process by which he has arrived at them and can examine this process at our leisure, step by step. A succinct statement of the grounds relied on to support the antagonist positions in any important question is of great value to the student. It furnishes him with the materials of thought: and with materials of a kind which the young man, in a case like the present especially, cannot always get at, without the help of another, whose observation and experience have been more diversified than his own. These statements in books are like those bits of paper two or three inches square, written in pencil and covered with short sentences, nnmbered 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., which are sometimes seen lying on the student's table; and which embodying, as they do, the condensed results of past investigations, and the germs of future ones, have a value which it i notorious that a chamber-maid, or even a wife, does not always comprehend.'

Many things in these Lectures we like exceedingly. There are some remarks about the delay of settlement after a young man's regular course of study is finished, which are as timely as they are judicious.

"Undoubtedly there are reasons which may justify a young man, when his course is finished, in declining a settlement for a season. Such are, want of health, extreme youth and inexperience, or a broken, imperfect education, requiring to be improved by longer study. Nor would I say, that there are not persons to whom neither of the foregoing reasons are applicable, who, if circumstances favor, may not properly prolong their course of study, or avail themselves of the advantages of foreign travel, and intercourse with the world. But this I think I may safely say, that persons who-having enjoyed the advantages of a full course of study, and still feeling unprepared for the pastoral office-resort to the expedients last named, for the purpose of removing difficulties, and increasing their sense of preparation, are very frequently disappointed. After having prolonged

Some of the German books are very valuable for these condensed statements. And the Germans are sometimes clear and able logicians. We cite Hengstenberg and Bretschneider as examples. We know of few clearer writers in any language than they. The analysis of Schleiermacher's system found in Bretschneider's Dogmatik is masterly.

their studies another year or two, and visited other seminaries, and perhaps foreign countries, they feel the same shrinking from the pastoral office which they did before, and the same want of preparation to meet its duties and responsibilities. It is possible, indeed, that their preparation for this high office is not at all increased by the delay. They may have become better fitted for other employments, but not at all better fitted for the holy, humble, self-denying duties of a parish minister." p. 27.

Those who are pursuing the course here condemned, and are verifying in their own character and habits the remarks here made, will perhaps read this passage with a sneer; but most men who have actually entered upon the pastoral office, and have ascertained by personal experience what the wants of a pastor are, will subscribe to Dr. Pond's views heartily.

It is true, few can attempt pulpit labor for a succession of years, without finding reason to lament that their mental stores, be they great as they may, are not more abundant; and could they have protracted their years of preparatory study, with the knowledge that they now have of what needs to be studied, they might very considerably have augmented their qualifications for usefulness. But what are the studies in which the resident licentiates at our Theological Seminaries, and others, who delay entering upon the pastoral work, engage? We question very much, whether, in general, they are those which tend to qualify a young man for a clear statement and a forcible illustration of truth. The points inquired into, are the nice points of metaphysical theology, the minutiæ of Biblical criticism, the curious matters of history or archæology, or other things of the same general description. We may mistake; but we apprehend that these are the directions which the efforts of an ardent student will rather naturally take, and do take as a matter of fact. And by and by, when he enters upon his work, what is the discovery which he makes? A discovery, one would think, which he might have foreseen, but which, in fact, takes him quite by surprise, and causes him not a little pain; namely, that he has yet to do many of the "first works" in biblical and theological study.

He

finds that he needs a familiarity with the plain matters of these sciences, far more than any insight (which perhaps he has never really obtained, and never will obtain,) into the abstruse matters. He wants a stock of materials to draw from, not for scholastic debate, but for popular instruction. He is to "teach his people knowledge ;" and his own knowledge must be of a kind which he can teach them, and which, when imparted, will be of solid benefit.' We believe most fully, that a young man, while in College, and in the Theological Seminary, had better keep closely to the prescribed course of study; and that when that course is finished, he is ordinarily better fitted for the pastoral office, than he would be after a longer term of preparation.

