close at hand, when the very name of prophet will be a byword, and the
father and mother of anyone who pretends to prophesy will thrust him
through, to deliver themselves from the reproach of having any
connection with him.[42]

The influence of such a travesty of the sacred office as these
passages describe must have been deplorable; and without doubt it was
one of the principal causes of the overthrow of the Jewish State.
Jeremiah says expressly, that from the prophets profaneness had gone
out over the whole land. They who, from their position and profession,
ought to have been an example to their fellow-countrymen were the very
reverse. They were the companions of the profane and licentious in
their revels, and they joined with scorners in scoffing at those who
led a strict and holy life. So God charges them by the lips of
Ezekiel: "Ye have made the hearts of the righteous sad, whom I have
not made sad, and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he
should not return from his wicked way."

This is a terrible picture. Yet there have been epochs in the history
of the Christian, and even of the Protestant Church, when its features
have been reproduced with too faithful literality. Let us be thankful
that we live in a happier time; but let us also remember the maxim,
"Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." If a
Church lose the Spirit of God, there is no depth of corruption to
which it may not rapidly descend; and a degraded Church is the most
potent factor of national decay.

* * * * *

Allow me, gentlemen, to say, in closing, that I believe the question,
what is to be the type and the tone of the ministry in any generation,
is decided in the theological seminaries. What the students are there,
the ministers of the country will be by-and-by. And, while the
discipline of the authorities and the exhortations and example of
professors may do something, the tone of the college is determined by
the students themselves. The state of feeling in a theological
seminary ought to be such, that any man living a life inconsistent
with his future profession should feel thoroughly uncomfortable, and
have the conviction driven in upon his conscience every day, that the
ministry is no place for him.

FOOTNOTES:

[38] As this subject is somewhat novel, the following collection of
texts may be acceptable; but it is not given as exhaustive:--

Isa. ii. 6; xxviii. 7; xxx. 10, 1