhat weak; an opportunity for many +subtle temptations. The days and weeks go +on; and if you let "the little rift" of criticism +widen, and do not continually take it to your +Lord to be examined and mended, other +feelings—not born from above—may steal in +between you and this good man, your elder +and leader in Christ. Petty dislikes and impatience +may rise in your heart about some +trifling point of manner, some momentary failure +of sympathy, some oblivion of arrangement +or engagement due to a sore stress<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +of work, some very small matter of Church +order, or Christian dialect; or who can tell +what?</p> + +<p class="center">GRAVE POSSIBLE TEMPTATIONS TO DISLOYALTY.</p> + +<p>But also it is just possible that I am writing +for some reader who finds himself in more +grave and pressing difficulties than these. My +most honoured brethren the Incumbents, if +any of them should cast their eyes over these +chapters, written by a Curate mainly for +Curates, will not blame me for saying that +there are cases, sad and sorrowful, where the +Curate cannot honestly think with perfect happiness +of his leader's work and influence. Perhaps +that Incumbent has "run well," nobly +well, but (as it was of old with some +primitive saints) something or someone "hindered +him." [Gal. v. 7.] Perhaps he has lost first love +and zeal, and sunk, he knows not how, into +an indolent clericalism, or anticlericalism, of +thought and habit. Perhaps he has suffered +care, disappointment, parochial conflicts, to +sour his spirit, or at least to take his heart +away from his people. Perhaps he has felt +the sad influence of controversial battles, and +the love and richness of the old Gospel has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> +somewhat faded out of his life, and conversation, +and sermons; I do not refer to faithful +care over distinctive and world-offending +truth, but to the controversial <i>spirit</i>, which +is altogether another thing. Perhaps he has +somewhat lost command over temper; perhaps +he has not yet found in our Lord's great +fulness the open secret by which He supplies +patience to His servants, even when they are +sorely vexed by man. And just possibly difficulty +between Curate and Vicar threatens to +arise from some side-quarter; from those who +stand around the Vicar, who inevitably see +him often and intimately, who are active and +important under-workers in his field, and who +may themselves be not quite fully "governed +by the Spirit and Word of God."</p> + +<p class="center">BEWARE OF THE GROWTH OF A CURATE'S PARTY.</p> + +<p>I have put a good many supposed cases. +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 experience. But I must emphasize +one of them which is hardly a peradventure +at all; namely that the Curate is practically +certain, sooner or later, to find temptations<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> +presented to his loyalty by the conversation +of parishioners. There is not one parish in +all England where everybody is pleased with +the Incumbent; pleased always and about +everything. And if the given Vicar or Rector +employs a Curate, and if that Curate is you, +it will be a moral miracle if you never hear +of such discontents. You will hear of them, +very probably, in ways which will offer you, +however faintly, an opportunity of acting towards +your chief a little as Absalom +acted towards David when he expressed certain +pious wishes that <i>he</i> were made judge in the +land in his father's place [2 Sam. xv. 1-6.]. I do not for a +moment mean that you are, or ever will be, +a man of treacherous <i>purposes</i>; the Lord +forbid. But if you do not watch, and are not +in some measure forewarned, you may easily +be betrayed unawares, quite unawares, into +speech or into action which will practically be +treacherous to the man who is over you in +Christ, and so toward Christ's work and cause +in the parish where you serve. Do you not +know the possibilities to which I refer? Have +they not crossed either your own path or that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> +of some Curate-friend of yours? Is there no +such thing as an intimacy formed by the Curate +in some house where the Incumbent is not +liked, and is that intimacy never used by the +Curate <i>not</i> for the noblest ends? Is there +no weak listening to parochial gossip on the +Curate's part? Is there never any allowance +by the younger man of a growth around him, +in ways which he could stop summarily, if he +tried, of a certain unwholesome sort of preference +and popularity? Is it not sometimes +known that a Curate condescends so low as +to concur with criticisms or sarcasms on his +chief, or even to volunteer them? Alas for +the parish where there is a "Curate's party," +small or more extensive. Happy the parish +where no chance is given in that direction +by either Incumbent or Curate. Happy +the Curate who is so truly loyal and dutiful, +it may be even under difficulties, that he +makes it quite unmistakable that, if a party +is to gather, it must gather around some one +else.</p> + +<p class="center">HOW TO REPRESS IT.</p> + +<p>Some cases happily in point are present to +my own mind. I once knew of a parish in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +which the truly devoted Vicar was, however, +not popular; he had sadly felt the weight of +depression and disappointment, and this had +had a weakening reflex influence on his ministry. +He was joined by a Curate, a man in the prime +of youth and vigour, well qualified to attract +confidence and affection, and particularly gifted +as a preacher. Very soon many parishioners +showed a preference for the young man's +ministrations in public, and for his company in +private; it was a golden opportunity for the +almost spontaneous formation of a Curate's +party. By the grace of God, the young Clergyman +was enabled both to see the position at +once and, by most decisive and manly speech +and act, in the right quarters, to show, without +a chance of mistake, that he considered his +work as altogether identical with his Vicar's, +never to be carried on for an hour outside a +faithful subordination. Another instance may +be given. Some years ago it was my duty to +explain at a meeting the objects and work of +the Divinity Hall with which I am connected. +Quite incidentally, while describing our course +of teaching, I mentioned my earnest desire<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> +always to caution my student-friends against +giving the slightest encouragement to the rise +of Curates' parties.</p> + +<p class="center">*AN EXAMPLE.</p> + +<p>At the close of the occasion, +a Clergyman rose at the back of the +parish-room where we met, and said a few +words, as gladdening as they were unexpected. +He had come to the meeting-place with no +knowledge of the meeting; merely to keep +an appointment. But he happened to be the +Vicar of a large town parish, and there to +have had a friend of mine as his Curate; +and he told us how this same Curate had +come to him at a time when the parish, under +circumstances inherited from past years, was +ripe and ready for partizanship and division. +Nothing would have been needed but the +Curate's passive allowance of such tendencies +to embarrass and spoil the difficult work of +the Vicar. But my dear young friend was +"found in Christ"; he knew his Lord's will +in the matter, and he strove to do it. By +active discouragement he precluded the mischief +completely, and thus greatly strengthened +his leader's hands for the work of God before +him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center">"THE LOST GRACE, HUMILITY."</p> + +<p>Surely few Christian men have wider and +nobler opportunity than Curates have for the +practice of "that lost grace, humility," in its +form of unselfish dutifulness, "good +fidelity in all things." [Tit. ii. 10.] My Brethren know the +sort of humility I mean; no artificial mannerism, +nothing in the least degree unworthy of +the "adult in Christ." What I do mean is +that thing so scarce in our days, the noble +opposite to that individualistic spirit than which +nothing is more narrow, more low, more hostile +to all true, genial development and greatness. +I mean the generous modesty which delights to +recognize the claims of an elder, of a leader; +which loves the idea of trustworthy service, +taking as its motto a more than princely <i>Ich +Dien</i>. I mean the temper of mind which sees +the happiness of siding against ourselves, of +judging not others but ourselves; the spirit +which is much more anxious to vindicate a +superior's reputation than our own, more alert +to ward criticism off from him than to shield +our own head from its arrow. I mean the life +which shows that so far from being ashamed +of the idea of subjection, the man has learnt at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> +the feet of Jesus to think true service the truest +freedom.</p> + +<p>Another day, very probably, the Curate +will find himself an Incumbent, and will have +his own helping brother at his side. It will be +a happy thing then for both parties if he has +thoroughly learnt that great qualification for +command, the experience of obedience; and +has cultivated the exercise of sympathy with +his subordinate by having first striven in +honest loyalty to take his chief's part against +himself.</p> + +<p class="center">TAKE PART AGAINST YOURSELF.</p> + +<p>Few, very few, are the cases where a man +who has accepted a Curacy <i>with his eyes +reasonably open</i> finds that such is the friction +of the position that his first duty is to seek +a release. There are such cases, I am afraid. +But, I say it again, they are very few; and +in every case which looks as if it were one +of them, the Curate should <i>first</i> exercise the +severest scrutiny upon himself, trying honestly +to find, in some magnifying mirror, "the beam +in his own eye." [Matt. vii. 3.] And even where +such scrutiny still leaves it plain, after consultation +not only with sensible friends (if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +necessary) but of course with the Lord Himself, +that it is best to seek a change, let +it be remembered that, up to the very last +day of connexion, the Curate is still the +Curate, bound to all possible loyalty and good +faith.</p> + +<p class="center">"SUFFER THE WORD."</p> + +<p>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 Incumbent. But I do not think after all +that I shall be misunderstood. In the nature +of the case, the bright sides of the matter +have hardly needed comment. The Curate +who finds himself the favoured and advantaged +helper of some true-hearted leader needs little +counsel from me, unless it be in face of the +fact, on which we have touched, that the noblest +leaders in the Lord in the whole English +Church are not above parochial criticism, or +even parochial slander. But I do know that +there are Curates whose circumstances are less +favourable; 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 Gospel.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> +It is for them to make no common proof of +the power of the Indwelling Lord to subdue +the iniquities of His people, to hallow their +inmost spirits, to set before their lips the watch +and ward of His blessed Presence, to drive +utterly away from their pastoral souls the +wretched spirit of sarcasm, to enable them +for an unselfish faithfulness when no eye but +the unseen Master's oversees.</p> + +<p class="center">INDEPENDENCE AND LOYALTY.</p> + +<p>It is no part of the system of the Church +of England, as it is of that of the Church of +Rome, to put a man (or a woman) under the +"spiritual direction" of a fellow-sinner, who +is to be, for the "directed," the organ and +representative of the will of God. For such +a method is no part of the apostolic Gospel, +which never for a moment bids us surrender +conscience into the keeping of another. "Who +art thou that judgest <i>Another's</i> servant? +To his <i>own Master</i> he standeth or +falleth" [Rom. xiv. 4.]; words which deeply and decisively +contradict the root-ideas of spiritual despotism, +for they teach us to think of our fellow-Christians, +as if—for purposes of the conscience—He +who is their Master and ours was, for them,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +<i>another</i> Master than ours.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> 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 them; the ideas of self-abnegation +for the good of others, and of +resolute denial of the miserable spirit which +prefers self to others and talks about rights +when we should be intent on duties. The +Christian man, and <i>à fortiori</i> the Minister +of Christ, is called (as we have seen in earlier +pages) to nothing less than a life in which, +while conscience is inviolable, self is surrendered +to Christ, in that practical sense of the words +which means surrender, for His sake, <i>to others</i>, +in all things which concern not right and wrong +but our self-will.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> I owe this remark to my friend the Rev. H.E. Brooke.</p></div> + +<p class="center">"CLOTHED WITH HUMILITY."</p> + +<p>"Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves +unto the elder." [Rom. xiv. 4.] I never forget how +the Apostle finishes the passage; "Yea, <i>all of +you</i>, be subject one to another, and be clothed +with humility," ἐγκουβώσασθε τὴν ταπεινοφοσύνην, +"tie humility round you" as the servant +ties on his apron. Most characteristic of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +Bible is the impartiality of the precept, so given; +the Elders in the Church of God will not forget +it on their side. But nevertheless the stress of +the precept bears upon the younger man. He, +in the Lord's order, is especially to recollect +the sacred duty of a willing, loyal, and open-eyed +humility.</p> + +<p class="center">A NOBLE SUBORDINATION.</p> + +<p>All the instincts of our time are against this. +But for the true disciple of Jesus Christ there +is something stronger than any spirit of the +age; it is the Spirit of God, dwelling in the +inmost soul. By that wonderful power the +Christian Curate, who walks with the Lord in +secret, and finds in Him his way of purity and +consistency in the more general aspects of his +"walk with others," will daily be enabled for +a bright and glad consistency in the path of +ministerial subordination. He will not cease +to be a man, who must observe and think; nor +will he necessarily hold it his duty never, in all +loyalty and respect, to express to his Vicar a +differing wish or opinion. But his bias will be +against himself, and for his chief, if he indeed +lets the Spirit of God lead him, and rule him, +and fill him. For the Lord's sake, διὰ τὸν Κύριον,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +and by the Lord's power, διὰ τοῦ Κυρίου, he will +carry the principle of a watchful +"submission" not only into greater things, but +even into the smaller preferences of his elder +and leader, if they in the least degree affect the +duties of the parish and the church.</p> + +<p class="center">A LETTER ON CURATES' GRIEVANCES.</p> + +<p>I close this chapter with a quotation. It +is a letter written to the Editor of the +<i>Record</i>, in the spring of 1885, after the perusal +of a correspondence in that paper in which +some "grievances of Evangelical Curates" +had been set forth, and in which it had been +implied that such grievances might give some +sufferers occasion to transfer their sympathies +to another "school."</p> + +<p>"After reading the recent correspondence, I +cannot forbear a few words expressive of the +sad impression left upon my mind. Far be it +from me to say that Incumbents have no lessons +to learn from this correspondence. All Incumbents +who have, by grace, 'the mind that was +in Christ Jesus' will surely embrace every suggestion, +however painful in form, which can +stimulate them to larger manifestations of holy +and self-forgetting sympathy, perfectly com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>patible +with the firm attitude (which is also +their duty) of responsible direction. But this +thought leaves unaltered the mournful impression +taken from the tone of the letters of my +aggrieved Brethren. In one form or another +one thought seemed to breathe in all;—the +thought of <i>my</i> rights, <i>my</i> position, <i>my</i> gifts and +opportunities, and what was due from others in +regard of them; the complaint that others were +not humble, when the Christian's first concern +with humility is to derive it for himself from +his Lord. Such a spirit is not easily compatible +with a true secret hourly walk with God and +abiding in Christ, the <i>sine quâ non</i> of fruit-bearing. +And fruit-bearing is the supreme +inner aim of the true pastoral life, fruit-bearing +in the devoted doing of the Master's present +will.</p> + +<p>"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 another. Is it indeed 'no marvel'? +Is it to be expected, then, in the holy Ministry, +that convictions about divine truth should be +modified by the personal claims and comfort of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> +the holder, if the word 'hold' may be used +without severe irony in such a connexion? +Can a saint and servant of God, young or old, +Vicar or Curate, walk closely with Him all day, +truly given to Him, wholly submissive to His +word and will, and yet find it possible to deal +with convictions so? What are personal rights +and exterior happiness weighed against the +claims of what we have really grasped as truth +in the presence of the Lord? It is well for us +that martyrs and confessors, and their worthy +successors, our Evangelical ancestors of a +century ago, knew how to answer that question.</p> + +<p class="center">CONVICTION SACRED, SELF NOWHERE.</p> + +<p>"I aim to speak with all humility and +sympathy. 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 sacred, in which Christ is all, and +in which self is nowhere."<br /> +<br /></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></h2><p class="totoc"><a href="#toc">CONTENTS</a></p> + +<p class="center"><i>PASTOR IN PARISH</i> (i.).</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 13em;"><i>Master, to the flock I speed</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>In Thy presence, in Thy name</i>;</span><br /> +<i>Show me how to guide, to feed</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>How aright to cheer and blame</i>;</span><br /> +<i>With me knock at every door</i>;<br /> +<i>Enter with me, I implore.</i><br /></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p> + +<p>We have talked together about the young +Clergyman's secret life, and private life, +and his life in (so to speak) non-clerical intercourse +with others, and now lastly of his life +as it stands related to his immediate leader +in the Ministry. In this latter topic we have +already touched the great matter which comes +now at once before us, the man's work amongst +his neighbours as he approaches them in his +proper character, as a Pastor.</p> + +<p class="center">"THE PULSE OF THE MACHINE."</p> + +<p>How shall I speak of "parish-work"? It +would be a boundless subject if treated in +detail and in the style of a directory of +methods. But such a treatment is far from +my purpose. To undertake it, I should not +only need to be a widely experienced Pastor, +which I cannot claim to be, for my life for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> +many years has been mainly devoted to +academic teaching; I should need to be several +widely experienced Pastors bound up into one +living volume. So let no one expect to find +here a prescription for the right plans and +right practice of the many departments of the +rural pastorate, or of the urban, or suburban; +directions how to organize work, and how to +develop it; how to deal with the Sunday +School, or the Day School, or the Institute, +or the Guild, or the Visitors' Meeting, or the +Missionary Association. My hope is rather +to get behind all these things to the pulse +of the busy machinery; to offer a few hints +to my younger Brethren "how to do it," from +the point of view of their personal and inner +preparedness for the multifold work, and to +state some plain general principles which may +run through all the doing.</p> + +<p class="center">VISITING.</p> + +<p>I set before me then the Curate, and the +Parish, with its demands for pastoral labour, +and particularly for <i>Visitation</i>. Well do I +know how immense the differences are between +place and place in this same matter of visitation; +how the parish of a few hundreds, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> +even of two or three thousand, is one thing, +and the parish of ten, or eighteen, or twenty +thousand is another. I know that there are +parishes, in London for example, 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 visitation. Yet surely even +in such cases that work must not, and will +not, be quite given up as hopeless. A little, +where only a little is possible, is vastly better +than none; even if it be only the visitation +of the sick, and of those who immediately +surround them, and with whom the sick-visit +gives the Clergyman an opportunity. Such +efforts, where nothing more of the kind is +possible, if only done in an unmistakable spirit +of love and self-sacrifice, must carry good to +the people. And do not forget that they must, +quite as necessarily, carry good to the Clergyman. +For they are a means, for which nothing +else can be quite the substitute, of bringing +him into contact with the people's thoughts +and lives in ways which will tell usefully (as +we have seen in an earlier page) upon his +whole ministry, particularly upon his work in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> +the pulpit, and at the mission-room desk, and +in the open air.</p> + +<p>But, to be as practical as possible, I will +assume that the Curacy is of a more normal +kind than that just supposed. The parish, +whether in country or in town, is not so large +as to make visitation from house to house impossible. +And the Curate has had his work +of this kind assigned him, and is setting out +upon it. A good portion of every day (though +I hope it is possible to give a part of one day +each week to some sort of wisely managed +holiday) is devoted to "the district"; now for +a steady round of calls, door by door; now, +in an irregularity not without method, for +visits to special cases of sickness, or sorrow, +or other need.</p> + +<p class="center">PREPARE FOR VISITATION WITH PRAYER.</p> + +<p>What shall be my first suggestion? It shall +point to the Throne of Grace. Preface the +pastoral round with special secret prayer. +Sermons are usually (I wish it were always so +now) prefaced with prayer in the pulpit that +the heavenly blessing may rest upon the +ordinance. Is it less fitting, less necessary, +to prepare for the afternoon's or evening's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> +visitation with a secret petition in your own +room that the apostolic ordinance of +domestic visitation [Acts xx. 20, 21.], to be administered now by +you, may have the special grace of God in +it? Pray for yourself, my younger Brother.</p> + +<p class="center">*PRAY FOR SPIRITUAL READINESS AND SPIRITUAL FULNESS.</p> + +<p>Ask that you may go out well furnished with +the peace, and patience, and wisdom laid up +for you in your Lord; that you may have "by +the Holy Spirit a right judgment in all things"; +that you may have "the tongue of the taught,<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> +to speak a word in season to them that are +weary"; whatever sort of weariness it is. +Pray for that secret skill of discernment which +can see the difference of spiritual states, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> +allot warning or comfort not at random but "in +due season." Pray for that readiness for the +unexpected which is best secured and best +maintained in a close and conscious intimacy +with your Saviour. The man "found in Him" +will be found ready <i>in spirit</i> (and that is after +all the essential in spiritual work) for the +sudden question, whether anxious or captious, +for the sudden rudeness of ignorance or opposition, +and again for the chronic and so to speak +passive difficulty of indifference. "The tongue +of the taught," while the "taught" man is found +in Christ, will ever be sweet, wise, and truthful, +as the owner of it goes his round. But +we must seek for it; "He will be +enquired of for this thing." [Ezek. xxxvi. 37.]