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give; men who shall be well furnished as well as bright, and have good thoughts and good sense along with a good voice. Shall we lower the standard of the ministry to increase its numbers, and, like the debtors in the parable, for fivescore write fourscore, and for a hundred write fifty? or shall we narrow the circle, already so small, by raising the standard of qualification, and asking more instead of less? This is a very annoying dilemma, and no one seems shrewd enough to show the satisfactory way of getting out of it.

It might help us in the difficulty, if those who set out to prepare themselves for the ministry could know or could tell beforehand exactly what kind or province of ministerial work they would take for themselves; whether they come to fit themselves for a quiet country parish in New England, where the type of faith has been long fixed, and there is no prospect of growth or change or the coming in of new ideas, or whether they are expecting to plant this faith in some new region, where there is a wholly different class of influences; if they could decide at the start between the itinerant and the settled ministry: the education then could be adjusted to the intention, and the men be prepared for the particular work they are expecting to do. But, unfortunately, very few can or are willing to give such decision beforehand; very few know for what they are fitted. Some, with good physical advantages, observing that these go so far in commending a religious teacher, are unwilling to let their spiritual lack consign them to the humble work of the country pastor. Others take the large plan of service, because their zeal is so strong, and their sense of the worth of the liberal faith so quick. They cannot be content to nurse old altar-fires, while there are so many new altars to be builded. It is not easy to classify candidates in this service, or to tell beforehand where any belong. Just as, in the school training of most of our cities, the same qualifications are required of all the teachers, and one who is to deal with infant classes and drill in the primer and the alphabet must pass the same examination as one who is to teach algebra and philosophy, so in the training of our preachers it seems necessary to have a uniform rule,

and to ask that the candidate for the smallest lace shall be 1 fit, so far as education can make him, for the largest place; that, however moderate his native ability may be, however indifferent his physical gifts, he shall, at any rate, have education enough for any call. It seems more necessary that those of moderate ability should have more knowledge, education enough to make up for their natural deficiency. In ordinary cases, certainly, the prescribed three years' course, which is the usual time of study in our theological schools, does not seem to be over long, either for those who come to it from a previous college course, or those who come to it from trades and labors. Have you ever seen a man who would say, that, in this time, he had learned as much as he cared to in any department of religious study? Take the critical study of the Bible. Probably not one student in five, in the three years, has been able to go over, with minute investigation, the books of the Scripture in familiar use; the books which he will constantly read from in his pulpit ministration; which he will be expected to know and give opinions about, Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, the Books of Kings, the Psalms and Proverbs, the Ecclesiast's wisdom, the poem of Job, the major and minor Prophets, the Gospels, the Epistles, the Apocalypse. All these will come into question in the discussions of the pulpit and the Bible-class; yet he is extraordinarily busy and swift who can examine them thoroughly in his three years of preparation. Then, in questions of dogma and philosophy, if the opinions which have been held in the Church are to be examined and weighed, three years seem to be a short time for the process. The regret of every graduate of our theological schools is, that so much of the original programme of study has been left unfinished, that so much has been superficially pursued. Will it make the matter any better to shorten the time to two years or one year, to six months or to three months? Have we any time-saving process by which the human brain, in this study, can be made to do in months what was once the work of years? Do not our needs suggest a longer, rather than a shorter, period of preparatory study? This idea of

making preachers for churches, in which the demand is so exacting and the expectation so high, in six months or in a single year, is preposterous. The success of some men of peculiar genius is no proof that such hasty work has any good promise? There are very few "preaching geniuses," very few born preachers, as there are very few born poets; and the biography of these usually shows a degree of study and culture nearly equal to the measure of a school. More time for preparatory study, rather than less, is the word of reason and common sense. Every year cut off from the term is a year of loss instead of gain. The students know this, the professors know it, the churches know it, the very men who get up half-way schools know it, though they do what they think is best in the emergency. To shorten the time of study is inevitably to lower its standard.

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But if this is necessary; if, for the sake of getting preachers and meeting the call, we must lower the standard, then it is well to consider what is best, and what is essential, in the short time that is given. And shall we not agree, that these three things, at least, are essential as preparation for a useful ministry anywhere, -a settled basis of faith and opinion, a habit of clear and orderly thought, and an understanding of the principles of effective address?

