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    less liable to counteraction , the mind is more fitted for acquiring , knowledge ^ and to benefit by the discipline to which it is subjected . It is an advantage to leave such * institutions at a later rather than an earlier period . A more matured character—is brought to the duties of the sanctuary , a somewhat better knowledge of the world , that most important qualification , to deal with

    men who are in and too much oFThe world , about their Highest yet most neglected interests . And here let me beg and implore those who have any thoughts of entering the ministry to scrutinize with the exactest care the character of their motives . Give not place to the bad ; let them , if possible , have no weight in your final determination . Oh the disgrace of choosing the ministry for the loaves and fishes , for an elevation in society , for a reputable profession ! The very term ' profession , ' in such a

    connexion , is an offence . What do we by this term but degrade the ministry to a trade make it an affair of purchase and sale , and act in the very spirit of the abominable man who wished to buy , that in turn he might sell > the gifts of the Holy Spirit ? There is no being so much out of his place as the man that serves at the altar with unhallowed hands . He desecrates the holiest things , he trifles with the holiest affections , he perils the highest interests , and , is generally as unhappy as he is misplaced . In the best of cases motives will be mixed ; but let him not Jioueh the sacred

    thing who is not conscious of a predominant love of God and man , of Christ and his Gospel ; who does not deem it the highest honour to be associated with his Maker and his Saviour in the labour of human regeneration . These points appear to me to comprise the ground-work of an efficient ministry , yet they have not received that attention which their importance merits , I believe that students influence the character of institutions as much , if not more , than institutions influence the character of students . I believe that much more

    depends on the character which students take with them into institutions , than on the discipline , mental and moral , which institutions enforce . And I know that students in general prove good or bad ministers , mainly as was the character of the dispositions which they took with them when they left the privacy of home for ( he comparative publicity of college . A virtuous home , a good elementary education , a free and a late choice are of essential necessity in probationers for the ministry .

    To enforce the necessity of a collegiate education must be almost a useless work . Human weakness is no longer made strong by miraculous aid . Original capabilities , however great , are of less service without cultivation , than are inferior qualities with it . And surely those need , who have to impart knowledge ; those need energy of mind who have to influence and sway mind . No cultivation of mind can be too great , provided a good heart be the presiding power , and where the dispositions are bad , a little know-

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    tHfi TRUTH TELLER . 165

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 1, 1833, page 165, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2615/page/5/