</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Isai. l. 4. Obviously the word "learned" in our Version is +there used in its old English sense, "instructed, taught." No +slight on "book-learning" is ever conveyed in the Scriptures. +But the man in view here is not the highly-educated person, +but the believer who has listened with <i>the ear</i> "of the taught" +(see the end of the verse), as a disciple at the Master's feet; and +so goes forth to speak with "<i>the tongue</i> of the taught," as a +messenger who has learned sympathy, insight, holy tact and +truthfulness, from the Master's heart. The whole passage is +full of the blessed Messiah Himself, I know. But it has its +reflected reference for all His true followers, and above all for +all His true Ministers. May He give us, in His mercy, for every +act of our messenger-work, both the ear and the tongue of His +"taught" ones.</p></div> + +<p>Then, as you pray for yourself, you will pray +also for the people you are about to visit. +Perhaps they are as yet strange to you, and +you can ask for them only in general. But if +you know anything at all about them it will +be worth while to individualize your prayer, +however briefly. Special, detailed prayer <i>is</i> a +power with God. And it is a power with man +too. To be dealing with one for whom you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> +know you have prayed is already to have a +foothold there. Perhaps you may have an +opportunity to <i>say</i>, quite naturally, that you +have been praying for him; and this may very +possibly be a direct vehicle of blessing.</p> + +<p>You will go out then, as directly as possible, +from the secret place of heavenly intercourse. +That is a bracing atmosphere:</p> + +<p class="center">"Fresh airs and heavenly odours breathe around<br /> +The throne of grace;"</p> + +<p>and those airs can quicken the young Pastor's +spirit for the heaviest hours of a sultry afternoon +or evening, till he comes back weary to his +rooms, "tired in the Lord's work, but not tired +of it," as dying Whitefield said.</p> + +<p>So you go forth with real prayer. It is +your wonderful privilege, thus going to carry +nothing less than the blessed "Fulness of the +Holy Ghost" for your inmost equipment. I +say deliberately, nothing less than the heavenly +Fulness—a far different thing from a mere +stir and lift of the emotions. That most divine +gift is a "calm excess" of tranquil power, +received humbly by the prayer of faith. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> +is not meant to be a rare luxury; it is a daily +and hourly offer, a provided <i>viaticum</i> for every +stage of walk and duty. Can we work aright +for God while any corner of our being has no +room for God, and is not possessed by Him?</p> + +<p class="center">METHOD.</p> + +<p>Then, for true prayer and true practicality +are the closest and most harmonious friends, +you will of course aim with forethought and +persistency at <i>method</i> in the pastoral work. +The visits will be arranged as far as possible +with economy of <i>space</i>; no difficult task in +most town parishes, while in the country, of +course, the matter is often much less easy. +And you will study also economy of <i>time</i>. +Your round is a work of sacred <i>business</i>. The +minutes, the quarters of an hour, are never to +run loose and unobserved. Who that has ever +visited in a parish does not know the need of +remembering that point, so easily forgotten? +Here we visit a pleasant, welcoming neighbour, +and it is all too easy to stay on, perhaps to +little real purpose, with the secret satisfaction +of knowing that the next and much less attractive +call must be shortened in proportion. +Here, less willingly, we are detained by one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +of those ingenious tongues which make it so +difficult to get in a word, or to stop the unprofitable +continuity of topics. All these cases, +and endless kindred ones, need a little foresight +and firmness, and a little of the skill which is +soon learnt by open heart and open eyes.</p> + +<p class="center">ECONOMY OF TIME.</p> + +<p>Obviously this line of caution is more needed +by some men than by others. But it is needed +by not a few; particularly in respect of the +temptation to lengthen out unduly the visits +that are pleasant to the visitor. One young +Clergyman known to me, an indefatigable and +devoted visitor, needed a strong reminder in +this direction in the early days of his ministry. +He would visit a sick person, who proved more +or less responsive to his efforts, and would +allow himself to <i>over</i>-visit, to an unwise extent, +going often more than once a day, and long +after the state of the invalid made such attentions +urgent. And other work of course +suffered in proportion. Wesley's precept to +his workers needs our remembrance often; +"Go not where you are wanted, but where you +are wanted most."</p> + +<p class="center">BUT AVOID HURRY.</p> + +<p>But a risk on the other hand must be re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>membered. +Economy of time must never +mean hurry of manner, a thing which is nearly +if not quite fatal to the usefulness of a visit. +It is perfectly possible to combine promptitude +with quiet; to come manifestly on business, +and yet not in a bustle. We Clergymen may +learn many valuable lessons in this, as in some +other parts of our work, from our medical +friends. Observe how a wise and kindly doctor +visits <i>his</i> parishioners. He knows exactly why +he comes; he knows that other patients are +wanting him, in long succession; he knows +that he must observe and advise as promptly +and as much to the point as possible; and he +knows that all must be done with a quiet, +strong, untroubled manner, if it is to be done +aright.</p> + +<p>I spoke in a previous chapter about the +sacred duty of watching and regulating manner. +This is to be done at all times of intercourse, +but above all in pastoral visits. To speak +only of this point of hurry or calm of manner; +it is most important. The right manner will +make a visit of five minutes practically longer +than a twenty minutes' visit which gives all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> +through it the impression that the Clergyman +must be off. One of the most admirable +Pastors I have ever known, the late Rev. +Charles Clayton, of Cambridge,<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> did much +of his work by five-minute visits. But they +were always visits in which the whole thought +was given to the case before him, and the +word in season came from full knowledge of +his flock and from an unmistakably pastoral +heart.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Afterwards Rector of Stanhope and Canon of Ripon.</p></div> + +<p class="center">IMPARTIAL COURTESY.</p> + +<p>A duty which you will carefully remember +throughout your round is that of quiet Christian +courtesy; impartially shown to rich, to +middling, and to poor. I say impartially, with +a view to <i>both</i> ends of the scale. Some men +(perhaps not many, but some) seem to think +that ministerial courage and fidelity in dealing +with well-to-do parishioners demand a certain +dropping of the courtesies of life; a very great +mistake. Many more men are tempted to +forget that their visits to the poorest should +be, in the essence of the matter, as courteous +as when they go to the portal which carries<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> +a brass knocker. At the door of the dingiest +cottage, or dingier lodging, never forget that +you <i>ask</i> for entrance; it is your neighbour's +castle-door; and you are not a sanitary inspector. +If you happen to come in at the +meal-time of the roughest and dirtiest, apologize +as naturally and honestly as you would +if you intruded on the wealthy churchwarden's +well-set luncheon. Among the very lowest, +do all you can to honour parents before their +children (I know it is nearly impossible in +some sad cases); and always honour old age.</p> + +<p class="center">BE NATURAL.</p> + +<p>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 class. A patronizing +manner is most certainly a very great pity, +and almost sure to be resented. But so, too, +is the ostentatious "hail-and-well-met" manner +which is sometimes assumed; an over-drawn +imitation, perhaps, of the workman's manner +with his fellows. This is a mistake, because it +is almost always unnatural. Few gentlemen +get better at others by ceasing to act and +speak as gentlemen. Let us talk quite quietly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> +and pleasantly, as just what we are, and as +those who most unaffectedly "honour +all men," [1 Pet. ii. 17.] and we shall not go far astray; +always supposing that the matter of our talk +is sensible, true, and to the purpose.</p> + +<p class="center">THE SICK-ROOM.</p> + +<p>To turn aside for a moment to the special +and sacred work of Visitation of the Sick. It +is not to be lightly done, as if it were an easy +part of our duty, quite obvious in its aims and +methods. The greatest judgment is often +needed in the sick-room. We need quickness +to perceive how much conversation the +invalid can bear, if the case is one of great +pain, or (what often makes undue length even +more irksome) great weakness. We need +an insight into the best side of approach +to conscience, or to will. We need the skill +which knows how to question enough, but +not too much, not as the inquisitor but as the +helper. Many another matter will call for +sanctified common-sense in the sick-room; a +restful <i>voice</i>, easy, quiet <i>movements</i>, and the +like. And let me say that where you are +visiting a chronic case, and need to call again +and again, if a day and hour for the next<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> +visit is mentioned it should be <i>kept to</i> with +jealous punctuality. Nothing is more trying +to the suffering and weary than uncertainty +and suspense. I have known of much harm +done to good men's influence by their neglect +of punctuality with sick people.</p> + +<p class="center">PUNCTUALITY.</p> + +<p>Of punctuality generally I can (and surely +need) speak only in passing. It is a primary +duty of the busy but patient work of the +pastorate. To be neglectful of it is to set +up and keep up a needless and mischievous +friction in our intercourse with others, and +indefinitely to injure our influence in many +ways. "No man ever waited five minutes +for me in my life, unless for reasons quite +beyond my power;" such was a remark of +Charles Simeon's in his last days. <i>We</i> may +be for ever unable to say this of our own past. +But if so, shall it not be true for us also <i>from +this day forward</i>?</p> + +<p class="center">USE OF THE BIBLE IN VISITING.</p> + +<p>Thus prepared by secret and special intercourse +with God, and recollecting some simple +maxims about practical points, you go out into +the parish. But no; let me suggest one other +preliminary, which, before most rounds of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> +pastoral visiting, cannot be out of place. You +will take in your pocket <i>two books</i>, if not more; +one, your visiting register and diary, the other—your +Bible. Of the use to be made of the +note-book I need not speak. About that to be +made of the Book of God let me say a very +few words.</p> + +<p>I do not mean at all that you will make +the reading of the Holy Scriptures a matter of +form or routine; a thing which <i>must</i> be done, +as an <i>opus operandum</i>, wherever there is a +chance. But I do mean that you should have +the Book always ready for use, and be prompt +to sow the "incorruptible seed" [1 Pet. i. 23.] from +house to house as God gives opportunity. +Remember, it is a Book sadly little known by +the very large majority of your people; so that +every natural and naturally-taken occasion to +"let it speak," in private as well as in public, +is a contribution to that urgent need of our +modern world, Bible-knowledge. Remember +again that, despite all the wretched unsettlements +of belief amongst us, the Bible is still +the Bible, for untold multitudes; it is owned by +them, whether or no it is used, as the Oracle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> +of God. Let us let the Book speak at the +open ear of such a conviction, however dimly +the conviction is entertained. And then remember +that the Bible, whatever be the state +of current opinion about it, <i>is</i> as a fact the +Oracle of God, 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 heart. Offer it, as often as you +can, to be that vehicle.</p> + +<p class="center">CHOOSE A PASSAGE BEFOREHAND.</p> + +<p>Two simple expedients for effective use of +the Scriptures in a parish round are presented +to me by my own past experience, gathered +from several years of regular parochial work. +One is, the choice of some short pregnant +passage which shall be, for that round, <i>the</i> +passage to be read not once only but in house +after house, unless, of course, there is special +reason to the contrary. Such a reiteration, +so I have often found, is a great help to the +visitor, who probably feels on each new occasion +that a new power and point appear in the +passage, and that it seems each time easier +to speak from it, however briefly, to the soul. +The other expedient which my experience<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> +recommends is to be prepared, whenever a +hopeful opportunity occurs, to leave a Scripture +message visibly behind you as you go. I used +to carry with me a little sheaf of slips of paper, +on each of which was printed the request, +<i>Please read this passage, and think about it.</i> A +short message from the heavenly Word would +be written on the slip in pencil as I was about +to go; and this visible and personal invitation +to "read and think" proved often a real remembrance +from the Lord.</p> + +<p class="center">THE VISITING PASTOR AT WORK.</p> + +<p>But now you are actively engaged from door +to door. If you are a new-comer, and particularly +if it is also a district (in the great City +perhaps) where visitation has been an unwonted +thing, you must be prepared of course for very +various sorts of reception. But assuredly in +most districts by far, and at most doors, the +man who exercises common tact and courtesy, +and is plainly trying to do his duty in a loving +and earnest spirit, and is known already, or +now introduces himself, as the Clergyman, will +be civilly and often gladly met.</p> + +<p class="center">*OUR ADVANTAGE AS MINISTERS OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH.</p> + +<p>Let me pause for a moment to remind you of one great +and valuable advantage which is ours as the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> +Ministers of the National Church and the +servants of the parochial system. All honour +to devoted servants of God in the Ministry of +other denominations; in numberless instances +they have done in the past, and are doing now, +work which the National Church has either +neglected, or has been unable to overtake; and +the power of the Lord has been and is present +with them to bless. But nevertheless I for one +thank God for a National Church, and recognize +in that Church's historical and practical +position a unique opportunity and an immense +advantage, so it be used faithfully and in +loyalty to the Lord and His Word. And one +feature of that position of opportunity is this, +that it is the popularly (and rightly) recognized +<i>duty</i> of the Church of England Clergyman to +ask admission at every door, so far as he can +go to every door, within his portion of the +national vineyard. To a large degree this is +understood to be our duty, our business, as it +is not understood to be that of other Ministers +of religion; and this is a fact which for the man +who will use it with good sense and unobtrusive +diligence is an invaluable introduction. A<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> +"younger Brother" of my own, whose work +began in a Liverpool Curacy, told me of his +experience in this matter. His district contained +a very miscellaneous population; almost +all the great dissenting Churches were represented, +and there were many Roman Catholics, +and not a few Jews. But the Curate went to +every door, as in duty bound; as a friend, a +neighbour, a Christian, but distinctly as one of +the Clergy of the parish. And with one solitary +exception, an instance in which a Jew repulsed +him, he was not only admitted but welcomed +everywhere in his character as the Clergyman.</p> + +<p>Of course there are, as I have said just +above, streets and lanes where it is not quite +so. Another friend of mine, labouring in East +London, found that his black coat and white +tie suggested to some of the people only the +guess that he was—the undertaker; so strange +to them was the presence of a Clergyman, or +the idea of his duty. The same friend, by the +way, found that there was one sure prescription +for securing a welcome on a second visit—to +make the people <i>laugh</i> before the first visit +was over. He was no careless Pastor, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> +forgot that he was in quest of souls, and that +the message of the Lord is no jest. But his +experience was that in that strange "lapsed" +population the <i>rapport</i> between man and man +set up by an honest laugh was important as the +first step to something very different which was +to follow.</p> + +<p class="center">COME TO THE POINT.</p> + +<p>In the ordinary pastoral round no such ingenious +merriment will be necessary; though +you will of course aim not only to be but to be +seen to be <i>happy</i> in your work, and in your +Master; <i>bright</i> with a light which is as natural +in its influence as it is divine in its origin. In +the ordinary round one great principle to be +remembered, if I am right, is that you should +<i>come to the point</i> as soon as possible. Some +earnest men greatly shrink from this, and aim +at the souls of their people by very circuitous +routes. As a rule, I am sure, there is little +need to do so; we are "expected" to be about +our Master's business, and to deliver His +messages without needless delay. I would not +counsel the general verbal adoption of one +good country Parson's salutation, who always +opened the cottage door with, "<i>How are you?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> +How is your soul?</i>" But I have no doubt it +was a good greeting for many a parishioner +of his; and the <i>principle</i> of it is good for +almost every pastoral visit. Yes, we shall do +well to take people very much for granted, +coming before them as we do (unless we quite +forget our true character) as the Lord Jesus +Christ's messengers and delegates, whatever +else we are.</p> + +<p class="center">KEEP IT ALWAYS IN VIEW.</p> + +<p>Most certainly and obviously the Pastor will +often allude to common human interests, and +should indeed know something and have something +to say and do about temporal problems, +things of body and estate. But then I do +hold that he should "draw all things this" +supremely important "way." All his pastoral +intercourse should bear somehow upon the +question of the state before God of the person +or persons visited; upon conviction of sin, or +comfort in grace, or Christian conduct; upon +Christ and the soul, upon holiness +and immortality, as the Gospel "brings them +out into the light." [2 Tim. i. 10.]</p> + +<p class="center">A DIFFICULT CASE WELL MET.</p> + +<p>There are cases most certainly where this +has to be done with peculiar tact and caution<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> +unless quite obvious mischief is to be done +instead of good. But let the man be always +<i>lying in wait</i>, and he will very seldom do so +quite in vain. An instance occurs to me, in +the work of a most honoured veteran in the +Ministry. He called on a new parishioner, +a lady of his own class, and soon found out +that she was politely but resolutely arranging +to keep Jesus Christ out of the conversation; +so cleverly that he fairly failed to break the +fence. Just as he was leaving, for he could +not go without one mention of his Master, +he said, as the last word of his courteous farewell, +"<i>The Lord bless you</i>." That was all; +but it was enough to carry in it the Spirit's +message. The utterance stayed in the parishioner's +soul, sounding solemnly on. It was +impossible to be offended; it was impossible +not to think. And the issue was, in God's +time, a real and deep conversion.</p> + +<p class="center">A HAPPY REBUKE TO COWARDICE.</p> + +<p>But, I repeat it, such difficulties in "the +daily round" need not be very frequent, if we +do not create them for ourselves. How often +the very persons to whom we think it wiser +not to speak openly about the Lord Jesus Christ<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> +(remember, it is about <span class="smcap">Him</span>, even more than +about themselves, we are to speak) are longing +to hear us do so! In the early days of my +ordination I remember visiting an invalid +gentleman, who had known me (for it was my +Father's parish) all my life; and I was very +cowardly in his case about coming to the point +of Christ and the soul. Several visits, let me +confess it with shame, were paid before I found +myself able to propose that we should open +the Bible together, and then pray. I was +moved to the inmost heart by the actual +tears of delight with which the proposal was +welcomed.</p> + +<p>And not seldom, if we do not come to the +point, our people will bring us to it. A very +dear friend of mine, a few years ago, was +going his first circuits in a large London parish, +and paid one among many first visits. He +allowed it to be a mere visit of introductory +civilities; but he need not have been so +cautious. As he rose to go the good woman +on whom he had called said to him, "You +will have a word of prayer with me, will you +not? The Vicar always does."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p style="margin-left: 13em;">"<i>Go, labour on, spend and be spent;</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Thy joy to do the Father's will;</i><br /></span> +<i>It is the way the Master went;</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Should not the servant tread it still?</i><br /></span> + +"<i>Go, labour on while it is day,</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>The world's dark night is hastening on;</i><br /></span> +<i>Speed, speed thy work, cast sloth away;</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>It is not thus that souls are won.</i>"<br /></span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 23em;"><i><span class="smcap">Bonar.</span></i></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h2><p class="totoc"><a href="#toc">CONTENTS</a></p> + +<p class="center"><i>PASTOR IN PARISH</i> (ii.).</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 10em;"><i>Work on in hope; the plough, the sickle wield</i>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Thy Master is the harvest's Master too</i>;<br /></span> +<i>He gives the golden seed, He owns the field</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>And does Himself what His true servants do.</i><br /></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p> + +<p>I take up again the all-important subject +of Pastoral Visitation, for the same sort +of informal and fragmentary treatment as that +attempted in the last chapter, and with the +same feeling that the subject is practically +inexhaustible.</p> + +<p class="center">LET THE VISITOR BE A TEACHER, WATCHING FOR OPPORTUNITIES.</p> + +<p>One object which the visitor will do well to +keep steadily before him is, to be a <i>teacher</i> as +he goes. I have said something of this already, +in recommending my Brethren to seize every +good occasion for bringing in the Bible, and +words about the Bible. But the whole work of +instruction needs remembrance in our private +intercourse with parishioners. Of course we +shall avoid with watchful and willing care the +magisterial manner, the too didactic tone. And +only when obvious occasions present themselves<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> +shall we even seem to <i>set ourselves</i> to teach; +as when we are distinctly asked what is the +meaning of this doctrine, or that passage of +Scripture, or that phrase of the Prayer Book, +or how to meet that difficulty of belief. Such +moments do come; in some pastoral lives they +come frequently; and whether the inquiry is +made in a friendly spirit, with a real wish for +information, or whether, as sometimes, it is the +question of a critic or a caviller, it is an opportunity +for which, in the Lord's grace, we should +stand quite ready. To be sure we may have +sometimes to remember that sensible precept +of the Rabbis, "<i>Teach thy tongue to say, I do +not know</i>"; the answer, often, of the truest +and deepest-sighted wisdom. But even when +answering so, instruction may be given, as we +state the reasons for the answer. And we +shall at least have the opportunity while so +doing to bring in that other maxim, which we +owe, I think, to the late Archbishop Whately, +"<i>Never allow what you do know to be disturbed +by what you do not know</i>"; a principle of very +wide application.