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 ANNUAL -t^^'B^ 
 
 BOARD OF EDUCATION 
 
 GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN 
 CHTTRCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 y 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 JOHN BRECKINRIDGE, A.M. Cork. Sec. 
 
 " Let not liim that girileth on his hai-nes8, boast liimself as he that 
 
 pultfth it oft"."— 1 Kings, xx. 11. 
 '•'■ The harvest tiiily is ])lenteous, but the labourers are few ; jiray 
 
 ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth 
 
 labourers into his harvest."— Ma«/(. ix. 87, 38. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY RUSSELL AND MART1E.\. 
 
 1833. 
 

 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1832, by RUS- 
 SELL & MARTIEN, in the Clerk's Office of the Eastern Dis- 
 trict of Pennsylvania. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The following work is designed by the Board of Edu- 
 cation to be the first in a series of Annual Mementos, 
 especially addressed to the candidates for the sacred 
 office, under the care of the Presbyterian Church. The 
 very interesting and responsible relation in v\fhich the 
 Board stands, to a great number* (and that continually 
 increasing,) of youth, looking to the most important of all 
 possible pursuits, calls for frequent and faithful inter- 
 course with them. In addition, therefore, to the private 
 correspondence and pastoral supervision of the Corres- 
 ponding Secretary and General Agent, it has been 
 thought desirable to put into their hands, from year to 
 year, a work prepared for their use, and adapted to 
 their circumstances, which should be periodical, and yet 
 not fugitive ; and be, if possible, worthy to become the 
 counsellor of their youth, and the companion of their de- 
 votional hours. 
 
 In performing this service, in the name and by the 
 authority of the Board, the Editor has endeavoured to 
 secure such matter, both as to subjects and quality, as 
 was best fitted to the peculiar occupations and great ob- 
 jects of those who are in a course of preparation for the 
 work of the Ministry. Most of the Essays are original; 
 and he hopes the Christian public will be disposed to unite 
 with him in felicitating the youth addressed, on the excel. 
 
 * Between 3 and 400. 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 lence of the contributions. Ifourend shall in any just mea- 
 sure have been attained, then, the additional hope will be 
 cherished, that the influence of this little manual will not 
 be restricted to our own students, but extend to those 
 engaged in preparing for the same office in other deno- 
 rainations of Christians, and under the care of kindred 
 institutions, and not be without its use to young Minis- 
 ters of the Gospel, and to private Christians. 
 
 In what is called the dress of the work, our object has 
 been to make it interesting, wuthout being costly ; and to 
 provoke the possessors to preserve it. The embellish- 
 ments consist of a frontispiece, whose motto and de- 
 vice are proper to a Christian minister ; and of the mi- 
 niature-portraits of those whose names are dear to the 
 Church. The face of the Rev. John H. Rice, D.D., 
 accompanied by a brief biography, was intended to have 
 been inserted in this volume ; but we failed to se- 
 cure them in time for publication. The Rev. Sylvester 
 Lamed w^ill not, we are persuaded, be an unacceptable 
 substitute. Of the likeness, in each case, the public must 
 judge. We will only say that we have done what we 
 could to make them faithful. 
 
 We dedicate this work to the sons of the Church who 
 are preparing for the sacred desk : we commend it to the 
 providence of the Great Head of the Church. 
 
 By order of the Board, 
 
 JOHN BRECKINRIDGE, Corr. Sec. 
 
 Philadelphia, Office of Board of Education, ) 
 November 1st, 1832. \ 
 
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 My Dear Youth, 
 
 The following- work has been published through the 
 kind care of the Board of Education, with special refer- 
 ence to yourselves, and is now affectionately sent forth 
 to you, with the sincere desire that it may be made emi- 
 nently useful in its influence on your understandings, 
 hearts, and lives. 
 
 The character of the respected contributors to tliis 
 volume, would alone guarantee to you valuable commu- 
 nications; the subjects discussed are highly appropriate 
 to your present circumstances; and the contents, we 
 cannot doubt, will be found worthy to be repeatedly 
 perused, and deeply pondered. 
 
 It was our wish to do no more than compile this 
 little volume, and put it into your hands with our un- 
 qualified recommendation. And in reference to the 
 topics discussed in it, we feel that little more is neces- 
 sary. 
 
