Download or read book A Minister's Reading (Classic Reprint) written by Owen H. Gates and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2018-01-23 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from A Minister's Reading The most obvious difficulty under which a man labors, is lack of time. It is true, a minister is a very busy man, and the demands of a parish take so much of his time that there seems to be very little left to spend upon the direct training of which I speak. But then other men are also busy, and the complaint of lack of time is one that is common to well nigh every ambitious man. Every scholar in the schools feels just as keenly the limitations of his opportunity in this respect. He has not time to follow out one tenth of the subjects that crowd upon his attention. It is a very minute subject that one can finish, and, for that matter, it is a very minute man who thinks he has finished even that. Another difficulty, however, is deeper seated than this lack of time. It is a question of the sphere of thought in which one moves. Thecharacter of the work that engrosses him is such that a minister often feels incapacitated for the work that a school does. This may be true. A school boy can do a school boy's work better than a man in the ministry can do that boy's work. But what both are aiming at is mental growth and increase of power, and the real ques tion is who has the advantage in this respect. There is truly a great difference between the mental work of a boy or man in school and that of a man in the ministry, and no good can come from ignoring the fact. Indeed our whole argu ment is based on the assumption of such a dif ference, actual and proper. And really the ad vantage lies with the grown man and not with the student at school. Let us consider whether this is so. Schooling is good; it is essential to a success ful ministry. No, not quite essential, witness now and then a man who succeeds without it. It is so nearly essential that a man is very foolish who thinks he may be the exception and still win success. Would that every minister had the best schooling that the country affords. If he can not have it for himself, he ought to influence every young man who seeks the ministry to get the best regardless of cost or sacrifice. But after all, schooling is only a means to an end; a good means, but not the only one. Efficiency in ser vice is the goal of our effort, in whatever calling we serve. Education in the true sense, culture of the whole man, power of mind and heart, these are not the same as schooling. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.