Pastoral Meditation

Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor, in The Practical Works of Richard Baxter, Vol. 4, p. 421:

What an excellent life is it to live in the studies and preaching Christ! to be still searching into his mysteries, or feeding on them; to be daily in the consideration of his blessed nature, or works, or ways of God! Others are glad of the leisure of the Lord's day, and now and then an hour besides, when they can lay hold of it: but we may keep a continual sabbath. We may do nothing else almost but study and talk of God and glory, and call upon him, and drink in his sacred, saving truths. Our employment is all high and spiritual! Whether we be alone, or with others, our business is for another world. Oh, were but our hearts more suitable to this work, what a blessed, joyful life should we live! How sweet would the pulpit be, and what a delight would our conference of these things afford! To live among so many silent, wise companions, whenever we please, and of such variety: -- all these, and more such privileges of the ministry, bespeak our unwearied diligence in the work.

Richard Baxter's "Poorest" Library

In Richard Baxter's A Christian Directory (1673), he provides a list of recommended books that in his view ought to be found in "the poorest or smallest [pastoral] library that is tolerable." In a Word document that is nine pages long, I have reproduced the list as he wrote it, with further commentary, and annotations, footnoting each of the authors he recommends in an effort to help interested readers today learn more about the books that Baxter thought to be important for pastoral study. To take a peek and learn more, click here.

Thomas Murphy's Recommended Pastoral Library

The following is a list of recommended books that should be had and consulted by the Christian minister in his library prepared by Thomas Murphy, an Irish-American Presbyterian, who was born in Country Antrim in 1823 and died in New Jersey in 1900. Where possible and desirable, I have provided links to online edition of the works he cited for easier reference.

Thomas Murphy, Pastoral Theology; The Pastor in the Various Duties of His Office (1877), pp. 144-147:

In order to give some assistance in the selection of books, we would name a few upon the respective branches of ministerial study. We pass by general reading and culture, for it is with the minister in his special calling as pastor that we are now concerned. We give only a few authors as many as may serve at the beginning of the ministry a sort of indispensable apparatus for commencing the great work. At least, the pastor's library should be stocked with most of these as soon as circumstances will allow. The books we name have been well tried, and are recommended by persons whose judgment is worthy of confidence.

1. Books of general reference. Webster's or Worcester's English Dictionary -- this should be a constant companion; Roget's Thesaurus of English Words; some good general Encyclopaedia if possible.

2. Interpretation of Scripture. Cruden's Concordance; Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, Hackett's edition; Simmons' Manual; Wheeler's Analysis and Summary of Old Testament History; Whitney or Barrow's Sacred Geography; The Land and the Book.

3. Commentaries. On the whole Bible, Henry's Commentary; Critical and Experimental Commentary by Jamieson, Faussett and Brown; Lange's great Bible work is a thesaurus of scriptural exposition which may be secured as the wants of the pastor require. Many of the best expositors have written on only one or a few books of Scripture. A detailed list of some of the most useful of these may now be given: On Genesis, Murphy, Jacobus, Bush; on Exodus, Murphy, Jacobus, Bush; on Leviticus, Bush, Bonar; on Numbers, Bush, Keil and Delitzsch; on Deuteronomy, Keil and Delitzsch; on the whole Pentateuch, Calvin; on Joshua and Judges, Bush, Keil and Delitzsch; on Ruth and Samuel, Keil and Delitzsch; on Esther, McCrie; on Job, Barries; on Psalms, Barnes, Calvin; on Proverbs, Bridges, Stuart; on Ecclesiastes, Bridges; on Song of Solomon, Newton; on Isaiah, Barnes, Alexander; on Jeremiah and Lamentations, Henderson; on Ezekiel, Fairbairn; on Daniel, Barnes, Auberlin, Stuart; on the minor prophets, Henderson; on Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, Moore; on the four Evangelists, John J. Owen; on Matthew and Mark, Alexander; on John, Hutch[e]son; on Acts, Alexander, Hackett, Jacobus; on Romans, Hodge, Turner; on Corinthians, Hodge; on Galatians, Luther; on Ephesians, Hodge; on Philippians and Colossians, Eadie; on Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus and Philemon, Barnes; on Hebrews, Stuart, Owen; on James, Barnes, Pattison; on Peter, Barnes and Leighton; on John and Jude, Barnes; on Revelation, Stuart, Barnes and Auberlin.

4. Theology. Systematic Theology, by Hodge; Hill's Divinity; Dwight's Theology; Dick's Theology; Outlines of Theology, by A. A. Hodge; Pictet's Theology.

