# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_April 1860_S97
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Lehre und Wehre.
Volume VI.    April 1860.    No. 4.

(Translated for "Lehre und Wehre" from the Latin by G. Schick.)

On the Zeal of Preachers.
(From Hartmann's Pastorale Evangelicum, Nuremberg, 1697.)

The excellent Dr. Veiel* earnestly admonishes in his Evangelical Postil: "Whatever preacher, especially a young one who has not yet fully formed himself, does not set himself, every day, so far as his other official duties allow, always to be reading, searching, seeking, finding, and noting something down; but instead thinks that others have, for his benefit, had books enough printed, so that without any effort he too can deliver doctor-like sermons word for word — that man is an idler and a servant who buries his talent. But above all, this should be the work of teachers and preachers, that through teaching and living they sink faith, love, hope, patience, gentleness and humility, self-denial, true godliness, and the fruits of all virtues into the vineyard of their beloved hearers; for this labor — even though on this earth it commonly brings only poverty and poor sustenance upon them, their wives, and their children — nevertheless in the end brings great reward." —

Therefore every teacher in church and school is also obliged to give attention to private study, and Paul continually calls to him: Continue in reading! 1 Tim. 4:13; 2 Tim. 4:1. Paul himself, though advanced in age, had books and parchments brought to him, and did not wish to let bookworms and moths take hold of them. Peter diligently read the letters of Paul; Daniel had searched the prophecies of Jeremiah (chap. 9:2). David occupied himself day and night with the Law (Psalm 119). If, then, the God-inspired (θεόπνευστοι) men, upon whom the Holy Spirit poured out the richest streams of his gifts, nevertheless made diligent use of books, how much more should we lesser folk, who by God's will are to strike out with constant labor the sparks of truth which he has made accessible to us, be ashamed if we indulge in the rest of laziness and are unwilling to apply ourselves to reading with all our strength. —

* Veiel was a preacher and rector of the Gymnasium at Ulm, and died in 1706.