Well, it was not at Princeton Seminary that Dr. Brooks saw these evils. Perhaps they do not exist here: let us hope that they do not, at least in the measure in which he portrays them. Nevertheless his experience may fitly be laid to heart by us for our warning. The religious training which a minister needs to get in his days of preparation assuredly cannot be had by neglecting the very work he is set to do, in favor of any show of devoutness which does not affect the roots of his conduct, or of any show of zeal in another work which it is not yet his to do.
Of course there is another side to it. This religious training is not already obtained by the mere refusal to be led away from our primary work at the Seminary by practical calls upon our energies. Our primary business at the Seminary is, no doubt, to obtain the intellectual fitting for our ministerial work, and nothing must be allowed to supersede that in our efforts. But neither must the collateral prosecution of the requisite training of the heart and hand be neglected, as opportunity offers. Nor will a properly guarded attention to these injure the discharge of our scholastic duties; it will, on the contrary, powerfully advance their successful performance. The student cannot too sedulously cultivate devoutness of spirit. The maxim has been often verified in the experience of us all: bene orasse est bene studuisse. When the heart is thoroughly aroused, the slowest mind starts into motion and an impulse is given it which carries it triumphantly over intellectual difficulties before which it quailed afraid. And equally a proper taste of the practical work of the ministry is a great quickener of the mind for the intellectual preparation. We cannot do without these things. And the student must be very careful, therefore—even on this somewhat low ground—while not permitting any distractions to divert him from his primary task as a student, yet to take full advantage of all proper opportunities that may arise to train his heart and hand also. Preparation for ministerial service is very much like building a machine—say a locomotive. The intellectual work may have been accomplished and the machine may stand perfect before us. But it will not go unless the vital force of devotion is throbbing through it. Knowledge is a powerful thing: and practical tact is a powerful thing. And so is a locomotive a powerful thing—provided it has steam in it! Though I know all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, if I have not the love of God and man welling up in invincible power beneath it all and lifting it all and transmuting it all into effective working force—it profits me nothing.
