I am asked to speak to you on the

religious life of the student of theology. I approach the subject with some

trepidation. I think it the most important subject which can engage our

thought. You will not suspect me, in saying this, to be depreciating the

importance of the intellectual preparation of the student for the ministry. The

importance of the intellectual preparation of the student for the ministry is

the reason of the existence of our Theological Seminaries. Say what you will,

do what you will, the ministry is a “learned profession”; and the man without

learning, no matter with what other gifts he may be endowed, is unfit for its

duties. But learning, though indispensable, is not the most indispensable thing

for a minister. “Apt to teach”—yes,

the ministry must be “apt to teach”; and observe that what I say—or rather what

Paul says—is “apt to teach.” Not apt merely to exhort, to beseech, to appeal,

to entreat; nor even merely, to testify, to bear witness; but to teach. And

teaching implies knowledge: he who teaches must know. Paul, in other words,

requires of you, as we are perhaps learning not very felicitously to phrase it,

“instructional,” not merely “inspirational,” service. But aptness to teach

alone does not make a minster; not is it his primary qualification. It is only

one of a long list of requirements which Paul lays down as necessary to meet in

him who aspires to this high office. And all the rest concern, not his

intellectual, but his spiritual fitness. A minister must be learned, on pain of

being utterly incompetent for his work. But before and above being learned, a

minister must be godly.