Glimpses of Christian History Presents Pastwords #164: Super Tough Requirements for Antebellum Preachers Outlined by James Osgood Andrew ©2007

James Osgood Andrew (1794-1871) bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, began preaching at age 18; for the first 20 years he served various charges in Georgia and the Carolinas. He was elected bishop in 1832. When he married his second wife in 1844 she owned a number of slaves inherited from a previous marriage. "He immediately executed legal papers renouncing for himself all personal property rights in the ownership and control of these slaves. But when General Conference met in NY in May 1844, so intense was the feeling of the Northern delegates against a bishop's owning slaves, or being the husband of wife who owned them, that after several days of strenuous debate in the Conference, a resolution passed by a vote of 110 to 68 to the effect that Andrew should desist from the exercise of his episcopal office until his connections with the ownership of slaves should cease. From the beginning of the controversy he had expressed a perfect willingness to resign his episcopal office, but the entire body of Southern delegates were a unit in their insistence that he should not do so... The result was a --Plan of Separation' and the division of the Church was drawn up and passed by the General Conference." --DAB I:278. Andrew along with Joshua Soule became the first bishops of the Southern Church in May 1846. He continued in office until after the Civil War. His volume of Miscellanies contains his "Letters from the West," extending over many years and including Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Ill, Indiana, Ohio, Arkansas, Louisiana. The volume also includes several addresses on missions and various other papers including and extended biographical sketch of his first wife and the essay "The Religious Instruction of Slaves."

Y BELOVED BRETHREN -- The church has wisely ordered that all those who would enter fully into the fellowship of this ministry of labor and reward, of toil and blessings, should be required previously to undergo a probation of two years, that may have ample time to acquaint themselves with our doctrines, our usages, and our discipline, that they may during such probation learn what we expect them to believe, to teach and to do. She also designed that during this period an opportunity might be afforded for scrutinizing the temper, habits, and faith of those who offer to minister at her altars. You stand before us to-day as men who, having passed through this probationary period, are fully prepared to take upon you the vows which the church will require of you. It is taken for granted that you have not been idle for two years past; but that you have made yourselves thoroughly acquainted with all the doctrines you are to teach, and with the usages and discipline by which you are to regulate your own conduct, and which you are to regulate your own conduct, and which you are to administer in the government of the church of God: and you are supposed to be fully prepared to answer yea and nay to the questions which we shall propound to you, in the name and in the fear of God. Now if there be one among you who feels that he cannot go honestly and cordially, with us in our great work, according to the plans upon which we act, let him now retire: it is his privilege to do so without compromising his character as a Christian or minister; this, at least, is certainly implied in the idea of trial. And so, on the other hand, if when your brethren shall have examined into your character and qualifications, they shall be satisfied that you are not fitted for the peculiar work of a traveling Methodist preacher, they may, without any wrong, discontinue your connection with them. With a view to a full understanding of your sentiments and purposes on this subject, we shall proceed to propose certain questions to you, and you will please answer them according to your own honest convictions and purposes.

In the questions which the church propounds to you on this occasion, direct reference is had, in the first place, to your individual religious experience; all must be right, here, in the beginning; otherwise you are not deemed qualified for this holy work. We ask, have you faith in God? We mean not that faith which is merely general -- which simply recognizes the truth of the scriptures, and receives the orthodox interpretation of them, and lets the heart and the conscience remain untouched;-- which leaves the soul in all its actual guilt, unchanged by the mighty renovating influence of the Holy Ghost. The faith of which we inquire, is that by which a man is justified from all his guilt through the blood of the atoning Lamb; and which is followed by a sense of God's pardoning mercy; --- the witness of the Holy Ghost to the fact of your adoption into God's family. This precious truth you are to preach, and you must first have felt its power, to do this efficiently We mean by this question, First -- have you experienced a thorough change of heart? have you been converted to God? Secondly, we ask whether you faith lives in healthful vigor? is it to-day abiding as a vital principle in your heart? Can you trust God? Have you in your heart a realizing sense of the presence of him who is invisible? You will find this essential to your proper and successful ministration of the word of life. Without it your heart will fail in the cloudy and dark day, when the storm is loud and the waves are running high. Nothing can sustain a man in the work of the ministry but a divine persuasion of the presence of the ever living God. Without this, our ministrations may be teeming with wisdom and beautiful oratory, but they will be powerless. The light which we show forth may be brilliant, but it will be the cold moonbeam playing among the crags of the towering iceberg. There will be no heat: no thawing power will go forth with it. My beloved brethren, look well to yourselves on this point. See that you are right here. An error here will be of fatal tendency in all your future course. We have a high regard for genius, and talent, and mental cultivation up to the highest point; but so far as the ministry is concerned, we deem it specially necessary to keep our hearts fully and always imbued with the conviction that any or all of these are worse than worthless in substitution for thorough personal piety. In these days of innovation and novelty, we have need to guard this point with great strictness.