 But there are several subjects of great importance and 
 
 practical utility, which are not embraced in this work; 
 
 and some also which cannot well be reduced to order in 
 
 any single essay ; and others still, whose notice properly 
 
 a2 
 
6 INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 belongs to the official relation which we sustain to the 
 candidates of the Board. To some of these your candid 
 and serious attention is now invited. 
 
 In these remarks it is presupposed that you profess to 
 know, and in the judgment of truth do experimentally 
 know, the religion of Christ. Without that great and 
 gracious change by which a man is constituted a Chris- 
 tian, a new creature in Christ, you will at best be blind 
 leaders of the blind, and it will have been well for you, 
 and perhaps for many others ruined by your influence, 
 that you had never been born ! And yet it is by no 
 means to be taken for granted that every candidate for 
 tlie ministry, or that every minister of Christ is a rege- 
 nerated man. The history of the Church of God speaks, 
 alas, far another language ; and the awfiil results of the 
 judgment-day will but too fully confirm the melancholy 
 truth, that from the height of the most solemn and pri- 
 vileged of all human stations, many a graceless and 
 unfaithful minister has been precipitated into eternal 
 perdition. 
 
 It is proper that we should point you, 1. To the temp- 
 tations to which you are exposed, and against which we 
 would affectionately guard you. 
 
 There are some of these to which you are exposed, in 
 common with other professors of the religion of Christ. 
 We cannot here dwell on them. There are others, 
 which are peculiar to your present circumstances, and 
 to the office to which you aspire. 
 
 In enumerating a few of these temptations which we 
 have called peculiar, we first mention. The love ofpopu- 
 
IXTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 7 
 
 lav applause. The most commanding form, perhaps, of 
 man's influence on man, is found in popular eloquence. 
 The power, and corresponding praise of such an endow- 
 ment, make men greatly covetous of its possession, and 
 ambitious to attain to the reputation it confers. These 
 remarks are peculiarly applicable to our own country, 
 ■which is, above all others, distinguislied by an enthusias- 
 tic admiration of eloquent public speaking. 
 
 Now it has pleased an infinitely wise God, that public 
 speaking should be the great channel of communication 
 for his Gospel to the souls of men. " Faith comes by 
 hearing." The divine method of extending Christianity 
 through the world, is the preaching of the Gospel. We 
 need not here delay to speak of the consummate wisdom 
 and utility of this institution in its proper use. The 
 point of our remark is, that this office, in the exercise of 
 its most important and, indeed, essential functions, 
 affords a very dangerous temptation to ambitious minds. 
 For whatever may be said of eloquence at large, may by 
 eminence be applied to the eloquence of the pulpit. The 
 tenderness and majesty, the sacredness and solemnity of 
 the subjects blended in the religion of Christ, present an 
 unequalled theatre for the display of the most sublime 
 and touching eloquence. While, therefore, the man of 
 God will use the ministry of reconciliation for the salva- 
 tion of souls and the glory of the Saviour, men of corrupt 
 minds, covetous of human glory, may be expected (espe- 
 cially when the preaching of the Gospel is in so great 
 demand) to seek the sacred office from unhallowed am- 
 bition, or other motives equally detestable. While no- 
 
8 INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 thing more entirely strips the work of the ministry of all 
 its efficiency, nothing can be more offensive to a holy 
 God. The history and fate of Herod, like a beacon on 
 the brow of ruin, warns off unhallowed hands from this 
 delightful yet awful work. He, on a set day, made an 
 oration unto the people: and the people gave a shout, 
 saying, it is the voice of a God and not of a man. And 
 immediately the angel of the Lord smote him because 
 he gave not the glory to God. Then let me guard you, 
 in your first step towards the holy office, against this 
 master-temptation, and peculiar sin of ministers of the 
 Gospel. Seek to stain your glorj'', and humble your 
 pride ; to give the glory to the LfOrd ; to show forth his 
 praises, and not 5"our own ; and when you glory, glory 
 in the cross !* 
 
