PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
To My Younger Brethren: Chapters on Pastoral Life and Work
Moule, H. C. G. (Handley Carr Glyn) · 56,195 words · 138 reading sections
H.C.G.M.
E-text prepared by Colin Bell, Thomas Strong, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team Transcriber's Note: 1. Obvious misspellings and printing errors have been corrected. 2. Archaic word spellings have been retained. 3. The list of books by the same author has been moved from the beginning t…
261 wordsSECTION 2Preface.
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. But as a writer reviews his own words, it is inevitable that some sort of _envoi_ should present itself to his mind. In this case th…
422 wordsSECTION 3Chapter Iv.
_THE SECRET WALK WITH GOD_ (i.). PAGE Need of watching and prayer over three departments of a Minister's life--The secret department--Temptations in it from work--From solitude--Secret Devotion--The Morning Watch--Physical precautions--Evening hours--A Minister's prayers must sometimes forget the Ministry--This …
261 wordsSECTION 4_The Clergyman And The Prayer Book._
_THE DAILY WALK WITH OTHERS_ (ii.). "Take heed unto thyself"--Relations with Woman--Christian chivalry--And Christian caution--Special difficulties--"Know thyself"--Celibacy--The Clergyman's Wife--The problem of means--The Clergyman and money--Pecuniary intemperance--Accurate accounts--Investment circulars--"Lay n…
250 wordsSECTION 5Olney Hymns.
_PREACHING_ (i.). The Pulpit a central point in the Ministry--Mutual influence of "parish-work" and preaching--"Truth through personality"--Let us "labour in the Word"--"Litho Sermons"--Addison's village-parson and his sermons--_Attractive_ preaching--Is a duty--Audibility--Of the right sort--Good English--Why to …
312 wordsSECTION 6Aim Of The Book.
_THE SECRET WALK WITH GOD_ (i.). _Pastor, for the round of toil See the toiling soul is fed; Shut the chamber, light the oil, Break and eat the Spirit's bread; Life to others would'st thou bring? Live thyself upon thy King._ Let me explain in this first sentence that when in these pages I address "my Younger Bre…
287 wordsSECTION 7Three Lines Of Prayer.
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 …
371 wordsSECTION 8Hindrances: Work.
Let me take up the first great topic of the three for a few preliminary words in this chapter: THE SECRET WALK WITH GOD of the young Pastor of Christ's flock. 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…
273 wordsSECTION 9*Hindrances: Solitude.
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 …
259 wordsSECTION 10Hindrances Are Occasions.
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 someth…
441 wordsSECTION 11Let It Be Deliberate.
Let me plunge into the midst at once, with a few simple suggestions on SECRET DEVOTION. 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 t…
381 wordsSECTION 12Good Hours At Night.
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…
402 wordsSECTION 13Pray As A Private Christian.
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 …
281 wordsSECTION 14For The Ministry'S Sake.
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 hi…
337 wordsSECTION 15"Tell Him All."
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,[1] a new friend of mine, but already a very dear one, and thankfully added to the treasures of memory. It puts in…
322 wordsSECTION 16The Lord'S Example.
_THE SECRET WALK WITH GOD_ (ii). _He that would to others give Let him take from Jesus still; They who deepest in Him live Flow furthest at His will._ 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…
560 wordsSECTION 17Testimony Of Lucius Von Machtholf.
From a leaflet which came long ago into my hands, I quote the experience of a German Christian, eminently successful in spiritual work; a passage which will illustrate and bring home my appeal in this whole matter:-- "When Lucius von Machtholf was asked how he carried on religious intercourse with individuals, he wrot…
558 wordsSECTION 18Urgent Present Need To Maintain Secret Devotion.
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 th…
302 wordsSECTION 19How To Counteract It.
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 …
416 wordsSECTION 20"Thou Knowest Not."
"I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing." [SN: 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 …
360 wordsSECTION 21To Know Christ Is Indispensable.
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 outside, saying that a PERSON waits for readmission to HIS place in our busy, multifarious life, and that HE can be content with nothing short of heart-intimacy with us, and that we, if we w…
411 wordsSECTION 22The Ordination Charge.
And with this view, I now say specially, cultivate such intercourse _laying His holy Word open before you_. 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…
450 wordsSECTION 23M. Henri Lasserre On Devotional Reading.
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 with…
397 wordsSECTION 24Read It For Your Own Needs.
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, _mutatis mutandis_. Bible study, such as our Lord and the Apostles enj…
350 wordsSECTION 25Bridges And Witsius On Bible Study.