But the man who is to teach others the way to heaven, must have contended on the field of temptation. He must have felt deeply the plague of inbred corruption, and sought earnestly for deliverance. He has fairly entered the arena of Christian conflict, and gained important victories: but he is still a soldier, harnessed and girded for battle: his mortal enemy, sin, is to be destroyed. The struggle may be severe, but success is sure. Our conquering leader hath pledged our success; his blood, his word, his spirit insure it. Hence we ask whether you are going on to perfection? And do you seek it, not as a matter of doubtful issue? are you unfalteringly confident of ultimate success? do you expect to be made perfect in love, in this life? If you feel this persuasion, your struggles for victory will be ardent. You will groan after it. So deep -- so pervading, will be the conviction of its necessity, and the possibility of success, that your spirit will pour forth its longings and its pleadings in unutterable groanings. Oh, how strong -- how expressive are these words! One who thus seeks will surely find, and that right early, the full power of saving grace. Oh, if we all realized the truth of this precious doctrine -- if we enjoyed it -- lived it out -- how would our hearts, our lives, our ministry be instinct with the power of the Holy Ghost? With what authority should we rebuke! With what power and confidence should we exhort and comfort the trembling and disconsolate! And how gloriously successful should be all our ministrations! Oh, that God would send upon us all, on this occasion, the deep and overwhelming baptism of the Holy Ghost!

In possession of this faith and love, you will be prepared to go forth in quest of the lost sheep of the house of Israel, with a zeal fervid as that kindled by heaven's own breath, and a constancy wisely devoted and undying. Baptized with this spirit you will have proper views of your ministry -- its obligations -- and its issues. The cry of perishing millions will come over your heart like a voice from the spirit land. The love of Christ will constrain you, and you will gladly dedicate all your powers and all your days to the great work of publishing peace by Jesus Christ. In order to do this successfully, it is well that you understand and practice fully the rules which the wisdom of our fathers has adduced from the book of God, and from the lessons of experience. We therefore ask whether you "know the rules, and whether you keep them?" He who points out to others the way to heaven, will have need of all the help which the use of the means of grace can afford him. We therefore inquire, whether you constantly attend the sacrament. An itinerant Methodist preacher who is constantly wandering up and down in the earth, if he is nor resolutely punctual on this point, may very easily slide into the habit of neglect. But remember that you especially should walk in all the ordinances of the Lord blameless. If you are in orders yourself, see that the blessed sacrament be administered regularly in all the congregations of your charge, at least quarterly: and if not yet in orders, make every practicable exertion to have some ordained brother visit your people, and dispense to them the bread and the cup of the holy Eucharist,

In order to carry out the great designs of your ministry, it is necessary not only to preach the gospel fully, earnestly, and powerfully, but it is also necessary that you, as the shepherds of God's flock, maintain the purity of the church by the faithful, kind, and impartial administration of a godly, scriptural discipline. The line of separation between the church and the world must be maintained in all its original distinctness. Purity becomes the house of God, and must be maintained at all hazards. Erring members must be cured if possible, and if not, then excision must follow certainly and promptly. In the discharge of your duties there will arise many occasions of grief, and hardship, and mortification. Yours must be to a great extent a life of hardship and self-denial. Can you submit to it? Have you read the discipline closely, leisurely, and carefully? and will you conform to it? But to be a little more particular. Have you considered the rules of a preacher -- especially the first, tenth, and twelfth. These rules, brethren, are all pregnant with sound, practical wisdom; and though we are directed in this examination to a special consideration of only three of them, yet we shall avail ourselves of the teachings of several others in order to make our instructions as profitable as we can.