</p> + +<p>But I am thinking now rather of the every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>-day +sort of pastoral call and conversation, in +which perhaps the parishioner visited may be +anything but a caviller, and anything but even +a questioner; much too ready, perhaps, to +take everything about Christian truths for +granted, which, alas, means too often to take +them as understood, to take them as believed, +when there is little understanding of the matter, +or even thought about it. Now it is a great +thing when a pastoral visitor has the art +(which needs to be considered, and to be +acquired) of putting here and there into a +quiet and friendly talk, best of all towards the +close, some sentence which sets out a great +truth clearly, strongly, and in a shape which +may wake attention and help remembrance. +That is the kind of didactic work which I +earnestly recommend.</p> + +<p class="center">*THE PASTORAL TEACHER'S TOPICS.</p> + +<p>If possible, let no visit +close without some such utterance, if only one. +It may be about the very foundations of all +Christian truth; about the certainty of Christian +facts, the Resurrection above all; about +the Person of the Lord Jesus; about His +finished work of Atonement; about faith, and +our acceptance as believers in Him, and our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> +victory and deliverance in temptation by the +power of the Holy Ghost through faith; +about sin, its true nature, its guilt, its end. +Or it may be about the holy practicalities +of Christian conduct; about the Lord's call +to us to break with everything that is +against His will; about that deep, far-reaching +truth of the Gospel that, while the sinner is +saved by faith only, he is saved on purpose +that he may serve, on purpose that he may +walk and please God," [1 Thess. iv. 1.] and that +he may do this above all in "the duty that +lies near," in the plain things of the home, the +business, the handicraft, the social circle. Or +it may be about the mighty claims of the +Missionary cause, about the strangely forgotten +fact that the Christian Church exists +mainly in order to evangelize the non-Christian +world. Or it may be about the principles +and duties of Church membership and Christian +ordinances; the true nature of worship; +the sacred duty of united worship; the call +to hallow the Lord's Day; the precious benefits +of the Sacraments of Christ, explained +with the holy reverence and equally holy sim<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>plicity +and moderation of the Catechism and +the Articles.</p> + +<p class="center">NEED FOR SUCH WORK.</p> + +<p>I need not fill my pages with numberless +details. For my plea is that we should rather +hold ourselves ready for the natural rise of +such or such topics, and for a clear instructive +word in season upon them, than that we should +propose a theme and deliver a discourse. But +I cannot too earnestly remind my Brethren +how great <i>the need</i> of instruction is among +many of our kindly neighbours, even among +our neighbours who go regularly to Church +and are constantly to be seen at the Table +of the Lord.</p> + +<p class="center">CHRIST "A BLESSED ANGEL."</p> + +<p>Let me take one pre-eminent subject as my +illustration: the foundation-truth of the Godhead +of our Blessed Redeemer. Are you at +all aware how widely spread is ignorance and +error on that subject, far beyond the limits of +the "Unitarian"<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> community? I remember +a pastoral visit long ago to a slowly dying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> +parishioner, a labouring man somewhat stricken +in years, who had been a church-goer, though +not a communicant. I soon fell into a conversation +with my friend which took a sort +of catechetical shape; my aim was to see +where the soul's hopes for eternity really rested. +Who and What was <span class="smcap">Jesus</span>, whose name I +know he humbly reverenced? Was He a +good Man? Yes. But anything more? There +was a long hesitation, and then the dear man +expressed a faltering persuasion that the Lord +could not be less than "a blessed angel." +That case, I am well convinced, is very much +more representative than some of us may think. +At a recent Church Congress I heard some +remarks in just this direction from Bishop +Walsham How, who speaks from a large +pastoral experience; his anxiety about the immense +extent of popular ignorance or misbelief +about the Saviour's Person was at least as +great as mine.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> A term which I use under protest. If a Unitarian means a +believer in the Unity of the Godhead, every orthodox Christian +is a true Unitarian. Only, he is a Trinitarian also, from another +side. I may venture to refer on this subject to a small book +of my own, <i>Outlines of Christian Doctrine</i>, p. 20.</p></div> + +<p class="center">"ALL MY SUFFERMENT HERE."</p> + +<p>And so too is ignorance and misbelief about +the work of His Cross, and of His Holy Spirit. +"I hope I shall have all my sufferment here," +said one poor invalid to me in old days, speak<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>ing +indeed from a very comfortless bed, in +the slow pains of a dire disease. She had +been long within sound of clear, bright Christian +teaching. But deep in the soul, unmoved +and ah, so difficult to dislodge, 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 Calvary:—</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 13em;">"Thy pains, not mine, O Christ,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Upon the shameful tree<br /></span> +Have paid the law's full price,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And purchased peace for me.<br /><br /></span> + +<span class="i0">"Thy Cross, not mine, O Christ,<br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Has borne the awful load<br /></span> +Of sins that none in heaven<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or earth could bear but God."<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a><br /></span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Bonar, <i>Hymns of Faith and Hope</i> (First Series).</p></div> + +<p class="center">THE TRUTH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.</p> + +<p>As regards the Person and the Work of +the blessed Spirit, great and general is the oblivion, +and manifold are the mistakes. I fear +that even in the best instructed congregations, +under the clearest public teaching, there are all +too many who, practically, "have not so much +as heard whether there be any Holy +Ghost." [Acts xix. 2.] The belief in His glorious Personality<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> +is faint and vague. The confusion of His +Presence and Power with our "better feelings" +is very, very common. The solemn questions +which the Scripture bids us put to ourselves, [Rom. viii. 9.] +whether <i>or not</i> we "have the Spirit +of Christ"—not merely "a Christian spirit" in +the sense of tone and temper, but the Holy +Ghost, proceeding from the Son, and uniting +the true believer to Him—are little understood, +and rarely used upon the man by himself. +And the very thought of such a presence and +such a power of the Lord the Life-Giver as +shall "<i>fill us with</i> the Spirit" [Eph. v. 18.] is not +yet existent, I fear, in the minds of many even +earnest Christians.</p> + +<p>Here are fields, large and fruitful, for the +teaching visitor's cultivation. And so are the +other possible subjects indicated above; such +as the claims of the Lord upon our personal +consistency in little things; His solemn call +to all His people to be, directly or indirectly, +the evangelists of the world; and the nature +of His blessed sacramental Institutions.</p> + +<p class="center">THE TRUTH OF THE SACRAMENTS.</p> + +<p>On that last subject it is not my intention to +enter at any length. But a few words I may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> +take this occasion to say, 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 principles. +Let me first then counsel you to take care that +no one shall be able, lawfully, to charge you +with making light of the Sacraments,<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> or with +leaving uncertain your belief as to their divine +purpose and function. A ministry which is +silent about them, and indistinct in its teaching +on them, cannot in this respect be fully true +to either the Prayer Book or the Bible. Let +your instructions on this great subject, in public +and in private, be definite, reverent, and full +of thankfulness and praise for those great gifts +of God. Then on the other hand, do not, if I +may speak freely, while with all respect, think +to honour the Sacraments by exaggeration, by +speaking more of them than of that far greater +thing, the blessed Grace of God in Christ, of +which they are the "sure <i>witnesses</i> and effectual<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> +<i>signs</i>."<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> If I do not mistake, one of the most +prevalent tendencies of current thought in the +Church now is the tendency to invert, in a certain +way, the relations between Sacrament and +Grace; to develop a doctrine of the Sacrament +such that the doctrine of Grace can be seen only, +as it were, through it. And the result is, very +often, so at least it seems to me to be, a very +poor and attenuated presentation of the glorious +things said in Scripture about "the grace +of God which bringeth salvation," [Tit. ii. 11.] +and about the work of pure and simple, but +mysteriously mighty, faith in our appropriation +of Christ's merits and our reception of Christ's +living power by the Holy Ghost. Let no such +inversion mark your teaching. And if I may +give one further suggestion, I would say, remind +yourself frequently of the very words of the +Prayer Book (including the Catechism) and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> +Articles on these great subjects. And inform +yourself to some extent, at first hand, of the +views of the men who cast our Services and +our Articles into their practically present shape; +the views of Cranmer, of Ridley, of Jewell, and, +just after them, of Hooker; not forgetting one +great foreign theologian, Henry Bullinger, who +exercised a special influence on the English +divines of Edward and Elizabeth's time in the +matter of sacramental doctrine.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> You will find in +him a full measure of holy reverence, and at the +same time a luminous clearness and definiteness +of exposition. The central idea of his teaching +is the idea of the Covenant Seal, the "instrument" +of solemn, valid, legal "conveyance."</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> I mean of course Baptism and the Supper of the Lord, +which <i>alone</i> the Church of England recognizes as Christian +Sacraments, <i>Sacramenta Evangelica</i>, "Sacraments of the Gospel" +(see Art. xxv., par. 2).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> <i>Certa testimonia, efficacia signa</i> (Art. xxv.). It is worth the +while to point out that a "<i>sign</i>" is "<i>effectual</i>" when it <i>effectually +does the work of a sign</i>, not some quite different work. A seal +is an effectual seal, not because, conceivably, its matter could be +used as a powerful medicine, but because, <i>attached to its document</i>, +it effectually seals the document's validity. A seal is in +this respect a special sort of "effectual sign." And so are the +Sacraments.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> See the Parker Society's collection of authors for Bullinger's +<i>Decades</i>, or Doctrinal Sermons; officially recognized as a body of +divinity by the Church of England in Elizabeth's reign.</p></div> + +<p class="center">MISTAKES ABOUT CHURCH DOCTRINE.</p> + +<p>While on the subject of Church Doctrine, I +may go a little further, 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 England. I have +had considerable experience of such questions +in the way of private pastoral ministry; I have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> +found pious dissenters, or church-people whom +they had influenced, fully persuaded that the +Church of England teaches unconditional regeneration +in the hour of Baptism, that she +teaches at least a near approach to Transubstantiation, +that she entrusts to her priests the +power of conferring or withholding the divine +forgiveness, and that, officially and in set terms, +she "unchurches" all communities not episcopally +organized.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> It is well to be quite sure +that these beliefs about the Church are mistakes, +provably such, in the light of the Prayer Book +and Articles, and of history. It has been my +happiness to bring some such questioners as I +have described to "sincere and conscientious +communion with" the Church of England, in +a loyalty which leaves ample room for loving +sympathy with all true Christians. And the +chief means has been the production of proof +that the Church herself, as distinguished from +particular teachers and leaders in the Church, +does not teach the tenets alleged.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> As regards the Scottish and Continental Protestant Churches +it is not too much to say that, with the very rarest exceptions, +English Church writers <i>of all schools</i> regarded them as "Sister +Churches of the Reformation"—<i>till about 1830</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p></div> + +<p class="center">DEFECTIVE VIEWS OF SIN.</p> + +<p>But to come back to matters more primary +than even these; I must remind my younger +Brother that there is, all around him, in the +average circles of even church-going people, +a sorrowfully faint insight into the sinfulness of +<span class="smcap">Sin</span>; into the terrible realities of its <i>guilt</i> before +God (a point too often absent from even +earnest modern teaching), and of its <i>power</i>; +yes, and into its true <i>nature</i>, as it comes out, +not in outbursts of word or deed, or in practices +which public opinion condemns, but in imagination, +in desire, in tone. It may surprise us +(when we think how very elementary are the +spiritual principles involved), but I fear it is a +fact, that sin is regarded by vast numbers of +church-people (I am not thinking at all of "the +lapsed masses" now) as a matter of little importance +if it does not come out in some very +positive form. Multitudes among us are quite +insensible to the spiritual penetration of the law +of God, and have never given a thought to +the question of a heart-surrender to His will in +everything, and the sin of merely withholding +that surrender.</p> + +<p>Then, to take another primary subject of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> +different class; there is a wide and general +ignorance of the great lines of Christian Evidence, +and a large open door accordingly for +the active attacks of shallow, or subtle, unbelief. +Few have ever been taught in any definite way +the supreme significance in this respect of the +fact of the Lord's Resurrection, and its mighty +walls of proof; and the reasons for our belief +that the Bible is indeed not of man but of +God; the witness of history to prophecy; and +so on.</p> + +<p class="center">LET US DROP SEEDS OF TEACHING.</p> + +<p>I owe an almost apology for this long talk +about subjects of doctrine, and practice, and +evidence. But I have kept all along the purpose +of this chapter in view. I wish to remind +my Brethren how very much they may do, in +the course of visitation, to <i>drop seeds</i> of fact, +of truth, of principle, in careful, thoughtful +words, the product of private reading and +reflection, called out by some natural occasion. +Undoubtedly, the subjects I have outlined are +themes for the pulpit, and for the Bible class, +as well as for the visit. But my feeling is that +the visit gives opportunities quite of its own +for didactic work. We ought to be "natural"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> +everywhere; but we are sometimes suspected, +or imagined, to be less so in public than in +private; and besides, in private we give and +take; we are open to question and answer; +and this may give quite special advantage to +the word spoken, quietly and pleasantly, but +pointedly, in the pastoral interview.</p> + +<p class="center">"PURCHASE THE OPPORTUNITY."</p> + +<p>"The priest's lips should keep knowledge." [Mal. ii. 7.] +The Clergyman should be ready everywhere +to be the teacher on the great subjects +which he is supposed to make his own. He will +never intrude instruction, or parade it; but he +will everywhere be on the watch for the occasion +for it, ἐξαγοραζόμενος τὸν καιρόν, +"purchasing the opportunity," [Eph. v. 10.] at the cost of +care.</p> + +<p class="center">VISITATION OF THE SICK.</p> + +<p>And here I may come again to that important +branch of visitation, the visitation of the +sick. The Church, as we well know, provides +a Form of Visitation; most helpful and suggestive +in its principles and outline for all. But +it is, as you are aware, <i>imposed</i> by the Canon +(lxvii.) only on such Clergymen (very scarce +personages) as have no licence to preach. As +a fact, we Presbyters are left to our own discre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>tion +in this sacred part of our work; and that +discretion we should seek prayerfully to cultivate. +How different are the circumstances in +each one of an average series of sick-visits! +As I write the words, such a series from my own +past days rises up before me; and I transcribe +a few recollections from the book of memory.</p> + +<p class="center">A SERIES OF VISITS.</p> + +<p>W.S. is a retired tradesman, a thoughtful +and rather reticent man; brought up a Socinian, +and professedly such still. I am trying to lay +siege to him, not without merciful tokens of +hope from the Lord. And the simple plan is, +not to open the controversy between Socinus +and Scripture, but to arrange that each visit +shall have its short Scripture reading, its +friendly talk, and its prayer, all bearing mainly +on the deadliness of sin and the wonder and +glory of salvation. I happen to know that the +married daughter of W.S., a very intelligent +woman, was brought from heresy to a divine +Saviour's feet by means of a sermon, not on +Christ's Godhead, but on the sinfulness of sin.</p> + +<p>T.H. is a sturdy old blacksmith, old enough +to have been bred in the infidel school of +Carlile (quite another person than Carlyle), and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> +steeped in old-fashioned Chartism. He always +has the newspaper on his now helpless knees, +never the Bible; but he almost always has +some Bible difficulty ready for me. It is +pleasant to be able this afternoon to show him, +holding the page up before his eyes, that his +last stumbling-block is one of his own (or his +friends') bold invention. He meets civility +always civilly, and never resents a natural +transition from the last bit of politics to the +Gospel. But it is a hard, sad case. The +Lord only knows how the apparently motionless +conscience fares.</p> + +<p>T.G. is a fine, manly artizan, a coach-painter, +scarcely yet in middle life; lately the +somewhat bitter and very self-satisfied critic of +his good and devoted wife's simple faith. I +have had rather discouraging talks with T.G. +before to-day; but now he is very ill, and a +few Sunday afternoons ago he sent across the +road for the Curate, who to his own solemn joy +found him broken down in unmistakable conviction +of sin, asking what he must do to be +saved. It is a blessed thing to visit him now, +for already the rays of the eternal sun are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> +shining between the clouds of a deeply +genuine repentance; and the visitor's task is +plain,—</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 2em;">"To teach him all the mercy, while he shows him all the sin."</p> + +<p>Soon it will be my happiness, I hope, to administer +to him, as a penitent believer, with +his now happy wife and a faithful friend, the +precious Communion; and I look forward to +see him depart in due time in the peace of +God, to be with Christ, for whom already he +has learnt to testify.</p> + +<p>Then comes another visit, to one of our +"bettermost" neighbours; this door bears, or +ought to bear, the proverbial brass knocker. +But be the door what it may be, there is great +need and great mercy inside it. The dear man, +W.T., lately in active professional life in the +home civil-service, is sinking under the most +agonizing of human maladies, and it is very near +the close; this is the second visit to-day, in his +urgent need. But, blessed be God, grace, once +absent, has found its way through the terrible +obstacle of pain, and his scarcely articulate +utterance—intelligible to his visitor only be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>cause +now so familiar—speaks of the joy and +rest of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the +sufferer's longing for the salvation of another +soul, a soul very dear to him.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Wonderful to say (it is to me very wonderful), I have known +more than one bright conversion take place amidst the untold +pangs of such an illness.</p></div> + +<p>Such visits tell upon the heart, and upon +the head, and perhaps the round among the +suffering has been long enough to-day. To-morrow +we will try to get a quiet half-hour +with W.R., a shopkeeper, sinking in consumption; +a man of no common natural refinement +and thoughtfulness, but long troubled with that +sort of scepticism which is generated (who +knows in how many cases?) by the mysteries, +not of God's revelation, but of His providence. +For him, too, the visitor's business is to lay +a gentle siege, "here a little, and there a +little," trying never to lose patience with objections +and difficulties, but rather to sympathize +with them <i>as to their pains</i>, and then to suggest +the answer in Jesus Christ. And oh joy, the +Lord is finding the way in, through His Word, +and the clouds are passing away from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> +man's mind, and soul, and forehead, as he is +getting to "know <span class="smcap">Whom</span> he believes."<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> I possess a beautiful little Bible given me by dear W.R., who +has now been many years with Christ. Such a gift is a very +sacred treasure to a Pastor.</p></div> + +<p>Then we can walk round the corner—how +the beloved streets and lanes rise up in memory +before me as I write!—to see J.F., a young +printer, dying in the brightest joy and peace, +won from carelessness to a solid faith by the +work and witness of earnest dissenting Christians, +but glad and thankful to receive the +Communion of the Lord from his dear Vicar, +or his Vicar's son. And then five minutes' +walk takes us to a tiny alley in the denser part +of the widespread parish, where a poor life-long +cripple, W.G., lies day and year upon his <i>little</i> +bed—little, because though the head is full-sized, +and the brain within it is an adult brain, +the body has never grown since childhood. +Here is a case for steady sympathy, and also +for gentle and steady aiming at instruction as +well as comfort. And then, not far off, we will +take the privilege of a quiet visit to an aged +Christian woman, J.N. In long past years<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +loving saints found her pining in extreme +poverty, and sunk in a dull, despairing indifference. +Now it is a great spiritual help to +sit in her little attic beside her, and draw her +on to speak (she is no loquacious person by +nature, and needs drawing on) about the needs +of the soul, and the glorious fulness of the Son +of God. She is no common Christian; not +only in life but in thought this appears. At +the time of her conversion, she could not read +a letter. Since then, she has repeatedly read +with great spiritual insight and enjoyment +Archbishop Leighton's Commentary on St +Peter. Here is a room in which the visitor +learns quite as much as he teaches. And so +he does in a still smaller and much darker +room, three minutes' distant from J.N.'s. +There lies blind R.W., in his strong days +the head-servant of an old farmer of our +village, and to all appearance as little capable +of spiritual interests as the animals he fed. +But on his sick-bed, the comfortless couch of +many declining years, a loving visitor, a devoted +lady-worker, has found him out, and the Lord +has found him out through her. He never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +knew A from B in his life, and never will. +But do you want proof of the power of grace +to quicken mind, as well as to convert soul? +Come with me up the stairs into dear old +R.W.'s darksome room, and in the course of +our talk you shall hear his quavering voice +saying things, quite humbly and naturally, about +the glory of his Saviour, and the way of salvation, +and the joy and peace of his heart in God, +which are not only loving ascriptions but clear +and sound divinity. It is good to be with him.