to save a race from annihilation. We also learn, at least by inference, that two insurmountable difficulties are, first, the Anglo-Saxon pride of race which will not admit the Indians to a social equality; and secondly, the white man's love of gain which manufactures whiskey for them. Chaplain G. Collins, U. S. A. GENERAL REVIEW. Bible Study in the Theological School and by the Active Pastor. IN the March and April (1886) numbers of the Old Testament Student, published at Chicago, Illinois, a claim was made that in the Theological Seminaries of our land "more work in the Bible should be done, and perhaps less work about it." The articles excited a good deal of interest, and were quite extensively noticed and commented upon by the religious press. In some instances the trustees of theological institutions gave attention to them, and in not a few of these institutions such study has been introduced. Having started matters in the right direction in the Schools, the editor of The Student now directs attention to the importance of Bible-study by the active pastor. He says truly, "It is a matter of some interest to know whether or not the minister, the divinely authorized interpreter and teacher of the Word of God, is really performing his functions in this direction. Whatever else he may have to do, and in these days the majority of ministers are compelled to do much work which they have no business to do, the pastor must teach the Bible. To teach it he must know it. To know it he must study it." That the minister of to-day studies may be taken for granted. Indeed, it is probable that at no time in the history of the ministry, have study and general intellectual drill been more imperative than now; and it is equally probable that at no time has the demand for study met with so general response. study? On what is his time spent? But "what does the minister And further, shall one be sat isfied with that work done on the Bible which may be classified under the heads of devotional reading and sermon-preparation? These are NEW SERIES. VOL. XXIV. 15 necessary? but they are not Bible study, although often wrongly regarded as such." Ministers of to-day make a strong effort to be up with the times on all questions that concern the economic, political, scientific and intellectual life of the people. The daily paper, the reported utterances from the platform, are eagerly sought as interpreting the drift of the times in its bearing on these phases and interests of life. "But how many are as anxious to know the results of modern scholarship as applied to the Bible? It is true they may entertain the feeling that the work of modern scholars is unreliable, and so shan any contact with it. That class of ministers is not a small one which holds the belief that so far as concerns Bible-truth, whatever may be said of other truth, the older the statement, the more correct it is apt to be. Would one believe that out of every one thousand ministers there are four hundred and twenty-six, nearly one-half, who use only the Old Version in their personal study of the Bible? If the only difference between these versious was the printing as poetry of those portions of the Old Testament which are poetical, it is extremely difficult to understand why every student of the Bible should not take the New Version in his personal study. This is but one indication, and there are many, that the minister of the present age is slow to avail himself of what, if accepted, would prove most useful. There is a widely prevailing timidity, called conservatism. It is not true conservatism. It is a timorous inertia." In the January (1887) number of The Student, the editor, Dr. William R. Harper, under the title: "Bible-Study in the Pastorate; Figures and Facts," gives some interesting results of inquiries which he has been making; and draws some conclusions therefrom that it will be profitable for Universalist ministers as well as others to reflect upon. We give his paper entire, and bespeak for it a careful reading. 66 "In order to ascertain, as exactly as possible, the general amount and character of Bible-study carried on by men who are engaged in the active work of the ministry, as well as to learn the opinions of these men on certain questions relating to theological instruction, the writer prepared and mailed to twelve hundred ministers a printed form containing certain questions, with a request for answers to them. That the reader may be better able to understand and appreciate the results of the inquiry thus instituted, it is necessary to make a statement of certain points relating to this printed form, the persons to whom it was gent, and the replies received. 1. It was understood that the contents of the replies should be regarded as confidential, so far as concerned the publication of any statement in connection with any name. Had this fact been stated more definitely in the letter accompanying the printed form, the apprehensions of a smaller number would have been aroused. "2. This printed form was not intended in any sense to extort 'confessions,' although it would seem to have been regarded by some in this light, if the letters which accompanied their replies are to be accepted as presenting their views. The existence of this idea may, perhaps, also account for the fact that a number of those of whom the request was made, failed to reply; a failure profoundly regretted by the writer, because there were special reasons, at least in some cases, for supposing that the contents of the reply would have been of particular interest. "3, The ministers to whom the printed form was sent were of five denominations: Congregational, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian. All were graduates of a theological seminary. All were men engaged in the actual work of the pastorate. All had been in the ministry five years; none longer than twenty years. Every name was carefully selected. 66 6 4. The work of tabulating the 'returns' has been one of extreme difficulty. Most of the questions were not of a character to be answered by Yes,' or 'No.' The cases of no two men were alike. The necessary brevity of the reply in many instances left much to be inferred. Care has been taken, however, to present the substance of the replies in what is believed to be a strictly accurate form. "5. As each one hundred replies was tabulated, it was noticed that the general average remained about the same. The statements herein given would not have been materially changed had the calculation been for five thousand instead of one thousand. "6. In order to give uniformity to the statement, the calculation in each case has been made upon the basis of one thousand. This will present clearly the relative proportion under each head. 7. Many details of a most interesting character were received in connection with the replies, which could not well be included in this presentation. These will furnish material for a second paper upon the subject in a future number of The Student. 