The first of these rules which ought to be written upon every preacher's heart, and inscribed at the entrance of his study, and on a proper attention to which every thing else may be said to depend, is as follows: "Be diligent: never be unemployed: never be triflingly employed: never trifle away time: neither spend any more time at any place than is strictly necessary." This was the practical rule of the great Wesley. By this rule he walked and lived: and it was by steadily regarding it that he achieved so much, and has left behind him a monument more enduring than the everlasting mountains. The great secret of life is, This, under the blessing of God, will infallibly lead to success -- to greatness: and this is especially the secret of ministerial success; for we have more to do than other men: our aims are higher: our work farther-reaching and more overwhelmingly glorious in its results. We, above all men, have no time for idleness or unprofitable employment: time is flying: sinners are dying: the Master is calling, and a voice from the most excellent glory urges you to your prayers -- to your Bible, and to your pulpits. It is because this rule is so much neglected, that many of our preachers never rise to respectability in their calling. It is not want of gifts: it is not want of time: it is not want of means: nine times out of ten it is because they violate this rule. They are idle -- they sleep -- they lounge -- they read newspapers -- they talk politics -- they sit about the stores -- or in the changing shade where village gossips meet -- or read the trash with which the periodical press is weekly flooding the country; instead of grappling with unfaltering purpose, the mysterious and glorious truths which after the example of angels they are called to study. The result is, their minds are barren. They preach the same sermons now that they did twenty years ago; and the people are tired of eating always the same stale loaf, and leave them to dispense it to vacant benches: and them, instead of taking shame to themselves, they abuse the few faithful who take up the cross in coming to hear them -- alleging that the people are backsliders, and pointing to houses which their own idleness hath emptied as the proof. My dear brethren, consider well this rule, remembering how much depends upon its observance.

But ours is not a work merely for time: the imperishable interests of eternity are before us. We are not sent to discuss to curious hearers the nice speculations of an abstruse philosophy, that we may attract to ourselves the homage of the multitude. We have no heart to seek popularity -- no ear to hear its shout. Heaven and hell -- sin and holiness -- condemnation and pardon -- the incarnation, agony, death, resurrection, ascension, and second coming of the glorious Redeemer -- the awful realities and awards of that second advent -- God's wrath and God's love -- the world's falsehood and God's truth -- these, are the themes of our thought and speech; and is there any time for us to be trifling? Be serious, therefore; avoid jesting; flee from levity of spirit and of speech, as you desire that your ministry should be weighty and efficient. Your love to God and man will make you kind and cheerful; but it should also maintain in you a spirit of seriousness. It is a bad business, when the best recommendation we hear of a preacher is that he is a very clever, jovial fellow, and mighty good company.

The third rule is -- converse sparingly and conduct yourselves prudently with women. The fourth is -- take no step toward marriage, without consulting with your brethren. We shall notice these rules in connection. I know of no class of men in the country who have more need to regard this caution than Methodist traveling preachers. Thrown out into society as they are for the avowed purpose of reforming its habits, they are necessarily compelled to come in contact with almost every variety of character. The preacher is compelled frequently to lodge in families with whose character and habits he is entirely unacquainted. He will not always find, even in female character, delicacy and refinement; but frequently their opposites. Hence, if he does not especially guard his heart and his lips, he will oftentimes find himself in dangerous circumstances. Many mighty men have fallen by not regarding this rule. Let us therefore be carefully circumspect in our intercourse with females. I would not have a Methodist preacher devoid of politeness. For a Christian minister should always be genuinely a gentleman; and his intercourse with ladies should invariable be respectful and kind; but at the same time let it be dignified and ministerial. Some sad stories of ruin and degradation have met my eyes and ears during my pilgrimage, thus far: and some cases have occurred in which preachers have been well nigh ruined, when, perhaps, there was no actual or designed criminality. But candor compels me to say that in almost every such instance, the difficulty might be traced to some recklessness of speech or manner on the part of the preacher. But even supposing that no evil such as that just referred to, should occur: yet, if a young preacher is what is usually called a lady's man -- one who smiles, and bows, and giggles, and simpers, and plays with the ladies' handkerchiefs, and is full of gossip and small talk for their amusement, his weight and ministerial influence are destroyed: his head and his heart both lose character; and the sooner he goes home the better.

