I am asked to speak to you on the
religious life of the student of theology. I approach the subject with some
trepidation. I think it the most important subject which can engage our
thought. You will not suspect me, in saying this, to be depreciating the
importance of the intellectual preparation of the student for the ministry. The
importance of the intellectual preparation of the student for the ministry is
the reason of the existence of our Theological Seminaries. Say what you will,
do what you will, the ministry is a “learned profession”; and the man without
learning, no matter with what other gifts he may be endowed, is unfit for its
duties. But learning, though indispensable, is not the most indispensable thing
for a minister. “Apt to teach”—yes,
the ministry must be “apt to teach”; and observe that what I say—or rather what
Paul says—is “apt to teach.” Not apt merely to exhort, to beseech, to appeal,
to entreat; nor even merely, to testify, to bear witness; but to teach. And
teaching implies knowledge: he who teaches must know. Paul, in other words,
requires of you, as we are perhaps learning not very felicitously to phrase it,
“instructional,” not merely “inspirational,” service. But aptness to teach
alone does not make a minster; not is it his primary qualification. It is only
one of a long list of requirements which Paul lays down as necessary to meet in
him who aspires to this high office. And all the rest concern, not his
intellectual, but his spiritual fitness. A minister must be learned, on pain of
being utterly incompetent for his work. But before and above being learned, a
minister must be godly.