 * I once knew a young man of unusual talents for public speak- 
 ing, who entered the ministry under the following circumstances. 
 He had selected the bar as the most appropriate place for the dis- 
 play of his powers. But just then having witnessed the popular- 
 ity of a young clergyman, who was followed by great crowds on 
 account of his commanding eloquence, he resolved, in a few days, 
 ■without any change in his feelings or life, or any supposable reason 
 but the discovery that the pulpit opened a way to popular applause 
 and distinction, to become a. preacher. In due time, though with 
 some difficulty, he succeeded in entering the ministry. His course 
 was such as might have been looked for. As to praise, he had his 
 reward. He was for a season much admired. But his career was, 
 as to himself, disastrous ; as to others, ruinous, in proportion to 
 his influence over them. He sunk rapidly into merited contempt; 
 and finally lost even the crowded audience, and the public praises. 
 The day of judgment will disclose the rest J 
 
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 9 
 
 2. The next temptation against which I would guard 
 you arises from the present efforts to increase the number 
 of candidates for the Gospel ministry. 
 
 In former ages the demand for ministers of the Gospel 
 did not outrun the supply, as it does now. It is one of 
 the most affecting-, and at the same time, auspicious signs 
 of the times we live in, that the world is beginning to 
 feel its wants ; and the most important of all the enter- 
 prizes which distinguish the age, is that which proposes 
 to train a sufficient number of able and holy ministers to 
 supply these wants. But along with these new efforts 
 to augment the number of ministers, comes a train of 
 difficulties and temptations. In the urgent demand for 
 young men, it often happens that zealous, though indis- 
 creet friends induce the most unsuitable persons to turn 
 their attention to the sacred office. Youth of weak 
 minds, who, though perhaps really pious, are utterly 
 unfit for the office ; or men of talents and education, but 
 of shallow piety and of frothy, exciteable feelings; or men 
 destitute of prudence, good judgment, and common sense, 
 are thus often led on to a step full of disaster to the 
 cause of Christ, and of misery to themselves. 
 
 The promptness with which candidates for the minis- 
 try are met by our benevolent societies, and the facihties 
 which they afford for acquiring an education, augment 
 the danger. A transition from obscure stations and 
 painful pursuits to a course of study, and finally to the 
 sacred desk, will be to many so great and attractive a 
 change, as to involve in it a temptation peculiarly dan- 
 gerous. And then, when the course of preparation has 
 
10 INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 been begun, there is a tendency in the best system of 
 helps, to weaken the great principle of self-dependence, 
 self-effort, self-support, and self-formation, which truly 
 rests on God alone, and is so important an element in 
 the character of a Gospel-minister. 
 
 We speak of this as a tendency and a temptation, not 
 as a necessary evil inseparable from this noble feature of 
 modern benevolence. The system is altogether indis- 
 pensable, and we think it (though we would suggest it 
 with diffidence) as well guarded by our own Board as 
 the present light and circumstances of the Church allow.* 
 
 The course of study required to furnish a young man 
 for the ministry is long ; and the unaided attainment of 
 the sacred office by an indigent youth is a loss of time 
 to a perishing world. He could work his way through 
 an education in twenty years, but we would aid him to 
 do it in ten; if he could do it in ten years, we would aid 
 him to do it in five. We propose to help him to help 
 himself; to hasten his preparation without lowering his 
 principles, and thus accelerate the conversion of the 
 world, by putting able labourers into the field in half the 
 time that would otherwise be necessary. Yet without 
 care, the mind will learn to rest unduly on human aid ; 
 the eleemosynary spirit will be fostered, self-denial will 
 be discouraged and diminished; and while numbers may 
 increase, men will decay. 
 
 * And yet with much frankness we say, 
 
 "Si quid novisti rectius igtis 
 
 " Candidus imperii : si non, his utere mecum." 
 
INTRODUCTOKY ADDRESS. 1 1 
 
 While, therefore, we greatly desire and labour to aid 
 you in preparing for enlarged usefulness in your Master's 
 kingdom, we would affectionately guard you against the 
 dangers of the way. 
 
 We would, inthe next place, guard you against super- 
 ficial preparations for the work of the ministry. 
 
