“Pay careful attention to how you walk,” the Untimely Apostle said. The days are evil and few. Slippery slopes abound, so Christians must pay attention. When it comes to walking there is something comforting about an old path. The weeds have long been trampled out. The path itself was cut ages ago and has thus become nearly one with the earth.

Ah, yes. The glory of old paths.

Walking on Pastoral Paths

Pastors must pay peculiar attention to their path. If they are faithful, they will usually lead from the front. The sheep trail behind hearing the shepherd’s voice, following with trust and care. Therefore, a wise pastor won’t choose a path marked, “Contemporary,” “Culturally Relevant,” or, “Fresh.” Such things—especially in our day—are about as sturdy as an egg’s resistance to a boulder. Faddish paths tend to leave egg on the face. Wise pastors will instead choose paths of pastoral practice well trod by great men of old.

Where can we find such paths? In the books of old.

Three Glories of Old Paths

I tend to read any new book on pastoral ministry that shows up from a reliable publisher. The modern books on pastoral ministry usually only serve to increase my pining for the old ones. Maybe I’m just a soul aged before my time. Or maybe there is something different about an old book. In fact, I’d argue there are three peculiar advantages to reading earlier works on pastoral ministry:

• Dignity. Our culture’s obsession (many a church’s obsession, as well) with casual authenticity is systematically destroying something God says every one of his elders must have: dignity. The old men radiated dignity in life, love, faith, and purity.

• Gravity. This second point is a natural consequence of the first. My personal definition of dignity, after all, is the gravity attending godliness. There is a gravity in the old writings on ministry absent from today’s works. Pastoral ministry was serious business. Eternity hung in the balance. The pulpit was the sacred desk, not a bar table to sit behind. The prayer closet was real. The study was his home.

• Maturity. This, for me, is probably the greatest reason to read the old books. Modern books on ministry are full of biblical awareness and personal experience. But they lack what I call “piercedness.” In my view, the new books don’t pierce like the old ones because they often come from young pastoral pens. Let me listen to a man who is decades into the ministry. Such a man has seen much and so can say much. He has piercing views in the heart. He pierces through the chaff and gives us the blessed wheat for ministry.

To the 19th Century We Go

Let me thus suggest a few 19th–century books on pastoral ministry for pastors to read. I have a theory as to why the 1800s produced such excellent reflections on ministry, but I’ll leave that for another time. Four old, trustworthy, and proven paths for ministry are:

Words to Winners of Souls by Horatius Bonar. Bonar gets the first nod because he unleashes conviction aplenty in less than one hundred pages. This is a book you can—and probably should—reread every year.

The Christian Ministry by Charles Bridges. Simply the best book on pastoral ministry yet written. It comes in second only because of its length (400 pages) being off-putting to some today.

Princeton and Preaching: Archibald Alexander and the Christian Ministry by James Garretson. Oh, how I wish this one got more press! It’s far too underrated. Here’s your opportunity to sit in a seminary class on ministry with Alexander. It may be the most useful class you ever take.

Pastoral Theology by Thomas Murphy. Murphy’s work is essentially his rehashing of Archibald Alexander’s teaching. This work cuts to the quick and is astonishingly expansive. It’s also available for free online.