</p> + +<p>I have spoken mainly, though not only, of +cases of warm interest and encouragement. +Of course there are sorrowful and heart-trying +visits to the sick. One such, to poor old +T.H., I have described. And we might see +the much older A.C., a woman of near ninety +years, who seems impenetrable to the true +light, though grateful and kindly towards the +visitor; and B.F., older still, ninety-six, so +vain of her age that it is difficult to get her +off the beloved theme; and J.G., a steady, +self-righteous man; and C.W., clever, and +disposed to scoff; and T.B., known to be +leading a very evil life, civil, but immovable.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center">RESOLVE TO BE A VISITOR.</p> + +<p>The work is very various, very interesting, +and full of the call for "long patience," while +full, too, of blessed encouragements and surprises. +But "the time would fail me." Ah, +let me not close without saying to my younger +Brother how deeply humbling to me are the +memories of those pastoral days, and humbling +above all as I look back and wish now, in vain +for ever, that I had <i>visited more</i>, among both +the sick and the whole. "Enter not into +judgment with Thy servant, O Lord"; "To +Thee only it appertaineth to forgive sins."</p> + +<p>My dear younger Brother, resolve that by +the grace of God you will be a visitor, whatever +else you are, or are not. And be a visitor +who respects his neighbours, who feels with +them, whose heart lives with them, and who on +the other hand watches over his call to instruct +them, to clear up and deepen their thoughts of +self, and God, and life, and death, and salvation, +and duty, and eternity.</p> + +<p class="center">A CONVERSION AT EIGHTY-SIX.</p> + +<p>"Go, labour on; spend and be spent." +There is a sure reward, seen or not seen as +yet; and often the most unlikely quarter shall +prove the quarter of blessing, and the last shall<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> +be first. One recollection, drawn out of my +earliest childhood, shall close this wandering +talk. It is of dear old Mrs E., then aged quite +eighty-six. She must have been born under the +rule of King George the Second. A farmer's +widow, she had been absolutely and perfectly +respectable all her life, and was entirely satisfied +with her state and her prospects for the next +world. My dear Father, and his devoted +Curate of those days, the Rev. W.D., not +seldom saw her, but without leaving any +apparent impression on her conscience. At +last that conscience woke. The Curate read +a chapter, in her hearing, to her pious invalid +daughter, who had sought her mother's conversion +for years in prayer, and had <i>lived</i> true +Christianity all the while in her mother's home. +And on a sudden, something in that chapter +(it was the third of Romans) said to the old +lady, "You have lived eighty years in the +world, and never done a single thing for the +love of God." The conviction was tremendous +in its depth and quality, and it lasted long. +But a very bright light followed, and shone +with holy fulness through what proved to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> +several remaining years of beautiful old age. +She rejoiced in her adorable Saviour with joy +unspeakable, a joy meanwhile perfectly sober +and full of the good fruits of loving righteousness. +She died at last, singing, or rather +musically murmuring, <i>Rock of Ages</i>.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> And +my recollection, across seven-and-forty years, +is of that dear old lady of the past, sitting +upright in her parlour, as my Mother led me in +to see her, and wearing a look upon her face +which I can only now describe as a remembered +ray of light.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> My dear Father, many years ago, published a full narrative +of Mrs E.'s last days, in a little volume of pastoral recollections, +<i>Pardon and Peace</i>.</p></div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 13em;">"<i>I love, I love my Master;</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>I will not go out free;</i></span><br /> +<i>For He is my Redeemer,</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>He paid the price for me.</i></span><br /><br /> + +"<i>I would not leave His service,</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>It is so sweet and blest,</i></span><br /> +<i>And in the weariest moments</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>He gives the truest rest.</i>"</span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 23em;"><span class="smcap">Miss F.R. Havergal.</span></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></h2><p class="totoc"><a href="#toc">CONTENTS</a></p> + +<p class="center"><i>THE CLERGYMAN AND THE PRAYER BOOK.</i></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 13em;"><i>Dear pages of ancestral prayer</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Illumined all with Scripture gold</i>,<br /></span> +<i>In you we seem the faith to share</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>Of saints and seers of old</i>.<br /><br /></span> + +<i>Whene'er in worship's blissful hour</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>The Pastor lends your heart a voice</i>,<br /></span> +<i>Let his own spirit feel your power</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>And answer, and rejoice.</i></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p> + +<p>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 +Church, reserving the work of the Pulpit for +later treatment.</p> + +<p class="center">THE PRAYER BOOK NOT PERFECT BUT INESTIMABLE.</p> + +<p>Let me begin by a brief reminder of the +greatness of the spiritual treasure which we +possess in the Book by which we minister. +How shall I speak of it as I would? "The +Prayer Book isn't inspired, I know," said an +old coast-guardsman some years ago to a friend +of mine, "but, sure and certain, <i>'tis as bad as +inspired</i>!" "I find the Liturgy," said another +veteran, Charles Simeon, "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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> +about it." "All that the Church of England +needs to make her the glory of all Churches," +said Simeon's friend, the late Rev. William +Marsh, "is the spirit of her own services."</p> + +<p>I am not so blind as to maintain that our +Book is ideally perfect, and that its every +sentence is infallible. It is not quite literally +"as bad as inspired." After using it in ministration +for nearly five-and-twenty years I own +to the wish that here and there the wording, or +the arrangement, or the rubrical direction, had +been otherwise in some detail, perhaps in some +important detail. I do certainly wish very +earnestly indeed that the Revisers of 1661-2 +had expressed themselves more happily in that +Rubric about "Ornaments" which within recent +years has proved—little as they expected +it, or intended it, to do so—such a fertile +field of discord. But for all this, my five-and-twenty +years' ministerial use of the Prayer +Book has only deepened my sense of its +inestimable general value and greatness.</p> + +<p>If a temperate and equitable revision were +possible at the present time I should welcome +the prospect on most accounts. But it seems<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> +to me plain that it is <i>not</i> at present possible. +And meanwhile I thank God from my inmost +heart for the actual Prayer Book as a whole.</p> + +<p>Let me point out a very few of the claims of +the Book on our love and gratitude; and now +specially in view of what we may sometimes +hear said about it by Christians not of our +own Church.</p> + +<p>i. Observe its profound and searching +<i>spirituality</i>. It is quite true that in a certain +sense the Book takes all who use it for +granted; it assumes them to be worshippers in +spirit and in truth; it does not pray for them, +or lead them in public worship to pray for +themselves, as for those who do not know and +love God, who have not come to Christ. But +then what form of public, common prayer can +well do this? And meantime the Book does, +especially in the service of the Communion, +and particularly in that too often omitted part +of it, the "longer Exhortation," beginning +<i>Dearly beloved in the Lord</i>, throw the worshipper +back upon himself for self-examination. +This is just the method of St Paul in his +addresses to the Christian community. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> +writes to all as "saints," "faithful," "elect," +"sanctified." What does he mean? Does he +mean that those glorious terms are satisfied by +the fact that all have been baptized, or even +that all are communicants at the sacred Table? +Not at all. He takes all for granted as being +what they profess to be, when he greets the +community [Rom. viii. 9; 1 Cor. xvi. 22; 2 Cor. xiii. 5; Gal. v. 6.]. But he says also, "If +any man have not the Spirit of Christ +he is none of His"; "If any man +love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be +anathema"; "Examine yourselves, whether ye +be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know +ye not that Jesus Christ is in you—except ye +be ἀδόκιμοι, counterfeits?" "In Jesus Christ +neither circumcision availeth anything, nor +uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by +love." Such sentences throw a flood of holy +and searching light on the sense in which St +Paul "took them all for granted." And the +Prayer Book is in true harmony with both +parts of the Apostle's method.</p> + +<p class="center">WHAT IT TAKES FOR GRANTED IN THE WORSHIPPER.</p> + +<p>And then, think what the Book <i>does</i> thus +searchingly and helpfully "take for granted." +It assumes a deep sense of sin, such a sense<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> +as is indeed "grievous unto us." It takes for +granted our deep desire both for pardon and +for spiritual victory. It assumes our desire to +be "kept this day without sin"; to "follow the +only God with pure hearts and minds"; to "be +continually given to all good works"; to "be +enabled by the Lord to live according to His +will"; to have "all our doings ordered by His +governance"; to have "such love to Him +poured into our hearts that we may love Him +above all things." It assumes our desire to +"read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest all the +Holy Scriptures." It assumes our readiness +to "suffer on earth for the testimony of the +truth, looking up steadfastly to heaven, and by +faith beholding the glory that shall be revealed." +It assumes our adoring devotion to our Lord +Jesus Christ, and that we present "ourselves, +our souls and bodies, a reasonable, holy, and +living sacrifice," to our God.</p> + +<p>I heard a few years ago of a remarkable case +of secession from the Church of England. A +thoughtful and conscientious man left us because, +as he said, he could no longer seem to +concur in such words of intense spiritual reality<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> +and surrender <i>while he did not fully mean them</i>. +On his principles, I fear there ought to be a +large exodus from our Church. But that is not +the fault of the Church, or of the Church's +Book. It is the fault of the worshippers, and +it is a solemn call to us not so much to criticize +the Liturgy as to "examine <i>ourselves</i>."</p> + +<p class="center">THE PRAYER BOOK AS A WEAPON.</p> + +<p>In this connexion I am reminded of a characteristic +saying of an honoured friend of mine, +now at rest with the Lord after a long and +faithful ministry. He was one of those men +who instinctively speak strongly, perhaps sometimes +roughly; but such roughness is often +useful. "The Prayer Book," said he, "is +always handy to throw at people's heads"; +figuratively, of course, not literally. He slung +it out in vigorous quotations from his pulpit, +point blank at the unreality, and formalism, and +pharisaism, and love of this present evil world, +which too often underlies the most precise +"churchmanship" and the most punctual +church-going.</p> + +<p>My old friend's strong word may carry a +suggestion to some of my younger Brethren; +though I would advise their deferring a <i>projectile</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +use of the Book till they are seniors in the +Church. But the youngest Minister of Christ, +in all loving modesty, may reach many a conscience +(beginning with his own) by well-timed +words from the Prayer Book, showing what the +Book takes for granted in the worshipper.</p> + +<p class="center">SCRIPTURALITY OF THE BOOK.</p> + +<p>ii. Next I point to the abundant and loyal +<i>Scripturality</i> of the Prayer Book. I venture +to say that no Service Book in the world is +quite like ours in this. This characteristic lies +on the surface; in the wealth of Scripture +poured out in every service before the people; +Psalms, Lessons, Canticles, Epistle, Gospel, +Introductory Sentences, Decalogue, Comfortable +Words. At the Font, in the Marriage +Ordinance, at the Grave, it is still the same; +Scripture, in our mother tongue, full and free, +runs everywhere. And below the surface it is +the same. Take almost any set of responses, +or any single prayer, and see the strong warp +of the Bible in it all.</p> + +<p class="center">*"THE PREFACE" ON THE BIBLE.</p> + +<p>And then go for a +moment from the Services to the Preface of +the Book, and see what the Fathers of our +English Liturgy thought and intended about +the place of the Holy Scriptures in worship.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> +I hope my Brethren have all read that "Preface" +with care; I mean, of course, the whole +length of introductory matter which precedes +the Tables of Lessons; nothing of it later than +1662, most of it (indeed all but the first section, +written by Sanderson) dating in substance +from 1549.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> I hope it has all been read by you; +but I am not quite certain of it, so little attention +is at present called to those important and +authoritative statements of principle. But however +well you may already know them, they +will repay another reading; 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 "<i>the Word +of God</i> have free course and be glorified" [2 Thess. iii. 1.] in all +the worship of the people. Those men were +learned in the past, and they reverenced history +and continuity. But they reverenced still more +the heavenly Word, and where they found the +ample reading and hearing of it impeded by +even immemorial usage, the usage had to give +way, without reserve, to the Bible.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> I do not forget that some modifications in detail, as to the +Lectionary, are quite recent.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p></div> + +<p>Yes, the Prayer Book is, whatever else it +is, searchingly, overflowingly Scriptural; full of +the Bible, full of Christ. Let us drink its principles +and its manner in, that they may come +out in our life and our preaching.</p> + +<p>And now for a few simple practical suggestions +on our ministerial use of the Book.</p> + +<p class="center">USE THE BOOK WITH DILIGENCE.</p> + +<p>i. First, 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 +reality. We <i>need</i> to form such a resolve deliberately, +and to watch and pray over it. Do +we not know what strong temptations lie in the +other direction? We have to use these forms +over and over again; before many years are +over perhaps we could "take" a whole service, +except the appointed Scriptures, without looking +at the book: is it not too easy under such +conditions to read as those who read not, and +to pray as those who pray not? And all too +often the Clergyman, younger or older, allows +himself almost consciously, almost on principle, +to form an inadequate estimate of his Prayer-Book +work. Perhaps he regards the prayers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> +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 them. +Or perhaps on the other hand he lets himself +forget their immense importance, under a strong, +and just, sense of the sacred importance of the +Sermon. He is alive and awake in the pulpit, +and seeks his Lord's presence there, and realizes +it as sought; but in the desk—he goes by +himself, 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 alone.</p> + +<p class="center">*USE IT WITH LIVING REALITY.</p> + +<p>I can only appeal +with all my heart to my younger Brother not +to let it be thus with him. And the only effective +recipe against the trouble is faith, exercised +in prayer and watching, with a full recollection +of the urgent importance of the matter. For +indeed it <i>is</i> all-important that the servant of +God should be "given wholly to" his work, at +the reading desk, at the lectern, at the Table, +at the Font.</p> + +<p class="center">PRAY THE PRAYERS.</p> + +<p>It is easy to say, as it is often said, that +we "must not preach the prayers," must not +obtrude our personality in leading the devo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>tions +of the congregation; that our part is to be +regular and audible, and otherwise to "efface +ourselves." Most certainly we ought not to +<i>preach</i> the prayers, in public any more than in +private. But then, we ought to <i>pray</i> them. +Most certainly we ought not to obtrude our +personality upon the thought of the worshippers. +But then, we ought to serve them +with our personality, and we can best do this, +surely, by a spirit and a manner which is unmistakably +that of the fellow-worshipper, who feels +<i>himself</i> to be in the presence of the King, and +knows that the petitions and the promises are +for him at least a holy reality. I am perfectly +well aware that it is not <i>easy</i> to steer between +a more or less mechanical manner and a +demonstrative one, and that perhaps of two +evils the former is the less. But I am sure +it is <i>possible</i> to steer the right line, by using +sanctified common-sense, and asking for a little +candid counsel from those who hear us, and +above all by being what we seek to seem—true +worshippers, spiritually awake and humbly +reverent.</p> + +<p>As long as man is man, so long will the law<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> +of sympathy hold good. And by that law it +is certain that the way to promote, so far as +we can, a spirit and tone of true worship in our +people is to possess—and to show—that spirit +ourselves, as we lead, and also join, their +worship. Never declaim the prayers, but +always pray them, from the soul and with the +voice.</p> + +<p class="center">"GIVE ATTENDANCE TO THE READING" OF THE LESSONS.</p> + +<p>ii. I spoke just now of what we should do +at the lectern. Let me earnestly press upon +my Brethren the great duty of rightly reading +the Lessons. Do you want to carry out the +will and purpose of the Church of England? +As we have seen, that purpose is above everything +to glorify the Word of God. See then +that the Lesson, as read by you, is as audible, +as intelligible, as impressive as you can make +it. Take care beforehand that you understand +its points, its arguments, its emphasis. Take +counsel with yourself, and perhaps with others, +about ways and means for bringing these +things out in your public reading. Remember +that for very many of your people (I fear I am +right in saying so) the Church Lessons are the +most solid pieces of Scripture they ever hear,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> +or ever read. Many years ago it was not uncommonly +said that in "these days of universal +reading" we might perhaps abbreviate our +Church Lessons. But since that time it has +been more fully and sadly realized, by very +many of us at least, that universal reading +does not mean universal Bible reading by any +means, but much rather universal newspaper +and novel reading. The heavenly Book is +<i>terribly unfamiliar</i> to multitudes of churchgoers, +as you will find, if you ask, when you +go about your parish; of this we have already +thought. Therefore, make all you can of the +reading of the Lessons in public worship. +Πρόσεχε τῇ αναγνώσει, says the +Apostle to Timothy, "Give attention to the +reading" [1 Tim. iv. 13.]; does he not mean, be diligent in +reading the Scripture to the people? The +precept is as much as ever in point in our +day.</p> + +<p class="center">OPPORTUNITIES OFFERED BY THE OCCASIONAL SERVICES.</p> + +<p>iii. As regards the occasional services, Public +and Private Baptism, Marriage, Burial, I would +earnestly counsel my Brother to put personality +into his reading in them all, in the moderate +sense indicated above. The fact that such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> +occasions are necessarily more or less <i>special</i> +in their interest for some at least of those +present should never be forgotten; bring the +power of a sympathetic interest and earnestness +to bear upon it. In administering Public +Baptism I have often realized this to a very +peculiar degree. Who can feel the least fondness +for little children, and have the slightest +insight into a parent's heart, and not do so? +Our service is undoubtedly long; very long +indeed when accompanied by a chorus of +perhaps several little crying voices. But let +the servant of God "be in it," and he will find +himself much more touched than troubled by +the babies' lamentations as he speaks to the +sponsors about the young helpless souls, and +turns to the Lord of all grace to dedicate them +to Him and to invoke His blessing on them +for time and eternity, and then applies the +watery Seal of all the promises to their small +foreheads. I have always found it very hard +to get through that service with a perfectly +steady voice; and after all, why should we be +so careful to do so?</p> + +<p><i>Private</i> Baptism is indeed a special occasion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> +There are reasons, no doubt, why it must not +be too readily administered; in some parishes +parents, for one reason or another, too often +try to secure "a christening" in private, on +insufficient grounds, with no intention of a +public dedication afterwards. But when the +case is clear, and you are at the little suffering +one's side, perhaps with a distressed mother +close beside it and you, see to it that you +so minister the rite, so read the few precious +words, as both to sympathize and to teach. +Let me add that Private Baptism often brings +the Clergyman into a house where religion is +utterly neglected; and the opportunity may be +a priceless one, if the power of love and spiritual +reality is with you in the work.</p> + +<p>And when you officiate at a Wedding, +different as the conditions are from those just +remembered, still do not forget that for at least +some there present the hour is a deeply moving +one. And is not the Marriage Service a noble +one to read, to interpret, with its peculiar +mingling of immemorial and archaic simplicity +with a searching depth of scriptural exhortation, +and a bright wealth of divine benedictions?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> +Throw the power of a true man's solemnized +sympathy into your reading of that service.</p> + +<p class="center">PROBLEMS CONNECTED WITH THE USE OF THE BURIAL SERVICE.