 There is so great a demand for "labourers in the har- 
 vest," in our day, that tlie first impulse of a youthful 
 mind is to throw aside its books, and rush from the place 
 of preparation and prayer, to the field where souls are won, 
 and where the Captain of our salvation is making con- 
 quest of a revolted world. But on reflection, it will ap- 
 pear, that the call for labourers includes, nay, presupposes 
 their fitness for the service ; else, they will not so much 
 help, as hinder the work of the Lord. There are said to 
 be fifty thousand men in Spain alone, who officially mi- 
 nister in the amazing machinery of the Papacy ! Yet, 
 gross darkness covers the people. In such a case, the 
 more, the worse ! 
 
 If the desire to be useful overrules the duty to prepare 
 for it, then, in the same degree is the spirit evil, vain, and 
 self-deceived. It seeks the end without the means ; it is 
 seeking itself, and not God's service. 
 
 And while the spirit is wrong, its effects are deeply to 
 be deplored. Its direct tendency is to make religious smat- 
 terers and empirics. But empiricism is immoral, espe- 
 cially in the great things of God, where, without due 
 knowledge, one ventures to meddle with such momen- 
 tous and eternal interests. It will probably be found, 
 that the greatest number of those who have rent the 
 
12 INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 Church of God by their heresies, and inflamed her by 
 their fanaticism, have been men, not only destitute of 
 piety, but defective in mental discipline. The tendency 
 of superficial acquirements, and imperfect discipline of 
 the mind, is to puff up, not to humble, instruct, and pu- 
 rify. 
 
 In Paul's very comprehensive description of a bishop's 
 character, (1 Timothy, iii. 6.) he emphatically forbids 
 that he should be " a novice^'''' one recently received, and 
 partially taught ; " lest being lifted up with pride, he 
 fall into the condemnation of the Devil.'''' 
 
 Deep, patient, and long-continued culture is of indis- 
 pensable use in forming the mind. One of the most un- 
 fortunate characteristics of modern education, is the dis- 
 position to save labour to the student. Labour-saving 
 mechanism may do for the economics of the State, but 
 instead of calling out, it cripples the resources of the 
 mind. 
 
 But we would also guard you against superficial spiri- 
 tual, as well as intellectual cultivation. As a great fact, 
 no man can be prepared, even in the lowest sense, to 
 preach the Gospel successfully to others, who has not 
 been deeply and patiently disciplined himself. To this 
 end he must have retirement and leisure, and daily sea- 
 sons for meditation and prayer, and the devout, as well as 
 critical reading of the word of God. He must try, and 
 search, and know himself; he must have experience in the 
 duties and trials, the joys and sorrows of religion ; he 
 must cultivate in due proportion, the passive and re- 
 tiring, in order to make efficient the active and social 
 
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 13 
 
 graces of the Spirit. He must pray much, before he can 
 work wisely, and well. He must cultivate patience, if 
 he would exercise zeal ; he must acquire prudence, if he 
 would attain to holy courage, and Christian enterprise. 
 In fine, he ought to be not merely a real and decided, 
 but an eminently practical and holy man. 
 
 Now this, besides the grace of God, which is always 
 presupposed requires not only good opportunities, but 
 much time ; and he who precipitates himself without due 
 training into the Ministry, will find, (or the world will 
 find for him) when it is too late to repair the evil, that 
 in his office, he is a driveller ; in usefulness, a child ; and 
 it will be well for him if, in that day which shall judge 
 the secrets of all hearts, he hear not the terrible rebuke 
 of an angry God: " What hadst thou to do to declare my 
 statutes, seeing thou hast hated instruction 1 Who hath 
 required this at thy hand ?" 
 
 Our next hint or caution refers to the temptations coji- 
 nected with the choice of a Jield of labour. 
 
 As you are only candidates for the Ministry, and most 
 of you, perhaps, several j^ears removed from the actual 
 labours of that great office, it may at first view seem 
 premature to address you now on this subject. When 
 you reflect, however, that your future choice, though dis- 
 tant, will be very much controlled by the views and feel- 
 ings formed during the preparatory course, an early sur- 
 vey of the whole field, and a timely weighing of the 
 principles on which a selection is to be made, will appear 
 to be of vital importance. Most young men decide upon 
 the field of labour long before they begin to preach. For 
 
14 INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 example, they decide commonly, whether or not they 
 will go abroad : whether, if at home, they will devote 
 themselves to the work of an evangelist, or that of a pas- 
 tor : and if to the latter, whether they will seek the self- 
 denying fields where the domestic missionary penetrates 
 the wilderness, and amidst mai:iy toils lays the founda- 
 tion of future Churches, or prefer building on another 
 man's foundation, made ready to their hand. 
 