In many cases, it is to be feared, young men of a certain class deceive themselves, when they suppose that they desire a better preparation for the ministry. The real desire is to gratify their love of literary pursuits, and their ambition to shine as literary men. There are indications that the oldfashioned idea of a "call" to the ministry is, in many quarters, getting quite out of date. Many young men think that they are called to something else, and all their tastes and feelings flow in the corresponding direction. Their call is to cultivate fine scholarship-to enlarge the sphere of human knowledge to fill professorships, or write books. They study for the ministry, as the Jew in the process of his education used to apply himself to some art or trade, namely, that they may have something to rely upon for a livelihood, if their favorite schemes fall through. The ministry is a matter by the by. We are sorry to say it, but we believe that there are many

We say not, that he should have no knowledge which he does not mean to impart. We say not, that he should let abstruse matters entirely alone. Both of these positions we repudiate as emphatically as any one. The Queen of Sheba's "hard questions" it is well for all the Solomons, and all the wouldbe Solomons in the world to grapple with. But no sensible man will have a Queen of Sheba at his elbow always. As of old let her be a visitor, not a companion. A minister certainly, or a candidate for the ministry, can be in better business.

students in our Theological Seminaries—we might go further, and say, many men actually holding the pastoral office-to whom this description applies. We were struck with a remark recently made by an intelligent Christian lady in our hearing. She had shortly before, on a certain Sabbath, listened to the preaching of a young man whose sermons were more than commonly interesting. But on subsequently meeting him in private, she got the impression that he did not care about preaching, if he could only obtain an elegible situation at some college, or other institution. Said she, "I had supposed that every minister ought to feel, and did feel, Wo is me, if I preach not the Gospel!" When this is the genuine feeling in a young man's mind, we imagine that little difficulty will be found in persuading him to assume the pastoral office. The difficulty will be, not to get him into it sufficiently soon, but to keep him out of it sufficiently long.

On a subsequent page of the Lecture upon Settlement in the Ministry, the question is briefly discussed as to the desirableness of a temporary itinerancy, as preparatory to the pastoral office. Dr. Pond decides it in much the same manner as the foregoing. He says,

"I would by no means have a young man over-anxious for settlement; so much so, as to lead him to take any unwarrantable measures to effect his object; or to feel discouraged, should God see fit to try him by some delay. But, as I have before remarked, when the preparatory studies of an individual are closed, and he is favored with health and strength, and God in his providence opens a door for settlement, I see not why he should hesitate to enter in; or why he should prefer to turn away from the open door, and wait for a more convenient season. He may think to gain some valuable experience; or to see more of the world; or to prepare a stock of sermons. But his experience as an itinerant will not be of much value to him as a settled pastor. A sufficient knowledge of the world he may have opportunities to acquire in other ways. And as to a stock of sermons prepared under such circumstances, and without any particular object in view, they are of less value than young inexperienced ministers generally suppose. They may save the labor of preparing new ones; but they will be less appropriate and effective than new ones; less creditable to the preacher, and less profitable to those who hear. Besides, if one door of usefulness is declined, another may not soon be

opened; and the individual may deplore his error, when the time is past for him to retrieve it.”—p. 30.

The question here discussed, is one of those on which we should have been glad if Dr. Pond's suggestions had been a little more copious. We had supposed that there might be a process of gradual initiation into the duties and trials of ministerial life, which should be better than entering upon them fully at once. Perhaps Dr. Pond's idea is, that there will be enough of this initiatory discipline connected with the usual vacational and other efforts of the last year of a young man's theological course. These, however, are very different from the continuous labors of a five or six month's sojourn in some particular place or places. In these latter circumstances, a young man certainly learns something in regard to reaching the minds and consciences of men. His sermons come to assume a somewhat more effective character. And it would seem that, after a six month's or year's experience of this sort, he might, to a certain degree, be better prepared to enter upon the duties of a settled pastor. Whether any perceptible influence would be exerted upon a man's permanent usefulness, we undertake not to say. We must confess, that we have some doubts whether it would ordinarily be of much consequence. Certainly it would not be of consequence enough to justify one, for the sake of it, in turning aside from any important field of pastoral usefulness.

The following Lecture contains, among other things, an able argument in favor of the Congregational position, that a pastor should be a member of the church to which he ministers. We should be glad to make some quotations; but our limits forbid. Indeed, on this, and many other points, no short quotation could do any justice to the writer.

Two Lectures are devoted to the subject of pastoral Visiting. That it belongs to a pastor to visit his people, is a position which Dr. Pond thinks too obviously correct to require any protracted argument. Few, we trust, think otherwise. Many valuable directions are given in regard to the mode of performing the duty, and the treatment of different classes