8. The thanks of the writer are hereby tendered the gentlemen who so kindly and courteously granted his request for information. 1. Average time in the ministry of those furnishing information, 2. Number specially interested in Dogmatic Theology, 3. Number specially interested in Church History, 4. Number specially interested in New Testament Exegesis, 10 3-4 years. 242 252 287 5. Number specially interested in Dogmatic Theology and New Testament Exegesis, 45 6. Number specially interested in Old Testament Exegesis, 55 7. Number specially interested in Old Testament and New Testament Exegesis, 124 366 426 10. Number using in their personal Bible-study both versions, 208 11. Number giving a certain allotted time, outside of devotional reading and sermon preparation, to both Old Testament and New Testament study, 412 292 256 12. Number giving such time to New Testament, but not to Old Testament, 13. Number giving such time to Old Testament, but not to New Testament, 14. Number giving no special time to Bible-study, 15. Number giving time to the study of topics involving biblical study, since leaving the Seminary, 17. Number who have read the entire Old Testament in Hebrew, 18. Number who have read in Hebrew certain books: Psalms, 164 104 Pentateuch, 102 104 19 Number who read Hebrew with some degree of regularity, 20. Number who have read the entire New Testament in English one or more times since leaving the Seminary, 21. Number who have read the New Testament in Greek, 22. New Testament books which have been read in Greek: Gospels by Epistle to the Romans by Epistle to the Hebrews by 212 132 100 92 23. Number who have taken up and made 24. Old Testament books which have been Genesis by 112 84 84 48 740 102 The Pentateuch by 96 Isaiah by Jonah by 52 25. New Testament books which have been studied specially: 26. Number who have done special work in Old Testament History, 27. Number who have done special work in Old Testament Theology, 28. Number who have done expository preaching, 29. Number who have prepared exegetical papers: a) On the Old Testament, c) On subjects of which the department was not specified, 372 228 $624 132 140 124 30. In reference to the teaching of the English Bible in the Theological Seminary, 31. In reference to making Hebrew an elective in the Theological Seminary, a) Number favoring it, 136 b) Number opposing it, c) Number expressing no opinion, 808 66 32. In reference to the advisability of having in the Theological Seminary instruction in Biblical Theology as distinct from Systematic Theology: a) Number favoring it, b) Number opposing it, c) Number expressing no opinion, 932 20 48 Ten or twelve men had read more than one-half of the Old Testament in Hebrew, but no one had entirely finished it. It was difficult to make from the papers a satisfactory calculation on this point. The number 180 is probably an over-estimate. This was difficult to determine; men's ideas as to what expository preaching is, differ considerably. "In submitting the results of this inquiry, our space will allow only a few general remarks: "1. New Testament Exegesis, it will be seen, is the favorite study of the largest number of ministers. Including those whose special studies are divided between the New Testament and Dogmatic The ology, and between the New Testament and Old Testament, we find that four hundred and sixty-seven, or nearly one-half of the whole number, take special interest in the New Testament. The other half, four hundred and ninety-four, give their chief attention to History and Dogmatic Theology. Fifty-five take special interest in the Old Testament, or, including those who combine the New Testament with the Old, one hundred and seventy-nine out of a thousand. "2. From one stand-point, the number of those making use of the Revised Version in their personal Bible-study, is surprisingly large. And yet, when one reflects that forty-three ministers out of every hundred, do not avail themselves of this new and best Bible-help, there must arise a feeling of sincere regret that men should be so blind to what is manifestly their own best interest. "3. At a rough estimate, only about one-half give special time to the study of the Bible outside of devotional reading and sermon-preparation. Devotional reading of the Bible is not Bible-study: nor is the preparing of a sermon to be regarded as Bible-study, unless, indeed, the sermon is in the strictest sense an expository one. Topical study of a certain kind may well be classified under this head; yet we doubt whether much of it is, after all, real Bible-study, We must draw the line somewhere between biblical study and Bible-study. Both are important; but much that is classified under the former caption cannot be included under the latter. Right here, we believe, is the mistake of many men. They suppose themselves to be doing work called Bible-study. If, however, they would but reflect, they would see that the work which they do under this head is, after all, something else. It is, of course, good work, and necessary work, but not Bible-study. "4. There would, at first, seem to be ground for surprise that of those interrogated, not one had read the Old Testament through in Hebrew. But let us think: Does any one of us have among his acquaintances in the ministry one whom he knows to have done this? The fact is, that there has been no encouragement for work of this kind. What every average student ought to do during his seminary course, and what each pastor ought to do every five years of his pastorate has not been done even by ore in ten thousand, not to speak of one in a thousand. It is, on the other hand, an encouraging feature of the returns, that so large a proportion, almost one in five, are now reading Hebrew with some degree of regularity. Four years ago this would have been one in twenty-five. Five years hence it will be one in two. 66 5. One minister in three has studied specially the Book of Genesis; one in four, the Psalms; one in five, Isaiah; one in eight, Job; one in ten, Daniel; one in ten, the Minor Prophets; one in ten, the Pentateuch as a whole; one in fourteen, Ruth; one in twenty, Jonah. We may, each for himself, decide whether or not this is a creditable showing. "6. We are surprised at the number, one in three, of those who |