 As their previous decision, so frequently forecloses a 
 choice at the time of assuming the office of a minister, 
 so it is most desirable to anticipate, and, if possible, right- 
 ly direct it now. It is highly proper also, that the rela- 
 tive claims of fields of labour should be early and dis- 
 tinctly before your minds, because there is, even at this 
 late day, a very distorted and sometimes criminal method 
 of comparing these claims. And the misguided affection 
 of friends often conspires with a young man's love of 
 honour or of ease, to seduce him from the way in which 
 he should go. Look, for illustration, to the present state 
 of the world. For every soul in our country, there are 
 now in heathen lands fitly souls : while those at home 
 have all heard the Gospel, or might have heard it — those 
 abroad have no possible access to it : and now the door 
 is open, or opening every where, even in China with her 
 300,000,000 of heathen, to the labours of the missionary, 
 and from every part of the world the cry meets upon our 
 country to send them help. And yet among the succes- 
 sive hundreds of young men who are from year to 
 year entering the Ministry, hov>r many are there who 
 devote themselves to the foreign service ? For one that 
 
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 15 
 
 goes abroad, fifty stay at home ; yet if for every one 
 that stays at home, fifty went abroad, the proportion 
 would not be in excess of the relative claims. After mak- 
 ing- every jusl allowance for the duty of sustaining and 
 extending religion at home, is it not evidently then a 
 glaring crime in the Church of God, and in her minis- 
 tering sons especially, thus calmly to sit down at home, 
 in despite of the last, the great command of Jesus Christ, 
 and in full view of 600,000,000 of men crying for suc- 
 cour, and perishing in sin ! Surely, there is amazing 
 guilt somewhere ! And where so certainly and so dread- 
 ful, as with the ministers of Christ ! You are on the 
 way to be ministers of Christ. The fault of your prede- 
 cessors, may, yes, beloved youth, will soon be yours, if 
 you pursue their course ; and it will be greater guilt, as 
 your light is greater. Beware, therefore, of every temp- 
 tation to slight the consideration and undervalue the 
 claims, of Foreign Missions.* These temptations are 
 numerous and strong. Tread them under your feet, 
 looking unto Jesus. Lift up your souls to the great- 
 ness of the subject. Bid the love of ease to die with- 
 in you. Bid holy pity rise and reign in your dedi- 
 cated hearts. Say to every allurement, " Get thee be- 
 hind me, Satan." Let the entire world be your field. 
 Be willing to go any where : be ready to do any work to 
 which your Master calls you. Open your heart to him, 
 and beseech him continually to baptize it in the Mission- 
 ary Spirit. Then great numbers will go abroad at his 
 
 * The articles on the claims of Foreign Missions, in the follow- 
 ing work, are of great value and peculiar fitness. 
 
16 INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 evident call. Then, whether you stay at home, or go 
 abroad, the world will still be your field, and its redemp- 
 tion your great absorbing end ! 
 
 The same train of remark may be pursued in refer- 
 ence to the relative claims of the domestic field, suppos- 
 ing it your duty to remain at home. Seek not distinction, 
 but the glory of God ; not honour, but good-doing ; not 
 ease, but duty, with the cross. As for the love of 
 money, that vile idolatry, let it never be named by you, 
 but to be hated and shunned. And let these principles 
 take early hold and deep root in your souls, so that they 
 shall become habitual, and reign in all your decisions, 
 and all your actions. 
 
 We pass to mention, Jifthly, the temptation to disesteem 
 the peculiar institutions and standards of your own 
 Church. 
 
