Concerning the minister, C. H. Spurgeon comments “It should be one of our first cares that we ourselves be saved men.” “If,” said he, “a man has not been called to holiness, he certainly has not been called to the ministry.” Addressing his students he encouraged all who were candidates for the ministry to say to themselves “What a dreadful thing it will be for me if I should be ignorant of the power of the truth which I am preparing to proclaim.”
Mr. Spurgeon maintained “It is of the next importance to the minister that his piety be vigorous.” Those who occupy the pastoral office had not been “called to common work” but “were elect to extraordinary labours.” The minister should be of the “highest moral character”, be possessed of a “strong mind” and “stand equipped with the whole armour of God, ready for feats of valour not expected of others: to us self-denial, self- forgetfulness, patience, perseverance, longsuffering must be every-day virtues.” Vigorous piety is necessary for those called to the ministry “because our danger is so much greater than that of others.” Temptations and a thousand snares are before the man who will be in the ministry. However wise or learned such a man may be he is warned that “The devil is a greater scholar than you, and a nimbler disputant.”
The minister should “take care that his personal character agrees in all aspect of his ministry.” The dangers of preaching well, but living badly are well defined. “An ill life will effectually drown the voice of the most eloquent ministry.” “Let not thy life shame thy doctrine.” “Remember” says Spurgeon, “When you are off parade you are still officers in the army of Christ.”
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Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-92) was England's best-known preacher for most of the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1854, just four years after his conversion, Spurgeon, then only 20, became pastor of London's famed New Park Street Church (formerly pastored by the...
