The Ministry

A review by Kenneth Macleod of The Ministry by Charles J. Brown.¹

The author was a well-known minister of the Disruption Free Church in Edinburgh. Some readers will be familiar with his excellent little book The Divine Glory of Christ.² Now a further little volume has been reprinted consisting, for the main part, of fairly-informal addresses originally given to students of divinity.

Brown begins with “The Connection Between Godliness and the Christian Ministry”. He emphasises that ministers’ reading should include books on experience (among his examples are Owen on Indwelling Sin³ and Rutherford’s Letters⁴); that they should be much in secret prayer; that they should prize their Sabbaths “as the miser his gold, for converse with God, eternity, heaven”, and “dwell ever among the green pastures of the Word of God”. Other addresses deal with public prayer and preaching. The main points made in an address on “Elements of Pulpit Power” are:

(1) the importance of the personal character of the minister;
(2) the prayers offered in the pulpit ought to be like those of Robert Bruce of Edinburgh, which, it was said, were like “bolts sent up to heaven”;
(3) the minister must aim “consciously and deliberately at the right ends”, in his preparation as well as in his preaching;
(4) he must understand that the strength through which sinners are to be saved is divine;
(5) there should be much prayer about his preparation for the pulpit;
(6) he ought to have a thorough knowledge of the actual words of Scripture.

The book begins with a useful biographical introduction by Rev Iain H. Murray and concludes with an example of Brown’s own preaching, on Genesis 3:24, entitled “The Expulsion from Eden – its character and lessons”. It is taken from the volume of his sermons: The Word of Life.

By virtue of its size, this volume cannot be expected to have the same depth and force of teaching as, say, that by Charles Bridges.⁵ However, in brief and easily-read form, this little work provides a solid stimulus to today’s preachers to go on in total dependence upon the God of all grace.