1. In the first place, a settled basis of opinion on the general questions of theology and religious philosophy. While every preacher ought to keep his eyes open and his mind open; to be ready for more light from any quarter, and not to hold any opinion as a finality, - he ought to know, before he begins to instruct others, what he believes himself; ought to know where he stands, what he believes now, what he has really to affirm; ought to have something positive to say. A man who has no system of truth, no defined opinions; who is only an inquirer, however honest he may be, is not yet fit to teach other men. They do not want his doubts and uncertainties they want his belief, and, if he has none yet, he must wait until he gets one. This is the dictate of common sense. I do not mean that one must have his opinions squared to the parties around him; that he must be able to

say whether he is of the right wing or the left, conservative or radical. All this talk about "wings," in a body which allows freedom and has no creed, is foolish and pernicious. I mean, only, that a preacher who is to do any good must have come to solid and clear ideas concerning the great themes of God and man, of duty, salvation, and the spiritual life. Until he has these ideas, brilliant as his gifts may be, whether he has studied a longer or a shorter time, in my judgment, he is not yet ready to preach to men. Our pulpits had better remain empty, than be filled by men who do not know where they stand or what they believe.

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2. In the next place, before a man is ready to preach, he must have acquired the habit of orderly thought, the habit of thought which makes him competent to guide the minds and thoughts of others. This habit is worth a great deal more than any mass of facts and lore; and, without it, the lore is all lumber, and only increases the chaos. Education for the ministry, in this day and in our body, means more the training of mind than the storing of mind, — mental discipline in religious questions, more than information about them. This may come afterward; but right habits of thought, if not gained in the beginning, never will come. I have no time here to dwell upon this topic, which indeed demands the special treatment of a full essay.

3. And equally may this be said of the third necessity of ministerial education, that, before one is ready to preach, he must have learned the principles of effective address. Some would say that this is not the third, but the second and the first thing as well; that the main work of preparation must be in learning "how to preach." External as it is, it is essential to all success and usefulness in the sacred calling. No theological school, with a course of three months or of three years, has done its work, — whatever it may have given of knowledge, of mental excitement, of devotion kindled, of faith fixed and deepened, unless it has taught its students how to make their truth real and effective to the hearers. This is the art of the place of religious training, to which its science ought to minister. And here is where

our education has been so fatally lacking, and is open to the public complaint. I know that it is easier to suggest the need, than to show how it is to be met; and I shall not weary your patience, already taxed too far, by any doubtful demonstration of the way. I can only trust that the hints of this imperfect essay may be the opening words of a more profitable discus

sion.

ART. II. — VITTORIA COLONNA.

SOME names have for us a magic charm, out of all proportion to our knowledge of the persons who bore them. Zoroaster, Confucius, Pythagoras, stand as representatives of high moral and spiritual being to those who know little of their lives and nothing of their doctrines. Hero, Sappho, and Hypatia, no less represent the loving and lovely in woman. "All mankind loves a lover;" and to the triple crown which the world has awarded to Michael Angelo, his age and ours add a less ambitious but more beautiful title," the friend of Vittoria Colonna." Embalmed in the pure amber of his affection, her name has become precious to our hearts; and, trusting in the supreme wisdom of a nature so lofty and pure, we at once accord to her all the graces and virtues that can ennoble or beautify her womanhood.

Vittoria Colonna was the daughter of Fabrizio Colonna, grand constable of the kingdom of Naples. She was betrothed, at the almost infantile age of four years, to a child of about her own age,- Francesco Ferrante, the son of Alfonso d'Avalos, Marquis de Pescara. Alfonso d'Avalos died by treachery in 1496; and his family were left to the care of his eldest daughter, Costanza d'Avalos, Duchess de Francavilla, a woman of remarkable ability and energy of character, and of superior taste in literature and art. When left a widow, the Government did not fear to confide to her the administration of the island of Ischia, in the Bay of Naples, one of the most important posts in the kingdom. In this beautiful island, Costanza d'Avalos fixed her abode, and added to her public

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