</p> + +<p>Of the ritual of the Grave I hardly need to +speak. I know only too well that there are +funerals and funerals. There are occasions +of unrelieved sadness. There are occasions +when the Minister's heart is chilled by a manifest +and utter indifference. But the saddest, +dreariest of burials is an opportunity for the +Lord. Whether or no you see your way to +give an address, let it be seen that you are +dealing with God in the prayers, and read the +Lessons "as one that pleadeth with men."</p> + +<p>A brief word in passing on the problem +raised by some of the phrases of our Burial +Service. Let me call attention to the studied +generality of the words, <i>In sure and certain +hope of the resurrection to eternal life</i>. Before +1662 this ran "in sure ... hope <i>of resurrection</i>, +etc.," which, as you will observe, expressly +applied the "hope" to <i>that</i> case of burial; the +change was evidently made on purpose to +relieve conscience in the matter. Then remember +that the whole service is constructed, +like all our services, for the member of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> +Christian community taken on his profession; +and that assumption, unless flagrant facts withstand +it, is to be made, in public ordinance, as +much at the grave as elsewhere. And do not +forget that <i>hope</i>, be it ever so "trembling," +is <i>never</i> forbidden at a grave-side. I am no +advocate of what is called "the larger hope"; +I dare not be. But I am deeply convinced +that mercies of the Lord, in cases quite beyond +our possible knowledge, are experienced in the +very act of departure.</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 13em;">"Betwixt the stirrup and the ground<br /> +<span style="margin-left: .5em;">Mercy I sought, mercy I found."</span></p> + +<p>That instance has many parallels; and God +only knows their limits. Never should we say, +whatever we may awfully fear, that such and +such a soul is <i>to our knowledge</i> lost.</p> + +<p>As regards the practical management of +extreme cases, the young Clergyman will of +course act altogether under his Incumbent. +And the young Incumbent will remember that +he can have recourse to his Bishop for counsel.</p> + +<p class="center">THE HOLY COMMUNION.</p> + +<p>iv. Let me say one special word on our +administration of the precious ritual of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> +Table of the Lord. I am not attempting +here any discussion of its doctrinal aspects in +detail. For myself, as I have said elsewhere, +I make no secret of long-settled "Evangelical" +convictions. 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 Covenant, rather +than an occasion on which He infuses into +them His glorified Manhood. His sacred +Body and Blood are, for me, the Body and the +Blood <i>as they were</i>, once for all, at Calvary, +and as they are not therefore literally now; +and my participation in them is accordingly +my participation in the virtues of the Atoning +Sacrifice, there once and for ever wrought and +offered. But this is by the way. I speak now +of our spirit and manner in the administration, +in respect of some principles which are little if +at all affected, it seems to me, by even grave +differences of doctrinal theory. Alas, at the +present day it is too often the case that +the communicant is fairly bewildered by the +varieties of Communion ritual, or by the complications +of it. Ought this to be so, on <i>any</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> +theory of the Eucharist? Did I for one believe +our adorable and beloved <span class="smcap">Lord</span> to be locally +present (I use the words not technically but +practically) on the Holy Table as nowhere else +here on earth, 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 act. A +ritual whose details must be matter of careful +practice, and which suggests almost the need of +a Spanish master-of-the-ceremonies—ought <i>that</i> +to be the natural effect of an, as it were, invisible +Presence?</p> + +<p class="center">SIMPLICITY AND REVERENCE.</p> + +<p>But probably I write for readers whose +inclinations or risks lie little in that direction. +And for them I say, let your administration +of the blessed Communion always combine a +manifest reverence and a restful simplicity. +The Lord <i>is</i> there, the Master of His own +Table, the Prince of His own Covenant, ready +to give His people His royal Seal by your +hands. And His people are there, to have +their sacred interview with Him. Do not +obstruct their view, their colloquy; humbly aid +it. Be their servant, as in <span class="smcap">His</span> presence;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> +obtrude yourself as little as you possibly +can.</p> + +<p class="center">ADDRESSES ON THE PRAYER BOOK.</p> + +<p>As I draw the chapter to a close, I make +one practical recommendation to my younger +Brethren. It is, to do what they can to +interest their people in the Prayer Book, and +to promote its intelligent use, by taking what +opportunities they can to talk to them about it. +Many a private occasion for this will no doubt +present itself. But if now and then a simple +lecture on the history of the Prayer Book can +be given, and if possible well illustrated, it will +be very useful; and so will be a series of week-night +devotional addresses on the teaching of +the Prayer Book. And let not the need of +plain matter-of-fact explanation of obsolete +terms and technical phrases be forgotten on +such occasions. Of course the Curate will +carefully consult his Incumbent on the whole +matter. But few of my elder Brethren will not +feel with me that such "talks upon the Prayer +Book," carefully considered and conducted, +whether by Incumbent or by Curate, may +be of the greatest use, under our Master's +blessing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center">"MORE CEREMONIAL, LESS WORSHIP."</p> + +<p>One last word, and I have done with these +suggestions. An English Bishop once told +me that he had lately met a gentleman who, +after ten years' residence abroad, returned to +England, and to his place as a worshipper in +our Churches. "Do you remark particularly +any change or advance in what you see +there?" "I observe on the one hand much +more ceremonial, on the other hand, apparently, +much less worship. Fewer kneel, fewer +respond, fewer around me seem devoutly attentive." +Less worship! Is it so indeed? Let +the very opposite be the case, so far as our +influence and teaching can have effect, with +our fathers' Prayer Book in our hands, and +in our hearts.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 13em;">"<i>Lo, God is here; Him day and night</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Th' united quires of angels sing;</i><br /></span> +<i>To Him, enthron'd above all height,</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Heaven's hosts their noblest praises bring;</i><br /></span> +<i>Disdain not, Lord, our meaner song,</i><br /> +<i>Who praise Thee with a stammering tongue.</i><br /><br /> + +<i>"Being of beings, may our praise</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Thy courts with grateful fragrance fill;</i><br /></span> +<i>Still may we stand before Thy face,</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Still hear and do Thy sovereign will;</i><br /></span> +<i>To Thee may all our thoughts arise,</i><br /> +<i>Ceaseless, accepted sacrifice.</i>"</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 23em;"><span class="smcap">J. Wesley</span>, from <span class="smcap">Tersteegen</span></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></h2><p class="totoc"><a href="#toc">CONTENTS</a></p> + +<p class="center"><i>PREACHING</i> (i.).</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 13em;"><i>Earthen vessels, frail and slight</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Yet the golden Lamp we bear</i>;<br /></span> +<i>Master, break us, that the light</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>So may fire the murky air</i>;<br /></span> +<i>Skill and wisdom none we claim</i>,<br /> +<i>Only seek to lift Thy Name.</i><br /></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p> + +<p>I have on purpose reserved the subject of +Preaching for our closing pages. Preaching +is, from many points of view, the goal and +summing up of all other parts and works of the +Ministry. What we have said already about +the Clergyman's life and labour, in secret, in +society, in the parish; what we have said about +his study and use of the Book of Common +Prayer; all, so far as it has been true, ought to +contribute its suggestions as we approach this +great theme.</p> + +<p class="center">THE PULPIT THE CENTRAL POINT.</p> + +<p>For, indeed, "the Pulpit" (I use the word in +its widest application, wide enough to cover +the mission-room desk, or the preaching place +in the open air) is no mere isolated item in the +midst of other matters which call for a Clergyman's +attention. If the man is working, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> +ordering his work, aright, the Pulpit will not +be a something which has to be taken by the +way, a link in a long chain in which committees, +clubs, and social gatherings, and the like, are +other and co-ordinate links. It will be a +sacred central point, the living heart of the +busy life, to which everything will bear relation. +To the Pulpit everything will somehow converge, +and from the Pulpit everything will +be influenced. As the Pastor moves about +amongst his people, he will be gathering incessantly, +from all parochial places and seasons, +material which will tell upon his sermons; 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 have. And when he stands in the +Pulpit, this continually accumulating knowledge +will come out, not indeed in the way of diluting +or distorting his Gospel, but so as to give its +eternal and holy message a point and closeness +of application which will ensure its "coming +home," as God gives the blessing.</p> + +<p class="center">TEMPTATIONS TO FORGET THIS.</p> + +<p>It needs thought and care to keep the +parish and the sermon thus <i>en rapport</i>. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> +such thought and care is infinitely well worth +taking. The Clergyman who longs to be useful +for his Lord in the highest degree he can be, +cannot possibly think lightly of his sermons. +Yet he may be tempted, half unconsciously, to +treat them too lightly in practices, particularly +if he is beset with a consciousness that he is +not "a born preacher," or if he stands in the +opposite danger of having a "fatal" facility +of speech. Let the Clergyman only remember +that his sermon, his public delivery of instruction, +of exhortation, in the Lord's name, +is not to be an exhibition of his own powers +of thought or utterance, but a faithful message-bearing +to his own flock, in the light of what +he knows of Christ and the Word on the one +side, and of the needs of the flock on the other, +and he will find a most useful encouragement, or +a most useful corrective, as the need may be. +"O my Lord, I am not eloquent," +[Exod. iv. 10.] will be no disheartening thought, as he carries to +the pulpit the ever-growing weight of pastoral +experience, all giving point and freshness +to the unalterable message. And the secret +temptation to think the sermon a light thing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> +because mere words come easy, will be powerfully +counteracted in the other case not only by +contact with the realities of life in the daily +work, but by remembering that the sermon will +have to do with not an abstract audience but +<i>these particular</i> souls and lives thus laid on the +man's conscience and affections.</p> + +<p class="center">THE PASTOR PREACHES TO THOSE PARTICULAR HEARERS.</p> + +<p>Let me repeat it as earnestly as I can. The +sermon, if it is to be what it should be, should +be affected at every point by the facts of the +preacher's own inner life, and by those of his +intercourse with his people. Those facts must, +of course, be thoughtfully weighed and handled. +The tact which is so important in a Pastor, +and which is best learned and developed in the +school of Christ's love, will see instinctively +how to apply in preaching the experience +gained in prayer, in conversation, in every +branch of ministering life. We shall remember +that indefinite harm, not good, may be done +when a man, particularly a young man, unwisely +preaches what may fairly seem to be +personalities; I have known some sad instances +in point here. But taking that for granted, +assuming the good sense and sympathy of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> +the preacher, I am quite sure that the most +eloquent sermon, adapted to <i>any</i> audience, 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 <i>that +particular</i> audience, and which goes therefore +straight from him to them.</p> + +<p>It has been well said that preaching may be +described as "truth through personality"; not +merely the presentation somehow of so many +facts and thoughts, but the presentation of +them through the medium of a living man, who +brings into the pulpit his heart, his character, +his experience, and so gives out his message. +We may add to this suggestive dictum that the +true pastoral sermon is also "truth <i>to</i> personalities"; +the living man's delivery of the +message to living men and women whose life, +more or less, he knows. And so it presupposes +some real amount of pastoral intercourse, +intelligently brought to bear on pulpit +work.</p> + +<p class="center">PREPARE SERMON IN THE PARISH.</p> + +<p>I linger a little over these thoughts, though +they are little more than introductory. For +experience tells me how easily, in these days,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> +the Clergyman is tempted to dislocate his +"parish work" from his sermons, to the great +loss of one or both parts of his duty. And if +once he begins to think of his sermons as a +thing really apart, which must be got through +somehow, but rather as a mere duty than as +a vital ministerial function, the results will be +sad for the sermons. So I lay stress on the +thought that the sermon-preparation ought to +go on not only in the study, over the Word, +but in the parish, over the hearers of it. The +more constantly this is recollected, and put in +practice, the less fear will there be that the +sermon will be a weariness either to people +or to preacher.</p> + +<p class="center">"LABOUR IN THE WORD."</p> + +<p>But let me, however, entreat my younger +Brother, by any and every means, to watch +and pray against a slack or low view of his +function as a preacher. From very many +quarters at the present day we are invited to +slight our sermon-labour. Sometimes it is +"work," organization, committees, which is set +against the sermon; sometimes it is the reading-desk +and the Communion Table—the +liturgical functions of the Ministry. Let<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> +pastoral activities and holy rites alike have +ample place in our thoughts and work; but for +Christ's sake, my Brother in the ministry of +the Word and Sacraments, do not forget the +Word. A Christian Church where preaching +sinks to a low ebb, where the labour of public +teaching and exhortation is neglected, in favour +either of machinery or ritual, cannot possibly—I +dare to say it deliberately—be in a truly +healthy state now, and most assuredly is not +laying up health and strength for years to +come. For the very life of our flocks, and of +our Church, and for the dear glory of our +Master, let us "labour in the Word +and teaching." [1 Tim. v. 17.]</p> + +<p class="center">"LITHO SERMONS."</p> + +<p>Is it necessary, in the case of any reader of +these pages, that I should not only appeal thus +in general, but add one special entreaty—always +to preach <i>your own</i> sermons? Probably it is +not necessary; but it may be "safe" +[Phil. iii. 2.] nevertheless. Not long ago I was distressed +to read, in the advertisement columns of an +excellent Church newspaper, a conspicuous +announcement of a series of "<i>litho sermons</i>," +that is, I suppose, sermons so printed as to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> +look like manuscript. If such literature has +a sale, it is a miserable fact. Can these discourses +possibly be either written by a "man +of the Spirit," or used by such a man? I say, +No. The production of them (in order to +be lithographed), and the use of them in their +"litho" state, are untruthful acts, untruthful +in the very sanctuary of truth. The Lord +pardon—and the Lord forbid!</p> + +<p>Better the most stammering and incoherent +utterances of a man who loves the Lord, and +the Word, and the flock, and who in Christ's +Name does his best, than the unhallowed, and +usually, I think, vapid glibness of such acted +as well as spoken falsehoods.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> And surely, the +more the Clergyman keeps his pulpit and his +parish in living relation, the less will he be +tempted, be it ever so remotely, by any exigencies, +to dream of expedients such as these.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> I am far from saying that the preacher should never get help +from other men's sermons. This may be done honestly and +usefully, in many ways. But to let another man's sermon pass +as one's own is a sin.</p></div> + +<p class="center">"DR SOUTH IN THE AFTERNOON."</p> + +<p>Quite conceivably, there may be rare occasions +when another man's sermon may be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> +rightly used by you. But then, of course, you +will do it honestly and above-board, telling +your people whose it is. In Addison's <i>Sir +Roger de Coverley</i> there is a pleasant scene, +where the venerable Knight asks the Parson +who the preacher for next Sunday is to be. +"The Bishop of St Asaph in the morning," +replies the good man, "and Dr South in the +afternoon."<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> That is, he was about to read, +openly and honestly, a sermon of Beveridge's, +and then a sermon of South's; neither, certainly, +in lithograph. I do not say he did the +best for his people in so doing; most certainly +he could not "speak home" to the details of +their village life, and its temptations, if he +spoke only in the phrase of the two classical +pulpit-masters. That <i>rapport</i> of parish and +pulpit of which I have spoken could not +have been much felt, at least on that coming +Sunday. But the good Parson was honest,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> +however. The practice of which I speak is +not honest.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> "He then shewed us his list of preachers for the whole year, +where I saw with a great deal of pleasure Archbishop Tillotson, +Bishop Sanderson, Dr Barrow, Dr Calamy, with several living +authors." (<i>Spectator</i>, No. 106, July 2nd, 1711.) Calamy by the +way was a Presbyterian, made one of the King's chaplains at +the Restoration.</p></div> + +<p class="center">WE MUST PREACH ATTRACTIVELY.</p> + +<p>Let me come now to a closer view of the +preacher's work, and I will be as practical as +possible. I have besought my Brother to let +nothing tempt him to push his preaching into +a neglectful corner. Let me now beseech him +to remember that he must not only be a +diligent preacher, but do his very best to commend +his preaching to his people,—to be, in +a right sense, <i>attractive</i>.</p> + +<p>I deliberately say, attractive. That word, +of course, suggests some very undesirable +applications. It is only too possible to aim at +attractiveness by bad methods. We may tone +down the Gospel-message, leaving out unpopular +and man-humbling truths, and try to +"attract" people so. We may strive to "attract" +them to hear us by doubtful external +accessories (of very different kinds), which, +after all, will rather attract attention—for a +season—to themselves, than to the message, +and the Lord. But none the less it is every +Clergyman's plain duty to make his preaching, +so far as he can, lawfully attractive. It is his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> +duty to see that he preaches Christ Crucified; +and "the offence of the Cross" [Gal. v. 11.] will +always occur, sooner or later, in such preaching; +but it is his duty to see that there is no +other "offence" in it, so far as he can help it. +If he so speaks of sin, and righteousness, and +judgment, that the unregenerate heart does not +like it, though the preacher has spoken wisely +and in love, that is not the preacher's fault. If +he has so magnified Christ, and the glory and +fulness of His salvation, that it sounds like +exaggeration to the unspiritual hearer, though +the words have been said in all reverent reality, +that is not the preacher's fault. But it <i>is</i> his +fault if he has repelled his hearers from his +message by what is not the message, but his +own setting of it; his spirit, manner, his delivery, +his neglect of some plain precautions against +prejudice and weariness. Of a few such precautions +I come now to speak; and first, of what +I may call the most external amongst them.</p> + +<p class="center">NEEDFUL AND NEEDLESS OFFENCES.</p> + +<p>Beginning, then, with physical precautions +against needless "offences," σκάνδαλα, in our +preaching I say first, let us do our best to be +<i>audible</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center">AUDIBILITY: MEANS TO IT.</p> + +<p>The word sounds almost amusingly commonplace. +But it must be said. Many more of +us Clergymen than know it, or think about it, +are not audible. The lack of training for the +bodily work of the pulpit, in our Church, is +serious; far more is done in this way among +our Nonconformist brethren.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> And accordingly +there are numbers of young English Clergymen +who read and speak without a thought of +methodical audibility. They do not articulate +distinctly. They do not remember that the +<i>pace</i> and <i>force</i> of utterance, fit for a private +room, are quite unfit for a large building. +They do not know, perhaps, how extremely +important is the articulation of consonants, and +of final syllables of words, and of closing words +in a sentence. They do not know that a +certain equability (not monotony) of voice is +necessary, if the utterance is to "carry" to the +end of a long church, or a church of many +pillars.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Let me cordially commend the Rev. J.P. Sandlands' book, +<i>The Voice and Public Speaking</i>. Mr Sandlands has done, and +is doing, admirable work as an oral teacher of clerical elocution, +in the intervals of his parochial labours.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p></div> + +<p class="center">PLEASANT AUDIBILITY.</p> + +<p>Or again, they do not know, or do not +remember, that audibility is not secured by +mere loudness and bigness of voice, nor again +by raising the voice to a high pitch. "People +tell you to speak up," said that excellent elocutionist, +Mr Simeon; "but I say, speak down," +down as regards the musical scale. Again, +the larger the building the more accentuated +must be the articulation, and the more limited +the variation of pitch; but too often this is not +thought of by the preacher.</p> + +<p>Further, it has to be remembered, but it +is frequently forgotten, that the audibility we +should aim at is a pleasant and attractive audibility. +It is a great thing to be easily heard; +which of us does not know the combined +physical and mental labour of listening to a +sermon, or a speech, which only reaches us +indistinctly? But it is a greater thing to be +pleasantly heard; heard so that the listener +finds nothing to tire and repel in the utterance. +Here, of course, different voices give very different +advantages; but there are some common +secrets, so to speak, which all—who will make +a sacred business of it—may profitably and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> +effectively use. Above all, there is the secret +of quiet naturalness; the watchful avoidance +(do not forget this) of tricks and mannerisms in +delivery;<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> the watchful cultivation of the sort +of utterance which we should use in an earnest +conversation on grave subjects, with only such +differences as are suggested by <i>the size</i> of the +place in which we speak. Of some other +"common secrets" I shall speak when I come +to the question of style and phrase.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> I have known a sermon which in matter and style were really +excellent made, to some hearers at least, almost unendurable +by the accident that the preacher had got the habit of (needlessly) +<i>clearing his throat</i> at the end of almost every sentence.