him! He was willing to have died in this pulpit. He envied the lot of a pastor whose history he had read, and whom his Lord had suddenly taken to himself whilst his voice was instructing his people. He desired, like him, to die at his post, beseeching you for the last time to surrender your hearts to the Lord. But the Lord had otherwise ordained; he fell asleep in peace, smiling at death, or rather at his Saviour, who had come to take him in his arms, and softly to unloose, as he used to say, the bonds which united his body to his soul.

"And now he dwells in peace with Jesus; inviting us by his death, as he

did so long by his life, to the eternal blessedness which he enjoys in heaven. May we follow, although afar off, the example which he has given us! May we live, as did he, the life of the just, that our end at last may be like theirs! Amen."

M. Falle, at the conclusion of this discourse, offered up a prayer very earnest and full of unction; and terminated the service by invoking upon the assembly the blessing of the Lord.

Montauban, Jan. 11, 1839. [Translated by W. P. A., Homerton College.]

ACADEMICAL STUDIES

[WE give the following extracts from Dr. Harris's Introductory Lecture, at Cheshunt College, on occasion of entering on the duties of his office, as Theological Tutor in that Seminary. We have been induced to do this mainly by the circumstance, that our highly accomplished friend has declined publishing his excellent address.

The last part of the Lecture, which relates to the proper management of collegiate courses, we have omitted for the want of space. EDITOR.]

"The first part, or Scientific theology, comprises the threefold division of theology-Exegetical, Systematic, and Historical. As it relates to the claims and the grammatical and analytical interpretation of the text of Scripture, it is exegetical; as it takes the results of this interpretation, and combines them into one organic whole, it is systematic; and as it traces the effects and changes of this system from age to age, it is historical.

"1. Revealed theology comes to us in a volume, consisting of a number of ancient books. Our first concern, then, is carefully to ascertain the claims, and critically to examine the meaning of every part and particle of its contents; and this, we say, is exegetical theology.

"Here the object is fourfold. If the future teacher of religion is to be placed in such a situation as shall enable him to derive his theology direct from the Scriptures, he should be thoroughly satis

FOR THE MINISTRY.

fied, first, respecting their genuineness, their authenticity, and their inspired origin: the process by which this point is attained is denominated biblical criticism. But the sacred originals are in Hebrew and Greek; and hence, secondly, the necessity of biblical philology, that is, a knowledge of Hellenistic, in addition to classical Greek; and of Hebrew, with its cognate dialects, Samaritan, Chaldee, and Syriac. But it is possible to be able to read and analyse an author, with strict grammatical accuracy, without being able to elicit his meaning; or to infer a number of different meanings, without being able to determine the right one. Hence the importance, thirdly, of Hermeneutics, or the laws of biblical interpretation. Such laws there are for the explanation of the Bible, as well as for any other book; laws derived from sources appropriate to the peculiar claims of the Bible, and to the constitution of the human mind; laws, the importance of which, indeed, every interpreter of the Bible professedly admits, but the requirements of which comparatively few understand, or consistently abide by, in consequence of which it is, partly, that almost every sect has its own favourite texts and chapters, and hereditary explanations of them; and laws, therefore, the universal and practical adoption of which would greatly tend to facilitate the union of parties in the Christian church, who are now estranged from each other.

"But when biblical criticism has thus placed the Bible in the hands of the

student, as the word of God; when biblical philology has enabled him to read it; and when his acquaintance with the laws of biblical interpretation has given him the power of explaining it; it remains, fourthly, that he should actually apply those laws in biblical exegesis, that is, in the grammatical and analytical elucidation of the sacred text. He is now in a situation to read from any part of the original text; to state the steps by which he has arrived at his interpretation of any given part; and the reasons which prevent him from adopting any other view.

2. Now it is impossible to proceed far in such an exegesis, or exposition, without beginning to feel the necessity of arranging its results. As with every fresh examination of the sacred page, facts are elicited, truths are multiplied, doctrines begin to emerge, and general principles to become prominent, the mind, in its desire to master and retain the whole, seeks to give it a systematic form; and the more methodical the mind is, the earlier does it begin to attempt this simplification. Hence originates our next division-Systematic theology.

"We are aware, indeed, that such an artificial distribution of Divine truth is not without its attendant dangers; that where a system is adopted, men are apt to try certain truths of the Bible by their system, rather than to subject their System to those truths; that every system owes some of its compactness and its filling up to the activity of the imagination; that many a new aspect of truth, or new application of received doctrine of first-rate importance, has been discredited and cast aside because it came too late to find room and be conveniently placed in the prevailing systems; and, besides all this, a system necessarily tends to possess the mind with the idea that the whole globe of truth has been circumnavigated, that there is no terra incognita left; no undiscovered aspects, no secret harmonies, no new applications of truth, to be found in the whole extent of Divine revelation. We are aware, too, of the opinion of one who, though himself capable of generalizing all human knowledge, said that as for systematic perfection here, "it is not to be sought. . . . . . For he that will reduce knowledge to a system will make it round and uniform; but in divinity, many things will be left abrupt, and concluded

with this, 'O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!""

