Required reading
Lectures to my students by Charles Spurgeon (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Chapter 12 (The minister's ordinary conversation).
My summary
This week Spurgeon speaks about the minister's ordinary conversation.
Spurgeon's advice is that the minister should:
(i) not give himself ministerial airs;
(ii) recollect that he is always on duty;
(iii) be sociable;
(iv) be very cheerful;
(v) not engross all the conversation;
(vi) not be a dummy;
(vii) turn the conversation to profitable use;
(viii) not frequent rich men's tables to gain their countenance;
(ix) be gentle in argument;
(x) firm in his principles and bold to avow and defend them in all companies.
What grabbed me
A very amusing chapter in places, particularly the quote from the 'Smellfungus Gazette'!
I also appreciated the advice to turn conversations: 'Be sociable and cheerful and all that, but labor to accomplish something. Why should you sow the wind, or plough a rock? Consider yourself, after all, as being very much responsible for the conversation which goes on where you are; for such is the esteem in which you will usually be held, that you will be the helmsman of the conversation. Therefore, steer it into a good channel. Do this without roughness or force. Keep the points of the line in good order, and the train will run on to your rails without a jerk. Be ready to seize opportunities adroitly, and lead on imperceptibly in the desired track. If your heart is in it and your wits are awake, this will be easy enough, especially if you breathe a prayer for guidance. '
Yes, if possible our conversations should lead towards Christ.
Next week's reading
Read Chapter 13 (To workers with slender apparatus).
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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