EXTRA WORK OF A LONDON PASTOR. BY THE REV. SAMUEL MARTIN, WESTMINSTER. "Subseciba quædam tempora, quæ ego perire non patiar.' CICERO. LONDON: THE BOOK SOCIETY, 19, PATERNOSTER ROW, AND BAZAAR, SOHO SQUARE. PREFACE. THE idea of this volume was suggested several years ago by a friend; and the title by the name of that admirable collection of papers so well known as the 'Recreations of a Country Parson.' The book consists of lectures and papers-the former having been delivered in Exeter Hall, between the years 1848 and 1861, and subsequently published with other lectures, constituting the courses of which they formed a part; the latter include a chapter from a work on The Useful Arts,' published in the year 1851, and extracts from a work on the Reformation of Criminals,' written by the author in 1853, and which is now out of print. Some, perhaps, when they read the title, may smile at the idea of the Extra Work of a London Pastor,' thinking that surely he ought to find employment enough in his own proper sphere, without diverging into lecturing and writing, especially on secular subjects: and we acknowledge that when the work of overseeing a large flock has been given by God's ordinance to any man, the labour entailed thereby is more than sufficient to expend all his energies, and to occupy the whole of that brief space before "the night cometh when no man can work." But the most ferruginous dispositions of the present iron age, will, we think, admit that some reaction is absolutely necessary for the maintenance of the bodily and mental machine wherewith our work is performed; and needful even for pastors, although we know very well that there are people who imagine that, as pastors have no Sabbath, it is impossible they can require any relaxation from their proper labours. Such, however (as we hope all our readers will admit), is not the case; and the present 'Extra Work' is the result of spending, in change of occupation, those hours which must otherwise have been given to social intercourse, and to other means of refreshing the body and the mind. We trust that this Extra Work' has been performed without neglecting any duty to the flock of which it is our joy and honour to be the shepherd. SAMUEL MARTIN. WESTMINSTER; Jan., 1863. |