To the subject of marriage we shall next direct your attention: and on this you will allow us to dwell at some length. We regard it as a matter of so much importance that we cannot dismiss it with a few casual remarks. The scriptures lay no interdict on Christian ministers in this regard. They are at liberty to marry as other Christian men; but remember it is to be in the Lord. Our book of discipline maintains similar doctrines on this subject. It is perfectly lawful for Methodist preachers to marry; but it is of great consequence that the law of propriety be consulted as to several important points involved in the decision. First, there is a law of propriety as to time, which should be gravely considered. Young men just entering the ministry are rarely qualified to introduce a wife to the cares and crosses and mortifications of itinerancy. I have known several of this class who married the first or second year -- before they had secured ministerial character, or obtained influence sufficient to secure even the quarterage of a single man on a circuit. Yet they married and called an inexperienced and sensitive woman to mingle with scenes and conflicts for which she was totally unprepared, and after struggling through a cheerless and almost penniless year of labor -- the preacher's spirit broken, and his wife in tears -- the devil whispers locate, and the man obeys. The remaining portion of this chapter I need not recite. Let me say to any young brother who has just entered the ministry, think not of marriage yet: to your prayers -- your books -- and your work, till you have acquired character sufficient to command a welcome from the people of your charge, both for yourself and your wife. And should some angel-form -- some creature of light, in the mean time rise up before your vision, and you begin to say I shall never see another such -- stop, brother -- don't be uneasy: first prepare yourself for your work; and then either this or some other angel will cross your path.

But, second, there is a law of propriety, as to the person. Marriage is always an important step, whenever or wherever taken: but it is especially so when the individual concerned is a Christian minister; and more especially so, if he be a traveling Methodist preacher. When the saintly Fletcher was about to marry, he said he was choosing a wife for the church. This was a forcible and correct view of the subject -- and one which should be religiously taken in every instance by preachers who are deliberating on the subject of marriage. The wife of an itinerant preacher is so closely identified with him in his labors, trials, and successes, that his character and usefulness must be materially affected by her conduct. Should she be an intelligent, pious woman, who loves God, and has his work greatly at heart -- a woman prudent in act and prudent in speech; her husband will find in her a powerful auxiliary in carrying on the glorious work of God. But should she be of an opposite character, woe be to her husband and the circuit to which he is sent. I have known some very ordinary preachers of very respectable talents, who were always dreaded on every appointment to which they were sent, because of the unsuitableness of their wives. Nor was this dread unreasonable: for it would be difficult to calculate the amount of evil which such wives do in a circuit -- especially if (as is very apt to be the case with such women,) they have much influence over their husbands. Now, then, let me say, be discreet in making your choice; don't fall in love and surrender at first sight -- no, not although the fair one be agreeable and intelligent, and even pious. Take time to think and inquire. Carry the case to God, on your knees, and ask him to aid you in your meditations and decisions on this all important subject. This, however, is a nice point; and I have known some preachers who, I think, have greatly erred in following out this part of my counsel. They have carried the matter to God in prayer, and have waited for the answer in ways of their own devising; and have interpreted certain comfortable and pleasant feelings as an answer favorable to their wishes. Now, to say the least of it, this is a very doubtful procedure. God has given you your eyes and ears. Use them. He has given you also, your brains and your tongue. Use them all, with an humble reliance upon the God of all wisdom, and you will rarely fail. I once knew a venerable and excellent presiding elder, who said that at one camp meeting, no less than three preachers took him out to consult on the subject of marriage; and they had every one made it a matter of prayer; and each one was perfectly satisfied that the answer from on high was favorable. So when the venerable man had listened to their respective communications, Well, said he, brethren, some of you must be wrong: for God never designed that you should all three marry the same woman. I present this as a case exactly illustrative of my meaning. By this time you will probably feel the importance and propriety of the rule -- take no step toward marriage without consulting with your brethren, who, from their age and acquaintance with circumstances and persons, will be prepared to give suitable advice.

