Free Church Presbyterianism, by Rev. James Begg, D.D.
Closing Address: SPECIAL DUTIES AND DANGERS OF THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.
Part 4: (Duties)
THE SUPERINTENDANCE OF STUDENTS.
SOMETHING
much more systematic seems still necessary also in the way of watching
over theological students during their course of study. Our courses of
instruction are able and excellent, but some kind of personal
supervision is still required, and students ought not to be left so
entirely to themselves during those hours which are not absolutely
spent in the class-room. Something of the nature of residence might, in
our opinion, be engrafted with great success upon our present System.
Our retired ministers and others might be well employed in this
important service. The student, far from his father's house, might,
even at a cheaper rate than at present, have all the advantages of a
Christian home; his true spirit and capabilities might be ascertained,
his piety cherished, and his studies directed; his personal manners
might be cultivated, and careless habits, which impair his after
usefulness, might be avoided.5 Our students have not now so much the
advantages which they formerly had of living as tutors in families, and
thus being forced into contact with higher civilised life; but by the
course suggested this want might be more than supplied.
[Footnote 5: Dr Begg here referred in a few separate
sentences to the offensive habit of smoking, so often acquired at
present by students in their lodgings, and which they and others find a
great evil in after life. Wesley entirely prohibited this. To students
it is peculiarly mischievous, as they are apt, in the quiet of their
studies, to smoke to excess, and thus destroy their nervous systems,
and even, to some extent, incapacitate themselves for public duty. We
heard lately [this was published in 1865] of a Free Church vestry where the minister and
office-bearers had a round of smoking before the service commenced.]
It is well
known that this system of residence formerly prevailed, and still
prevails, amongst the Dissenters in England With great advantage. Jay
of Bath, in his Life of Cornelius Winter, tells us how that remarkable
man, with whom he was sent to live, thus superintended his habits and
studies. Mr. Winter took particular pains in instructing the young men
in the art of preaching, going out with them to the villages, hearing
them preach, and afterwards privately giving them hints and
suggestions. Mr. Jay, who, from the
humblest ranks turned out one of the greatest preachers in England, was
deeply impressed With the importance of good preaching, as really the
great end of all theological study. Addressing the students at Bristol
long afterwards, he dwelt upon the importance of this, and told a story
to illustrate his meaning. He had come along from Bath to Bristol on
the outside of the coach. A youth, sitting near the coachman, had been
constantly teasing Jehu with questions, "Who's house is that?" "Where
does that road lead to?" and so forth, to which the gruff coachman only
answered, "Don't know, Sir." At length the youth, getting nettled,
impertinently said, "Do you know anything, Sir?" "Yes," said the
coachman quickly, "I know how to drive the coach." [Laughter.] The
application to the students was, that whatever were their other
requirements, the power of preaching and performing their other
ministerial duties ought to occupy the most prominent place in their
anxieties. [Applause.]
What Dr. Thomson, in the case of Little Dunkeld,
said about the Gaelic, is equally applicable here. He threw all the
other qualifications of Mr. Nelson aside, because the presentee could
not intelligibly address the people. "Little Dunkeld,'' said he, "is
the mouth of the Highlands, and ought certainly to have a Gaelic tongue
in it. [Laughter and applause.] Mr Nelson may have any number of
qualifications; he may be as great as his great namesake the thunder of
whose achievements sounded from the Baltic to the Nile; but he has no
Gaelic." [Continued laughter.] So the people will always reason, if a
man, however great a scholar and divine, cannot preach with acceptance,
and discharge creditably the other duties of the ministerial
office.