will not endure the light of searching examination; that we are afraid lest the abundant information which, within the last twenty or thirty years, and by unexampled toil and remarkable circumstances in providence, has been obtained in the departments of oriental philology, ethnography, and Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities, should prove fatal to the testimony of the Hebrew sacred history; that we dread to introduce the lamp of natural science into the province of supernatural revelation; that we dare not train our young men and future ministers to the habits of requiring appropriate and sufficient evidence, of a thorough-going and impartial examination and of a sound practice of reasoning upon whatever premises may be demonstrated by moral, or even by sensible or mathematical evidence. Be it remembered that the questions in antiquity and philology, in science and philosophy, for the investigation of which we plead, are of a kind far removed from "the philosophy" condemned by the holy apostle as a "vain deceit,”—“ the oppositions of science falsely so called;" and that the kind of evidence by which they are to be determined is no other than that which rests upon the palpable application of the senses with which our Creator has endowed us, and the incontrovertible verdicts of measure and number. In a word, the whole domain which we claim as our own is that of TRUTH, only truth. Let us consider that truth, all truth, truth upon every subject, is necessary, is immutable, is a beam of brightness from Him who is "the Father of lights," and "in whom is no darkness at all." Let us dread giving countenance to the blasphemous absurdity, that any truth can be at variance with other truth; that (as some have actually said) a proposition may be true in philosophy and false in theology.

Let us also awaken our attention to the consequences of even seeming to admit the possibility of a collision between the truths of reason and those of revelation. That appearances of such collision do exist, cannot be denied; but any attempt to conceal or evade those appearances is foolish and pernicious, unworthy of the cause of God and truth, necessarily unsuccessful, and sure to recoil with fearful effect. What we maintain is, that the semblance of contradiction arises only from erroneous interpretations of the Divine oracles; and this we undertake to show in detail. But those interpretations have the advantage of traditional authority. They have flowed down to us through the middle ages, when both the knowledge of nature, and the sound principles of biblical interpretation, were possessed by the Christian world, in a manner and to a degree extremely imperfect; and thus, mistaken constructions of Scripture were identified with vulgar opinions, each strengthened the other, and the prepossessions became almost inveterate. Hence, when, at the close of the Reformation age, Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo brought into light the true construction of the astronomical system, they were met with general

hostility and unhesitating rejection. Even to a late period it was by eminent divines adjudged heretical and criminal to believe in the earth's motion; and this prejudice is not yet altogether exploded. Hence, also, at this moment, a multitude, perhaps the majority, of excellent Christians in our country, view with horror and reject without hesitation certain positions in natural history and science, of which they have only the knowledge derived from some vague rumour, but which really stand upon the basis of sensible and mathematical evidence. Of those persons, highly estimable for their piety, liberality, and all Christian virtues, many have risen from inferior stations to the rank of competency, opulence, and influence in society; while the fact is, that their own education has been of a most meagre and miserable description, and that, whatever elevation of intellect they have attained, it has been owing, most happily but solely, to the influence of religion. The children of these persons receive an education better than that of their fathers, in profession at least, though often very superficial. They get a little acquaintance with scientific truths, and they are totally unable to reconcile them with the interpretations of the Divine word "received by tradition from their fathers." Some of them-(0 that we could say all!)—are converted to the love and obedience of the Gospel; but their minds are tortured with difficulties and doubts; they disclose them to their parents and pastors, but meet with no satisfaction, and are perhaps sternly rebuked. Then they have the bitter strife of soul between faith and scepticism; and they walk long, or even always, in bondage. Others fall into the hands of avowed or secret disbelievers, men who may have made good attainments in the knowledge of God's works, but are deplorably and wilfully ignorant of his word; governed by "the carnal mind which is enmity against God," and ready to seize upon and parade abroad whatever may be made an instrument to betray unwary souls. The consequence is evident, and to many a pious family truly agonising.

Ought we not to arouse ourselves to the removal, or much rather to the prevention, of this state of things? Ought we to leave this vantage-ground to the enemy? Ought we to permit the notion to be current in society, that philosophy and religion cannot stand together? Upon whomsoever this prejudice may work, leaving them to feel at ease in refusing to give attention to the claims of religion-will not their blood be required at our hands?

Our principal towns are adorned with mechanics' institutions and philosophical and literary societies; and the manufactures, which are the supports of not only our national prosperity, so far as it exists, but of our very subsistence; and the torpid owners and tillers of the ground, are beginning to acknowledge the relations of chemistry to agriculture. Professor Liebig has published the declaration-"For

my own part, I do not scruple to avow the conviction, that ere long a knowledge of the principal truths of chemistry will be expected in EVERY educated man; and that it will be as necessary to the statesman, and political economist, and practical agriculturist, as it is already indispensable to the physician and the manufacturer."

What then must be the effect upon the thousands of artisans and labourers, as well as the young persons of our families, if the preachers and pastors of our churches through the land be notoriously inferior in those departments of knowledge which will have become familiar to the humble workman?

Considerations of this sort press upon my mind, and almost compel me to prosecute them to a greater length; but I dare not trespass upon the time and indulgence of my honoured brethren.

The point to which they lead is the desirableness, the urgent propriety, even the imperative necessity, that our pastors and teachers, who have so large a share in forming the minds of our youth and the character of our churches, should be in a capacity, fairly and with convincing arguments, to "speak with the enemy in the gate."

From these considerations also, and their alliances, we draw our plea for the connexion of our colleges with the University of London.

