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Daeeinbar 6,1911] THE
CHRIST'S TRAINING OF MINISTERS IN
THE PRESENT AGE.
Rev. Prof. Theron H. Rice in an address delivered
at the opening of the session of UnioQ
Theological Seminary, Richmond, Va., affirmed
on the authority of Scripture that the CLurch
and her ministry to-day enjoy the tuition of the
Lord Jesus as truly as they enjoyed it who comnnnior)
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teacher being the same as theirs, though his
method is changed. In developing this proposition,
he raised the question as to how the Church
has provided that her candidates for the miuistry
should be brought under the teaching and moral
power of the Lord Jesus, and he says that the
answer is the theological seminary. "The
Church covets for her sons who are to be sent
forth to preach at least three years of quiet life,
detached as far as possible from worldly cares
and avocations, spent in a place where Christ's
presence abides in unusual measure and power,
and occupied with the study of his truth and in
closest communion with the Lord himself. In order
to make this possible, the Church creates her
seminaries. A spot of ground is chosen, sufficiently
retired to encourage study, yet not so
far from the life of men as to make its atmosphere
monastic. Here she erects her buildings
and lays out her grounds, avoiding extravagance
and luxury, but seeking refinement and modest
elegance, desiring to imbue the whole institution
with the educative power of order, beauty, and
'whatsoever things are lovely.' As the years go
by, the place becomes fragrant with a multitude
of hallowed associations which utter their appeal
to all sensitive and highminded young men who
tarry within its precincts. The men who teach
here are chosen from the church at large with
care and prayer, and finally the school is laid
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aloft to the throne of grace in constant intercessions.
To this place the sons of the Church are
, gathered who look forward to the ministry of the
Gospel; and having brought them here, she commends
them to God and to the Word of his
grace, which is able to build them up. Here she
trusts that they will dwell with Jesus 'till he
sends them forth to preach."
MODERN LIGHT LITERATURE.
The chief charge to be brought against much
of the literature of the day is that it does not
conduce to sustained thinking. This indictment
applies to that which is not tainted with
impurity or suggcstiveness no less than to that
which decency should reject from the sitting
room or library table. Books that are written
merely to entertain do not help the mind.
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only a very little that may be given to mere
recreation, is a distinct loss. While reading is
not always for culture as a direct end, it should
always be of such a character as to face that
way and to incite in that direction.
Magazines and magazine-like newspapers are
undermining sustained thinking. There is no
demand for thought in perusing them. The
analytical powers of the mind are little called
into acquisition. In the course of a few years,
and in proportion to the very avidity with
which one reads the fewer these years will be,
the mind becomes like those seeless eyes with
which the fishes are equipped that are found
in subterrenaean streams, mere forms or sock
ets. The student of styles, doctrine, philosophical
thought, elevated fancy, accurate expression,
is never developed by this class of writing.
The vigorous substantial powers of the
. mind, are not called into exercise, and not being
used lose their capacity.
The product of such modern reading is well
PRESBYTERIAN 07 THE SI
called "culturine" rather than culture. It
conduces little to the oritiml powers, and nothing
to the more robust qualities of the mind.
It forms bad habits, unnatural mental attitudes
towards facts, and improper ideals. The
knowledge it gives is scrappy and unscientific.
The discipline of it is absolutely nothing. The
very attractiveness with which snch literature
is sometimes clothed makes its evils and danger
but the greater, its poison the more insidious.
Wise people, especially those charged
witti tbe training of the youth, will show their
wisdom and faithfulness by rigid exclusion of
the most of such reading.
THE PEEFECT MAN.
When Christ said, in the Sermon on the
Mount, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your
Father which is in Heaven is perfect," he uttered
words that have been hard to understand
and grossly misinterpreted by many.
The very standard of perfection which he
named, if the rigid and literal interpretation be
pressed, shows the impossibility of such perfection
by any immediate or instantaneous process.
The setting of a high standard, however,
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attainment.
Many names have been given the false hope
held out in wrong and irrational and unseriptural
viewB of perfection. Sinless perfection,
sanctification, holiness, second bleming, assurance,
place of peace, and the like, are among
the more popular ones of them, but all contain
the same error, the flattering of the soul into
the belief that the completeness of perfection
which Qod commands, offers, and assures Us of
is attainable here and in a moment of titne, or
to put it differently, that sanctification is an
act and not a work.
The perfection named in the Bible is to be
expected and striven for, but it is not to be
looked for except through the gracious operation
of the Holy Spirit through the entire life.