"And we are aware of the opinion of a modern authority-the author of "The Natural History of Enthusiasm "--that systematic theory exists only as a skeleton, filling an unclaimed chair of state; that nothing rises to displace it; that there is silence in the halls of sacred science, as if all men were waiting in anxious expectation of the descent upon earth of the bright and fair form of celestial wisdom. Yet, admitting the truth of all this-and who that reflects does not deeply feel it?-system of some kind the mind must have, if only for the sake of escaping the mental confusion which would arise from the want of it; classification of some kind is indispensable, if only to aid the memory, and to retain the truths already in our possession. Arrangement is necessary for the preacher even in a single sermon; how much more requisite, then, that that vast collection of sacred truths whence all his sermons are to derive their substance and their warrant, should be classed according to their comparative importance, their mutual relations and their ultimate grounds; and this, we repeat, is systematic theology.

"Now as this body of sacred truth relates partly to Christian faith, and partly to Christian practice, the whole is subdivided into doctrines or truths demanding belief; and morals or truths requiring obedience. Doctrinal theology takes us through that vast and varied expanse of truth, of which the cross is the centre and the glory. In traversing this domain, the eye is to be fixed especially on the grand array of evidence by which it is surrounded, and demonstrated to be divine; on the existence, essence, and attributes of the Triune Jehovah; on the operations of his decretive will, and of his creative power; on man's apostasy, ruin, and total depravity; on the amazing fact of our redemption, by the atonement and mediation of Christ; on the constitution and ordinances of the Christian church; on its obligations and instrumentality, under the promised superintendence and converting influence of the Holy Spirit, to diffuse the Gospel through the world, and on the tendency of the whole scheme of Providence, under the mediatorial reign of Christ, and according to the eternal

"Moral theology treats of Christian practice. Having examined the foundations of morality, as propounded in prevailing systems, this branch of the sacred science should exhibit its true nature and grounds, as authoritatively disclosed in the Bible; and having considered the principal questions of casuistry to which the precepts of Divine revelation have given rise, it should supply the principles by which they are to be decided.

"3. Now as it is morally impossible that such a system, or any material part of it, should be long in the world without important consequences to itself, to man, or to both; we are prepared to ask and hear, in the next place, of its history.

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Accordingly, Historical theology is our third division; and treats of the changes, from within and without, which revealed religion has known. This branch of the science is twofold-dispensational and ecclesiastical. As it is dispensational, it treats of the gradual unfolding of the truth from the first promise to the final completion of Scripture, especially in its two grand divisions of the Old and New Covenants. As it is ecclesiastical, it treats of the church in its apologies or defences of the truth; in its symbols or creeds; its triumphs and reverses; its corruptions and reformations. And here, we think, marked prominence should be given to its biography, missions, and statistics. To its biography, as presenting to the Christian student specimens of religious excellence, worthy of being ranked with Scripture examples, and calculated, by the Divine blessing, to exercise on his mind an influence of the most exciting and hallowed description; to its missions, as forming the peculiar feature and obligation of the present day, and as likely to occupy an increasing measure of public attention;

and

here I might add, as especially appropriate to this college, one of whose honourable distinctions it is, that it prepares the student of theology alike for home or foreign labour, and contemplates the entire field of the world as undivided and one; and to its statistics, as essential in forming an estimate of the existing state of Christendom; of the great sections into which it is divided, and of their prospects in reference to each

other, and to the world at large. Such is an outline of theological science; embracing the circle of exegetical, systematic, and historical theology.

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But supposing the theological student to have mastered this encyclopædia of Christian science, how important that he should be instructed next in the art of employing it to advantage when he enters on the duties of the ministerial office! To attempt this, forms the second principal part of a theological course. Now this art, as it contemplates the future minister in all the relations which his office will call him to sustain, embraces preaching, the conduct of public worship, the duties of the pastor, the religious instruction of the young, and the claims of the church at large in behalf of itself and of the world.

"As a preacher, he is to be aided by the best counsels which the wisdom of age and the experience of others can supply concerning the most effective method of exhibiting that Gospel which is to constitute the sum and essence of his ministry. As the leader of the Christian worship of a congregation, his attention is to be called to the appropriate arrangement and conduct of the services of the sanctuary, so as to render them most conducive to solemnity and profit. As a pastor, the visitation of the sick, and his intercourse with his people in the various relations he sustains to them, should claim his regard. As a Christian instructor of the young, catechetics, the Bible class, the Sunday-school, and religious education in general, should be all brought under his serious attention. Education, indeed, possesses for him surpassing interest; for not only does it form in itself an important science-not only is it rapidly becoming "the question of questions," but so identical are its highest ends with those of the Gospel, that when they shall become properly understood, it is likely to divide the attention of the Church with the ministry itself. And then, as the minister of a Christian church which forms an integral part of that collective body whose duty it is to seek the world's conversion, he is to be instructed in the various claims of Christian philanthropy; his attention is to be called to the order of their relative importance, to the societies they have originated, and to the duty of himself and his people in reference to the whole."

again. I have taken this advice, and now present to your readers the result.