On your first entrance on a circuit, as well as at other times, you will frequently find very charitable people who will volunteer to give you information and advice as to the state of the circuit, and the standing and conduct of many of their brethren in it. You will also be very apt to hear the defects of your predecessor's administration pretty freely discussed, and certain pious wishes and devout aspirations as to the re-establishment of the reign of old-fashioned Methodism, under your auspicious administration; together with divers sage counsels volunteered as to the course necessary for you to pursue in order to secure these grand results. Some of these counselors are honest and well-meaning, but generally hasty and injudicious; and some others, as you will probably afterwards find out, are officious and themselves exceedingly ungovernable. You will act wisely in every such case (while you patiently listen to the information and advice thus freely given to you,) to allow no influence from it, upon either your conduct or opinions till you have had time to see and examine for yourself. As the governor of the church, it is of great consequence, that your opinions in reference to your people in any case of difficulty, be kept strictly in your own breast, that they may be unable in any case to claim you as a partizan. Keep yourself free, that your opinions and decisions may have due weight in the church and community. Be very careful how you express your opinion of the families where you lodge, either as to their dress, their manners, or their fare -- especially if the people be of the poorer class. If you have seen aught amiss in any of these respects, you should have endeavored kindly to correct it privately, but it is certainly not a very kind return for their hospitality when you present them in a ridiculous or unfavorable attitude, wither for your amusement, or in order to set off to the best advantage your sufferings and privations in the itinerant ministry. I have known prejudices of the most deep and destructive character engendered by this sort of foolishness on the part of a preacher.

It will be of the utmost consequence to the successful prosecution of your great work, that you deal with honesty towards all the people of your charge. Are any of them charged with delinquencies? Go to them yourself, if it be possible. Don't send the class leader; go yourself. The class leader or the local preacher may not discharge the duty as fully and faithfully as you might have done: nor can they quit your conscience of its responsibility at the great tribunal: nor will the Chief Shepherd accept your apology, when He knows that indolence or want of moral firmness was at the bottom of your neglect. Honesty is always the best policy; and punctuality in the discharge of your various duties is an essential branch of honesty. One of your rule says, be punctual -- do every thing at the time. The neglect of this rule on the part of the preachers has ruined many a congregation and many a circuit: and utterly prevented the usefulness of many a preacher, who was in all other respects unexceptionable. For the people very reasonably infer, that he who is a faithful minister of the God of truth, should himself both speak and act the truth. If the appointment be at 11 o'clock, and the minister rides up at half an hour past the time, the people will soon fall back to 12, and after a while will cease altogether; and the parson finds an empty house, and then soon begins to talk of throwing out the appointment.

Now, this want of punctuality may arise from various causes. Perhaps the preacher is interested in his studies, and remains too long at his books: or possibly he did not get his breakfast in time; and his landlady says the reason of that is, he did not get up till long after the sun had begun his daily journey: that a good deal of the breakfast arrangement was suspended waiting for family worship; in short, the parson came not out of his bed-chamber till seven or eight o'clock. But why this irregularity? -- does the preacher say he was at his books and studies till midnight, and consequently could not rise early in the morning, since nature requires some repose? This is obvious; and it is plain that he who reads till twelve and one o'clock, can scarcely be expected to rise at four, or even by six. But still the question recurs -- why this irregularly? why not go to bed at nine or ten, and rise at four, or at farthest by daylight? Do you say you can study best at night; I doubt this is all a mistake, or at best --tis only the result of habit; and it is just such a habit as can and ought to be changed. Wesley retired at nine, and arose at four; and who read to better purpose, or thought more clearly than he? Only think for a moment of the confusion you make in the arrangement of many of the families where you lodge. You stay with an industrious methodical farmer, who loves to keep a clean crop, as well as to pray regularly in his family: consequently he stirs early, and the signal for morning prayer is heard before the sun is seen in the east. At the well-known sound the family collect together for social worship -- the master is there, and the mistress is there, and the children and the servants are there. But where is the preacher? snug in bed and sound asleep. Now, what is to be done? will the master pray with his household and leave the parson to his nap? or will he send off the servants to their business and wait till the preacher makes his appearance about breakfast time, and then have the semblance of worship with less than half the household? After a little while, possibly, the master neglects on his own account what was first neglected for the accommodation of his spiritual guide; and the boys and young men of the establishment sleep till breakfast time, because the man of God has taught them to do so by his example. I am afraid that this is one principal reason why the good old practice of calling in the servants to family worship has fallen so much into disuse. Many of the preachers sleep so late in the morning that the thing is impracticable. Alas for us! is this one of our modern improvements, one of the evidences of the march of mind among us? I pray you, brethren, come back to the good old usage of your fathers, "early to bed and early to rise," and then you will probably be ready for the service of the morning and the blessings of the day.

