The herald., 1893-06-13
READY TO / PREACH.
YEARS OF STUDYING COVERED BY A
THEOLOGICAL STUDENT.

n iuAHisbeFS ArAiniHB osuuliy Beg1ns AZ
His Mothers Knee, and 1t Is Generniiy
Twenty Years Later When He Graduates
as a Full Pledged Preacher.
'fYou read the other day, said prom
inent clergyman, ''of the commencement
exercises of Princeton theological semi
nary and of the graduation of 81 stu
dents. There was nothing about that to
attract public attention, and very likely
| you did not get further into the article
than the headlines. 1t meant "a more
| young clergymen in the world, that was
all, to most people. But to man who
has been through the training that has
| just ended for those boys it means q
great deal more never read of semi
mary commencement without feeling
thankful that 90 many more students
have pulled through safely.
"There is not much general knowledge
of the labor required in the making of
clergyman People could easily find out
if they chose to inquire, but it is some
thing they do not stop to think of. A
! clergyman is supposed to be ablefto an
swer any Biblical question that may be
asked him, but where he gets all his
| technical knowledge nobody thinks of
asking. He does not get it from reading
the Scriptures, certainly. If you were
to keep ON reading Revelation till you
understood it thoroughly, how old would
| you be when you finished?
tGN0 dor,,t oolx ma xubo@hor %I,sr,Jr
understand it now or we may drift
away into a theological discussion which
| will be very Improbable. What L start
ed to say is something about the severe
training that man must go through be-
fore he can egraduatedf from a theolog-
ical seminary and so become clergy
man Severe? 1t is more than severe,
and you see it results in thousands Of
| physically weak preachers all over the
world.
"The training Of a clergyman really
begins when he is a 6-year-old child at
his mothers knee, for in nine cases out
of ten the parents decide for him and
decide early. But start with the boy
when he has been graduated from a
grammar school, because he will prob
ably receive that much educationxin any
case, whatever his business or profess
sion is to be. He should then be in the
neighborhood of 10 years old. He must
now begin a special preparation for col
lege, a preparation that differs from tho
ordinary preparatory course of students
not studying for the ministry. He must
| give at least four years to special study
of Greek and Latin, and at the same
time laya good foundation in ancient
history, English composition and litera-
ture and higher arithmetic and algebra.
''The boy then, at 16, is ready95o enter
college and take the usual four years
classical course. In the first year no
struggles with algebra, geometry, Latin,
| Greek. English history and English 1T
erattlre. In the second year the same,
with the addition Of comparative plrysi-
oiogy, nIozshanics, analy ttiitdi geomstTy,
physics and rhetoric. In the third year
be adds also chemistry, logic, German,
political science and philosophy. The
fourth collegiate year includes all Of
these studies and geology, consular and
international law, French, ethics, astron-
omy and botany besides.
"He is now, on leaving college, ready
to enter theological seminary, unless
indeed he proposes to go into tho gen.
eral theological seminary of the Protes-
tant Episcopal church, in which case he
is required to be able to read the Old
Testament IN Hebrew and the New 'Tes-
lament in Greek before he can enter.
After his eight years of Greek he should
be able to re4d the New Testament In
the original, but this does not always
follow. It often happens that student
who goes through his Greek lessons well
enough in college finds ON going into, the
seminary, where he must gctually uso
the language, that he knows very little
about it.
'The course In the theological. semi
nary occupies three years-making IL
years study In all after leaving the
grammar school. The studies In the
theological seminary are theology,
church history, Oldand New Testament
languages, geography of Palestine, moral
philosophy and sociology, with lectures
on sermonizing and the duties of min
lister and practical examples in preach
ing. Hebrew Is one of the sticking
| points, for 1t is positively necessaryf for
q theological student to read Hebrew al
most as readily as he can English. 1t is
a grind, terrible grind, this long strug-
gle with Greek and Hebrew.
1T is in the seminary, of course, that
| the student gets his theological training.
Still each denomination has its faTorite
college. theological students frequently
occupy an unpleasant position through
out their collegiate and seminary courses.
The churches help them when they are
not able to help themselves, and they
too often have the feeling Of being in
part charity students. All of the col
leges make a reduction in the tuition Of
candidates for the ministry
AFTER graduation from the theological
seminary the student receives profes-
sional certificate from the faculty, and
he must then pass sanexamination before
the classis or presbytery in whose juris-
diction he lives Having passed this, he
receives license to preach. He then
awaits call "a most important matter.
by the way-some clergymen are for.
sver awaiting a CALI, and when he re
ceives it he undergoes another exarninar
ton by the ciassis or presbytery in whoss
district he rs to be placed. He is then
ordained by the laying ON Of hands, and
| h,..s,r, {v,etul1a1 i, hsc raavz r,r7l,,ft Il q