5. Church History. Mosehim's Ecclesiastical History; Shedd's History of Doctrines; Kurtz's Sacred History; Schaff's Apostolic Church; McCrie's Life of Knox; History of the Church in Chronological Tables, H. B. Smith; The Ancient Church, by Dr. Killen; D'Aubigne's Histories.

6. Church Government and the Sacraments. Miller on the Christian Ministry; Miller on the Ruling Elder; Primitive Church Officers, J. A. Alexander; Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity; Coleman's Primitive Church.

7. Sermons. This field is a boundless one, and we give only a few books which are known to be of standard value: South's Sermons; Robert Hall's Sermons; Sermons of John M. Mason these should be read by all means; Davie's Sermons; Archibald Alexander's Practical Sermons; Gospel in Ezekiel, Guthrie; Principal Cunningham's Sermons, amongst the best in the language; Spurgeon's Sermons; Bishop Horsley's Sermons, among the best.

8. Practical Piety. Russell's Letters; Rutherford's Letters; A Kempis; James's Earnest Ministry; Winslow's Precious Things of God; Baxter's Reformed Pastor; Daily Meditations by Bowen; Owen on the Glory of Christ a work of pre-eminent value; Owen on Spiritual-Mindedness -- Dr. Alexander said this should be read once a year; Howe's Delight in God; Flavel's Keeping the Heart.

9. Christian Biography. Lives of McCheyne, Simeon, Henry Martyn, Hal[y]burton, Archibald Alexander.

10. Great Puritan Writers. John Howe -- all of his works. Says James W. Alexander, "A little reading in the pages of great thought will sometimes set one thinking, as if by a happy contagion. Such pages are those of John Howe." Owen, especially on Hebrews Dr. Mason used to say all his theology was from this. Some of his most valuable productions are on "Spiritual-Mindedness," on the "Glory of Christ," on "Forgiveness of Sin," "Indwelling Sin," and "Mortification of Sin;" Baxter, especially his "Saints Rest" and "Reformed Pastor," Leighton's works; Flavel's works highly recommended; and Charnock on the "Divine Attributes."

11. On Sabbath-school Work. "Sunday-School Idea" (Hart); "Sabbath -School Index" (Pardee); "Preparing to Teach" (Presbyterian Board).

The minister who has secured most of these books is furnished with the best of reading for many a day, and with authorities on almost all subjects that can come before him in his profession. Of other authors he will find out the value in the progress of his ministry, and purchase them as new wants arise. It was an excellent advice of Dr. Archibald Alexander that ministers should buy books only as they are actually needed, and not to be stored away on the shelves of the library for future use. Our last advice is to be sure of getting only the standard and very best authors.

Taking Heed to the Flock

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. (Acts 20.28)

One particular generally-neglected spiritual service in our day is that of family visitation. If not neglected, it is often caricatured, but the Biblical duty of undershepherds, pastors and ruling elders, to provide spiritual oversight, encouragement and admonition to the flock under their care.

Derrick J. Vander Meulen, "Shepherding the Flock Through Family Visitation," in Called to Serve: Essays For Elders and Deacons, p. 214:

Put simply, family visitation is the practice of elders and ministers officially and regularly visiting the members of the congregation in their homes.

John S. Watkins, A Hand-Book For Ruling Elders, p. 30:

It is the duty of the elder to visit the members of his church. It is impossible for him to take proper oversight over them, look after their spiritual interests, and give them due attention, without coming in personal contact with them in their homes.

David Dickson (1821-1885) writes in The Elder and His Work, p. 45:

If the great ends of our office are, by God's blessing, to be attained, it is plain, in the first place, that the elder must know the people in his district. He must be acquainted with them all, old and young, their history, their occupations, their habits, their ways of thinking. They and their children should be his personal friends, so that they naturally turn to him as to one on whom they can depend as a kind and sympathizing friend and a faithful counselor. He must know them as they are at home, at their own fireside. As Dr. [Thomas] Chalmers said, "The way into a man's heart is in at the door of his house." And he must keep up this knowledge by visiting them from time to time.

The practice, rooted in the "house to house" ministry of Paul (Acts 20.20), is articulated officially in the 1618-1619 Church Order of the Synod of Dordt:

Article 23

The office of the Elders, in addition to what was said in Article 16 to be their duty in common with the Ministers of the Word, is to take heed that the Ministers, together with their other Fellow-helpers and the Deacons, faithfully discharge their office; - and, insofar as circumstances of time and place permit, to do house visitation both before and after the Lord's Supper for the edification of the congregation, in order particularly to comfort and instruct the members of the congregation, and also to exhort others in respect to the Christian Religion.

