The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-06-22

insist on our old plan of training oul
candidates for six or eight years, mostly
at heavy public expense, with only a
probable conjecture, too otter disappoint-
ed, as to what manner of men, or what
sort of preachers they will be, when we
get through with them
We need not take fright at the posi-
BILE abuses of the English basis; for sure
ly thorough examination at their ad-
mittance into the Seminary, and faith.
full scrutiny of their progress year by
year on the part of the examining board
would be sufficient to exclude the incom-
petent the unqualified, the unpromising,
and the indolent, from a course of pre-
paration proposed with exclusive refer
ence to such as give promise of making
effective teachers and preachers of the
word. On our present narrow basis we
are In manner bound to put up with
such as we can get; under that advo-
Gated, we might afford to take our pick
of those who offer.
To insist that the class for whom we
plead-the four-fift now excluded-ii
converted and called to the ministry
must at that late day begin the study Of
the dead languages, would in most cases
be to turn them away from the ministry,
or at least from the ministry of our own
Church. To say that they can readily
acquire creditable knowledge of Latin.
Greek, and Hebrew, if they will really
apply themselves, is only to assert what
the facts VIGOROUSLY contradict, not
merely in every seminary and in every
Presbytery, but in every foreign land.
:" We speak that we do know, and testify
that we have seen" in averring that more
than half our ordained foreign mission
aries, with all their supposed knowledge
OF Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, never do
because they never CAM acquire a
thorough and scholarly knowledge of the
language of the people to whom they are
sent, though hearing 1t and. speaking it
every day. The acquisition of new Ian
guage is Except to those who have "the
gift } an extremely difficult performance
many pretend to it, but few have the
ability and perseverance to succeed at it.
Nine-tenths Of all the foreigners who
know Chinese, japanese, and Hindustani
or even French, Italian, and Spanish,
well enough to transact their business, or
meet the unavoidable demands of social
life, never acquire the language well
enough to enjoy its literature, or trans
late page of it accurately into their
mother tongue. If this be SO Of living
languages which serve the practical pur-
poses of every day life, how much more
impossible is it for the ordinary run of
men, and even of educated men, to make
good Greek and Latin scholars? Judge
then how serious and how uncalled for is
the obstruction we place in the way OF
men twenty-one, twenty-five, or thirty
years of age, when we tell them they
must at least try to master Latin and
Greek, or else give up the idea of enter
ing the ministry of our Church
Why "pray the Lord of the. harvest
that he would send forth laborers into
his harvest and then exclude in bulk
four-ffths of the educated minds he has
made ready to our hands? May not the
present lamentable dearth of candidates
for our ministry-a Methodist brother
tells me they have more than they want
imply that we have to some degree
trenched upon Christ's sovereign prerog-
alive of calling his own servants, when
ever, wherever, and however he will, to
the performance of his own work? The
belief is rapidly gaining ground in our
Church that it is so; and large numbers
of our ministry, including men of the
highest standing and of the most com
handing influence, believe it is time that
we Were accommodating our rule for the
licensure of candidates for the ministry
to the changed aspect of the age in which
we live $50 utterly different from That in
which said rule was adopted), insisting
only that, having the necessary gifts and
graces, they be made thoroughly ac-
quainted with the Bible, and SO become
apt to teach" it. H. B.. P.
nh 0z1I.