J. P. S. says, the principal design of Cuvier's work was to communicate his doctrines of Comparative Anatomy. But Cuvier himself says, That he wrote, "Afin que les personnes qui n'ont pas le loisir d'approfondir entièrement ces matières difficiles puissent en prendre au moins une idée générale, et apprécier les raisonnements auxquels ces découvertes servent de base, ct les conséquences importantes qui en résultent, pour l'histoire de la terre et de l'homme.'

The result of my second reading of Cuvier, notwithstanding all J. P. S.'s rambling remarks on the Baron and his daughter, has been an increased conviction that no sufficient evidence is adduced of an ante-Mosaic world. Nay, I am now led to doubt whether Cuvier himself was as sure of that theory as I at first supposed.

He says, (p. 44,) "Cette nécessité où ils se sont vers de chercher des causes différentes de celles que nous voyons agir aujourd'hui, est même ce qui leur a fait imaginer tant de suppositions extraordinaires, et les a fait errer et se perdre en tant de sens contraires, que le nom de leur science, ainsi que je l'ai dit ailleurs, a été long-temps un sujet de moquerie pour quelques personnes prévenues qui ne voyaient que les systèmes qu'elle a fait éclore, et qui oubliaient la longue et importante série des faits certains qu'elle a fait connaître."

He then gives a dozen pages of theories, and says, (p. 57,) "Que dire sur les causes de l'état actuel du globe, si l'on ne peut répondre à ces questions, si l'on n'a pas encore de motifs suffisants pour choisir entre l'affirmative ou la negative, or il n'est que trop vrai que pendant long-temps aucun de ces points n'a été mis absolument hors de doute qu'à peine mème semblait-on avoir songé qu'il fût bon de les éclaircir avant de faire un systême."

Cuvier had modesty to say, "The little we know of the revolutions of the globe." (p. 60.)

"Je pense donc, avec M.M. Deluc et Dolomiel, que s'il y a quelque chose de constaté en géologie, c'est que la surface de notre globe a été victime d'une grande et subite revolution, dont la date ne peut remonter beaucoup au delà de cinq ou de six mille ans; que cette révolution a enfoncé et fait disparaitre les pays qu' nabitaient auparavant les hommes et les

espèces des animaux aujourd'hui les plus connus; qu'elle a, au contraire, mis à sec le fond de la dernière mer, et en a formé les pays aujourd'hui habités; que c'est depuis cette révolution que le petit nombre des individus épargnés par elle se sont répandus et propagés sur les terrains nouvellement mis à sec, et, par conséquent, que c'est depuis cette époque seulement que nos sociétés ont repris une marche progressive, qu'elles ont formé des établissements, élévé des monuments, recueilli des faits naturels, et combiné des systêmes scientifiques; mais ces pays aujourd'hui habités, et que la dernière révolution a mis à sec, avaient déjà été habités auparavant, sinon par des hommes, du moins par des animaux terrestres; par consequent, une révolution précédente, au moins, les avait mis sous les eaux; et si l'on peut en juger par les différents ordres d'animaux dont on y trouve des dépouilles, ils avaient peut-être subi jusqu'à deux ou trois irruptions de la mer." (p. 290.)

I think therefore that I have a right to say, that J. P. S. has totally mistaken the whole drift of Cuvier's Revolutions of the Globe. Its title proves its design. It is an introduction to his great work on Ossemens Fossiles, that, by giving the general theory at the commencement, he might have no occasion to refer to the systems of Geology again. He speaks most modestly of the theory, and says, the most certain thing in Geology is the revolution about six thousand years ago, which is within the Mosaic chronology. I wish those who are much inferior to him would imitate his modesty.

But

But I now turn to my reasons for meddling with the subject. I am taunted with the ignorance I confessed. this subject, as far as your Magazine is concerned, has two sides, the first scriptural, the second scientific. With regard to the first, those who do not pretend to be Geologists may have as much knowledge as those who give themselves airs of superiority. We think the Scripture holds out a theory that can scarcely be reconciled with the ante-Mosaic creations of Geologists. No man would naturally think, on reading the first chapter of Genesis, of any thing but the first creation. The separation of the first verses from the rest of the chapter; and the six days, signifying long periods, are after-thoughts which Geology has driven us to. This is not all. The whole