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ASTO

JAN

25 1600

W

19882.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1885, by
FUNK & WAGNALLS,

In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

THE HOMILETIC REVIEW.

VOL. X.--JULY, 1885.-No. 1.

REVIEW SECTION.

I. SYMPOSIUM ON MINISTERIAL EDUCATION. ARE THE PRESENT METHODS FOR THE EDUCATION OF MINISTERS SATISFACTORY? IF NOT, HOW MAY THEY BE IMPROVED? NO. VI.

BY M. VALENTINE, D.D., PROFESSOR OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, GETTysburg, Pa.

THE prosperity of the Church and the progress of Christianity are, to some degree, directly dependent on a right training of the ministry. The process which prepares the leaders of Christian thought and work becomes thus a matter of unspeakable importance. It marks the point at which, peculiarly, the true power and efficiency of the Church are insured or lost, and the practical success or failure of Christian work is determined. It is, therefore, a question of vital moment, whether we have adopted the best possible of ministerial training, or are operating the plan with its full efficiency.

This high office has always been felt to require some special education. It must not be given into incompetent hands. It stands for a service that affects the spiritual life of every man, woman and child in the Church, and the best welfare of general society. All the holiest and dearest interests of the Redeemer's kingdom and of human life, call for a competent, strong, and efficient ministry.

The discussion of this question thus far shows agreement on one point: that, taken altogether, the prevalent general method by which the training of ministers is accomplished through theological seminaries is the right method for our times and the present exigencies of Christian work. Whatever good results were secured through the earlier plans of training-through self-education, or tuition given by pastors such methods belong to the past. They would be absurdly 'inadequate to the task of supplying either the amount or the quality of education demanded in our day. With the present advance in

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