 This would be a most unfit suggestion to be associated 
 with that on which we have just been dwelling, if the 
 intention were to hold up and recommend to you the 
 spirit of sectarism, as distinguished from that of (pro- 
 perly called) catholic love and peace ; or the spirit of 
 party as distinguished from the harmonious feeling and 
 action of our own Church. Far be it from me to do this. 
 We are Presbyterians, not in the spirit of exclusion, but 
 of conscientious preference. We venerate and sustain 
 our ecclesiastical standards, because they appear to us to 
 be true and right, and therefore, on us binding. None 
 but religious free-thinkers, or men who do not tliink at 
 all, reject wholly, all formularies and symbols of faitli. 
 It is, however, at present a great evil in our Church, that 
 
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 17 
 
 the standards of faith, by which we declare our opinions 
 of the true import of the word of God, have been permitted 
 to pass into so great desuetude in the instruction of youth. 
 This has arisen simultaneously with a spirit (character- 
 istic of the age) which, in its haste to improve all things, 
 indiscriminately rejects the good with the evil, proscribes 
 what is old, however perfect, and seeks to be free from 
 the salutary restraints of order and of law. The spirit 
 of a former age was to repress improvement, to repose 
 upon mere authority, and to perpetuate the faults and 
 errors of antiquity. The tendency now is, to licentious 
 innovation, and boundless change, as if radical revo- 
 lution were inseparable from reform, or as if the pro- 
 per remedy of one vice were the unbridled indulgence 
 of another and an opposite vice. Under this evil in- 
 fluence, all that constitutes the expression of our doc- 
 trines and polity as a Church, has been disesteemed, 
 and its goodly power impaired. We would point you to 
 this seducing evil, and warn you against it. You are yet 
 young. We know that your views are immature, though 
 we trust they are established, and have been adopted on 
 principle. We ask you to inquire, to think, to search, 
 and know. But how can you do this without a faithful 
 and patient examination of the standards of the Church? 
 Honest and prayerful inquiry, a Christian student's 
 familiarity with them, is what true honour and conscience 
 on your part, demand, and what, far from fearing, we 
 earnestly invite. If, after due inquiry, you are con- 
 firmed in your principles and regards, then be an honest 
 Presbyterian, v.'hich we believe to be the best form of a 
 B 2 
 
18 INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 Christian man and minister. If, however, your convic- 
 tions lead you to the rejection of our faith or our poHty, be 
 honest still ; with manly freedom make it known ; and 
 with Christian consistency, join yourselves with that peo- 
 ple whose principles you hold. Unless you shall reject the 
 cardinal doctrines of the Gospel, which unite all God's 
 people in one universal Church, we shall still love you, 
 and pray for you, and respect you more than if you had 
 chosen, for whatever reason, to sustain a relation which 
 Christian honesty forbade. 
 
 We next suggest a caution on the delicate but import- 
 ant subject of your intercourse with society at large, espe- 
 cially your intercourse with females. 
 
 Much intercourse with society at large, is utterly in- 
 consistent with the spirit and pursuits of a candidate for 
 the Christian ministry. The Christian minister himself 
 cannot bear it, either in his reputation or his heart, ex- 
 cept as it is connected with his official duties ; still less 
 is it safe or becoming for a student of theology. 
 
 But there is a degree of intercourse which is amiable, 
 necessary, and of mutual advantage to the student and 
 his friends. A rude and ill-behaved minister or candi- 
 date, departs as much from the spirit of the Gospel, as 
 he does from the decencies of a gentleman. He who 
 has commanded us to be holy in all manner of conversa- 
 tion and godliness, has also required that we be gentle 
 towards all men ; that we be kindly affectioned, be pitiful, 
 be courteous : in honour preferring, and in love serving 
 one another ; and ever wearing the ornament of a meek 
 and quiet spirit. Hence, every Christian ought to be not 
 in the spirit of Chesterfield, but of Paul, a gentleman. 
 