Peter De Jong (1915-2005) wrote a book designed to encourage both undershepherds as well as parishioners in this edifying spiritual exercise: Taking Heed to the Flock: A Study of the Principles and Practice of Family Visitation. I have found it to be very helpful personally and I commend it highly to those interested in better understanding what it means to shepherd the flock of Christ.

Ministry and Magistracy

Thomas Hall (d. 1665), The Works of George Swinnock, M.A., Vol. 4, The Beauty of Magistracy, pp. 221-222:

So magistrates should be very tender over the messengers of Christ, who are the best friends, if they be faithful, that princes have in the world. Magistracy and ministry, the word and the sword, should go together. The pulpit guards the throne; hence Nathan is called the friend of David, 1 Kings 4:5; king Joram calls Elijah his father, 2 Kings 6:21; and Jehoshaphat calls the Levites his sons, 2 Chron 29:11; and Hezekiah spake comfortable, delightful, pleasing words to the hearts of the Levites, 2 Chron 30:22. The magistrate must protect their persons from violence, and their maintenance from the encroachment of cruel cormorants, lest, by famishing them, he bring a famine of the word upon the people. He must plant the word where it is wanting, and continue it where it is planted. It was well observed by Queen Elizabeth, when the justices of peace in the county of Suffolk met her Majesty in progress, every one of them having a minister by him, I see the reason now, saith the queen, why the county of Suffolk is better governed than other counties; it is because the word and the sword go together. Then church and state are like to flourish when Moses and Aaron, Zerubbabel and Joshua, Zech 4:14, go hand in hand together. When the minister reproves sin, and the magistrate punisheth it; when the magistrate makes use of the minister's direction, and the minister enjoys the magistrate's protection; when Joshua joins with Eleazar, and David consults with Nathan and Gad, the prophets of the Lord; and Josiah with Huldah, and Uzziah with Zechariah the priest, then, and never till then, can we look to prosper, 2 Chron 26:5. It is Aaron's office to speak, but it is Moses's rod that works the wonders. Ministers must preach, and magistrates must punish offenders.

Not to Fear is the Armor

On October 28, 1523, the third day of the Second Disputation in Zurich, Ulrich Zwingli preached a famous sermon on The Shepherd (Der Hirt, published in 1524), describing both the true and false shepherd, or pastor. On the occasion of this sermon, it is said that nine hundred auditors were present, including three hundred fifty priests. Within the portrait he sketched of the faithful minister is an encouragement for him to put on the true armor of God, as described in Ephesians 6. In his day, the Reformation was just beginning, and the fires of persecution were hot. But his counsel is certainly applicable today to Christian pastors and laymen alike when we struggle with fear in the face of affliction, difficulty, persecution and challenges to our faith. Hear the great warrior-shepherd himself:

Not to fear is the armor. So now you want to say: I would without doubt certainly know even if Christ had not said so, that is, where I do not fear anything, there I would attack all things bravely. If it were given to me not to fear then I would stand steadfast, but not if I am only told not to be afraid. Therefore Christ shows us how to attain the point that we are without fear in John 16:33: “These things have I spoken to you that you have peace in me. You will have anxiety or affliction in the world; but do not be afraid, for I have overcome the world.” Here we see the pioneer, Christ. He calls us to be untroubled and to go forward in his work, although at the same time we are faced with affliction. The world cannot do anything different to the shepherd. But herein lies our certain comfort, that he is the victor over the world. And if we are his loyal servants, then he will also overcome these afflictions for us. Therefore we should now be joyous.

If the World Hated Him, Yet God Would Love Him

Sinclair B. Ferguson, "Puritans - Ministers of the World," in The Westminster Directory of Public Worship Discussed by Mark Dever & Sinclair Ferguson, pp. 37-38:

...Puritan ministers were tremendously conscious of the privilege of the high calling they had received.

One such was Herbert Palmer (1601-47), the gifted upper-class bachelor who became one of the Assessors of the Westminster Assembly. He was widely believed to be its best catechist.

Palmer himself knew what it was to be catechized. Asked when he was only a five year old what he wanted to be he replied that he hoped to be a minister. When others tried to dissuade him by telling him that ministers were 'hated, despised, and accounted as the off scouring of the world', little Palmer nobly replied 'It was no matter for that; for if the world hated him, yet God would love him.'22

Perhaps more than anything else, this was the heartbeat of Puritan ministry at its best.

