The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1871-01-18


necessary requisite to ordination? Let
as much evangelstic work as study be re-
quired of candidates and there will be giants
in the ministry in those days.
4. Under the proposed plan, our semina-
ries are in no danger of cold, stiff, learned
orthodoxy, which congeals and blights, in
stead of watering the garden of the Lord
There is no opportunity for a medieval SOM
nolency to settle down upon them, making
them dormitories of Sacred Lore.
5. Our theological professors will be more
favorably situated than any other class of
our ministers for being the leaders and
shapers of the evangelistio work of the
Church. Each one of them may thus be-
come er cdfcio secretary of evan, liza
tion. Supported by their salaries as pro-
fessors, with no pastoral charge lett vacant
by their absence on missionary tours, going
out On this noble service for four or five
months year, eacn professor taking under
his direction a group of students to occupy
as wide field as practicable, with their
help, arranging his plans so that the students
shall in succession labor side by side with
him in person, making the best methods of
home missionary work subject of exten-
sive study and experiment-what splendid
accumulations of practical ministerial wis
dom each professor will obtain, to enrich
Herewith his seminary teaching. A few
years of this kind of practical study of evan
gelistic work by the officers of our semina-
ries, will revolutionize our whole missionary
operations, abroad, perhaps, as well as at
home.
How comes it about that our entire mis-
sion work is the little sickly weaklng that it
is, instead of being the great object towards
which our Church directs with profusion, her
mightiest energies and resources Many of
our most richly endowed ministers, before
they have had time to go forth widely among
destitutions, are claimed by city pastorates
and professional chairs, and are absorbed in
the inexorable demands of their immediate
duties. One consequence is that but few of
our organizing minds" ever thoroughly
study, IN actual field service, the evangelis-
tic work of the Church. The most brilliant
and devoted minister on earth cannot fully
understand or appreciate it, without extern
sve field service. And even if he has had
this in the first years of his ministry, the
thought and interest then awakened will in
part die away, and he needs fresh going
out occasionally to retouch as with Old Nor
tality's chisel, the fading impressions of a
Christ like work done in early manhood
Hence the mission work of the Church is
bit dimly Apprehended and almost unat-
tempted. The few real eyangelsts we have,
with some exceptions, are men who do not
figure in the thought and action of the
Church as leaders. Generally they do not
say much in ecclesiastical meetings, or
through the press and though the fire may
burn in their own bones, they do not COM
municate it to others.
Indeed, is it not the popular sentiment
that ordinarily to be an Evangelist is prima
facie evidence that the minister is a third or
fourth rate, though earnest man? Weneed
to entrust the whole subject of evangelical
ton now so crudely comprehended, both as
to its Importance and as to its methods, to
the choicest talent, piety and learning in the
Church, that science and art of evangeli-
zation may be developed by varied and ex
tended experiments, which whilst thoroughly
Scriptural, shall be adapted to the special
popularity of our widely-scattered people,
and to the progressive, intensely active
spirit of the age. To whom can we so wise
ly or successfully entrust this awfully sol.
emn work as to our two corps of theological
professors? Going forth for a respectable
portion of the year with their students, in
humble imitation of the Lord of Glory with
his group of student-apostles, doing the
work of evangelists in living contact with
the wants and woes of dying men, bringing
all the treasures of previous thought and
study to bear upon the evangelst'S work,
not in theory but in fact, what firing of the
whole Church with her true mission, what
kindlings of Apostolic zeal in student souls
what gatherings of practical wisdom to be
used by those who came after US may we not
confidently expect?
6. The ministerial life has two great ele.
ments in it, study and work Like the two
blades of pair of scissors, both are necessa
ry in order to efficiency. Study without
work is treasure locked up in a safe-use
less, because not put in circulation. Work
without study is to little purpose, for it i;
not wisely and intelligently expended, ant
is full of folly and blunders. How beauti
fully work and study blend in the plan pro
posed, each counteracting the deficiencies OF
the other The present able professor Of
mathematics in 0glethorpe University, when
hesurveyed and marked the boundary between
Georgia and Florida, and finally and salts
factorily settled vexed question of long
standing between the two States, took with
him group of his own students as his as
sstants in the field work. Who needs to bt
told that this actual work under the eye o.
their professor gave tenfold value to thei,
studies in applied mathematics IT'S {