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 19 
 
 But while relig-ion is oflcn sorely wounded, and the 
 influence of young men greatly impaired by an unsocial 
 spirit, or a want of propriety and refinement of behaviour, 
 the evils resulting from social habits and familiar inter- 
 course, are so many and great, that we have been ready 
 to suppose that secluded spots, from which students could 
 only come forth for works of mercy, and return, were on 
 the whole, safest, and therefore best. These evils we 
 cannot here enumerate. There is one, however, of most 
 delicate nature, on which we feel it very important to 
 comment. It results from intercourse with young fe- 
 males. No reference is, of course, had to gay and giddy 
 females, who can have no charms for a godly young mar?, 
 and the effect of whose intercourse would be, to excite 
 regret and pity alone. Nor do we at all embrace in our re- 
 marks that indiscreet dalliance, sometimes indulged in 
 fashionable life, which originates in youthful imprudence, 
 and continually exposes to the formation of unhappy al- 
 liances for life. These are far beneath the range of a 
 good man's habits, and he who is caught in such a snare 
 is out of place even as a layman. We mean the dangers 
 resulting from the intimacy of candidates for the ministry 
 with worthy and serious young females, and tending to 
 the production of unsuitable attachments, and precipitate 
 engagements. You have this advantage, (or rather shall 
 we not call it in your situation, evil,) that your character 
 precludes all suspicion of your motives; and to religious 
 intercourse, a less sacred and more personal train of 
 emotions, may readily succeed. Hence we find, that 
 
20 INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 what began in Christian kindness, with no design of mu- 
 tual impression, or committal, ends apace in permanent 
 and often most injurious entanglements. Now consider 
 for a moment your circumstances. You are young, you 
 are indigent, you have, perhaps, several years of study 
 before you, your character is unformed, you are ignorant 
 of the world ; you know not where you are to live, nor 
 how you are to be occupied ; you know not whether it 
 will be proper or possible for you to marry, or if it be 
 both, what style of woman will suit your taste, and your 
 habits, your defects, your field of labour, or your possi- 
 ble condition in future years. Your present affections 
 may entirely change, and the consummation of your pre- 
 sent fond hopes may, in your own best judgment, a few 
 years hence, be the greatest calamity of life. It may be 
 your duty to become a foreign missionary ; a rash step 
 now may render it impossible for you to do so ! The 
 destiny of a distant generation or of a whole people, may, 
 in some measure, be suspended upon your wisdom and 
 prudence now, in this respect ; and there may be no end 
 to the evil consequences of a single rash step. We have 
 known one most affecting illustration of this, some of 
 whose disastrous results are now passing before the eye 
 of the Church. Again, the woman who will regard with 
 favour your present advances, will hardly be your equal 
 at the completion of your course of study, or be adapted 
 to fill tlie station for which you may be preparing. We 
 allude, in this remark, to the qualifications, and acquire- 
 ments, which are known to be so important to a preach- 
 er's wife, and not to personal merit. And on her part too, 
 
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 21 
 
 a reciprocal change of feeling may occur, or a corres- 
 ponding disappointment in the formation of your future 
 character. If, however, from any, or all these causes, on 
 either her part or yours, a consummation of your en- 
 gagement should prove undesirable, and yet be required 
 by honour and good faith, how wretched will be your con- 
 dition. God regards such a contract as a virtual mar- 
 riage. See how Joseph viewed it in the case of Mary, 
 (Mark i. 18 — 19). The minister who trifles with such 
 sacred obligations, deserves to be deposed: the candi- 
 date, to be disgraced, and given up. And yet how mise- 
 rable will it be to sacrifice your peace and usefulness in 
 redeeming a pledge, over v.'hich riper years and estab- 
 lished affections must mourn for life. The alternative 
 is dishonour or misery. Then be warned to shun the 
 necessity of such a dilemma, by a holy watchfulness and 
 discretion now. 
 
 Tke last temptation {omitting others) against ichich we 
 would guard you, is the tendency of studious habits to de- 
 stroy health. 
 
 We do not mean that this tendency is necessary, for if 
 so, it would be useless to warn you. But it is so com- 
 mon and so injurious a fault, that it deserves in this place 
 a special notice. 
 
 Your body, as much as your soul, is the property and 
 the servant of God. You have no more riglit to destroy 
 the one than the other ; and God will not hold him guilt- 
 less, who, by neglect or injurious use, shall contribute to 
 that end, even in a remote result. It is true, you may 
 thus injure your health, and yet save your soul. But 
 though the salvation of your own soul be not suspended 
 
22 INTRODUCTORY ADDRES3. 
 
 on the proper preservation of your natural liie, that of 
 others, perhaps, in great numbers may be. No man of 
 impaired health can be so useful in the Ministry, as he 
 would be if he were in the possession of a sound and 
 vigorous constitution. His mind is weakened ; his piety 
 is impaired, and his labours are not only lessened in 
 amount, but in excellence also. Sometimes, indeed, we 
 see a Baxter or an Owen, rising by the grace of God su- 
 perior to every infirmity, and through agonies of pain 
 accomplishing the most extraordinary labours. But it 
 was in spite of frailty, and not in consequence of it; and 
 while they did more, with all their infirmities, than most 
 men have done without them, yet, comparing them with 
 themselves, what might they not have accomplished, if 
 their gigantic minds and noble piety had been sustained 
 and prolonged below, by a corresponding frame-work of 
 the natural man ? 
 