</p></div> + +<p class="center">FIND A CANDID FRIEND.</p> + +<p>How shall we best work upon such hints? +Very largely, by the use of the plainest common-sense +and every-day observation on our +own part. But largely also by trying to find +some friend, equally kind and candid, who will +help us "to hear ourselves as others hear us." +For myself, after twenty-five years, I welcome +more and more gratefully every such criticism +as the occasion presents itself. Let the Curate +ask his Vicar to tell him without mercy if +his utterance, his articulation, is clear; if his +manner is natural; if his preaching is or is not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> +easy to listen to in these respects. And let +friend ask friend; let pastor ask parishioner; +let husband ask wife!</p> + +<p class="center">GOOD ENGLISH.</p> + +<p>There are other directions in which we +must cultivate attractiveness. There is English +style. Here, again, gifts differ widely in detail, +yet there are common secrets open to common +use. It is open to every one to avoid, on the +one hand, an ambitious, long-worded style; on +the other, a style which many young men of +our time are in more danger of patronizing—the +slovenly, shapeless style, in which the +Queen's English is very "freely handled," and +into which the broken English of an ever-growing +<i>slang</i> not seldom makes its way. These +defects have only to be recognized, surely, to +be avoided, by keeping our eyes open as we +read and our ears as we hear, and by remembering +that the sacred message of the King, +while it is too great to be tricked out with false +rhetoric, is also too great to be slighted, not to +say insulted, by a really careless phraseology.</p> + +<p class="center">A GOOD STYLE IS A PRACTICAL POWER.</p> + +<p>Pains will be needed, of course, as we pursue +the object of a good style. We must watch +and think. We must read and observe good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> +models, the written words of men who have +proved themselves powerful preachers to the +people, and indeed of men generally who are +known masters of English. We shall have, +again, to consult candid friends. But my point +is, that all this is abundantly worth our while. +A neat, straight, well-worded sentence is not +a mere literary luxury. It is a practical power. +It is far easier to listen to than a careless, formless +sentence is, and it is far easier to remember. +The truth which it conveys is much more likely, +therefore, to find its way securely into the mind, +and to lie there ready for the vivifying touch of +the Spirit of God.</p> + +<p>I emphasize this matter of style, for in many +quarters it is much neglected, and some of my +younger Brethren do, if I mistake not, entertain +the thought that the simplicity of the Gospel is +best set forth, and God most honoured, where +plans and methods of language are neglected. +To speak about "a good style" to those who +think so, may seem perhaps little else than a +recommendation to bid for human applause in +the line of literature. But my intention is far +enough from this. Mere literary ambition, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> +quest of the glory of self in this as in every +other line, is a forbidden thing to the true bondservant +of the Lord. But it is by no means +forbidden him, for his Lord's sake, to aim at +clearness, point, force of expression, that the +message may be the better taken in. God is +as little glorified by a bad style as by a bad +voice, or bad handwriting, or bad reasoning. +And by a good style I mean not a style +polished and elaborated to please fastidious +tastes (the best taste, by the way, is best +pleased with correct simplicity), but a style +which shall be both pure and plain in word and +phrase, "understandable of the people" yet +such as not to vex those who care for their +native tongue, and just enough formed and +pointed to make attention pleasant to the ear. +For average audiences, I know no style more +perfectly answering my idea than that of Mr +Spurgeon,<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> in his printed sermons of recent +years. And I happen to know that Mr +Spurgeon has always taken great and systematic +pains with his English.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Since these words were written this great Christian and +preacher has passed away to his Master's presence.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p></div> + +<p class="center">FRENCH HEARERS OF ENGLISH.</p> + +<p>Some preachers need much more than others +a hint to keep their sentences <i>straight</i>, and +to avoid the tangle of parentheses, long or +short. Here, again, Mr Spurgeon gives me +an admirable illustration. His sentences, never +thin or weak in matter, are always straight. If +any of my younger Brethren are tempted, as +I confess I am, in the digressive direction, I +would recommend them (if they usually preach +without writing) to <i>write</i> a sermon now and +then, and rigorously to exclude, or re-write, all +sentences which transgress. It occurred to me +recently, when acting as a summer chaplain in +Switzerland, to find the benefit of a different +corrective. On one particular Sunday I had +among my hearers in the morning a French +Presbyterian, in the afternoon a French Roman +Catholic, each understanding a little English; +and in each case I had special reasons for hope +and longing that the sermon might bring some +spiritual help. Instinctively, I avoided every +expression which could in the least complicate +my English and thus obscure the message to +my foreign friends. And so thankful was I +for the pruning of periods that resulted, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> +I am much disposed, in all future preaching, +to put mentally before me those same two +hearers.</p> + +<p class="center">"WRITTEN OR EXTEMPORE?"</p> + +<p>On that great question, Shall I preach from +writing, or not? I say very little. Speaking +quite generally, and thinking now only of the +regular church congregation, not of the mission-room +or open air, I would advise my younger +Brethren to write for some while, but usually +with an ultimate view to speech without writing. +No hard rule can be laid down. One man is +so gifted that from the first he can express himself +correctly and well without any manuscript +before him. Another finds, all his life through, +that he speaks best, and his people listen best, +when he reads (vividly and naturally) from his +prayerfully-prepared manuscript. But on the +whole, I repeat it, writing is the best discipline +for a man in his early days of Ministry, while +beyond doubt the freely-spoken sermon, like +the freely-spoken speech, (carefully enough prepared +as to matter and order,) is usually best to +listen to, and therefore should be the preacher's +goal. Some men write their sermons and then +learn them by heart for delivery. For myself, I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> +own this would be a severe ordeal to nerve; and +in very few cases, if I am right, does it produce +a perfectly natural effect. Not long ago, if not +now, it was a frequent custom in Scotland; and +one amusing story comes to my mind. A good +minister, known to a near relative of mine, +always thus "mandated" his sermon, and +punctually delivered it word for word. One day +a tremendous hailstorm assailed the church +windows, and not only did his parishioners fail +to hear him, but literally he lost the sound of his +own voice. Yet he <i>dared not stop</i>, lest memory +should play him false; and when the storm +ceased, "I found myself," he said, "with some +surprise, in a quite distant part of the sermon."</p> + +<p class="center">ORDER AND DIVISION.</p> + +<p>Another important aid to attractiveness is +order and division, simply and sensibly managed. +Nothing is much more repellent, at least to +modern hearers, than an excess of arrangement; +headings and subdivisions overdone. +But nothing is more helpful to attention than +a simple, natural, luminous division, present in +the preacher's mind, announced to the audience, +and faithfully carried out. Remember this, +among many other things, in the choosing of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> +the text; <i>ceteris paribus</i>, that text is best which +best lends itself to natural division.</p> + +<p class="center">PAINS AND FAITH.</p> + +<p>There are many other points, more or less +of the exterior kind, so to speak, which concern +the attractiveness of our preaching. There is +the question of length, which can only be +settled by careful and prayerful consideration +of special circumstances, with recollection of +the general principles that the morning sermon +should be short compared with that of the +evening, and that he who would reach the +hearts of the poor must not give them "sermonettes," +but sermons. There is the question +of action, a large subject. All that I can say +is, that <i>some</i> action is almost always a help to +attention, but that it proves the very opposite +as soon as it seems uneasy, or a mannerism.</p> + +<p>I have yet to deal with some thoughts about +the preacher's message, and the inmost secrets +of his power. Meanwhile, 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 plain, +and no dependence on Him too absolute for +the longed-for spiritual results.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 9em;">"<i>Would I describe a preacher, such as Paul,</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: .3em;"><i>Were he on earth, would hear, approve, and own,</i><br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: .3em;"><i>Paul should himself direct me. I would trace</i><br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: .3em;"><i>His master-strokes, and draw from his design.</i><br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: .3em;"><i>I would express him simple, grave, sincere,</i><br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: .3em;"><i>In doctrine uncorrupt; in language plain,</i><br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: .3em;"><i>And plain in manner; decent, solemn, chaste,</i><br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: .3em;"><i>And natural in gesture; much impress'd</i><br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: .3em;"><i>Himself, as conscious of his awful charge,</i><br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: .3em;"><i>And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds</i><br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: .3em;"><i>May feel it too; affectionate in look,</i><br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: .3em;"><i>And tender in address, as well becomes</i><br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: .3em;"><i>A messenger of grace to guilty men.</i>"<br /></span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 27em;"><i><span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></i></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2><p class="totoc"><a href="#toc">CONTENTS</a></p> + +<p class="center"><i>PREACHING</i> (ii.).</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 13em;"><i>For Thy sake, beloved Lord</i>,<br /> +<i>I will labour in Thy Word</i>;<br /> +<i>On the knees, in patient prayer</i>;<br /> +<i>At the desk, with studious care</i>;<br /> +<i>In the pulpit, seeking still</i><br /> +<i>There to utter all Thy will.</i></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p> + +<p>I pursue the subject of attractive preaching, +taking still the word attractive in its +worthiest sense, and again laying stress on the +<i>necessity</i> of attractiveness of the right sort. +We have looked a little already at some of the +external requisites to this end; now let us +approach some which have to do with matter +more than manner.</p> + +<p class="center">CONSIDERATENESS.</p> + +<p>On the way, 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 hear. The supreme reason is manifest; +it is the glory of our Master and the good of +souls. For His sake, and for the flock's sake, +we long and must strive to speak so as to draw +their attention to His message and to Himself. +But subordinate to this great motive, and in +fullest harmony with it, there is another; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> +this is a motive which, once clearly apprehended, +will affect not our preaching only, but +all parts of our ministry—our conduct of public +worship, our pastoral visitation, our whole +intercourse with our neighbours. I mean, the +simple motive of a loyal and faithful <i>considerateness +for others</i>, as we are on the one hand +Christian men and English gentlemen, and on +the other hand servants, not masters, of the +Church and parish. Possibly this aspect of the +Pastor's public and official ministry may not +have presented itself distinctively as yet to my +younger Brother; but it cannot be recognized +and acted upon too early. Some things in our +clerical position and functions tend in their own +nature to make us forget it, if we are not +definitely awake to it beforehand. In some +respects the Clergyman, even the youngest +Curate, has dangerous opportunities for <i>in</i>considerate +public action. Take the management +of divine Service in illustration. In his manner +of reading, his tone, his pace, the Clergyman +may allow himself, only too easily, to think of +himself alone. In the reading-desk, or at the +Table of the Lord, he may consult only his own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> +likes and dislikes in attitude, gesture, and air. +But if so, he is greatly failing in the homely +duty of loyal considerateness. What will be +most for the happiness and edification of the +congregation? What will least disturb and +most assist true devotion? How shall the +Minister best secure that the worshippers shall +remember the Master and not be uncomfortably +conscious of the servant? The answers to +such questions will of course vary considerably +under varying conditions; but it is <i>the principle</i> +of the questions which I press home. Our +office, and the common consent and usage of +the Christian people, give us a position of +independence in such matters which has its +advantages, but also its very great risks; and it +is for us accordingly to handle that independence +with the utmost possible <i>considerateness</i>.</p> + +<p>This thought was much upon my own mind +lately during the interesting experiences of a +Continental summer chaplaincy, to which I +referred in the last chapter. As usual in a +health resort abroad, the English residents +represented many different shades of Church +opinion and practice. By the convictions of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> +many long years, I am an Evangelical Churchman, +in the well-understood sense of the term; +and of those convictions I am not at all ashamed. +My manner of conducting public worship, +especially in the Communion Office, would +probably make it plain at once to most worshippers +where I stand as a Churchman. But +that does not mean, I trust, that I am to allow +myself to be inconsiderate of the feelings of +others in the matter; and on the occasions +referred to it was my earnest and anxious aim +to remember this with regard to worshippers, +and particularly communicants, whose beliefs, +or however whose sympathies, were what is +called "higher" than my own. On their +account I sought to make it plain that no +rubrical direction was neglectfully treated by +me, and that reverence of manner and action +was a sacred thing in my eyes—a reverence +not elaborated, but attentive. I hope I should +have been reverently careful whatever the composition +of the congregation was; but under +the circumstances the duty of this obvious sort +of ministerial <i>considerateness</i> was laid on my +heart with special weight. That duty bears<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> +in many directions. It is, I venture to say, inconsiderate, +on the one hand, when the Clergyman +conducts the services of the Church with +a disturbing artificiality of performance. It is +inconsiderate, on the other hand, when he +conducts them with any, even the least, real +slovenliness and inattention.</p> + +<p class="center">TEMPTATIONS TO FORGET IT.</p> + +<p>But if all this is true of the desk and of the +blessed Table, it is true also, and in a high +degree, of the pulpit. Singularly independent, +up to a certain point, is the position of the +preacher. He chooses his own text; he assigns +himself (at least in theory) his own length of +discourse; he is entitled, under the ægis of the +law of the land, to speak on to the end without +interruption; he is bound, within the limits of +a sanctified common-sense, to speak with the +authority of his commission. Here are powerful +temptations to an inconsiderate man, perhaps +especially to an inconsiderate young man, to +show much inconsideration. And therefore, +here is a pre-eminent occasion for the true +Pastor, who thinks, prays, loves, and is humble, +to practise the beautiful opposite. Shall you +and I seek grace to do so?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center">RESPECT ELDER HEARERS.</p> + +<p>Put yourself often, my dear Brother, while +I do the same, into the position—which we +once occupied always, and often do still—of the +hearer. You, the Curate, or the young Incumbent, +have recently come into the parish, and +you are full of a young man's energy and +enterprize, and a little infected perhaps with +a common and natural belief of your time +of life, but a belief not quite true to facts, +that the world is made for young men. And +among your hearers, week by week, as you +preach from that pulpit, sit men and women +who were working, and thinking, and perhaps +believing, literally long before you were born. +Put yourself in their place. Into many of +their experiences, and their sympathies born +of experience, you cannot possibly enter personally. +You cannot <i>feel personally</i> how this +or that innovation of language or manner, this +or that too crude statement of your message, +this or that baldly new and perhaps by no +means true theory, aired as if it were all +obvious and of course, must look and sound +to them. You cannot <i>feel</i> it all; but you can +think about it. Perhaps these are educated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> +and refined people, and accustomed all their +lives to value clear thought and pure diction, +in any case accustomed to carefulness in the +matter and manner of the sermon. You cannot +enter into all their mental habits in your own +mental workings; but you can take account +of them, and in a loyal and thoughtful <i>considerateness</i> +you can remember them in practice, +and honestly aim so to prepare and to preach +as to conciliate the thoughtful and the elders.</p> + +<p>Such considerateness will not mean the +stifling of prayerful conviction, or the failure +to be faithful as the messenger of the Lord. +But it will mean a severity upon yourself as +regards the tone and spirit of your thoughts, +and also as the manner of your utterance. You +will take pains, even at a heavy cost to self +(and such costs are always gains in the end), +so to minister as to attract the attention of the +flock, not to yourself, but to your blessed +Master and His Word; preaching "not yourself, +but Christ Jesus as Lord, and +<i>yourself their servant</i> for Jesus' sake." [2 Cor. iv. 5.]</p> + +<p>With this aim of Attractiveness, then, in our +minds, and with this motive of Considerateness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> +beside it, let us come to some thoughts in +detail about the matter of preaching.</p> + +<p>And here first I must bring in another word +to meet the word "attractive." That word is +"faithful."</p> + +<p class="center">WRONG KINDS OF ATTRACTIVENESS.</p> + +<p>As a matter of most obvious fact (we +noticed it in the previous chapter), there is +a false and useless attractiveness, as well as +a true. There is the poor and miserable +attractiveness—it draws a certain class of +modern hearers—of mere brevity; the "ten-minute +sermon." There are no doubt exceptional +occasions when ten minutes, or even five, +may be the right limit to our utterance; 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 stop. There is again the specious +and spurious attractiveness of excitement and +froth of manner, or of a merely emotional +appeal to perhaps not the deepest emotions, an +attraction which has little in it of that divine +magnet which draws the will and lifts the soul +in regenerate faith and surrender. There is +the attraction, tempting, but futile for the true<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> +purposes of the pulpit, of the sermon which is +after all only a lecture, or a leading article; +full of the topics of the day, of the hour; full +perhaps of some celebrated name just immortalized +by death<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a>; but not full of the eternal +message for which the pulpit exists. Most +certainly there is no divine rule which excludes +from the sermon all allusions to politics, to +society, to science, to great men; but there <i>is</i> +a divine rule, running through the whole precept +and example of the New Testament, which +keeps such things always subordinate to the +supreme work of preaching Jesus Christ.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> "I went longing to hear about Christ, and it was only +Newman from beginning to end." This was the actual lament +of an anxious soul, one Sunday in 1890.</p></div> + +<p class="center">FAITHFULNESS.</p> + +<p>Across all our thoughts how to secure attractiveness, +as a co-ordinate line which fixes +attention to the true point, runs the word +"Faithfulness." The preacher is to be attractive +while faithful, faithful while attractive. And he +is to be attractive not for the sake of so being, +but in order that he may win an entrance for the +words of faithfulness, to his Master's praise.</p> + +<p class="center">WE ARE MESSENGERS.</p> + +<p>Yes, this is what we are to be as preachers.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> +We are to seek "mercy of the Lord to be +faithful." [1 Cor. vii. 25.] We are not popular leaders, +looking for a cry, or passing one on. We +are not speculative thinkers, feeling out a +philosophy, communicating our guesses at truth +to a company of friends who happen to be +interested in the investigation. We are "messengers, +watchmen, and stewards of the Lord." +We are in commissioned charge of a divine, +authentic, and unalterable message. We are +the expounders of a "Word which +liveth and abideth for ever," [1 Pet. i. 23.] a Word which +man is always trying to judge and to disparage, +but which will judge man at the last +day [Joh. xii. 48.]. We are the bondservants of an absolute +Master, who is at once our Sender and our +Message, and who overhears our every word +in its delivery.</p> + +<p>It is a grave mistake, as we saw in our +last chapter, to think that faithfulness means a +repellent utterance of "the faithful +Word." [Tit. i. 9.] But it is at least an equal mistake to +think that attractiveness means a modification +of that Word, which to the end of our +world's day will still be a "folly" and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> +a "stumbling-block," [1 Cor. i. 23.] in some respects, to the +unconverted soul, and will always have its +searching point and edge for the converted soul +also.</p> + +<p>But this consideration here is only by the +way. I return from it to the matter of a right +and faithful attractiveness and some of its +higher conditions.</p> + +<p class="center">SECRETS FOR TRUE ATTRACTIVENESS.</p> + +<p>"<i>Preach the Gospel—earnestly, interestingly, +fully.</i>" Such, I believe, is the prescription +given, by the great preacher whom I cited in +the last chapter, to the Pastor who would fill his +church, and keep it full. In the first instance, +no doubt, Mr Spurgeon gives it as a prescription +to the Nonconformist Pastor; but it is quite as +much to the purpose for the Conformist, so far +as he is a Minister of the Word.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> What I have +to say in these present pages shall run on the +lines of that sentence of good counsel.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> And let it never be forgotten that this is his <i>primary</i> function +in the mind of the Church of England. See the Priest's Ordination, +particularly its Exhortations, its Commission, and its +final Collect.</p></div> + +<p class="center">"PREACH THE GOSPEL."