FEW things are as important to a minister as his library, for books are his tools. Just as a carpenter needs different kinds of tools, so a minister needs books on many subjects. It is not the number of books one has but the type and quality of books that make a worth-while library. One of the great pastors of our generation was G. Campbell Morgan. He was an indefatigable student. From eight to twelve o'clock every morning he refused to be disturbed. If anybody rang on the telephone or called, Mrs. Morgan knew how to handle the situation. She knew how vital it was to guard her husband's study hours. His brilliant mind as well as his background of teaching in a Jewish school in his early days gave him a facility with the Hebrew language that became a great blessing to him in later years. Actually, he had received little academic training, but he was the acknowledged master of his subject. The fact that he was granted an honorary Doctor's degree must never be taken as evidence that he was not deserving of such high honor. Few men of his generation could measure with him in real scholarship in the areas in which he majored. He lived with great books and was an outstanding theologian, but he lived mostly with the Word. The eminence to which he rose reveals the importance of the right kind of reading and study.
There are some musts in an Adventist minister's basic library. The Works of John Wesley will prove particularly helpful. One is always helped by good commentaries, several of which are outstanding. Matthew Henry is perhaps the most spiritual of commentators. (He wrote his commentary while pastoring the Foundry Church in London after the death of Wesley.) Clarke is one of the most accurate; Thomas Scott is excellent historically; Lange is one of the most theological (typical of German scholarship); Ellicott and Gray and Adams are very helpful; while the Pulpit Commentary is one of the most popular. And The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary is unsurpassed in its treatment of the Bible writers and their times, shedding the light of modern scholarship on many areas little known until recent times. The exhaustive references to the Spirit of Prophecy are invaluable to Adventist preachers.
As a general rule it is wise to stay close to the older theological works because of the tendency of those of more recent date toward modernism. The Interpreter's Bible, for example, is very scholarly, but of little use to us because of its bias toward liberal theology. Even The Commentary on the Old and New Testaments, by Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown needs to be studied with care for the same reason.
A minister always enriches his knowledge, and therefore his contribution, bv the help of good Bible dictionaries. Our own publication, Seventh-day Adventist Bible Dictionary, edited by Dr. S. H. Horn, is a classic, and very exhaustive. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, by F. L. Cross, 1958, is also a masterpiece of historical information, and represents the finest scholarship of Oxford. Old stand-bys like Smith's Comprehensive Dictionary of the Bible are also very helpful.
In the field of technical language study there is probably nothing better than Robertson's Word Studies. The tendency of some to overemphasize etymology becomes somewhat wearisome to a congregation.
There are many books on sermon construction, most of which are good. G. Campbell Morgan's Westminster Pulpit, a ten-volume set, provides a practical source for expository sermons. C. H. Spur-geon is best known as an evangelist and preacher, but his writings are excellent. His Treasury of David, a seven-volume commentary on the Psalms, is a mine of homiletic material. His great passion for the lost is revealed in all his writings. His books breathe the spirit of evangelism.
Among modern conservative theologians is Dr. Carl Henry, editor of Christianity Today. His recent three-volume set, The Biblical Expositor, is excellent. He is a Calvinist, but an outstanding scholar. Also among the Calvinistic scholars is Dr. Wilbur Smith. As a student of current literature he is unexcelled. His books are always a mine of inspiration.
Biographies of great men and women contain a wealth of illustration as well as inspiration. A preacher should always read much in the classics, especially in the language he uses. One should not only speak the language fluently but also accurately. The great poets will enrich the powers of expression. An authoritative and up-to-date dictionary is also a must, and with it a good book of synonyms. Laird's Promptory, published by Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1948, excels in its simplicity and usefulness.
In recent years many excellent translations of the Scriptures have appeared, such as Moffatt, Goodspeed, Phillips, the R.S.V., the Berkeley Bible, et cetera. The latest, The New English Bible (1961), in many ways is unequaled; but it reveals an interesting latitude when one reads in the Gospels the word "Sunday" instead of the "first day of the week." To counterbalance this, Acts 20:7 reads: "On the Saturday night," et cetera. Translations are good, but if too many are used during a sermon, it can become tiresome if not actually confusing.
A preacher should also be well versed in the history of Biblical manuscripts. That, however, is a field in itself. While one should know how and why scholars have translated certain passages, yet he must never appear pedantic. No scholar can afford to give the impression of being smart. People will soon detect whether he knows his subject. Charles Jefferson, pastor of BroadwTay Tabernacle, New York, half a century ago, used to say, "A preacher should know ten thousand times more about his subject than he ever says." Two of Jefferson's books, The Minister as Prophet and The Minister as Shepherd, while small are outstanding, as is also The Art of Preaching by Charles Reynolds Brown. Some books on pastoral counseling are necessary to give helpful guidance to the pastor-evangelist. Bonnell's Psychology for Pastor and People (1952) has probably not been surpassed.
Nothing in a minister's work is more important than his leading of worship. Some works covering the philosophy, technique, and scope of worship are essential. W. R. McNutt's Worship in the Churches and The Fine Art of Public Worship by A. W. Blackwood will prove quite challenging to many. Some of the older works, like Christian Worship, by N. Micklem, 1936, are also worth-while inclusions.
A worship leader should also have a broad knowledge of hymns. Bailey's The Gospel in Hymns (modernist leanings notwithstanding) is an excellent and accurate source, as is also Lyric Religion, by H. Augustine Smith.
Much more could and should be said on the subject of books, for one's library is an indispensable part of his ministry. Dr. L. E. Froom's The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, in four volumes, is a must, but we have noticed that few seem to have studied these volumes so as to be able to really use this unequaled fund of source material. The book he is working on now in the area of conditional immortality will also be a wonderfully important contribution, not only to Adventist theology but to the Christian world in general.
A minister must live with historians, for history provides perspective to make our messages vital. Historians like Gibbon, Wy-lie, Green, Motley, and Macaulay enrich one's background, while more modern writers like H. G. Wells and Winston Churchill give the picture from our own generation. Reading Wylie's History of the Reformation is an education in itself. The language of such writers is always a challenge. Dr. Grattan Guiness' Romanism and Reformation From the Standpoint of Prophecy, a Hodder and Stoughton publication has been out of print for many decades, but nothing gives a clearer view of the rise of futurism.
In closing, let me stress the importance of the books of the Spirit of Prophecy. Some of the more recent compilations like Selected Messages and The Adventist Home are invaluable. The most comprehensive and inspirational unfolding of sacred history, of course, is the Conflict of the Ages Series. Saturate your mind with these.
Having said so much, one realizes that he has but touched the subject with his finger tips. I have been building a library for decades, but there are many more authoritative books I would like to possess. Not what one has in his library but what one has in his head and in his heart is what counts. Abraham Lincoln changed the outlook of a whole generation with no more books than could be counted on his fingers. But what he read and how he read made him what he was. "How readest thou?" asked Jesus. The admonition to "give attention to reading" is as up to date today as when Paul wrote to Timothy nineteen centuries ago. Preaching out of the overflow makes preaching powerful.
R. Allan Anderson