The love of Christ constrained them to be ambassadors. That constraint invested their preaching with impassioned appeal.

The fact that their ministry was that of an ambassador drove them to the study of their Sovereign's message.

The knowledge that their Master was the Sovereign Lord gave them confidence that their mission would not, indeed could not, in the last analysis, fail.

This was the spirit that had gripped little Palmer from his earliest days.

Well might we pray today, 'Lord, will you not raise up Herbert Palmers in our day too?'

22. Samuel Clarke, The Lives of Thirty-Two English Divines, London, 1677, 3rd. ed., p. 184.

Incessant Bible Study

Thomas Murphy, Pastoral Theology: The Pastor in the Various Duties of His Office, pp. 110-115:

INCESSANT STUDY OF THE BIBLE.

This is a duty which must be placed amidst the very first of all the duties that devolve upon the pastor. We must come back to it again and again and again as we treat of his all-important calling. In that holy office he must study many things, but this most yea, more than all other things put together. We would endeavor to impress this point as strongly as possible. The minister must study the Bible for his own heart-culture ; he must study it for all his official duties ; he must study it until he grows to love the study ; he must study it until he gets his mind saturated with it ; he must study it to keep up freshness and variety in his preaching ; he must study it every day ; he must study it until his dying day.

The pastor may depend upon it that a thorough knowledge of the oracles of God would prove to be the right arm of his strength. It would give vigor to his faith. It would impart robustness to his Christian character. It would clothe his preaching with irresistible power. It would furnish him with the best preparation in his attendance upon the sick, the inquiring, the young, in ecclesiastical affairs and in every other branch of his work. What skill is to the mechanic, what eloquence is to the orator, what taste is to the artist, what wisdom is to the statesman, that, and still more necessary, is a profound knowledge of the Scriptures to the minister. All experience proves this to be so. From the very nature of the case this must make him strong ; without it, he cannot but be weak as an ambassador of God. The testimony of all devoted and successful pastors establishes this truth beyond a question.

A few sentences from the pen of that great and good man, Dr. James W. Alexander, will serve as specimens of what is reiterated thousands of times by those who have had the ripest experience : "Constant perusal and re-perusal of Scripture is the great preparation for preaching. You get good even when you know it not. This is one of the most observable differences between old and young theologians. Give attendance to reading." In another connection he says : "The liveliest preachers are those who are most familiar with the Bible without note or comment, and we frequently find them among men who have had no education better than that of the common school. It was this which gave such animation to the vivid books and discourses of the Puritans. As there is no poetry so rich and bold as that of the Bible, so he who daily makes this his study will, even on human principles, be awakened and acquire a striking manner of conveying his thoughts. The sacred books are full of fact, example and illustration, which, with copiousness and variety, will cluster around the truths which the man of God derives from the same source. One preacher gives us naked heads of theology ; they are true, scriptural and important, but they are uninteresting, especially when reiterated for the thousandth time in the same naked manner. Another gives us the same truths, but each of them brings in its train the retinue of scriptural example, history, a figure by way of illustration, and a variety hence arises which is perpetually becoming richer as the preacher goes more deeply into the mine of Scripture. There are some great preachers who, like Whitefield, do not appear to bestow great labor on the preparation of particular discourses, but it may be observed that these are always persons whose life is a study of the word. Each sermon is an outflowing from a fountain which is constantly full. The Bible is, after all, the one book of the preacher. He who is most familiar with it will become most like it, and this in respect to every one of its wonderful qualities, arid will bring forth from his treasury things new and old."

The minister who has laid hold, as a living fact, of this one thought of the pre-eminent importance of being deeply imbued both with the letter and the spirit of the word of God is already mighty for his work.

Look at the Bible. The pastor has to do with it at every point of his work. He must come to it in every thing he undertakes. He is nothing without it. It is all in all to him in his office. It is more to him than any than all other books that were ever penned. The Bible contains his credentials as an ambassador of Jesus Christ. It is the message which he is appointed to reiterate with all fervor to his fellow-men. It is the treasury from which he can ever draw the riches of divine truth. It is the Urim and Thummim to which he has constant access, and from which he can learn the mind of Jehovah with all clearness. It is the audience-chamber where he will be received into the presence of the Lord and hear words of more than earthly wisdom. It is the armory from which he can be clothed with the panoply of salvation. It is the sword of the Spirit before which no enemy can possibly stand. It is his book of instructions wherein the great duties of his office are clearly defined. The chief rules of his sacred art are here. There is nothing which it is essential for him to know but is revealed here either in express terms or in inferences which are easily studied out. It is a mine of sacred wealth for the clergyman, the abundance of which he can never exhaust. The deeper he goes, the richer and more unbounded will its treasures appear. Well was it said by Dr. W. E. Schenck : "That volume alone contains the warrant for the sacred office he bears. In it alone is found the record of his great commission as an ambassador of God. It alone authoritatively exhibits and defines the official duties he must perform. It alone tells him of the glorious rewards he may expect if he be found faithful. Nay, more, it contains the subject-matter for all his preaching and his other professional labors." It is a shame for a preacher not to be a master in the knowledge of the Book of books, which is everything to him.

