The following counsels, you may rest assured, whatever may have been hitherto your habits, are worthy of your serious consideration.

1. One of the most indispensable preliminaries to your engaging in profitable study, is that you cherish a deep sense of the GREAT EXTENT, AND THE INFINITE IMPORTANCE OF THEOLOGICAL SCIENCE. No man will summon his whole strength to any work, and put in requisition all his diligence and zeal in pursuing it, unless he act under the deep impression that it is both arduous, and worthy of his best powers. That it will require his utmost efforts to accomplish what he ought to aim at; and that the advantages of making the attainment will be richly worthy of the labour. Accordingly, I have no doubt that one principal reason why so many candidates for the ministry pursue the study of theology in a languid,perfunctory manner, is that they take narrow and altogether inadequate views of the compass, depth, and value of this branch of knowledge. They hastily adopt the degrading notion, that a careful perusal of the Bible, together with some approved system of divinity, and twenty' or thirty other volumes, will be sufficient to prepare them for the pulpit. No wonder that, with this sentiment, their studies are lazy and superficial upon principle. No wonder that they study but little, and that to that little they bring scarcely

any real intellectual effort. It is impossible seriously to undertake the correction of such an unworthy and childish estimate of the subject as this. He who can, with any intelligence, glance over the list of studies prescribed for the regular course in this Seminary; or he who can peruse such a book as Calvin's Institutes, Edwards on the Will, Butler's Analogy, Warburton's Divine Legation of Moses, or Magee on Atonement and Sacrifice, without receiving a deep impression that such a knowledge of Theology, in its various departments and relations, as will qualify a man, in any tolerable degree, to be a teacher of thousands, requires profound, patient, and laborious study; must have either a very weak, or a very perverted understanding. To gain knowledge enough to be what some call, "a pretty preacher," (a hateful and degrading epithet for an ambassador of Christ) is not difficult; but to be a sound, thorough Divine, you may rest assured, is neither a common, nor an easy attainment.

Sit down, then, to your studies, every day, under the deep impression that what you have to do, demands your best powers, and your utmost diligence. Take large views of Theology and the auxiliary branches of knowledge. Cherish an ardent thirst for knowledge. Aim high; not on the scale of honour; but in the

attainment of furniture with which to serve your Master. Resolve, if Providence permit, to be "a workman that shall not need to be ashamed." Account no labour too great that may be necessary for gaining your object. Then, and only then, can you hope to study to much purpose.

2. You will never study Theology to advantage, UNLESS YOU CHERISH A PECULIAR AND

DEVOTED ATTACHMENT ΤΟ THE OFFICE

WHICH YOU SEEK. You profess to have chosen the profession of a minister of the gospel, because you deliberately prefer it to every other. And in this profession I hope you are sincere. But this is not enough. You ought not only deliberately to prefer it; but to cultivate for it, habitually, an ardent love; a ruling passion; an attachment of the fondest and most heartfelt kind. If there be a profession in the world which is worthy of drawing forth, every hour, all the strongest and most elevated affections of the soul, the ministry of reconciliation is surely that profession. On this subject I cannot forbear to transcribe a short passage from a sermon by the most able and eloquent Preacher now in England. "How high and awful a function is that which proposes to establish in the soul an interior dominion; to illuminate its powers by a celestial light; and introduce it to an intimate, ineffable and unchanging al

liance with the Father of Spirits! The moment we permit ourselves to think lightly of the Christian Ministry, our right arm is withered; nothing but imbecility and relaxation remains. For no man ever excelled in a profession to which he did not feel an attachment bordering on enthusiasm: though what in other professions is enthusiasm, is, in ours, the dictate of sobriety and truth."*

If you have not learned, my young friend, the precious art of pursuing your professional studies, not only with a deep sense of their importance; but, as the Italians say, con amore: if they do not form the pursuit in which your heart delights, for its own sake, and more especially for the sake of its blessed end; your attainments will be tardy and imperfect. Be it your care, then, daily to nurture in your soul this attachment, this ardent delight; to enter more and more into the sweetness of that know. ledge which is to be so nobly employed; into the preciousness of that profession, the object of which is the highest in the universe. Let men in secular professions toil for the dust of wealth," or the "vapour of fame." The profession for which you are preparing, carries with it, more than any other on this side of

* Rev. ROBERT HALL-Sermon on the Discouragements and Supports of the Christian Ministry.

heaven, its own reward. While it promotes the real welfare of men, and the glory of God, it purifies, enriches, and elevates the labourer himself, making him twice blest; blest in giv. ing, and blest in receiving. Methinks, if you have a particle of the spirit of Christ in your bosom, it will be more or less kindled into a flame of holy pleasure in sitting down to studies of such a character.

IN

3. Strive to ACQUIRE THE HABIT OF CLOSE AND FIXED ATTENTION STUDY. I know not a more fatal defect in a student, than the want of this habit. He who has not learned the art of fastening his mind on a subject, and of holding that subject strictly and firmly before it, will never look deeply into any thing; will never accomplish any thing which deserves the name of investigation. It is generally known, that, to the possession of this power, Sir Isaac Newton ascribed all his attainments in science. If you do not already possess the precious faculty in question, try to attain it. If you fail at one time, be not discouraged. Try again and again. It is richly worth all the agony of effort that you can possibly make for its acquirement. Make incessant efforts, then, until you succeed, to summon your powers to concentrated action; to shut out, at 25 2