On Certain Errors of Pious Students in our Colleges [pp. 230-239]

Candidates for the Ministry.
one another. Such are the arrangements of our colleges, that
nothing becomes a subject of instruction which is not necessary; and the aggregate of these subjects is great enough to
shut the door, in the case of every conscientious student,
against all other employments, except in the brief intervals of
leisure, which are little enough to be conceded to devotion,
exercise, and recreation. In a well ordered institution, there
are no hours left for extraneous pursuits. And if.we have
already succeeded in showing that no department of science
can be neglected without serious loss, it follows that the pretext of studying theology is idle and insufficient.
The time must indeed seem long to many an ardent candidate, before he can enter uponii the peculiar and sacred path of
his future work. Yet it is never to be forgotten, that we
serve our Master as truly by due preparation, as by faithful
execution. Our duty is always that which is due to day.
Labours, like sufferings, are allotted to us day by day; and
sufficient to every hour is its own proper employment.
Even if, like David, the pious student should never actually
begin to build the temple of the Lord, but be cut off by death
before he has finished his preparations, he will not fail of his
reward; he will be accepted as one who has "had it in his
heart" to devote himself to God.
There is no possible advantage in thus anticipating a study
which will soon arise in its proper place. In order to pursue
it now, much of present duty must be neglected; it must be
conducted in the most hasty manner, and under great disadvantages. The greater the interest of the student in these
irregular employments, the more flagrant will be his irregularities with regard to college obligations. And, what is
most unfortunate, the under-graduate who is betrayed into this
path, i,s apt to make this passing glance at a vast and important subject, a pretext for neglect of it in his subsequent course.
If the motive be a wish to proceed more rapidly than the prescribed term of preparation, he is deceived by a fallacy,
which has already introduced scores of unfurnished men into
the ministry. This haste is inordinate and most injurious.
Great as are the necessities of the Church, she asks for those
who are "thoroughly furnishled." It may be seriously questioned, whether the cause of religion would not gain more by
the addition of one or two years to the preparatory course of
each individual, than she would lose by this delay in their
entrance. She would gain, in the strength, maturity, learn
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