a full plan of it, on which another student prepares a written critique. Both the plan and the critique are then examined and discussed by the teacher and class, after which, and in view of all the remarks elicited, the discourse is written. After the sermon is delivered, two students prepare each a written critique upon the sermon, its form, contents, mode of delivery, adaptation to its object, etc. which together with the sermon are again subjected to the critical revision of the teacher and class. Other homiletic exercises, such as declamation, extemporaneous debates, etc. are held in the lecture room.

5. Catechetical Exercises. On Wednesdays and Fridays of each week a certain number of school children of the city, and of candidates for confirmation assemble in the lecture room to receive catechetical and religious instruction from the students in presence of the professors. After the children have withdrawn, the professors criticise the mode of instruction and suggest improvements.

6. Pedagogic Exercises. In connection with the seminary there is a free school under the care of a head master (who is professor of pedagogics in the seminary) and two assistants. In this school the more advanced students daily take part in practical teaching under the superintendence and direction of the head master and in presence of their fellow students.

III. Conferences.

These conferences are generally commenced by a written dissertation from one of the students on the topic to be discussed. They are divided into larger and smaller; the former comprising the whole number of twenty-five students, but in the latter, for the purpose of allowing more full opportunity for free conversation, they meet in small bands of five each. In the larger conferences the more general subjects respecting the care of souls, the inspection of schools, the management of congregations, the conducting of devotional exercises, etc. are discussed. In the smaller conferences, one object of which is to bring the students into more familiar and confidential intercourse with their teachers, the more minute points of pastoral duty are brought under review, such as the visitation of families, the performance of marriage ceremonies and burials, the making out of church papers, keeping of church records, the registers of baptisms, deaths, etc.

IV. Devotional Exercises.

Four times in the week the students have a short morning meeting for prayer, singing, and the devotional reading of the Bible; and twice a week a similar meeting in the evening, making one for each day in the week except Sunday. On Sundays, in addition to the reading of the Scripture, singing and prayer, they have a brief religious exhortation adapted to their circumstances, previous to engaging in the usual exercises of public worship. The anniversary days of Luther's birth and death are also spent in religious exercises, and twice in each term the students celebrate together the sacrament of the Lord's supper in the church where Luther and Melancthon are buried.

My visit to this institution I shall always regard among the happiest periods of my life. The ample plan of instruction which I have briefly sketched above, is carried into full and vigorous execution. In Heubner we see extensive learning united with deep piety, and sound judgment, with great liveliness of fancy and childlike simplicity of character. A lecture which I heard him give to the catechumens of his congregation strongly reminded me of the conversation, and Bible class instructions of the late Dr. Payson of Portland. There was the same glowing richness of illustration, the same fervor of religious feeling, and the same direct, penetrating, affectionate mode of address. His worth is known and appreciated by the evangelical Christians in Prussia. While I was in Berlin, the Baron von Kortnitz read to me a part of a letter that he had just received from professor Tholuck, in which that distinguished reformer speaks of Heubner in the most affectionate terms as his spiritual father and guide. The pious students at Wittemberg, with such a man as Dr. Heubner for their guide, and with the hallowed recollections of Luther and Melancthon continually before them, cannot fail to imbibe something of the spirit of the reformation, in whose very cradle they are nurtured. Heubner studied at Vienna and was a pupil of Jahn, who is so well known in this country by his writings on biblical literature. He spoke of his old teacher with warm affection, and observed that though he was a catholic by profession, it was his belief that he had an evangelical heart.

In order further to illustrate the spirit in which theological education is at present conducted in Prussia, I will here notice a few of the laws of the seminaries at Halle and Griefswalde.

These laws are all issued by the king and signed by von Altenstein, the minister of public instruction.

THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT HALLE.

After a sermon has been written and fairly copied, the student is allowed eight days to commit it perfectly to memory, and he is to make no use whatever of his manuscript in the pulpit. Before preaching he is to exercise himself in speaking in the pulpit, in the presence of the professor and of those students with whom he is most familiar; and this exercise is to be repeated as often as may be judged necessary. When the sermon is delivered, one or two students are to furnish a written criticism on it, which together with the sermon is amply discussed by the teacher and class.

In all criticisms it is required that the severity of truth be mingled with the mildness of love, and they are to be expressed with clearness, definiteness and brevity. No criticism is to be of a merely negative kind, but whenever a fault is noticed the way to remedy it must be pointed out.