But there is another view of this matter, which we wish you deeply to consider. As Methodist preachers, you have a great many things to do: and for each of these various duties, there is an appropriate time. You have to study, to pray, to preach, to write. For each of these there should be a set time. And then, you have to meet your classes -- administer the discipline -- and visit your people. And then the temporalities of the church must be attended to. You must see to your quarterly collections, and your missionary collections; and each of these hath its appropriate time, when it should be certainly attended to. And then there are the great plans of education, which our Church has been devising with enlarged and liberal views, but has been prosecuting in most instances with a lanquid and feeble step. Yet, these plans must be carried out, or our reputation -- our welfare -- our very existence, in coming time, be periled: and in order to keep ourselves and the people awake to these great interests, our books and periodicals must be widely circulated. You must see that every family is supplied with our books; and with at least one of our religious papers. At any rate, use your influence to bring about this result. Now if you do not attend punctually to each at the proper time, things will get into confusion.

It becomes not a Christian minister to affect superior gentility. Some preachers are a source of perpetual disquiet and trouble to the families where they lodge. They keep the mistress and half the domestics busy in waiting on them. They are exceedingly delicate as to their food; and are specially tasteful as to the washing and doing up of their garments. In short, they are so hard to please that the friends where the preachers lodge, are glad when they quit the circuit. Such preachers will usually be found in that class of men whom Methodism hath dug up from the depths of poverty, and the humblest obscurity: such as having had in early life no attention shown them, and no court paid to their palates, or their whims -- seem determined to reimburse themselves for past privations by levying a perpetual tax upon the patience and forbearance of all the well bred families with whom they lodge. Now let it always be remembered, that an intelligent, well-bred preacher waits a good deal on himself -- is easily pleased -- and is careful to avoid giving unnecessary trouble to others.

But there may be sometimes found a preacher who affects superior mental endowments: or else he is a student -- a very book worm -- who is so greedy of wisdom's lore that he cannot come down to every day minutia and drudgery of a Methodist preacher's work. Talk to him of examining classes, and selling our books, and establishing Sunday schools, and collecting for missions, and getting subscribers for our papers, or making conference collections, and with a look of ineffable self-complacency he will give you to understand that he has no gift for this kind of work: that his habits are decidedly studious; that his communings are with the illustrious dead; and that the whole cast of his character is highly intellectual; that men of smaller calibre can do all this small work, and labor at altars, and pray with mourners, and sing at revivals; but the honor of Methodism requires that there should be some who range in the higher regions of the air. This species of affectation manifests itself too in frequent attempts at classical or scientific quotation; which only tend to expose the preacher to the contempt of every hearer, who is really well informed.

But there is yet another sort of affectation, against which we would earnestly warn you: because excellent young men frequently fall into it without design. It is the habit of imitating favorite or popular preachers, in voice, or gesture, or manner. Let me beseech you to guard against this, or it will largely subtract from the dignity and authority of your ministry. Improve your mind, and voice, and gestures as much as you please; but be yourself. Put upon every word, and thought, and tone, the stamp of your own originality; and never for a moment submit to be considered a mere copyist.