</p> + +<p>i. "<i>Preach the Gospel</i>," that is to say Jesus +Christ, in His Person, His Work, His Offices, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>His Teaching, all applied to the souls and lives +of men. Would you truly and permanently +attract, with an attraction which God will bless? +Let that be your first condition. I do not +dilate upon it here, but with all the earnestness +possible I lay it upon my younger Brother's +heart as we pass on. Preach the Gospel, that +is to say the Lord, in all He is for man as +man is a sinner, a mortal, a mourner, a worker. +Do not let Christ be one subject among others. +As little can the sun be one among the planets. +He is <i>the</i> Subject; all others get their reality +and importance for us preachers by their relation +to Him. In particular I venture to say, +do not let occasional, temporal, local topics, +even very important ones, dislodge Christ, the +Lord Jesus Christ of the whole Bible, from +His royal place in your preaching; and do +not forget continually (though not monotonously) +to keep to the front the fact that He is +<i>the sinner's Saviour</i>. More will be said later +about that point of view, but I state it at +once. Speak indeed of Christ as Exemplar, +Ideal, Friend, Man of Men; but do not let +your brethren forget that, "<i>first of all, Christ<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> +died for our sins</i>, according to the +Scriptures," [1 Cor. xv. 3.] and that His primary practical +relation to us is always that of Saviour to +sinner. That truth is not altogether in fashion +now. But it is eternal; it is deep as the +human soul, and as the Law of God, and as +such it is a mighty condition to attractiveness, +wisely and truly handled. It corresponds to +the inmost facts of the hearers' being, whether +they are aware of it yet or not; and is there +not here the most powerful of magnets, at least +<i>in posse</i>?</p> + +<p class="center">"PREACH IT EARNESTLY."</p> + +<p>ii. "Preach the Gospel <i>earnestly</i>." This does +not mean necessarily with vehemence, or even +with fervour, of manner. Some men's delivery +is fervent, or even vehement, in the most +natural way possible; and let such men preach +so, if they will do it thoughtfully and to the +purpose. But the slightest artificial cultivation +of such qualities, or of the semblance of them, +is a great practical mistake. And earnestness +is at once a wider and a simpler matter all the +while. The man who preaches earnestly is +the man who is altogether in earnest, and +speaks out his conviction and his purpose.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center">*PREACH IT AS A WITNESS.</p> + +<p> +He is the man who has the Lord's message deep in his own soul, and is conscious +of its vast importance for the souls of others. He is the man who does not +merely discuss, or explain, or even expound, however soundly and luminously, +but whose words—well chosen, well weighed, well ordered—are +<i>also</i> the living words of one who "testifieth that he hath seen." [Joh. +iii. 11.] Yes, the essence of the right sort of earnestness is the +witness-character of the preacher. What is a witness? One who has personal +knowledge of the matter of his words [2 Tim. i. 12.]—"<i>I know whom I +have believed.</i>" Is there not a great need at this time, in our dear Church, +of more such witness-preaching? I do not mean preaching that advertises the +preacher as a remarkable Christian, certainly not preaching that puts for one +moment our "testimony" on a level with the infallible Word once written. But I +do mean the preaching which, by one of the surest laws of our nature, 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 himself. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> +</p> + +<p>Some years ago I heard an account of the +peculiarly impressive preaching of a young +Mission-clergyman. It was described to me as +remarkable not for energy of manner, or warmth +of diction, but for the impression left on all +hearers that the truths handled by the man +were for himself absolute and present facts. +He stated them with a directness and quietness +which was emphatically matter-<i>of-fact</i>. This +sort of preaching is earnest indeed.</p> + +<p class="center">"PREACH IT INTERESTINGLY."</p> + +<p>iii. "Preach the Gospel <i>interestingly</i>." How +shall we secure this? Some recipes for interest +are familiar. There is the method of illustration; +there is the method of anecdote: both +excellent, and almost indispensable. Only, +they are methods which have their risks, and +must be used with care. Illustrations are apt +to overwhelm the thing illustrated, the moment +much detail is allowed; and they are apt to +go on three feet, or even upon one, instead +of upon four; and they may be drawn from +quarters too remote to strike the hearers with +effect. Anecdotes have the same risks; and, +besides, they need, if they are to be used +aright, to be carefully sifted and verified. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> +say this not to disparage what in some preachers' +hands is a most powerful and also a most +delicate weapon; yet the caution is certainly +needed, especially by younger men.</p> + +<p class="center">INTEREST OF EXPLANATION.</p> + +<p>But the surest secrets of interesting preaching +lie deeper than anecdote and illustration. One +of them, a very simple one to state, is clearness +of thought, and of the expression and explanation +of thought. I entreat my Brother to be +an <i>explanatory</i> preacher, by which I mean, not +that he should treat his <i>brethren</i> as if they +were his <i>children</i> (unless indeed it is a children's +sermon), but that he should handle +familiar religious terms with the resolve to +make them <i>live and speak</i> to the ordinary +hearer. Nothing is more opiate-like than a +sentence which is unreal to the hearer because +it is mere phraseology. Nothing can be made +more interesting than familiar phraseology (supposing +it to be true and important) so treated +as to speak its meaning out fresh and living in +modern ears.</p> + +<p class="center">INTEREST OF EXPOSITION.</p> + +<p>Another deep and unfailing secret of interest, +so that it be used intelligently and prayerfully, +is close akin to this last. It lies in the right<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> +sort of <i>expository</i> preaching. I have in my +mind such exposition as will be found in Dr +Vaughan's sermons on the Philippian Epistle. +The charm and power of those sermons lie, I +know, very much in the extraordinary excellence, +the <i>curiosa simplicitas</i>, of their literary +style, so unpretentious and so masterly. But +it lies also in the fact that the preacher takes +us over a familiar Scripture passage, verse by +verse, phrase by phrase, and translates it into +the dialect of present circumstances. Let me +heartily commend this sort of preaching from +my own parochial experience in past days. In +a congregation consisting chiefly of the poor, +I found that the most intelligent and sustained +interest was excited by a series of Sunday +evening sermons on a selected chapter or paragraph, +in which the aim was first to paraphrase +the sacred phrases, as it were, into modern +shapes, and then at the close to enforce some +main message of the portion. The method is as +old as the Homilies of Chrysostom, and older.</p> + +<p class="center">INTEREST OF PRACTICALITY.</p> + +<p>Another secret of interest, permanent and +effectual, is <i>practicality</i> in preaching. I protest, +whenever I can, and I hope to do so to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> +the last, against the common but unhappy +fallacy of an outcry against doctrine: "<i>Give +us not a creed, but a life</i>." The whole New +Testament, the whole Bible, protests against +such a sentence. There, a divine creed is +always seen as necessary for a divine life. +Supernatural facts, livingly apprehended, are +necessary for supernatural peace and power in +this formidable natural world. But then, on +the other side, 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 life. A young +pastoral preacher was once, in my hearing, +warmly and lovingly thanked for his pulpit-work, +on the eve of his quitting his Curacy; +and the point on which his humble friends +dwelt was that he had always preached Christ, +<i>and</i> always showed them how to make use of +His presence and power in the actual circumstances +of their lives. Eloquent words, aye +and true words, spoken <i>in vacuo</i>, will be dull to +most hearers; eternal truths laid alongside the +weekday work and temptation will always be +interesting.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center">"PREACH THE GOSPEL FULLY."</p> + +<p>iv. "Preach the Gospel <i>fully</i>." Here is our +great Nonconformist's last adverb, in his recipe +for attractive preaching. Its point is not so +obvious perhaps as that of the other words, +but it is nobly true. "The Gospel" is, as I +have said, and as we know, nothing less than +Jesus Christ the Lord, in His whole harmonious +glory of Person, Work, and Word. +It is deeply true that in that mighty and +manifold theme there are points which must +be always prominent and ruling; and most +surely the man-humbling and soul-blessing +truths of the Atoning Sacrifice are such points. +"First of all" (we have recalled that +all-significant sentence already), "first of all, +Christ died for our sins." [1 Cor. xv. 3.] Alas for the Church, +for the congregation, for the pulpit, where that +is forgotten, obscured, or put into a secondary, +or perhaps a tertiary place! One thing is +certain; that pulpit cannot be bearing its right +witness meanwhile to the "exceeding +sinfulness" of sin—not merely the deformity of +sin, but the awful evil and condemnable guilt +of sin [Rom. vii. 13.]. But then it is a thing to be regretted +(and corrected) when the Pastor's preaching is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> +<i>always and only</i> concerned with the urgent +need, and wonderful provision, for the pardon +and acceptance of the believing sinner. I +dare to say it is impossible that such preaching +should be permanently, or even long, +interesting and attractive, and this because of +the nature of the case.</p> + +<p class="center">*PREACH PARDON, BUT MORE ALSO.</p> + +<p>Man's fallen and sinful +soul needs pardon unspeakably, and always, +but it needs it as a means to an end; and that +end is nearness to God, conformity to Him, +power to do His blessed will as His servant +for ever. For this same great end the soul +needs, even in the range of truths which are +of the order of means, to learn more than the +glorious <i>rudiments</i> of forgiveness. It needs +to know something of the heavenly Offices +of the once Crucified One: His Mediation, +Suretyship, and Intercession; His Priesthood; +His Royalty; His Headship. In Him lie +stored the divine treasures with which our +<i>whole</i> extent of need is to be met. And the +preacher who would permanently attract his +people, by bringing out of his storehouse things +eternally old and new, must seek and pray to +preach Christ fully.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center">CHRIST FOR US AND IN US.</p> + +<p>To some devoted men it seems impossible +not to be always preaching the glory of "Christ +<i>for</i> us"; others can never leave the precious +theme of "Christ <i>in</i> us." But if they are not +missioners, but pastors, they will assuredly find +that a <i>permanent</i> attraction can only be secured +by doing what the Word of God does—setting +forth <i>both</i> glorious sets of truths in fulness, in +harmony, and in application to the realities of +sin and of life.</p> + +<p>So we have thought awhile about attractive +preaching. Need I say again what the sort +of attractiveness is which I have in view? It +is indeed, on the surface, attraction to the +church, attraction to the sermon; but its whole +inner purpose is an attraction which neither +church nor sermon can in the least degree +cause, but which the Eternal Spirit, sovereign +and loving, can cause through them—an attraction +to Jesus Christ, in true repentance, living +faith, genuine surrender, and patient, happy +service.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 10em"><i>Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim,</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: .3em;"><i>And publish abroad His wonderful Name;</i><br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: .3em;"><i>The Name all victorious of Jesus extol,</i><br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: .3em;"><i>His kingdom is glorious and rules over all.</i><br /><br /></span> + +"<i>Then let us adore and give Him His right,</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: .3em;"><i>All glory and power, all wisdom and might,</i><br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: .3em;"><i>All honour and blessing with angels above,</i><br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: .3em;"><i>And thanks never ceasing, and infinite love.</i>"</span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 25em;"><span class="smcap">C. Wesley.</span></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</a></h2><p class="totoc"><a href="#toc">CONTENTS</a></p> + +<p class="center"><i>PREACHING</i> (iii.).</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 10em;"><i>Eternal Fulness, overflow to me</i><br /> +<i>Till I, Thy vessel, overflow for Thee</i>;<br /> +<i>For sure the streams that make Thy garden grow</i><br /> +<i>Are never fed but by an overflow</i>:<br /> +<i>Not till Thy prophets with Thyself run o'er</i><br /> +<i>Are Israel's watercourses full once more.</i></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p> + +<p>Again I treat of the sermon. We have +looked, my younger Brother and I, at +some main secrets and prescriptions for attractive +preaching. What shall I more say on the +subject of the pulpit? In the first place I will +offer a few miscellaneous suggestions, and then +come in closing to the deepest theme of the +whole matter—Spiritual Power in Preaching.</p> + +<p class="center">NOTES FOR A SERMON-LECTURE.</p> + +<p>I address myself to write, soon after delivering +to my students, in the library adjoining +my study, a lecture on Preaching. Let me +call it rather, a talk on Sermons, which is a +term less grandiose and much more true; 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 me, and which I now came to give back,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> +annotated, to their writers. It occurs to me +to offer my kind reader a written version of +some of these remarks just made <i>vivâ voce</i> to +my friends. They happen to touch on a +variety of points which are not unimportant in +themselves and also typical of very many more.</p> + +<p>For the purposes of the lecture, they have +been divided between matters of form and +matters of substance; and I report them, or +rather some of them, in that order.</p> + +<p>I. <i>Remarks on Diction, Style, etc.</i></p> + +<p>(<i>a</i>) Take care to "pull the sentences +together," to avoid loose and redundant phrases +and words. Why write "<i>grief and sorrow</i>," +"<i>fatigued and tired out</i>," "<i>attacks and +assaults</i>"? A subtle intellect may see distinctions +here, but it is too much for me, and, +I am sure, for most plain people in church.</p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) Respect the Queen's English. "<i>The +one</i> who lives a Christian life" is scarcely +English; say "the man," not "the one." +"<i>Like</i> Adam and Eve walked in Paradise"! +This is a serious, though common, piece of +bad grammar. Say, "<i>Like Adam</i>, when he +walked," but "<i>As</i> Adam <i>walked</i>."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) Remember that the genius of English +eschews a large use of <i>connecting words</i>, particularly +in spoken discourse. Not often is a +sentence the better for an "<i>and</i>" at the beginning. +Many a "<i>therefore</i>" and "<i>because</i>" are +well away, if you would speak with freedom +and vigour.</p> + +<p class="center">AVOID RHETORICAL DICTION.</p> + +<p>(<i>d</i>) Avoid altogether such touches of expression +as characterise verse, or rhetorical prose. +I find in one sermon the sentence, "<i>Think you</i> +St Paul trembled at the prospect?" Please +re-write this, and say, "<i>Do you think</i> St Paul +was afraid?" For you certainly would not +say, speaking however gravely, to your friend, +"Think you that we shall have a fine day to-morrow?" +Rhetorical phrases rarely give an +impression of practical reality.</p> + +<p>(<i>e</i>) Do not speak in the pulpit as if you were +writing notes for an edition of the Epistles. +What does the labourer (and what do many +hearers more highly educated than he) think +when you say, on Rom. v. 1, that "<i>weighty +manuscript authority gives another reading</i>"? +And what does he think you mean when you +talk about "<i>Sheôl</i>"? By the way, when you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> +quote Scripture in the pulpit, passingly, to a +general congregation, I would advise you to +quote not the Revised Version, but the Authorized, +which will surely be "<i>the</i> English Bible" +for many long days yet. Unless you have +before you some special difference between the +two Versions, on which you can <i>stop to speak +explicitly</i>, quote the familiar (and inimitable) +diction of 1611.</p> + +<p class="center">PREACH WHAT CAN BE REPORTED.</p> + +<p>(<i>f</i>) Prepare your sermon, and preach it, so +that it shall be <i>easy to report</i>. One sermon +here before me would be as hard as possible to +retail at home. It is on Rom. v. 1, and it says +some excellent things upon it. But it brings +in holiness of heart where the text speaks only +of acceptance of person, and it mingles the two +topics so ingeniously together that the impression +is seriously complicated. Think of the +pious daughter yonder in church, going home +to her infirm old mother, and trying to answer +the question, "What did the gentleman preach +about to-night?" Let us do our best to preach +sermons which are not only sound, but portable.</p> + +<p>(<i>g</i>) Take care to keep the sermon in tune <i>with the text</i>. + Here is a manuscript on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> +Psal. v. 12, a verse of exultant joy; but the +last passage of the sermon, the passage which +ought to concentrate the whole message, is full +of solemn <i>warning</i>. Warn by all means; do +not forget to sound the watchman's +trumpet. But sound it in the right place. [Ezek. xxxiii.]</p> + +<p class="center">CUT THE PREFACE SHORT.</p> + +<p>(<i>h</i>) Here is a sermon sadly spoiled by a <i>long +introduction</i>. It tells us much about the +circumstances of the inspired writer, but so as +to throw little light on the message of the text. +Here is another, on the wonderfully definite +hope of blessedness after death given us in +Phil. i. 21. This also is ruined by its introduction, +which truly begins <i>ab ovo</i>, discussing +the genesis of man's belief in immortality! +That preface would leave, in the actual delivery +of the sermon, about five minutes for the +handling of the precious words, "To depart +and to be with Christ, which is far better." +Generally, be shy of much introduction and +preface in the pulpit. I do not mean that we +are never to elucidate connexions and contexts. +But, remember limits. Your minutes +are few, ah, so few, for such a Message,—Christ +Jesus in His fulness, for man's need in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> +its depth. Pass quickly through the porch into +that Church.</p> + +<p class="center">BE ACCURATE IN STATEMENT.</p> + +<p>(<i>i</i>) When you refer to <i>Scripture facts</i>, be +accurate; a slip-shod habit there may fatally +prejudice a not quite friendly hearer who knows +something of the Bible; and it will certainly do +no good to <i>any</i> hearer. Here is a sermon on +Phil. i. 21, and it speaks of St Paul as writing +to Philippi from his "<i>dark cell</i>." But St Luke +says that he was "in his own hired +house," [Acts xxviii. 30.] or at worst, "his own hired rooms." +Here again I read of David as returning to +"Jerusalem, <i>the city of his fathers</i>." But his +fathers had lived and died at Bethlehem; and +Jerusalem was in heathen hands till David +himself took it!</p> + +<p>2. <i>Remarks on Points in the Substance of the +Sermons.</i></p> + +<p>(<i>a</i>) Are you quite sure that the Patriarchs +had no anticipation of a life eternal? Many +lecturers, and many editors, now say so. But +the Epistle to the Hebrews says that "they +desired a better country, that is an +heavenly" [Heb. xi. 16.]; and that is better evidence for this +purpose than any inferences (or beliefs) of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> +modern "scholarship." True, the old saints +say little explicitly about their hope. But +many things lie deep in a man's faith, and in +his experience too, about which, for various +reasons, he may say very little.</p> + +<p class="center">REVELATION WAS NOT INTUITION.</p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) I do not like this sentence, which says +that the later Prophets had a "<i>fuller perception</i> +of" the eternal future than their predecessors. +Not that I blame the phrase in itself; but I +dislike its associations. There runs a strong +drift in modern theology, as we all know, +towards the explanation of Scripture by "perception" +rather than by revelation. "The +Lord appeared unto me"; "The Lord spake +unto me"; say the Prophets, and they appeal +occasionally to supernatural attestation of their +assertions. But the modern expository savant, +wiser to be sure than the Prophet, assures us +that they arrived at their messages by observation, +by meditation, by development of thought +and character, and practically by nothing different +from these things. Accordingly, their +"inspiration" was strictly speaking the same +in kind as that of a Chrysostom, or a Luther, +or a Shakespeare. Do not you say so, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> +imply that it is so. Do not go for mere +company's sake with the current of naturalistic +thought. Sure I am that you are most unlikely, +if you do, to be the instrument of +<i>super</i>natural <i>effects</i> in your preaching.</p> + +<p class="center">"WHAT IS JUSTIFICATION?"</p> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) "What is Justification? It is, <i>the making +man just</i>." Is it indeed? I should read that +sentence with alarm, if I did not know the +writer! Its sentiment is practically Roman +Catholic. Moreover, it puts a meaning on the +word in question, contradicted by the common +usages of language; an important consideration +when we study a Scriptural theological term. +When I "justify my opinion" I do not <i>make +it right</i>, but vindicate it as already right. +When the Hebrew judge "justified the righteous," +[Deut. xxv. 1] he did not improve him, but +pronounced him satisfactory to the law. And +when God, for Christ's sake, justifies you who +believe in Jesus, He does not in that act make +you good; He pronounces you, for His Son's +sake, to be satisfactory to His Law, for +purposes of your personal acceptance.</p> + +<p class="center">"WHY DOES FAITH JUSTIFY?"</p> + +<p>(<i>d</i>) "Why has faith such power to justify? +Because, <i>carried out to its fullest extent, it im<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>plies +assimilation</i> to its Object." Here again +I should be alarmed, if I did not know the +writer's general convictions, which are sound +enough. But this particular sentence again is +in full harmony with Romanist doctrine. And, +as a fact, with the Bible open, and with usages +of common language before us, it can easily be +exposed as a confusion of words and thought. +Faith, carried out ever so fully, is just faith +still; personal reliance, personal confidence on +God in His Word. That reliance is His +appointed (and divinely natural) way for our +reception of Jesus Christ. For our Justification, +it receives Christ in His merits; it does <i>that</i>, +and that only, and always. For our Sanctification, +it receives Christ in His inward power, +by the Holy Ghost. But faith is just faith, to +the end.</p> + +<p>(<i>e</i>) "We are not <i>forced</i> to receive salvation." +Most true. "He enforceth not the will." But +do not forget on the other hand to magnify the +necessity of grace, "preventing grace," [Act. x.] +that is to say, God Himself "working in us <i>to +will</i>" [Phil. ii. 13.] to receive our salvation. The +two sides of truth are both divine. Do not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> +neglect either, whether you can harmonize them +or not here below.</p> + +<hr class="short" /> + +<p class="center">END OF THE LECTURE.