The student whose performance is criticised is allowed briefly and modestly to defend himself if he think proper, but the teacher is to take care that the discussion do not run into a profitless dispute.

Of the principal meetings of the class a journal is to be kept, in which the remarks and criticisms of the student and teacher are to be recorded as accurately as possible, and copied into a book for the benefit of the institution.

At the close of each half year, the president makes out a written statement of the labors and exercises of the seminary, particularly in preaching, together with a judgment upon each sermon that has been delivered in reference to its subject, arrangement, argument, language and delivery, etc. which together with the class journal, is to be transmitted to the minister of public instruction.

THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT Griefswalde.

Eight days before a sermon is preached, the student hands in to the teacher a copy of it fully written and also a copy of the plan on which it is constructed. The copy must be fairly written with a wide margin, and contain the name of the author

and the day on which it is given in. This copy the teacher uses in the preparation of his criticism, and it is then laid up among the papers of the seminary.

The student whose turn it is to prepare a written criticism, (the critics in the class following the reverse order of the preacher), receives a similar copy of the sermon at the same time, and the other members of the class a copy of the plan written as fully as possible.

Every member of the class is required to prepare carefully for the criticism, the principal points of which, he may put down in writing and deliver to his teacher. Every student must be present when the sermon is delivered; or if he is necessarily absent, he must give the professor a written excuse, who transmits the same with his annual report to the minister of public instruction.

In criticising a sermon, the following points among others are carefully to be taken up.

1. In reference to the matter. Does it come properly within the sphere of pulpit instruction? Has it a practical tendency? Does it offer itself naturally or is it far fetched?

What are the subjective or objective grounds of the choice of the subject? Are they to be found in the peculiar inclinations, views, talents, knowledge or circumstances of the preacher, or in the endeavor to meet the moral and religious wants of the particular time and place? or is it mere random choice, or spiritless imitation.

2. In regard to the text.

Was the text chosen before the subject and does the latter naturally flow from the former, or the reverse?

Is the text selected proper to the subject of the sermon, or can a more appropriate one be found? Here notice the too common deficiency in scriptural knowledge, and excite a desire in the students to become familiar with the endless riches of the Bible, in texts appropriate to all religious subjects. Also direct to the proper use of the authorized translation and the judicious correction of its mistakes. Also the relations of the text to the principal forms of pulpit rhetoric, the analytic, the synthetic, etc. 3. In reference to the divisions, in general.

Do the main divisions of the discourse show an acquaintance with the laws, not only of logical, but also of oratorical arrangement? Does the plan of the discourse give a clear general view VOL. IX. No. 26.

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of the subject? Are the points of transition and rest definite and conspicuous? Is the progress of thought between the speaker and hearer clear and prominent? Is the plan of the discourse strictly adhered to? Has it oratorical completeness in the indication of its principal topics? Does the systematic logical treatment of the subject of the discourse produce any evidently disadvantageous influence on the oratorical division and arrangement?

In particular-Is the sermon such that it can be appropriately introduced by a prayer, which shall correspond to the contents of the sermon? Does the exordium stand in strict connexion with the theme? Does it anticipate the handling of the subject? Does it merely excite and prepare the way, or actually develope the subject itself? Is the necessity or propriety of the exordium obvious? or has the preacher, without due reflection upon the nature of his composition, merely poured out the overflowing of his mind? Is the main proposition expressed with clearness, definiteness, and brevity? Is the connexion between the several heads and the main proposition such as it should be? Can a reason be given why the chosen form and order of the parts of the discourse should be regarded as the most appropriate? Are the several parts really distinct in their nature, or only in their language? Can their number be properly increased or diminished? Do they stand in strict connexion with the text? Is there a proper peroration? Or does the discourse end with the last division of the last head? Is the discourse actually brought to a conclusion, or only ended and broken off?

4. In respect to the composition.

Is it the result of a well ordered, fundamental, and lively meditation upon the subject chosen? Are the ideas correct? Is the expression of them definite? Is their connexion right? Has a proper sequence of thought been observed, and does it develope itself easily and naturally? Do the several sentences fall within the proper sphere indicated by the heads and subdivisions? Does the amplification of one part pass over into another? Are there no digressions? Generally, does the whole composition show a scientific acquaintance with its proper object? Are the thoughts clearly unfolded? Are the arguments firmly established? Is there a successful oratorical use made of knowledge? Especially it is to be observed, whether the whole composition has the character of a christian sermon; whether a