LIBRARY WARVARD UNIVERSITY BANGOR: PUBLISHED BY E. F. DUREN. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, by E. F. DUREN, In the Clerk's Office of the Eastern District of Maine. BANGOR: PRINTED BY SAMUEL S. SMITH. 801 POND INTRODUCTION. THE studies pursued in the Theological Seminaries of our country are chiefly calculated to prepare the youthful preacher for the more public duties of the sacred office-for the devotions and instructions of the sanctuary. He commences with the study of the original languages of the Bible, and of the principles and mode of its interpretation; that he may be able to go to it in an intelligent manner, and draw from it the real mind of the Spirit. He next proceeds to a consideration of the various truths and duties of religion; views them separately and connectedly; combines them into a system; inquires into their evidences and history; weighs the objections that have been urged against them; considers their practical uses and benefits; endeavors to impress them upon his own spirit; and prepares to enforce them upon the hearts and consciences of others. He is now in possession, in some good degree, of his materials of labor. He holds in his hand "the sword of the Spirit." But as yet, he has not learned to wield it, in the most effective manner. He has not learned to employ his materials to the best advantage, for the edification of the church, and the salvation of souls. He proceeds, therefore, to another department of study;— that of dividing and enforcing the word of truth;-that of inculcating the doctrines and duties of religion, in the form of sermons. To understand a religious doctrine or duty is one thing. To be able to exhibit it, in the form of a sermon, that shall be instructive, impressive, and profitable to a promiscuous assembly, is quite another thing. And this latter thing is of no less importance to the minister of Christ, than the former. While the several branches above noticed are in progress, the student is reviewing the history of God's dealings with his church ;-of its revivings and declensions, its corruptions and reformations, its dangers, persecutions, and deliverances, from the beginning to the present time. This is of great importance to him, as it tends to enlarge his views of Divine things, to liberalize and enrich his mind, to increase his confidence in a covenantkeeping God, and by making him acquainted with the general course of events in reference to the church in past ages, to enable him the better to judge of its interests and prospects for the time to come. Still, as I said, these various studies are chiefly calculated to prepare the young minister for the more public duties of the sacred office-those which are to be performed in the sanctuary, or the public assembly. There is another class of duties, of scarcely less importance, which, it may be expected, will speedily devolve upon him. They relate to his more private intercourse with his people ;-to the oversight he is to take of them, and the influence he is to exert upon them, in the house, by the way, in their seasons of prosperity and adversity, in sickness and affliction, when rejoicing in hope, or mourning in spiritual darkness and desertion, or anxiously inquiring the way to heaven. These are obviously PASTORAL DUTIES; duties which cannot, must not be neglected; and in regard to the nature and right performance of which, the young minister feels that he needs instruction. Without such instruction, he must painfully feel his incompetency to go forth into the world, and assume the responsibility of guiding and feeding the church of God. The class of duties here referred to is of such importance, that for the neglect or careless performance of them, no other ministerial excellencies or qualifications will at all compensate. A man may be learned and gifted, an able and instructive preacher of the gospel; still, if he is a bad pastor, the good effects of his preaching will be comparatively lost, and he will scarcely be tolerated by an intelligent people. Whereas, if he is a good, a wise, and faithful pastor, he will be borne with and appreciated, and may be very useful, even though he be but an indifferent preacher. I here contrast the two departments of ministerial labor, for the purpose of impressing more deeply the comparative importance of pastoral duties, and of showing how defective must be any system of theological education, in which these latter should be omitted. But there is no need of setting the two in contrast, or of separating them the one from the other. Let them both stand together, be cultivated together, and together be carried out in the labors of the ministry, and they will render him in whom they meet a workman who needeth not to be ashi med, rightly dividing the word of truth from the sacred desk, and rightly exemplifying and enforcing it, in his daily intercourse with the people of his charge. The department of Pastoral Duties is precisely that, in which some good men have feared that the course of instruction in our Theological Seminaries must necessarily be deficient. It has not been doubted that the Seminaries afforded facilities for instruction in Biblical Literature, in Systematic Theology, in Sacred Rhetoric, and in Ecclesiastical History, beyond what could ordinarily be furnished in the study of the private pastor. But the latter, it has been said, must be the most competent instructor in pastoral duties; and can better exemplify his instructions in his daily practice.-The first part of this objection might be obviated (as in all ordinary cases I think it should be) by selecting those only to be teachers in Theological Seminaries, who had previously sustained the relation of pastors. The truth of the latter part of the objection would depend on the fact, whether those selected as the most competent private instructors in theology, were, at the same time, the most distinguished patterns of pastoral diligence and fidelity. My impression is, that this would not generally be the case. Confident I am that it was not the case, in years that are past, when all our young ministers were under the necessity of pursuing their professional duties in a private way. There is danger, however, that in our Theological Seminaries, both the study and the practice of pastoral duties will be comparatively neglected. In the ardor of their literary and theological pursuits, there is danger that young men will overlook those important lessons on this subject, which they will be called so soon to reduce to practice. Those connected with the Seminaries, as teachers, should be aware of this danger, that they may the more effectually guard against it. To preserve from the danger here referred to, it has been thought expedient to encourage young men in the Seminaries (so far as this could be done without interfering with their appropriate studies) to engage in something like pastoral labor. In the vicinity of most of these Institutions, opportunities exist, for taking the charge of village meetings; superintending Bible classes and |