Ichabod Spencer was a 19th-century American pastor who kept a notebook of his pastoral dealings with people. These have been recently published and here we carry an example of his counselling.
From early spring down to the autumn of the year, a very sedate and contemplative man had been accustomed to call upon me, in respect to his religious thoughts and anxieties.
At first he seemed to have thoughts only, but they ripened by degrees into anxieties. He began by asking about theories, or doctrines, apparently without any idea of making an application of the truth to himself. He had points of difficulty which he wished to have explained, and then he found other points; and these gradually changed in character from abstract questions to those of the application of the truth. From the first I tried to lead him on to the personal application; but months passed away before he appeared to have much sense of his sin, or much anxiety about himself.