Let me write out a slightly abbreviated extract from a golden book, unhappily no longer in print, _The Christian Ministry_, 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 Brid…
395 wordsSECTION 26Higher Criticism.
"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 …
451 wordsSECTION 27A Plea For Caution.
It is not its definition in the abstract but its actual work and spirit, as seen in many leading 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 pr…
477 wordsSECTION 28Witnesses For Scripture.
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;…
422 wordsSECTION 29The Work Of The Spade.
Let me quote a few sentences from the Duke of Argyll's paper:-- "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 precis…
405 wordsSECTION 30Christ'S Witness To The Bible.
The analysis of prophetic _consciousness_ 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 Êon. Was He "soothsaying"? It re…
495 wordsSECTION 31He Has Affirmed It From Above.
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 _the angels in heaven did not know_ that day and…
257 wordsSECTION 32Bible Reading Is The Best Defence Of The Bible.
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…
672 wordsSECTION 33Spade-Husbandry.
Then, practise what I would call the _plough-husbandry_ 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 _that_ subject, _that_ word, all along in view. Bring all your mind to work that way, in the ligh…
278 wordsSECTION 34A Church Congress Paper On Bible Study.
"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 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…
700 wordsSECTION 35A Church Congress Paper On Bible Study.
"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 _newly-discovered_ fragment of the apostolic age. Treat it somewhat as many of us have recently sought to treat Bryennius' discovery, _The Teaching of t…
796 wordsSECTION 36A Church Congress Paper On Bible Study.
"(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 IN HIM. 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…
674 wordsSECTION 37A Church Congress Paper On Bible Study.
"III.--The Life in Christ exemplified in the Writer. "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 C…
669 wordsSECTION 38A Walk With God All Day.
"_My soul rejoices to pursue The steps of Him I love, Till glory breaks upon my view In brighter worlds above._" _THE DAILY WALK WITH OTHERS_ (i.). _When the watcher in the dark Turns his lenses to the skies, Suddenly the starry spark Grows a world upon his eyes: Be my life a lens, that I So my Lord may magni…
483 wordsSECTION 39Self-Respect.
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 _there_. He is quite certain to be watched, whether the eyes are friendly or unfriendl…
356 wordsSECTION 40Considerateness.
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 mi…
404 wordsSECTION 41Use Of The Tongue.
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 _seem_ fastidious. There are some men about whom, if you know them, you feel sure that they will _not_ choose the best dish at the table; and there are…
317 wordsSECTION 42*Its Opportunities And Needs.
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 to…
567 wordsSECTION 43The Duty Of Example.
I spoke just above of the sacredness of the duty of example. It is a theme on which I 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 i…
260 wordsSECTION 44"For Their Sakes."
With the humblest reverence may I quote in this connexion the words of our blessed Lord in the High Priestly Prayer? "_For their sakes I sanctify Myself._" So said JESUS CHRIST. [John xvii. 19.] Perfectly holy personally, He was yet always deliberately hallowing Himself, separating Himself, to the Father's will and wor…
261 wordsSECTION 45*"Noblesse Oblige."
Following up the same line of remark, let me say a word about our duty to others in the matter of _manner_. 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 …
355 wordsSECTION 46The Rev. C. Simeon.
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 ac…
458 wordsSECTION 47Pains And Means.
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, _n…
368 wordsSECTION 48Relations With Woman.
_THE DAILY WALK WITH OTHERS_ (ii.). _If Jesus Christ thou serve, take heed, Whate'er the hour may be; His brethren are obliged indeed By their nobility._ 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…
646 wordsSECTION 49"Know Thyself."
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 _trusted_ to an extraordinary degree in personal intercourse with female parishioners. How often a pastoral call is paid, whether at mansion or cottage, when …
431 wordsSECTION 50Special Risks.
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 fa…
564 wordsSECTION 51"One In The Lord."
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 th…
291 wordsSECTION 52*Married Life As It Should Be.
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, a…
382 wordsSECTION 53Risks Of Debt.
ii. I touch thus already on the second point about which I would fain cry, Take heed unto thyself. That matter is _Money_. 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 …
290 wordsSECTION 54The Accounts In Good Order.
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 bus…
317 wordsSECTION 55Investment-Circulars.
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 w…
302 wordsSECTION 56*"When Riches Increase."
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 tha…
334 wordsSECTION 57Chapter Vi.
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, "_provide_," 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 equ…
346 wordsSECTION 58A Lecture On Curates.
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…
262 wordsSECTION 59Loyalty.
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…
297 wordsSECTION 60The Ideal Incumbent.
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…
373 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.