It is well that we should strive to impress this great duty and privilege of the minister by the authority of eminent workers in the sacred office. Their experience and testimony should be deeply studied. " The study of the Bible is the special duty of every individual who would understand the truth of God and be prepared to make it known to others. Burnet, speaking of ministers in his own times, says, The capital error in men's preparing themselves for that function is that they study books more than themselves, and that they read divinity more in other books than in the Scriptures. This, it is to be feared, is as true now as it was then; and if so it must be attended, inevitably, with very injurious consequences both to the ministry and the Church. For as the Bible is the source of divine knowledge, so it is of spiritual strength, and every holy affection and purpose.

"Melanchthon recommended, as the first requisite in the study of theology, 'a familiarity with the text of the sacred Scriptures, and in order to this that they should be read daily, both morning and evening. The daily devotion of Luther to the sacred text is well known, and it was this that made him strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.'

"Dr. Campbell, in his treatise on systematic theology, says, Devoutly study the Scriptures themselves if you would understand their doctrines in singleness of heart. The only assistance which I would recommend are those writings in which there can be no tendency to warp your judgment. It is the serious and frequent reading of the divine oracles, accompanied with fervent prayer; it is the diligent study of the languages in which they were written ; it is the knowledge of those histories and antiquities to which they allude.

"President Edwards, as the result of his own experience, said, I find that it would be very much to my advantage to be thoroughly acquainted with the Scriptures. When I am reading doctrinal books or books of controversy, I can proceed with abundantly more confidence and can see upon what foundation I stand.

It has been truthfully said : "When scholars furnish themselves with stores of other writers, besides the Scriptures, and being little conversant in the Scriptures draw the Scriptures to the authors whom they most af-feet, and not their authors to the Scriptures, their divinity proves but humanity, and their ministry speaks to the brain, but not to the conscience, of the hearer. But he that digs all the treasures of his knowledge and the ground of all religion out of the Scriptures, and makes use of other authors, not for ostentation of himself, nor for the ground of his faith, nor for the principal ornament of his ministry, but for the better searching out of the deep wisdom of the Scriptures, such an one believes what he teaches, not by a human credulity from his author, but by a divine faith from the word. And because he believes therefore he speaks, and speaking from faith in his own heart, he speaks much more powerfully to the begetting and strengthening of faith in the hearer."

Oliver Bowles Treatise on the Evangelical Pastor

Oliver Bowles, Westminster Divine, wrote a famous but much-neglected treatise on the pastoral office in Latin entitled De Pastore Evangelico Tractatus (1649). The Westminster Assembly Project, which has undertaken a translation of the work, although it is currently on hold, says that it:

deserves to be known as one of the best books ever written on pastoral ministry in the Puritan tradition. The 400-page treatise represents the life work of Oliver Bowles, the Cambridge tutor and local pastor who served the Westminster Assembly as its oldest member and delivered the first fast sermon before parliament during the Westminster Assembly. Bowles divided his book into three sections: one on the minister’s spiritual and intellectual preparation for the pastoral office; one on the public and private ministry of God’s Word; and one on the administration of the sacraments (including church discipline) and the conduct of pastoral prayer. De Pastore Evangelico Tractatus is distinguished by its careful attention to the theology of pastoral ministry, its reliance on Patristic and Catholic as well as Reformed source material, and its wealth of practical insights into the daily work of the pastor. Though rarely studied, it is perhaps the best resource for understanding the Westminster view of gospel ministry.

Philip Ryken provides a biographical sketch of this divine in The Westminster Confession into the 21st Century, Vol. 2. Selections from the translation work by Jonathan Rockey and edited by Philip Ryken may be found in one chapter of the recently-published Resurrection and Eschatology: Theology in Service of the Church: Essays in Honor of Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. (2008), ed. Lane G. Tipton and Jeffrey C. Waddington. For those who wish to read the work in Latin, a 1667 edition is available online here at Google Books. It is to be hoped that the full English translation will be forthcoming.