PREFACE. ANCIENT rhetoricians advised writers to withhold their books from the public for nine years. Lamartine informs us, on the other hand, that the book, however quickly published, will come too late. The reader will find that we have been. governed by the Frenchman's suggestion, and in doing so have made, perhaps, a mistake. These pages were originally prepared as a discourse upon ministerial education, and were delivered before the New England Methodist Episcopal Conference, Boston, April, 1871. The author is aware that the subject demands a far more exhaustive discussion than this trea tise claims to be; yet, for the want of something better, it is committed to the public in hope that it may help fill an existing gap, and awaken new interest upon one of the most important questions of the day. The specific design of the writer will be realized if young men having the ministry in view are hereby induced to avail themselves of a thorough professional training before engaging exclusively in their work, and if those already in the ministry, by increasing their diligence and devotion, seek to become more effective ministers of our Lord Jesus Christ. I. Bible Knowledge and Interpretation. II. Revealed Theology and its Bearings. PAGE 9 |