INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EDITION

     Another book! Are we not already fully supplied? With a certain class, perhaps! With some kinds of books we axe doubtless over-supplied. Books are like men, the markets may be glutted with a certain class, but a book, like a man, with a message is ever in demand. The times call for both men and books that have a vision. Of the prophetic; the John Baptist type that will break in upon a self-complacent world and a sordid and ease-loving ministry. With the mercenary spirit ruling the masses, with destructive criticism and infidelity defiant in the Holy Place, with the ecclesiastical authorities stamping out the spiritual life of the church, with fun and frolic the order of the day in the house of God, with place and affluence at the bid of a smooth-tongued and truckling ministry, it is not surprising that many holy men feel that "Idol "Shepherds" and a fallen Priesthood are the bane of the present age! "Like people, like priest" is axiomatic in the moral realm. "Like priest, like people" is no less axiomatic.

     The apostolic martyr spirit is the need of the hour! It may be that many of the older preachers are beyond hope. Their "love of ease" and their "tables" have become a snare and a trap to them; they must continue to disappoint the heart of God and lie down, by and by, without hope. But to those who are awake, and to the young men who are now forming their habits of life and ministry this work, "Heart Talks to Preachers," comes as an oracle of God from the heart of as tender and faithful a shepherd as walks the earth.

     The library of the ministry should be sowed down with the best and most spiritual literature on every phase of ministerial qualification, duties and dangers. "Heart Talks to Preachers" meets a long-felt need in this field.

     I have known Rev. E. E. Shelhamer, the editor and author of this work for a number of years, and I have no doubt as to his ability and fitness for such a work. As Rev. H. C. Morrison has said, "He is strikingly original, truly scriptural, powerfully in earnest and reaches the heart of the people as few men we have heard, but always in the spirit of love and tenderness." Brother Shelhamer has a special gift of selection; he knows when and how to garner the best fruit He knows where the apples grow. With the splendid array of talent he has called to his assistance, we would have been surprised with anything but the best results.

     And what a variety of subjects! This work has chapters on, "The Worldly Minister," "Fallen Ministers," "The Envious Minister," "The Compromising "Minister," "The Unctionless "Preacher," "The Unwise Minister," "Pulpit Manners," "Circuit Manners," "Domestic Manners," "The Weeping Prophet," and many other timely subjects, twenty-nine chapters in all, and some of the chapters consider a variety of, important questions, with such a menu as "Heart Talks to Preachers" provides.

     Surely all who read this work will be aroused, inspired, warned, and moved to the most earnest prayer and to the most intense activity. This work ought to find its way to the homes of ten thousand of the clergymen of America. God grant it may be so. Amen!

     Rev. A. L. Whitcomb

     Professor in Oskaloosa Holiness University

INTRODUCTION TO THE THIRD, REVISED EDITION

     Spiritual instruction in the churches is at a low ebb. Much emphasis is placed upon intellectual culture, attention is given to physical fitness, social studies are regarded as essential, but little thought is given to the direct impartation of spiritual truth necessary to strengthen the individual in the knowledge and love of God. In theological seminaries less emphasis is being placed upon the direct study of theology, and few modern seminary students are given the thorough grounding in philosophical and theological studies necessary to a right understanding of the principles of Christianity.

     There is also a vanishing of many of the so-called prohibitions which marked the sanctity of the ministry within the church, or made definite the lines of demarcation between the church and the world. As a result the tendency on the part of the ministry and the church is away from the old lines of self-sacrifice, loyalty to convictions and the proclamation of those spiritual truths which laid bare the sins of worldliness. It is refreshing, therefore, to read the pages of a book so filled with wholesome advice to ministers and so dominated by a vision of spiritual truth as the Heart Talks With Ministers by Rev. E. E. Shelhamer.

     We have known Rev. Shelhamer for a number of years, both as a preacher and as an editor. Rev. H. C. Morrison, D. D., writes that "He is strikingly original, truly scriptural, powerfully in earnest and reaches the heart of the people as few men we have heard, but always in the spirit of love and tenderness." Dr. A. I. Whitcomb, who wrote the introduction to the first edition of this book, says, "Brother Shelhamer has a special gift of selection; he knows when and how to garner the best fruit. He knows where the apples grow. With the splendid array of talent he has called to his assistance, we would have been surprised with anything but the best results."

     Young men will find in this book the fruitage gleaned from the experience of spiritual men, both in America and in Europe. Men of more experience in the work of the ministry will find it helpful in preserving the standards which have guided spiritual men down through the years in their work of faith and labor of love. The subjects are timely, vital and interesting. Those who read its pages can but be inspired with new zeal for the old faith, and with increased prayer for the preservation of the high spiritual standards set forth in this admirable book.

     H. Orton Wiley, Editor, Herald of Holiness.

INTRODUCTION TO THIS ELECTRONIC EDITION

     This Electronic Edition of "Heart Talks" by E. E. Shelhamer combines the text of both the First Edition and the Third, Revised Edition of the book. Because the printed text of the Third, Revised Edition was the best for OCR, I used it as the main source for this Electronic Edition. I used the printed text of the First Edition as the source for those parts of that text that were excluded from the Third, Revised Edition.

     The First Edition, named "Heart-Searching Talks To Ministers," included the following seven chapters that were excluded from the Third, Revised Edition, named "Heart Talks To Ministers and Christian Workers":

     CHAPTER 4 -- The Worldly Minister, By William Pearce

     CHAPTER 8 -- A Compromising Ministry, By B. R. Jones

     CHAPTER 11 -- Unctionless Preachers, By E. E. Shelhamer and Others

     CHAPTER 13 -- The Sentimental Preacher, X. Y. Z.

     CHAPTER 17 -- The Preacher and His Choir, By Adam Clarke

     CHAPTER 21 -- A Wise Minister Will Be Successful, By Charles G. Finney

     CHAPTER 24 -- Directions Concerning Pronunciation, By John Wesley.

     These chapters are re-incorporated into this Electronic Edition. The Third, Revised Edition also excluded various portions of messages which have likewise been brought back into this text. Two chapters brought into the Third, Revised Edition were not part of the First Edition:

     CHAPTER 30 -- The Preparation of Sermons, By John Paul

     CHAPTER 31 -- A Ministry For The Last Times, By Joseph H. Smith

     I have followed the Chapter Numbering of the First Edition, with the exception that the two chapters that were not a part of that Edition have been named Chapters 30 and 31 in the Table of Contents for this Electronic Edition. Both in the Table of Contents and in the main body of the text I have substituted "E. E. Shelhamer and Others" for "The Author and Others." The Dedication was identical in the First and Third Editions. The Introductions and Prefaces were different, and I have included both in this Electronic Edition. -

- DVM