Studies in Soul Tending

STUDIES IN SOUL TENDING OR PASTORAL WORK IN ITS RELATION TO THE INDIVIDUAL
BY THE LATE F. J. B. ALLNATT, D.D., D.C.L.
Allnatt, Francis J Benwell – Studies in Soul Tending, or Pastoral work in its Relation to the Individual (1922)

CANON OF THE CATHEDRAL OF THE HOLY TRINITY, QUEBEC
HARROLD PROFESSOR, AND DEAN OF THE FACULTY OF DIVINITY,
BISHOP’S UNIVERSITY, LENNOXVILLE, CANADA
AUTHOR OF “THE WITNESS OF ST. MATTHEW”
EDITED BY G. ABBOTT-SMITH, D.D.
LONDON
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE
NEW YORK AND TORONTO : THE MACMILLAN CO.
1922

In this 13 chapter work by Alnatt, he presents us with some considerations of people in the ministry dealing with their own position in the ministry (prayer, fasting, meditation, intercession) and their relationship with their people. Frankly I believe this author is Catholic or Anglican, and the concept of “priest” is very apparent, but even so, it is not so strongly Catholic as to make it useless. Many of the suggestions on dealing with people are valid.

CONTENTS of Studies in Soul Tending

PART I
THE PRIEST’S CARE FOR HIS OWN SOUL
01 Introduction 1
02 Prayer in General 11
03 Fasting. 20
04 Fasting Communion. 25
05 Meditation. 29
06 Intercession. 35
07 Scheme of Private Devotion. 40
08 Thoughts of Divine Immanence in Worship. 51
PART II
THE PRIEST’S CARE OF THE SOULS UNDER HIS CHARGE
09 The Priest’s Relations With His People 63
10 On the Practice of Auricular Confession 66
11 The Treatment of Individual Souls 72
12 The Sick:
1. General 112
2. Emergency Cases 118
3. Use of Visitation Office. 127
4. Infectious Diseases 139
13 Care in Preparation For Reception of the Holy Communion 141

FOREWORD of Studies in Soul Tending

THE literature of Pastoral Theology has grown apace of late and, with the addition of some recent works, begins to approach a completeness of treatment which the growing sense of its importance more and more insistently calls for. There is still room, however, for special presentation of particular aspects and departments of the subject, such as the care of the individual soul, including that of the priest himself, with which it is the aim of this short treatise to deal.
On the subject-matter of these Studies, the author was peculiarly well fitted to speak from a long experience both as Parish Priest and Lecturer in Theology. In both of these relations, within the sphere of his influence, he occupied a position almost unique in Canadian Church life during the greater part of the last half-century.

In these pages the judicious reader will observe an independence of treatment which, if in part removed from some of the more prevalent currents of present-day thought and practice, reveals a rich spiritual experience, a profound knowledge of human nature, and a fine insight into ” the deep things of God.”

The editor’s labours have been reduced to a minimum by the work already done on the

vi FOREWORD

manuscript by the Rev. R. J. Shires, B.D, sometime tutor at Bishop’s College and a former pupil of Dr. Allnatt s. As a labour of love, Mr. Shires undertook to type the whole work, most of it at the author’s dictation, and it is due to the pains taking care which he has given to its arrangement that the manuscript appears in a fairly complete form for publication. The fact that the work was unfinished accounts for the abruptness of its con clusion, and also for the form of some of the sentences which appear just as they were dictated, but which would doubtless have been somewhat recast by the author with his accustomed care and exactitude.

It had been Dr. Allnatt’s intention to complete the work himself in the summer of 1920, but God willed otherwise, calling him to higher service, and it remained for other hands to give it some finishing touches and send it forth as a small memento of a singularly rich and fruitful life, and as a last message to those who knew and loved him as well as, it is hoped, to a wider circle, from a faithful priest and servant of the Lord, who herein “being dead, yet speaketh.”

G. ABBOTT-SMITH.
MONTREAL, Easter, 1922.

PREFACE

THE suggestions which are embodied in the following pages are the outcome of many years of intimate association with divinity students and young clergymen during their period of preparation for the priesthood. The “Studies” are in great measure founded upon lectures delivered upon the subject of Pastoral Theology in some of its departments. Their publication in the present form is the result of kindly pressure on the part of valued friends, who were of the opinion that there was something about them which seemed to promise a possibility of their meeting certain needs incident to the earlier stages of the priestly life.

As their title implies, they make no claim to be regarded as a complete or connected system of direction on the subjects with which they deal; nor do they profess to include the whole range of aspects under which any particular subject is capable of being regarded. They amount, in fact, to not much more than certain haphazard suggestions with reference to various features of clerical life and work which happen to have been brought to my attention as subjects of inquiry, or which have suggested themselves to me as seeming to call for special notice.

This explanation may account for what might otherwise appear to be inexplicable omissions, as

viii PREFACE

well as for the comparatively slight treatment of subjects, of which a fuller consideration would perhaps be expected.

If some of the suggestions appear trite, my plea is to the effect that reasons for their introduction have been found in the fact that, in some form or other, they have been brought before my notice as calling for attention.

On the other hand, if some suggestions appear novel, and open to objection on that account possibly also as intrinsically of a character at variance with current thought I may in this case plead that my purpose is to offer suggestions with reference to provision for serious needs, or to promote important ends, which perhaps are not at present fully provided for. And while I am far from presuming to insist upon the superiority of my own proposals to those which might be made, I would, nevertheless, offer them for consideration with a view of inviting the suggestions of others which may possibly be better worth adoption.

The consideration of the Divine Immanence, or the Real Presence of God in the Person of the Logos, as manifested in the external world of nature in relation to the place which this consideration should take as a factor in the formation of the devotional habit is a subject which, I think, has hardly yet received the attention to which its importance would seem to entitle it, and which the advanced stage of thought which characterises the present day would appear to demand. I have, therefore, offered a few suggestions on this subject, and trust that they may not be regarded as out of place in this connection.

PREFACE ix

In all their incompleteness, and with all their defects, I commend these ” Studies ” to the members of the Divinity Classes, among which albeit so imperfectly, yet taking it all in all, so happily I have so long been privileged to labour.

F. J. B. A.
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