The Young Preacher: My Notes from a Pastor's Manual from 1893

The Young Preacher 

(c) 1893 by Theodore L. Cuyler 

(Late pastor of Lafayette Avenue Church; Brooklyn)

Chapter One: Why Should You Be A Minister?

Yet, whenever a young man comes to me for advice in regard to entering the ministry, I generally put him through a course of pretty close questions.
In the first place, my good brother, have you any natural gift of speech? The chief business of a preacher is to speak; and if, from either physical or mental deficiency, you have no ability to address an audience, then you will be as useless as a bell without any clapper.

Second, have you the physical health to endure the strain that the duties of the ministry will lay upon you?...Next to a heart full of love to Christ, and a clear brain, you will need good lungs and a good legs; the first, in order to preach; and the other, in order to go about among your flock.

Third, have you the mental furniture to equip you for the ministry of the gospel? Genius is not essential, unless it be "a genius of godliness."  Pulpit geniuses are rare; and, if God intended to save the world by them, he would have created more of them.

Fourth, are you fervently and honestly praying for heavenly direction and carefully watching the leadings of Providence?  When God calls a man to ministry, he is apt to let the man know it....One winter afternoon I rode off five miles to a prayer-meeting in a neighboring village.  It was held in the parlor of a private house.  I arose and spoke for ten minutes; and, when the meeting was over, a person said to me, "Your talk did me good."  On my way home the thought flashed into my mind, "If ten minutes' talk to-day helped one soul, why not preach all the time?"  That one thought decided me on the spot.  Our lives turn on small pivots; and, if you will let God lead you, the path will open before your footsteps.

Finally, let me say that no young man ought to enter the ministry unless he feels an intense and invincible longing for the work, --a desire so strong that he will gladly submit to any hardships and privations in order to carry out his holy purpose...If you do not feel in your very bones, "Woe to me if I cannot preach the gospel!" then let it alone.  God is not calling you to a work that an archangel might covet.