| The Life of Dr. J.R. Miller |
Chapter 10 |
Page 7 |
A student for the ministry, about to be graduated from college, received this stimulating counsel:
“May God’s blessing richly abide upon you in the future plans for the completion of your course. The seminary curriculum will be different altogether from that of the college. You are in a measure free from the trammels and drudgeries which have been thus far an essential part of your course. The work before you now is two-fold – first to get the keys of the treasure house of knowledge, which will make available to you the rich stores which are laid up for your use; and, second, to learn to preach. A man must have something to say, otherwise rhetoric and elocution and all other such qualifications for expression will be of little avail. The day has gone by when sounding brass and tinkling cymbal will make a man a permanent reputation in the pulpit, or enable him to be of much use in the world. There was a time when high sounding rhetoric and graceful oratory took the place largely with many people of real thought. But now a man must know something, must be a thinker, otherwise he will find his rhetoric and elocution of but very small importance. It is impossible for you in the three years before you to learn everything that you will need to use in your ministry. But you can get the keys to the storehouse. That is, you can learn where things are to be found, and you can learn how to think. Reading alone does not prepare a man for being a great teacher. He must not only read, but also digest and assimilate.
“The other part of your course will be to learn to express what you do know in such a way that it will leave its mark in the hearts and lives of those who hear you. Nothing will be of more use to you than incessant writing. No matter how stiffly and laboriously a man may write at first, if only he persists in practice, writing every day, rewriting and striving to improve in his style, he will by and by be able to express his thoughts fluently and in such a way that others will be interested in the expression. Elocution is important, but I insist still that the men who move the world and make the deepest impression upon lives are those who have learned to write in simple Saxon words of beauty and strength, the great thoughts that burn in their hearts.”
Page 7
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