The Pastor: His Qualifications and DutiesHarvey, H. (Hezekiah)
Religion
The Pastor: His Qualifications and Duties
Harvey, H. (Hezekiah)
Pastoral theology
His spirit of holiness, or Divine nature, He was clearly shown to be
the Son of God by the fact of His resurrection. Now, the man who will
patiently, steadily work out such an analysis of God's Word as he
studies it will penetrate the heart of it, and its richness will
astonish him. The great thoughts of God will be laid open to his view
as they never can be to the careless, superficial reader; and if, with
such biblical work in the study, the pastor devotes a part of the
Lord's Day either to expository preaching or to a lecture in his Bible
school, this direct connection of the work of the study with that of
the pulpit will add interest and force to both.
2. _In the study of the Christian doctrines it is, first of all,
important to have a system._ This plan of work should be so arranged
that in a course of years, taking one subject at a time, the pastor may
make a thorough investigation of all the leading topics. As the basis
take such a work as Hodge's _Outline of Theology,_ or any good
compendium of theology, and, following the order of subjects, work in
each until its main points have been mastered. For illustration,
suppose the subject is the doctrine of inspiration. First work out
carefully the questions in your chosen text-book, and read some of the
best authors on the subject, as Lee, Woods, Gaussen, and Hodge. All the
points involved will thus be brought distinctly before the mind. Then
collect the leading passages of Scripture bearing on it and examine
each critically and patiently and note down your own impressions.
Follow this by writing a full and careful statement of your own view as
the result of the investigation. Or suppose the subject to be that
great central doctrine of the Gospel, the atonement. After working out
the questions as presented in your text-book and reading the best
authors accessible to you, so as to become master of the vital points,
then examine the priesthood and sacrifices of the Old Testament, the
predictions of the atonement in prophecy, and the passages bearing on
this doctrine in the New Testament. Having thus before you the elements
of a decision, write out fully your own view. Such a process of
theological investigation, steadily pressed year after year, and
connected as it would be with the reading of the great masters in
theology, could not fail to make the pastor a clear, strong religious
thinker and his pulpit a power in leading religious thought. Let me
also urge the study of the history of doctrines in connection with such
a course of theological investigation. Take such a work as Hagenbach's
or Shedd's _History of Doctrines,_ in which the course of theological
thinking on each of the great truths of the Bible is traced through the
ages, and the varying phases of the doctrine through successive
periods, and the forms in which it has been held by the world's
profoundest thinkers are presented. Such a study is wonderfully
stimulating to thought and affords a broader basis for the formation of
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