Finally, recollect that your business is to save as many souls as you can. God has called and thrust you out for this very purpose: and such is the peculiarity of the work to which you are called as an itinerant Methodist preacher, that you must forego the right of choosing your own field of labor. "The field is the world;" and to any part of that field you are liable to be sent without considering whether it be sickly or healthy -- whether the people be rich or poor, cultivated or crude. None of these things may be considered in deciding for you. The people are immortal, and they are sinners. They need the gospel, and you are the man to carry it to them. And just at this point the devil may whisper, you are not appreciated, your talents are not regarded, your comfort has not been considered -- the country is sickly --and a host of other such matters -- to all of which it might be sufficient to answer by simply asking -- are you a better and wiser man than your brethren? Are you not as much entitled to the honor of bearing hardships and encountering disease and death as your brethren? And once for all, may you not possibly have miscalculated somewhat as to your superiority of claim over other less pretending brethren? Go then, brethren, to your work, always expecting the company of your divine Master: and he can make every wilderness and solitary place rejoice and blossom as the rose. And we take this occasion to warn you now at the very threshold of your entrance among us, that while you remain with us, you must labor when and where the proper authorities of the church shall judge most for the glory of God. And if there be one among you who thinks that he cannot submit cheerfully to this life of privation and change, we this day affectionately exhort you to return to your former employment. You cannot succeed well with us.

So much for a sort of general view of what we call the rules of a preacher. We ask you, then, whether you are determined to employ all your time in the work of God? I confess I have been often surprised to hear preachers answer this in the affirmative, who, in less than twenty-four hours, asked for a location that they might be able to spend six days for the world, and one for God's work. Do such men seriously consider the import of language? Do they think that the great Shepherd hears them, and will remember it? "Will you endeavor not to speak too long, nor too loud?" Many young men of ardent piety and great zeal, who promise at their commencement great usefulness to the church, have found an early grave: having left the field almost as soon as they entered it, because they had by excessive labors worn themselves out in the morning of their days -- ere yet they had learned to wield skillfully the weapons of their spiritual warfare. Young men are too apt to imagine that zeal depends very largely upon strong lungs, and a capacious throat. Although we are quite free to admit that these are valuable auxiliaries to the preacher in carrying on his great work -- yet we have known many men who had both these and used them both in no stinted measure, in the pulpit, who nevertheless in our judgment possessed scarcely a single ingredient of genuine Christian and ministerial zeal. The preacher raves and thunders an hour and a half, or possibly twice that time in the pulpit, and is then too much fatigued to do any more of his proper work till preaching time next day: and after a while the people grow wearied with his lengthy sermons and become accustomed to his noise, so that his ministry loses its influence. I love to see a Methodist preacher industrious in his studies -- warm in preaching -- punctual in his class meetings -- busy, busy, all the time busy in attending to the various details of his work: -- this is my notion of a zealous preacher. "Will you diligently instruct the children in every place." In the olden time the traveling preachers used to put the children into classes, and meet them regularly; and in still later days it was customary for the stationed preacher to catechize the children of his charge every Saturday afternoon. These were good and profitable usages; and were in former years greatly blessed to the young of our flocks. But they have grown into disuse now, and the teachings of the Sunday school are looked to as supplying all this lack of ministerial service. And this might be well if the preacher was often in the Sunday school, assisting in the hallowed work of instruction. But what shall we say of him who does neither the one or the other? who neither catechizes them, nor meets them in Sunday school? Alas for such shepherds! Oh, brethren! take care of the lambs of the flock. Don't wait till they grow old and hardened. Begin now to sow the seed of life: and it shall vegetate and grow, and ultimately yield a gracious crop. When you visit the families, talk to the little ones; win their confidence by your affectionate simplicity of manner, and then lead them to the blessed Jesus, by your counsels and your prayers. Don't excuse yourselves from this blessed work by saying, you will wait till they grow older. Remember, while you are loitering, Satan is up and already busy before you. Oh, bestir yourselves, or you are traitors to the cause of Christ.