 We said that bad health was not a necessary attend- 
 ant on a life of study. On the contrary, there is no 
 doubt that temperate and judicious habits of study are 
 conducive to health. But most young men, especially 
 those who have not been inured to confinement and se- 
 vere thought in early life, are continually in danger of a 
 sort of suicide. Without having space to prescribe rules 
 for the preservation of your health, we Vv^ish to impress 
 it on your minds and hearts, that it is a great sin to jeo- 
 pard or lessen your future usefulness, by inattention to 
 diet, exercise, and whatever is necessary to a Christian 
 care of it.* 
 
 • We had intended to embrace in the present volume, an article 
 especially devoted to this subject, but are reluctantly compelled to 
 
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 23 
 
 The neglect of tins great duty, always criminal, has 
 become peculiarly so of late, from the frequency and 
 force with which it has been exposed, from the light 
 which has been struck out on the subject, and the cor- 
 responding helps furnished for the preservation of health. 
 
 This subject especially recommends itself to the re- 
 gards and consciences of generous and independent 
 youth, who are nobly struggling on in the strength of 
 their divine Lord, and by the kind care of the Christian 
 Church, into the work of the ministry. For there is this 
 happy feature in the modern system of manual labour, 
 connected with education, that while the daily exercise 
 preserves the health of the student, it contributes also to 
 the means of his support, and creates a new capital for 
 the service of God. In the infancy of this system, de- 
 fects are to be expected. But it has triumphantly illus- 
 trated its practicability and unbounded importance, and 
 is destined, we cannot doubt, to do more for the world, 
 especially for our own countrj', and above all for the mi- 
 nistry, than we could now express, without becom inn- 
 liable to the charge of extravagance. 
 
 Wc only add, that the labours of tJie present and the 
 coming age, call for men. This is the way to form them. 
 It is time that the halls of science were divorced from 
 the premature old age, and manifold imbecilities which 
 
 defer it until the appearance of the next. With some small quali- 
 fications, not affecting the merits of the work, we earnestly re- 
 commend to your attentive persual and practical adoption, tlie very 
 timely and excellent work of Professor Hitchcock, entitled " Uijs^ 
 pepsij Forestalled,-^ Sec. 
 
24 INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 have so long and so needlessly infested them. It is tune 
 that men of nerve and hardihood, with bodies fit to hear 
 about the souls of missionaries and martyrs, should be 
 poured forth from all the institutions of our country, to 
 help in the conversion of a ruined world. 
 
 Such, then, are a few of the leading temptations to 
 wiiich you will be exposed in your course of preparation 
 for the Gospel Ministry. May the God of heaven guard 
 you against their seducing power, and give you a con- 
 tinued triumph over them 1 
 
 We had intended to state at some length, in the second 
 place. The incentives and sup2)orts proper to your circum- 
 stances and pursuits. But space is wanting ; and we 
 must delay the presenting of these considerations for a 
 future volume. 
 
 In closing this address we only add, that the freedom 
 and directness of the above remarks are justified on the 
 grounds that they are true; that the warnings which 
 they convey, are highly important ; and that having no 
 secreta jnonita to give, we deal with you in the candor 
 and love of honest and deeply attached friends, address- 
 ing ingenuous youth, Vv-ho have nothing to conceal, but 
 what they have also at the same time to abandon. There- 
 fore, seeing that both you and we must give account unto 
 God, we use great plainness of speech. 
 
 Most truly, your Brpther and Friend, 
 
 JOHN BRECKINRIDGE, Corr. Sec. 
 
 Philadelphia, Office of Board of Education, ^ 
 November 1st, 1832. S 
 
* -< ^,