It is obvious from the nature of the case, and it is confirmed by experience, that an adequate acquaintance with natural phenomena, mathematics, and the exact sciences, cannot be obtained, in the ordinary course of things, by the academical systems which have hitherto existed among us. Gratefully acknowledging that, within the last thirty or forty years, much improvement has taken place in every department of our tuition, and feeling an honourable joy, far removed from envious rivalry, in the attainments of philology, philosophy, and mathematics, which not a few young men of our colleges have realised, we cannot be insensible to the facts which must operate as obstructions.

Many of our pupils (I conjecture about the half part) come to us furnished with very little of the pre-requisites for higher studies, further than a common education has given them. This arises from a principle, the acknowledgment and operation of which are to us a subject of no shame, but of pre-eminent joy; our demanding the credible evidences of conversion and sanctification, before we can for a moment listen to the claim or desire of any young man to engage in a course of preparation for the Gospel ministry. This our principle, and our practice arising from it, we can never depart from; nor would we ever suffer the least infringement upon its high demands. In addition to its intrinsic evidence, it has abundantly received the seal of Divine approbation; many of our best preachers and pastors, the instruments of the greatest good in the conversion of the ungodly and the edification of the pious, have been of this class. Their

entrance upon studies preparatory to the ministry has not taken place till their twenty-second year of age, or later; they have had to begin with the rudiments of Latin, and the simple elements of number and quantity. It creates no surprise that few of these will ever matriculate in the university. An ability to consult, with intelligence and independent conviction, the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures, and to use the Latin helps of illustration, is the frequent limit of their attainments in philology. Not a few, however, are men of fine disposition and natural talents, and distinguish themselves by the love of learning and unconquerable diligence; and these often rise to very respectable literary, mathematical, and physical acquirements. But it is to the science of heaven, scriptural theology, the eloquence of the pulpit, and the pastoral life, that they "wholly give themselves;" this they make their sphere, and in it they shine as the stars. If not many, yet some of these estimable young men, will compete for degrees and honours.

It is to the remaining description of our students that we must chiefly look, for those who will qualify themselves for the examinations of the London University. They have enjoyed the advantages of a good training in early life; many of them have never been engaged in any secular pursuit, and have both formed the habit and gained much of the benefit of unremitted application; their attainments are correct in quality, and respectable in extent; their judgment is sound, and their taste is well cultivated. They need not, as the others are obliged, to devote a large part of every day to school-classics, grammars, and lexicons; or to the elementary parts of arithmetic and geometry. They, have, therefore, more time at their disposal; in addition to their having usually the opportunity of spending two or three years longer in their academical course.

Since the literary and scientific acquisitions requisite for the matriculation, examinations, degrees, honours, and emoluments in the University of London, must have been made previously by the candidates in their own respective colleges, or by private study, it may be asked why they might not make those acquisitions in their academical residences, or by domestic tuition, or by spontaneous exertion, without any connexion with the university. To this reasonable inquiry, we reply :

There is no doubt that such an application of means, and such a result, are in themselves possible; but we are persuaded that they never could be brought into act and effect. A few instances, indeed, there are, among mankind, in which the simple love of knowledge is so strong and resolute, that it will urge its way through every difficulty, tread down every discouragement, and unconquerably persevere in the exertion; but such examples are among the rarest of occurrences, and it would be most presumptuous and absurd to calculate upon

them. The hard and continuous exertion, necessary for success in the examinations, can be sustained only by motives of immediate force; by hopes and fears referring to extrinsic things. The success is marked with the approbation of highly-distinguished men, the congratulations of companions, the degrees and honours which all civilised society holds in esteem, and the substantial rewards of scholarships, exhibitions, and medals: the failure brings a severity of mortification correspondent to the value of the prizes lost; and the whole is consigned to indelible record, and to the publicity of the whole civilised world.

These realities, and the motives springing out of them, are quite out of the reach of our colleges. Scarcely can we frame a shadowy imitation of them. It is true that they are human and earthly motives, and that they lie close to sinful affections, such as pride and selfishness, envy and malevolent rivalry. But I deny that the assumption of identity is necessary. Where those wrong affections exist, they arise from our own inherent propensity to sin, a propensity which would act with equal or greater power under different and even opposite circumstances. Jealousy, egotism, ostentation, and detraction, will take occasion for their worst developement in the regions of ignorance and its concomitant coarseness. I must declare, that, so

far as it has been granted me to make observation, the men who occupy the highest eminence in letters and the sciences, are remarkably distinguished by their amiable tempers, kindness, urbanity, and readiness to inform and help others. Further, also, though the motives of which we speak are human and earthly, it does not follow from this that they are sinful. They belong to the class of things natural and morally indifferent; such as talent and skill in the services of domestic life, in the mechanical arts, in agriculture, in navigation, in all the means of gaining subsistence for the entire family of man. Of these a use may be made, holy or unholy; "To the pure, all things are pure; but to them that are defiled and unbelieving, is nothing pure."

Our duty then is, to add the baptism of Christian piety and Gospel benevolence to the action of these motives. Then they will become good and in a very high degree beneficial; yea, so good and beneficial, that, without them, human life would sink into barbarous degradation. Let us, my honoured brethren, apply our best efforts in the best direction. Let us exemplify in ourselves, and cherish in our pupils, "whatsoever things are true, and honourable, and just, and pure, and lovely, and of good report,"-which have the force of "virtue" and the attraction of "praise." Let us tell them to covet earnestly the best gifts, human, earthly, and temporal as they are; but let them and us never forget, that, unless they are "sanctified to the Master's use," unless they are conscientiously employed for the advancement