Another important part of your work to which our examination directs you, is the duty of pastoral visitation: a work of vast consequence to the success of your ministry; and yet preachers are more prone to neglect this than any other part of their duty. It is a heavy cross to him who hath lost the spirit of his mission; to the man who lives only to preach fine sermons, who thinks only of his work as connected with the study or the pulpit: in short -- to him who does not feel the love of Christ constraining him: who has forgotten that the great business of his life is to save souls. Now when we ask you if you will visit from house to house, we do not mean to inquire whether you will call on your people as neighbors to inquire, and talk, as to politics, crops, or neighborhood gossips. We mean, do you visit pastorally? Do you carry with you in your temper, and talk, and manner, the evidence that your treasure is in heaven? And do you so conduct yourself in the families you visit that when you are gone, they shall feel that a prophet of God hath been with them? If you visit thus, you will find it a delightful work. You will be beloved by your people. They will feel that you are interested for them, and you will gain access to many a heart, at the door of which you might always have thundered in vain from the pulpit; besides that, this very thing will, beyond every thing else, tend to enlarge your congregations. Visit the people generally. Do not pass a door because the owner does not hear you preach, or is wicked. Be very slow to decide that any case is hopeless. There are many who have gone very far from God, who are now perishing because they have not confidence to make another effort for salvation. They conclude their cases are hopeless, and the church and the minister seem to have tacitly ratified the conclusion by passing by on the other side, and permitting them quietly and uninterruptedly to wend their way hellward, when a little resolute kindness might save them. How many such have been dug up by the diligent and affectionate efforts of a faithful pastor! Go to the house of God on the Sabbath. See the crowd there who hang on the lips of the man of God: and among them is one to whose judgment and conscience the word has come with power, and he resolves to think more seriously of these matters hereafter, but then he is a stranger of these things, and hardly knows how to commence: and he is a stranger to the preacher and to the people of God. His associations have been in quite an opposite direction. Now what shall he do? All is darkness about him: nor can he hope for light from friend or acquaintance. Oh that the preacher had noticed his tears on the Sabbath! Well, he did so; his practiced eye marked the starting tear, the drooping head; and before a week the faithful shepherd has inquired him out, sought his habitation, and has been directing him to the cross of Jesus, and been pleading with him and for him at the mercy seat. The sinner is saved, who without this painstaking would have perished. Don't tell me you have no talent for it. I have heard many say so, but never believed them. Go, try it prayerfully and resolutely for two years, and if you don't find your talent increase, your heart improve, and your sheaves multiply, then quit the ministry and go to plowing.

But, says one, I have no time; I must read and study, in order to approve myself as an able minister. You will have time enough for both: only rise early; never be idle, nor triflingly employed, and you will have ample time for all. It is altogether a mistake into which some young men fall, that they cannot be regarded studious unless they are always poring over the books; some men read so much that they never know anything. Read, carefully and closely, every day enough to furnish food for thought; then close your book and go forth among your people, and study man as you will find him in the hovel or the palace, in rags or in broadcloth, in storm or in calm. See the developments of his heart as they are manifest on the smooth summer sea, or in the howling of the dark wintry storm. Study the heart when the laugh of thoughtless gaiety is upon the lips, or when the canker of sorrow has corroded it till the brow is dark, and the drops of grief bedim the eye. Study this book of the heart closely and patiently, and next to the Bible you shall find its pages richer in instruction than all other volumes. Let me conclude this part of my discourse by saying that I have known some splendid bookworms, who lived and labored for naught; but I have never yet known a diligent pastor, who was not a blessing to the people of his charge -- even though his talents as a preacher may have been regarded as only ordinary. Let me again say then, visit your people. Visit them frequently -- visit them faithfully -- visit them kindly -- visit them all: but especially visit the poor of your flock. Find the way to their cabins, their garrets. Go in God's name, and you shall be doubly blessed. The Master shall bless you, and that poor widowed one whom you have sought out, while with her apron she wipes the starting tear, shall cry, God bless you, my minister.

Finally, we deem it important that he who enters upon this work, should be free from pecuniary embarrassment. Therefore we ask, "are you in debt?" We mean, are you in debt so as to produce any embarrassment in your circumstances. A soldier who is liable to march away at a moment's notice, ought to be in no danger of difficulty from sheriffs or constables. The preacher who is in debt, can never feel perfectly free and independent. There will be in his mind a little bondage: and very likely a little want of that decision and energy of movement in certain matters which should be desirable. And remember still farther, that he who enters this work in debt will find a dull prospect of paying afterwards. I remember to have heard a very sensible preacher once say, that on his circuit he owed an individual in one of the societies, some twenty dollars, which he was unable for some months to pay: and that he never preached in that man's presence without being embarrassed. If he preached about justice or honesty, he thought the creditor was saying, pay me my money. If he preached against loving the world, the reply seemed to be, first pay me what thou owest. If he pleaded the cause of charity he thought his creditor was saying, first pay my dues before you ask me to give to the cause of charity; so that he never could preach comfortably before that man till he paid him all that debt.