<?xml version="1.0"?>
<oembed><version>1.0</version><provider_name>Reading Room</provider_name><provider_url>https://srcrockett.scot/thereadingroom</provider_url><author_name>SRC</author_name><author_url>https://srcrockett.scot/thereadingroom/author/editor/</author_url><title>How to Discourage Your Minister - Reading Room</title><type>rich</type><width>600</width><height>338</height><html>&lt;blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="wzJ3uoMRyv"&gt;&lt;a href="https://srcrockett.scot/thereadingroom/2026/03/09/how-to-discourage-your-minister/"&gt;How to Discourage Your Minister&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://srcrockett.scot/thereadingroom/2026/03/09/how-to-discourage-your-minister/embed/#?secret=wzJ3uoMRyv" width="600" height="338" title="&#x201C;How to Discourage Your Minister&#x201D; &#x2014; Reading Room" data-secret="wzJ3uoMRyv" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;script&gt;
/*! This file is auto-generated */
!function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&amp;&amp;d.addEventListener&amp;&amp;"undefined"!=typeof URL&amp;&amp;(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&amp;&amp;!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i&lt;o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i&lt;a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&amp;&amp;(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3&lt;(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r&lt;200&amp;&amp;(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&amp;&amp;(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&amp;&amp;n.host===r.host&amp;&amp;l.activeElement===s&amp;&amp;(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r&lt;s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document);
//# sourceURL=https://srcrockett.scot/thereadingroom/wp-includes/js/wp-embed.min.js
&lt;/script&gt;
</html><description>Long before S.R. Crockett achieved literary celebrity with The Stickit Minister in 1893, his sophisticated literary voice was already fully formed. A pamphlet from 1890, How to Discourage Your Minister, written whilst Crockett still served at Penicuik Free Church, demonstrates that even when addressing serious religious matters, he was no purveyor of sentimental piety.</description></oembed>