It is not until the life is ended that completeness
can be realized. Until then there is always
danger of a lapse, not from a gracious
relation to Qod but from a practical realizing
of that perfection of relation, in ah absolutely
spotless life. As long as the believer is in this
life, the remains of the old life will be in him,
but happily, if he do his duty, in a constantly
lessening degree.
The doctrine of "sinless perfection," as it is
called, is a travesty upon the truth of the relation
the believer sustains to God. Judicially,
the moment one believes he is made complete
in Christ, old things have passed away,
and all things have become new, and he is a
new creature, as complete in God's sight and
in relation to God's law as Christ himself.
This is what is covered by the term justification.
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tirely different. It is a work, not an act. It involves
time, and is not instantaneous. It is
never complete until the soul is made perfect
in holiness when passing into glory.
Even as little a thing as the tongue always
stands in the way of completeness. "If any
man offend not in word, the same is a perfect
man, and ahle also to bridle the whole body."
Speech is an index of the heart. Men judge
of what is in their fellow men by what comes
from their lips. "No fountain can both yield
salt water and fresh. Who is a Wise man and
endowed with knowledge among youf Let
him show out of a good conversation, his works
with meekness of wisdom." "The words of
the pure are pleasant words." With God all
things are possible. Even perfection can be
at last attained, through him. His Work hpoo
the mo! is to enable it to die onto srn and to
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live more and more unto righteousness. The
example he gives is that of his own Son; the
Perfect Man, likeness to whom all believers'
shall have when at last they shall "see him as
he is." The degree of the perfection is proportioned
to the completeness with which the
believer is conformed to the image of this Son,
the Saviour.
THE 0HB1ST OF THE GOSPELS.
There is a fourfold picture, or a fourfold
view of Christ in the four Gospels, and eacL
Gospel gives us a different aspect of the Greht
Manifestation. In Saint Matthew He is the
Son of Abraham, He is Heir of the Kingdom,
King of the Kingdom of Heaven. In this Gospel
alone we read of One "Born King of the
Jews." "The Kingdom of Heaven" is preached,
and the laws of the Kingdom are laid downin
the^ermon on the Mount. This Gospel Reveals
fW us the Kingdom, not as an earth|y
kingdom, nor as the Kingdom of God, but as
the Kingdom of Heaven.
In Saint Mark He is the servant of God.
He stands as the patient Servant and Sacrifice
for others.
In Saint Luke He is the Son of Man. Here
w man according to the mind of God?the pattern
Man, perfect Manhood. As Man, He is the
Priest, "for every high priest is takeu from
among men." As Man He is Prophet, or Apostle,
sent from God. As Prophet, He is God's
Messenger to man, as High Priest He is Man T
Messenger to God.
In Saint John He is Son of God. John omits
reference to the birth of Jesus as the Son of
Man, and at once begins with these deep and
strong words: "Itt the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. All things were made by him,'
and without him was not anything made that
was made. In him was life, and the life was th#
light of men." Men beheld "His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
fall of grace and truth." -or
Thus the four Qospels give us a -fourfold:
view of Christ, and each emphasizes a different
aspect of His life and wotfk. In th? Gospels
we discover the claims of Jesus, His sinless
life, His surprisingly simple sayings on profound
subjects, His perfect system of ~ moral
ethics. His broad humanity, His vicarious
death, and His resurrection and ascension*
The death of Christ has a very spec ial place
assigned to it in the New Testament, and Prt>fessor
James Denney asserts, and we fear with
truth, that it has not the same place either in
preaching or theology which it has in the New
Testament, and yet the Cross is the supreme
power over humanity. '?
But why the Christ of today 1 Is He not the
unchangeable One ? Is the Christ of today different
from the Christ of vesterdavt Y?s and
no. Things become greater to us as we know
them better. Christ is the Bame, but knowledge
has increased. He grows with the growth of
our spiritual knowledge. "We may have Christ
and yet not know what we have in Him. The
cry has been, "Back to Christ," and there has
been and there is a "new feeling for Christ."
to quote Principal A. M. Fairbairn, "He is today
more studied and better known as He
was and as He lived than at any period between
now and the first age of the Church."
Hod may have other words for other
worlds,
But for this world the Word of God is
Christ.
?Rev. T. Moore-Smith, in New York Observer.
Dont pertait the devil to persuade yon that he
a better friend than the One that stieketh ftldser
than a brother.