Bring the books too
by J. C. Philpot
"When you come, bring my coat that I left in Troas with
Carpus; bring the books too, and especially the ones made of
parchment." (2 Timothy 4:13)
A minister who would profit the family of God needs to
have his own heart well established by grace, and to find his happiness and
home in the precious truths which he brings before the people. But he needs
food for himself as well as for the people; and what he brings before them
must have been first tasted, handled, and enjoyed in his own heart, or it
will not profit and edify them. Besides which, unless there be more or less
of continual exercise of mind upon the things of God, his ministry will get
cold and vapid; there will be no fullness or variety in it, no point, pith,
or power.
But many of the servants of God cannot read the works of
good men; some for fear of stealing other men's thoughts and words; some
from an inability of mind to read and digest anything but the Bible; some
for lack of means to possess their works; and some from sheer laziness and a
lack of that deep interest in and love to the truth which is necessary for
profitable reading and meditation. But you will say, "Do you wish me then to
hash up dead men's brains and bring before the people what I have pilfered
from authors?" By no means. This is what no honest man would or could do,
for his own conscience would fly in his face and accuse him of theft and
dishonesty. "But what is the difference," you will urge, "between reading
good men's writings and getting instruction from them and bringing that
before the people, and stealing their words downright at once?"
A good deal of difference. We remember well an
observation made to us in private conversation by our dear and esteemed
friend, the late Mr. Warburton, for it so exactly agreed with our own
experience that we have never forgotten it. "I often read," said he, "Mr.
Huntington's works, for my own soul's profit, but I never can make the least
use of them in the pulpit. There," he added, "I must have it all my own, and
just as the Lord is pleased to give me." This is the very distinction we are
drawing.
A minister's own soul needs feeding and instructing.
The Scriptures, we well know, must be the grand source of all his
instruction. This is the pure undefiled well of heavenly truth at which
thousands have drunk, and yet it flows still as full, as divine as ever. But
there are many points on which ministers, as well as others, need
instruction that they may have clear, sound views of the truth, and be well
and firmly established in it, able to contend for it, and to defend it
against all errors.
Now, we firmly believe that, if instead of yawning and
lounging their time away in sloth and idleness, or gossiping from house to
house, they would apply their minds to reading, prayer, and meditation, live
more alone, commune more with their own heart, be more separate from
everything worldly and carnal, and give themselves more to the work, when
out of it as well as in it, in the home as well as in the pulpit, they would
find the benefit of it, not only in their own souls, but in the exercise of
their ministry. A cold, lifeless, indifferent heart—though at various times,
every servant of God has to mourn over his coldness and deadness—but a heart
habitually cold, lifeless, and indifferent, and rarely otherwise, cannot be
expected to warm up and cheer the drooping desponding, hearts of the family
of God.