A Pastor's Sketches

A Pastor's Sketches: Conversations with Anxious Souls Concerning the Way of Salvation, Volumes I and II, by Ichabod Spencer (1798-1854). Volume I originally published in 1850, Volume II in 1853. Republished 2013 by Solid Ground Christian Books and Granted Ministries Press. ISBN 978-1-59925-332-9.  603 pages.

The following excerpts are from Volume II, Chapter 18, "The Whistling Thinker," pp. 158, 159, 161. They describe a conversation between Ichabod Spencer (the author) as a young pastor, speaking with a then widely-known New England pastor in his 70's, who had been a pastor for forty years. The conversation took place in the first half of the 1800's:

“Now, my son, never get into a strait-jacket. You will find it pinch. It will make your bones ache. Many a minister becomes more familiar with his theological system than he is with his Bible; and not only so, but his system stands first, and when he gets hold of a text, he interprets it to square with his system, instead of paring and whitling off his system to make it agree with the text; and among his pastoral duties, he sticks to his Calvinism more than he sticks to Christ; and he would pray his system, too, if the Holy Spirit didn’t make his prayers for him. And in this way he systems his Bible into a corner, and his own soul into a nutshell. Never do that, in the pulpit or among the people. 'Preach the word’—the word, my son—THE WORD!

"Are you a Calvinist?” said he, gently, after speaking in a voice of thunder.

“Yes, sir,” said I.

“Then don’t be afraid of an Arminian text; don’t dodge when you come across one. Out with it; it is God’s text, and he doesn’t want you to mince it. ....

“Are you opposed to what is called Calvinism?” I asked.

“By no means. I am a Calvinist. But I let the Bible make my Calvinism, instead of bringing Calvinism to make my Bible; and I claim the liberty of going along with my Bible, into a thousand corners beyond the limits of the system.” (pp. 158,159) ....

"...So you see I am not against systems and creeds; but I want a minister to have a creed, and a heart too. I want him to have a system; and then I want him to know that his system does not contain everything, and that he himself does not know everything. The Bible has a depth, and a richness, and an extent too, in its meaning, which no human system can express. Preach your text, my boy, your TEXT, right out, and not your system.” (p.161)