</p> + +<p>Such are some specimens of a Saturday +morning's talk in our library. They are taken, +just as they come, from notes constructed after +the study of a set of some twenty sermons, +written, and then commented upon, without the +slightest thought that any public or permanent +use would be made of the materials thus given. +But perhaps the remarks may be in point to +some of my readers all the more because of the +unstudied nature of the materials.</p> + +<p>Let me say, before I quite leave this part of +my subject, that adverse criticism was by no +means my only work this morning in the +lecture-room. It was my happiness, on the +other hand, to commend thankfully many a +clear setting of living truth, and many a sentence +of forcible point and of true beauty, +happy omens for future years, in which, if it +please God, "the torch shall be carried on," +bright and clear, when we elders shall be heard +no more.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Ungracious as it may seem, I must betray one less pleasant +confidence of such occasions. Sometimes I have had to note +in sermon MSS. a strange neglect of punctuation, and, here and +there, a little aberration from received usages of spelling! No +Clergyman ought to think such matters beneath his notice. His +people, some, if not many of them, will from time to time receive +letters or other written messages from him; these ought to be +unmistakably the writing of the educated gentleman. Is it too +much to say also that <i>the handwriting</i> ought to be clear and +easy? It is distressing, certainly to one who has many letters +to read daily, to see how <i>rare</i> such handwriting is now.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p></div> + +<p class="center">"MY CASES OF OLD SERMONS."</p> + +<p>But now let me return from this discursive +report of a sermon-lecture to some more +central thoughts about the Preaching of the +Word. Sacred, solemn theme! I was made +to realize its character in a peculiar way quite +lately, when reading a heart-searching and +most instructive essay, by the Rev. R. Glover, +Vicar of St Luke's, West Holloway, entitled, +<i>My Cases of Old Sermons</i>.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> The essay was +simply an experienced preacher's review of +many years of pulpit labour, in the light of the +collected and ordered manuscripts which silently +represented it. The writer had much to say, +to my great profit, about his methods of preparation +and delivery, and about the pains +taken to distribute the choice of texts widely +and impartially over the field of Scripture.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> +Then he went on to speak of the ascertained +spiritual history of some of those many sermons; +the messages to souls which in this or that +instance they had carried; the savour of life +unto life, or perhaps, alas, of death unto death, +which had to his knowledge breathed from +them. The impressions left on my mind were, +above all others, two; first, the call to thorough +diligence in preparation, if the preacher is to +give his account with joy; and then, the indescribable +solemnity and greatness of the +work of a true pastor-preacher.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> In <i>The Churchman</i> of August, 1891.</p></div> + +<p class="center">*BE A PREACHER INDEED.</p> + +<p>I may seem +to reiterate too much, but I <i>must</i> say again, +with new emphasis, to my younger Brother, +resolve to be a preacher indeed, by the grace +of God. Do not let secondary things, however +good, distort your attention from that +supremely sacred commission, "Preach the +Word; be instant, in season, out of +season<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> [2 Tim. iv. 2.]; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering +and doctrine. <i>For</i>," the Apostle +significantly proceeds, "the time will come +when they will not endure sound doctrine."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> +Therefore, an age impatient of thorough Scriptural +preaching is the very age in which to +seek, in wisdom and courage, to make much of +it. Do not let organization spoil your preaching-work. +Do not let current events spoil it. +Do not let elaboration of ritual spoil it. Do +not let organist and choir rule over you, and +claim for music the precious moments called for +by the Word.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> That is, irrespective of <i>your own</i> convenience.</p></div> + +<hr class="short" /> + +<p class="center">"THE DIRECTORY."</p> + +<p>Let me present to my reader, in this last +chapter, an extract from an old book which +however may be new to him. The book is +not one which as a whole I greatly love; how +could I? It is that sternly-imposed substitute +for the Book of Common Prayer, commonly +known as the Parliamentary Directory of 1645; +the exact title is, <i>A Directory for the Publique +Worship of God in the Three Kingdomes</i>.<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> Its +associations are altogether with an unhappy +time, in which it was a seriously penal offence, at +least in theory, to use the Prayer Book even at +a sick friend's bedside. Yet great men of God<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> +had a hand in the making of the Directory; +and their words are well worth the reading. +In particular, I find in the volume one passage, +full of golden wisdom, a precious message to +all Christian preachers. It is the section which +I now quote exactly as it first appeared, and +which is entitled</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> It is printed in W.K. Clay's <i>Book of Common Prayer Illustrated</i>. +Parker, 1841.</p></div> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Of the Preaching of the Word.</span></p> + +<p class="center">*THE DIRECTORY ON PREACHING.</p> + +<p>"Preaching of the Word, being the power +of God unto Salvation, and one of the greatest +and most excellent Works belonging to the +Ministry of the Gospell, should bee so performed, +that the Workman need not bee +ashamed, but may save himself, and those that +heare him.</p> + +<p>"It is presupposed (according to the Rules +for Ordination) that the Minister of Christ is in +some good measure gifted for so weighty a +service, by his skill in the Originall Languages, +and in such Arts and Sciences as are handmaids +unto Divinity, by his knowledge in the +whole Body of Theology, but most of all in the +holy Scriptures, having his senses and heart +exercised in them above the common sort of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> +Beleevers; and by the illumination of Gods +Spirit, and other gifts of edification, which +(together with reading and studying of the +Word) he ought still to seek by Prayer, and +an humble heart, resolving to admit and receive +any truth not yet attained, when ever God shall +make it known unto him. All which hee is to +make use of, and improve, in his private preparations, +before hee deliver in publike what he +hath provided.</p> + +<p class="center">CHOICE OF THE TEXT.</p> + +<p>"Ordinarily, the subject of his Sermon is to +be some Text of Scripture, holding forth some +principle or head of Religion; or suitable to +some speciall occasion emergent; or hee may +goe on in some Chapter, Psalme, or Booke of +the holy Scripture, as hee shall see fit.</p> + +<p>"Let the Introduction to his Text be brief +and perspicuous, drawn from the Text itself, +or context, or some parallel place, or generall +sentence of Scripture.</p> + +<p>"If the Text be long (as in Histories and +Parables it sometimes must be) let him give a +briefe summe of it; if short, a Paraphrase +thereof, if need be: In both, looking diligently +to the scope of the Text, and pointing at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> +chief heads and grounds of Doctrine, which he +is to raise from it.</p> + +<p class="center">HOW THE TEXT IS TO BE HANDLED.</p> + +<p>"In Analysing and dividing his Text, he is +to regard more the order of matter, then of +words; and neither to burden the memory of +the hearers in the beginning with too many +members of Division, nor to trouble their +minds with obscure terms of Art.</p> + +<p>"In raising Doctrines from the Text, his +care ought to bee, First, that the matter be the +truth of God. Secondly, that it be a truth +contained in or grounded on that Text, that the +hearers may discern how God teacheth it from +thence. Thirdly, that he chiefly insist upon +those Doctrines which are principally intended, +and make most for the edification of the +hearers.</p> + +<p>"The Doctrine is to be expressed in plaine +termes; or if any thing in it need explication, +is to bee opened, and the consequence also +from the Text cleared. The parallel places of +Scripture confirming the Doctrine are rather to +bee plaine and pertinent, then many, and (if +need bee) somewhat insisted upon, and applyed +to the purpose in hand.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The Arguments or Reasons are to bee +solid; and, as much as may bee, convincing. +The illustrations, of what kind soever, ought to +bee full of light, and such as may convey the +truth into the Hearers heart with spirituall +delight.</p> + +<p>"If any doubt, obvious from Scripture, +Reason, or Prejudice of the Hearers, seem to +arise, it is very requisite to remove it, by reconciling +the seeming differences, answering the +reasons, and discovering and taking away the +causes of prejudice and mistake. Otherwise, +it is not fit to detain the hearers with propounding +or answering vaine or wicked Cavils, +which as they are endlesse, so the propounding +and answering of them doth more hinder than +promote edification.</p> + +<p>"Hee is not to rest in generall Doctrine, +although never so much cleared and confirmed, +but to bring it home to speciall use, by application +to his hearers: Which albeit it prove a +worke of great difficulty to himselfe, requiring +much prudence, zeale, and meditation, and to +the naturall and corrupt man will bee very unpleasant; +yet hee is to endeavour to perform it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> +in such a manner that his auditors may feele +the Word of God to be quick and powerfull, +and a discerner of the thoughts and intents +of the heart; and that if any unbeleever or +ignorant person bee present, hee may have the +secrets of his heart made manifest, and give +glory to God.</p> + +<p class="center">HOW THE MESSAGE IS TO BE APPLIED.</p> + +<p>"In the Use of Instruction or information in +the knowledge of some truth, which is a consequence +from his Doctrine, he may (when +convenient) confirm it by a few firm arguments +from the Text in hand, and other places in +Scripture, or from the nature of that Common +place in Divinity, whereof that truth is a +branch.</p> + +<p>"In Confutation of false Doctrines, he is +neither to raise an old Heresie from the grave, +nor to mention a blasphemous opinion unnecessarily; +but if the people be in danger of +an errour, he is to confute it soundly, and +endeavour to satisfie their judgements and +consciences against all objections.</p> + +<p>"In exhorting to Duties, he is, as he seeth +cause, to teach also the meanes that help to the +performance of them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p> + +<p>"In Dehortation, Reprehension, and publique +Admonition (which require speciall wisdome) +let him, as there shall be cause, not only +discover the nature and greatnesse of the sin, +with the misery attending it, but also shew the +danger his hearers are in to be overtaken and +surprised by it, together with the remedies and +best way to avoyd it.</p> + +<p>"In applying Comfort, whether generall +against all tentations, or particular against +some speciall troubles or terrours, he is carefully +to answer such objections, as a troubled +heart and afflicted spirit may suggest to the +contrary.</p> + +<p>"It is also sometimes requisite to give some +Notes of tryal (which is very profitable, especially +when performed by able and experienced +Ministers, with circumspection and prudence, +and the Signes cleerely grounded on the Holy +Scripture) whereby the Hearers may be able +to examine themselves, whether they have +attained those Graces, and performed those +duties to which he Exhorteth, or be guilty of +the sin Reprehended, and in danger of the +judgments Threatened, or are such to whom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> +the Consolations propounded doe belong; that +accordingly they may be quickened and excited +to Duty, humbled for their Wants and Sins, +affected with their Danger, and strengthened +with Comfort, as their condition upon examination +shall require.</p> + +<p>"And, as he needeth not alwayes to prosecute +every Doctrine which lies in his Text, so +is he wisely to make choice of such Uses, as +by his residence and conversing with his flocke, +he findeth most needfull and seasonable: and, +amongst these, such as may most draw their +soules to Christ, the Fountaine of light, holinesse +and comfort.</p> + +<p>"This method is not prescribed as necessary +for every man, or upon every Text; but only +recommended, as being found by experience +to be very much blessed of God, and very +helpful for the people's understandings and +memories.</p> + +<p class="center">IN WHAT SPIRIT THE PREACHER IS TO WORK.</p> + +<p>"But the Servant of Christ, whatever his +Method be, is to perform his whole Ministery;</p> + +<p>"1. <i>Painfully</i>, not doing the work of the +Lord negligently.</p> + +<p>"2. <i>Plainly</i>, that the meanest may under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>stand, +delivering the truth, not in the entising +words of mans wisdome, but in demonstration +of the Spirit and of power, least the Crosse of +Christ should be made of none effect: abstaining +also from an unprofitable use of unknown +Tongues, strange phrases, and cadences of +sounds and words, sparingly citing sentences +of Ecclesiasticall, or other humane Writers, +ancient or moderne, be they never so elegant.</p> + +<p>"3. <i>Faithfully</i>, looking at the honour of +Christ, the conversion, edification and salvation +of the people, not at his own gains or glory: +keeping nothing back which may promote +those holy ends, giving to every one his own +portion, and bearing indifferent respect unto +all, without neglecting the meanest, or sparing +the greatest in their sins.</p> + +<p>"4. <i>Wisely</i>, framing all his Doctrines, Exhortations, +and especially his Reproofs, in such +a manner as may be most likely to prevaile, +shewing all due respect to each mans person +and place, and not mixing his own passion or +bitternesse.</p> + +<p>"5. <i>Gravely</i>, as becometh the Word of God,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> +shunning all such gesture, voice and expressions +as may occasion the corruptions of men to +despise him and his Ministry.</p> + +<p>"6. <i>With loving affection</i>, that the people +may see all coming from his Godly zeale, and +hearty desire to doe them good. And</p> + +<p class="center">DOCTRINE AND LIFE.</p> + +<p>"7. <i>As taught of God</i>, and perswaded in his +own heart, that all that he teacheth, is the +truth of Christ; and walking before his flock +as an example to them in it; earnestly, both in +private and publique, recommending his labours +to the blessing of God, and watchfully looking +to himselfe and the flock whereof the Lord +hath made him overseer. So shall the Doctrine +of truth be preserved uncorrupt, many soules +converted, and built up, and himselfe receive +manifold comforts of his labours even in this +life, and afterward the Crown of Glory laid up +for him in the world to come.</p> + +<p>"Where there are more Ministers in a +Congregation than one, and they of different +guifts, each may more especially apply himselfe +to Doctrine or Exhortation, according to the +guift wherein he most excelleth, and as they +agree between themselves."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center">SPIRITUAL POWER IN PREACHING.</p> + +<p>I have little to say after the recitation of +this passage of pregnant and solemn counsel. +That little shall be given to a supreme aspect +of the whole subject; I mean, Spiritual Power +in Preaching. Who that knows the Lord, and +contemplates the preacher's work, does not +long for Spiritual Power? By that longing he +means no ambitious wish to be remarkable, nor +any unwholesome craving to be a leader in +scenes of religious excitement. He means the +deep desire to be an effectual messenger of his +Master; to be the living channel of the Holy +Spirit's energy in His converting, sanctifying, +strengthening, perfecting work. He knows +that it is possible to be truly orthodox, and yet +not to be this; to be eloquent, to be impressive, +to be impassioned, and yet not to be this; to +be unimpeachably truthful, reasonable, intellectually +convincing, and yet all the while not +to be this. How shall he be a vehicle of +spiritual power?</p> + +<p class="center">THE OPEN SECRET.</p> + +<p>The Scriptural answer is very simple, but +it goes deep. If a man would have spiritual +power with men, and prevail, he must be real +with his Lord. What he says, he must first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> +know, he must first live. As regards <span class="smcap">Him</span> +who is at once his Master and his Gospel, he +must indeed "<i>know</i> whom he has"<i>If a man</i> +believed," [2 Tim. i. 10.] and, in calm but entire simplicity, +"<i>submit himself</i> under His hands." Granted +a true creed, and a humble faith in its Subject, +he must, in quiet reality, "yield himself unto +God," if he would be used by Him. Observe +the Apostle's phrase; "Yield yourselves," +παραστήσατε ἑαυτούς: not, "yield to +God" (though that is implied), but, "yield +<i>yourselves</i>, hand yourselves over, to God," as +you would hand over a tool, a weapon [Rom. vi. 13.]. And +another aspect of the same thing appears in +the same Apostle's later words: +<i>purge himself</i> of these, he <i>shall be a +vessel</i> unto honour, sanctified (to), and meet +for, the Master's use," ἡγιασμένον εὔχρηστον +τῷ Δεσπότῃ. [2 Tim. ii. 21.]</p> + +<p>The deepest secret of spiritual power, in +God's sense of the phrase, lies there. Let the +man be watchful over his Scriptural creed, and +let him discipline his life, and let him toil in his +study, and among his people. None of these +things can be spared; they are all vital. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> +the central secret, which they as it were enclose +and protect, lies in the words <i>Surrender in +faith</i>. And the Christian man's heart must be +its own inquisitor, before God, in the inquiry +after the point, or points, where you, where I, +need to make that surrender for ourselves.</p> + +<p>In the void thus left, in the chasm thus cut +deep into our ambitions, into our self-love, the +mighty Spirit in His tranquil fulness will spring +up. And then, whether we know it or not, +we Ministers of the Word shall assuredly be +vehicles of spiritual power, to our Lord's praise.</p> + +<hr class="short" /> + +<p class="center">FAREWELL.</p> + +<p>So let me close these fragmentary words +spoken "to my younger Brethren." May +God's mercy be upon the writer. Upon the +readers, whom he loves in the Lord, may +grace and peace come every hour and day, in +secret, in society, in holy ministration of Word +and Ordinance. And in due time, when they +are no longer juniors but, if the Lord will, +veterans and leaders in the work, may they in +turn pass on the message to those who follow, +in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Christianity</span> is so great and surprising in its nature +that, in preaching it to others, I have no encouragement +but in the belief of a continued divine operation. It is no +difficult thing to change a man's opinions. It is no difficult +thing to attach a man to my person and notions. It is no +difficult thing to convert a proud man to spiritual pride, +or a passionate man to passionate zeal for some religious +party. But to bring a man to love God, to love the law of +God while it condemns him, to loathe himself before God, +to tread the earth under his feet, to hunger and thirst after +God in Christ, and after the mind that was in Christ, this +is impossible. But God has said it shall be done; and +bids me go forth and preach, that by me, as His instrument, +He may effect these great ends; and therefore I go."</p></div> + +<p style="margin-left: 27em;"><span class="smcap">Cecil.</span></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="FORDINGTON_PULPIT" id="FORDINGTON_PULPIT"></a>FORDINGTON PULPIT:</h2><p class="totoc"><a href="#toc">CONTENTS</a></p> + +<p class="center">A PREACHER'S WEEKDAY THOUGHTS,</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Written, in 1878, in the Church of the Author's Baptism, and<br /> +where he first Ministered as his Father's Curate.</i></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 12em;">Many voices yester-even<br /> +Made these walls and arches ring<br /> +With their high-sung hopes of Heaven,<br /> +And the glories of its King;<br /> +Now my footfall sounds alone<br /> +On the aisle's long path of stone,<br /> +Save that yonder from the loft,<br /> +With a solemn tone and soft,<br /> +Beating on with muffled shock,<br /> +Conscience-waking, speaks the clock.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Holy scene, and dear as holy,<br /></span> +Let me ponder thee this hour,<br /> +Not in aimless melancholy,<br /> +But in quest of Heaven-given power;<br /> +Seeking here to win anew<br /> +Contrite love and purpose true;<br /> +Near the Font whose dew-drops cold<br /> +Fell upon my brow of old,<br /> +Near the well-remember'd seat<br /> +Set beside my Mother's feet;<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> +Near the Table where I bent<br /> +At that earliest Sacrament.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Let me, through this narrow door,<br /></span> +Climb the Pulpit's steps once more.<br /> +Blessed place! the Master's Word,<br /> +Child and man, I hence have heard;<br /> +Awful place! for hence, in turn,<br /> +I have taught, so slow to learn.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the silence now to hearken<br /></span> +Here I mount and stand alone,<br /> +While the spaces round me darken<br /> +And the Church is all my own;<br /> +While the sun's last glories fall<br /> +From the window of the tower,<br /> +Tracing slow their parting hour<br /> +On the stones of floor and wall.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seems a secret Voice to thrill<br /></span> +All the dusky air so still;<br /> +Turns a soul-compelling gaze<br /> +On me from the sunset haze:<br /> +Sure the eternal Shepherd's hand<br /> +Beckons me awhile apart,<br /> +Bids me in His presence stand<br /> +While He looks me through the heart.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sinful preacher, ask again<br /></span> +In this nearness of thy Lord,<br /> +How to <span class="smcap">Him has rung thy strain,<br /></span> +When it seem'd to speak His Word.<br /> +'Midst thy brethren's listening numbers<br /> +Hast thou felt, with heart sincere,<br /> +How, in thought that never slumbers,<br /> +This great Listener stood more near?—<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> +Listening to His own high Name<br /> +Spoken by His creature's breath;<br /> +How from out the Heavens He came,<br /> +How He pour'd His soul in death,<br /> +How He triumph'd o'er the grave,<br /> +How He lives on high to save,<br /> +How He yet again shall come,<br /> +Lord of glory and of doom.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Has He found thy message true?<br /></span> +Truth, and truly spoken too?<br /> +Utter'd with a purpose whole,<br /> +From a self-forgetful soul,<br /> +Bent on nothing save the fame<br /> +Of the dear redeeming Name,<br /> +And the pardon, life, and bliss<br /> +Of the souls He bought for His?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Think!—But ah, from thoughts like these<br /></span> +Hasten, sinner, to thy knees.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="center"><i>Printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney, La., London and Aylesbury.</i></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[Pg ii]</a></span><br /></p> + +<h2><i>BY THE SAME AUTHOR.</i></h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><b>THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.</b> 7s. 6d.</p> + +<p><b>COLOSSIAN STUDIES.</b> Crown 8vo., cloth, 5s.</p> + +<p><b>TO MY YOUNGER BRETHREN ON PASTORAL LIFE AND WORK.</b> 5s.</p> + +<p><b>OUTLINES OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE.</b> 2s. 6d. 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