n such part of his life as is
spent indoors, may be, and, as I know, very often is, real and deep, sad
and sorrowful, and in itself not wholesome, to the young Minister of
Christ. Possibly my reader knows nothing of all this; but I think it
more likely that at least he knows something of it. And it needs his
prompt and watchful dealing if it is not to hurt him greatly. Solitude
will not _by itself_, if I judge rightly, help him to secret intercourse
with God. A feeling of solitude, under most circumstances, much more
tends, by itself, to drive a man unhealthily inward, in unprofitable
questionings and broodings, or in still less happy exercises of thought.
Or it drives him unhealthily outward, quickening the wish for mere
stimulants and excitements of mind and interest. Aye, let me not shrink
from saying it, it sometimes quickens a wish for "stimulants" in the
most literal sense of the word. Exhausting and multifarious parochial
work, and the lonely bachelor quarters at the day's end, have brought to
many a young man sore temptations of that sort, and sometimes they have
won the battle, to the wreck and ruin of the work and of the worker.

HINDRANCES ARE OCCASIONS.

Well, all these facts or possibilities are just so many reminders that
the new Curate's life will not, of itself, greatly help him to maintain
and quicken his Secret Walk with God, that vital necessity for his work.
It certainly will _not_ do so directly; it will, directly, be a problem,
not an aid. But on that very account, dear Brother and reader, your new
conditions of life may prove indirectly a most powerful aid, by being a
constant and urgent _occasion_. As you are a Minister of Christ, your
life and work will, in the Lord's sight, be a failure, yes, I repeat it,
a failure, be the outside and the reputation what they may, if you do
not walk with God in secret. But therefore your life and work are a
daily and hourly occasion for the positive resolve, in His Name, that
walk with Him you will. Recognize the risks, right and left, the risks
brought by pastoral activities and interests, and those brought by
pastoral loneliness and uncheerfulness. Remember the vital necessity
amidst those risks. And then you will the more deliberately purpose and
plan how to guard your secret devotions, and how to order your secret
hours even when devotion is not your direct duty, so that your Lord
shall be indeed there, at the centre, "a living, bright Reality" to you.

S