In 1944 while America was fighting in World War II, some young men enlisted at Westminster Theological Seminary instead of enlisting for military service. This is the opening address in which Professor John Murray welcomed them on June 30, 1944. Murray’s words—especially the ones I bolded below—are a motivational perspective for students who are currently enrolled in seminary (HT: Chris Brauns).
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John Murray. “Greeting to Entering Students, 1944.” Pages 104–6 in Collected Writings of John Murray, Volume 1: The Claims of Truth. Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1976.
[page 104] In the name of the Faculty of Westminster Theological Seminary it is my duty and privilege now to welcome to the fellowship and work of the Seminary the members of the incoming class. On behalf of the Faculty I therefore extend to you cordial congratulation and welcome.
The purpose of Westminster Seminary is to form men for the gospel ministry. ‘It is to provide an adequate supply and succession of able and faithful ministers of the New Testament; workmen that need not to be ashamed, being qualified rightly to divide the word of truth.’ This Seminary indeed offers its facilities to those properly qualified to make use of them who desire theological training even though they may not have declared their intention to become ministers of the gospel. A theological training is a great asset in other departments of life and this Seminary is glad to open its doors to men who earnestly desire a theological equipment even though they have no intention to become official ministers of the Word. Nevertheless the Seminary’s purpose is to form men for the gospel ministry.
I take it that all of you who are entering this Seminary today are enrolling for the purpose of preparing for the gospel ministry. Unless you are exempt from the draft regulations on some other ground, and I am not aware that any of you are, the reason why in the circumstances you are able to be here is that you are bona fide aspirants for the gospel ministry.
It may have appeared to you that theological study in the quiet of [page 105] these halls and of this campus is remote from the most practical contribution which you could render in the exigencies of this present time. Unless for some physical reason you are ineligible for military service I hope you have felt something of the urge to enlist in the services of your country in the present emergency. Indeed I hope you have felt that urge in a very potent way. I hope you have found it very difficult to take advantage of the opportunities and privileges that are now being given you when so many of your fellow-countrymen have to face the hardship and peril of the field of battle, and face these perils and endure so many hardships for the protection of the many privileges that are now yours. If perchance you have not weighed these considerations, then I hardly think your decision to follow the course upon which you have embarked is worthy of your privilege and of the task that lies ahead of you.
What I mean is simply this, that I hope it has been hard for you to come here, and hard for the very reason that it offers you an immunity from the hard, bitter and painful ordeal through which many of your fellow-countrymen of your age are being called upon to experience at the present time.
Why then do we welcome you to Westminster? On the assumption that yours has been a painful decision. Why do we congratulate you? We do so for this reason. You have come here, we trust, because of divine compulsion. You believe that you have been called by God to prepare yourselves for the gospel ministry. You are under the compulsion of a divine call to the greatest vocation upon earth. Under that compulsion you are here to serve the King of kings and Lord of lords. In a very peculiar and pre-eminent sense you are here as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, and as such you are performing the highest service to God, and to Caesar. You are performing, even to your country, to the United Nations, yes, to the world, the highest ministry that can be rendered. For you are preparing yourselves in pursuance of a divine call for the ministry of that Word without which the whole world perishes in sin, in misery and death. You are training for the most militant service in that kingdom that is an everlasting kingdom and in that dominion which shall not be destroyed. Militant service, indeed, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, [page 106] against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in high places.
All of this lays upon you an exacting obligation. You are being spared many of the bitter hardships through which so many of your contemporaries are called upon to pass. But you are embarking upon a course that entails hardships of which the most of your contemporaries have not even dreamed. The discipline of the theological curriculum is arduous and oftentimes painful. Sometimes you may be tempted to think that the routine of class-work and the time-consuming energy expended on details are not relevant to or promotive of the great vocation to which you are called. Sometimes a feeling of bewilderment and confusion may overtake you, especially in the early stages of your course of study. You may not be able to see unity or correlation or purpose in the various parts of your work. Sometimes the gigantic nature of the field of study and of the task that lies ahead of you will give you an overwhelming sense of your inadequacy and it may appear hopeless for you to continue on that long journey of sweat and travail and perhaps tears that leads to the goal of intelligent and effective ministry.
If you are ever caught in the grip of these temptations I would urge you to patience and perseverance. Do the little bit of work that falls to your hand day by day. Do it faithfully and diligently. In this sphere of human endeavour and divine vocation we are pedestrians. We cannot fly to the mountain tops. We must climb by the steep and thorny path. We may try to fly. But our attempt will end in disaster. There are no runways or landing strips on these majestic peaks. Even if we do survive a crash landing, we shall soon have to come down and we shall come down with the ignominy of folly on our brow.
The faculty of Westminster Seminary invites you to a fellowship of labour but but also reminds you of the divine promise, ‘My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.’ ‘Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.’ ‘Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ.’
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