steps were light and eager then; for he almost hoped that he was about to find the pearl of great price, and that that very day he might carry salvation back to his house. But all that was over now; and I am sure he was not running when he went away. The woman at Jacob's well ran when she hasted to tell her neighbours that she had found the Christ; but the neighbours who saw the ruler wending back to his abode, might see that he had lost something. Yes! he had lost his day of grace. He had lost his golden opportunity for obtaining eternal life. If he had known the gift of God, and who it was that said to him, Sell what thou hast, he would have done it on the spot, and on the spot Jesus would have given him treasure in heaven. But that opportunity was gone. Jesus returned to that region no more. He was going to Jerusalem. He was travelling to the cross. His earthly journeys were well nigh ended, and that particular road he should traverse no more. Ah, no! amiable but misguided | young man! The moment is past. Jesus has gone one way, and thou hast gone another. Prize thy possessions dearly, for a great price hast thou paid for them; thou hast bought them with the salvation of thy soul. Surely these fields will smile bright on thee, and these clusters taste delicious, since thou hast preferred them to treasure in heaven! Jesus has gone one way, and thou hast gone another; and ere noon the Friend of sinners will be far from these domains. But surely thou never canst forget the interview this morning. When thou art grown old and miserly, when thou hast lost the simplicity and warmth which for the present redeem thy worldliness, and when no friends are near thee except on-hangers scrambling for thy great possessions: perhaps thou mayest recal this morning, and sigh to think that a Friend in heaven and treasure there were once within thine offer! And sure enough thou wilt remember it one day. There were no prints in His hands and feet with whom thou didst part this morning, nor was there any crown upon his brow. But there will be when thou seest him again. That Jesus who passed near thy house this morning will be the crucified, the glorified, when next he meets thine eyes; and he who this morning loved thee as the Son of Man, will that day judge thee as the Son of God. By that time thou shalt be where great possessions cannot profit; but where

1. From this affecting history you see how far people may go, and yet fall short of heaven. This youth was orthodox, moral, and engaging; but he lacked one thing; he lacked the new heart; he lacked that lowly mind which sees its guilt and vileness; that trustful mind which is ready to forsake all and follow Jesus; that renovated mind to which righteousness is meat and drink, and the sense of God's favour the chiefest joy.

And many of you, my dear young hearers, have gone so far. You are correct and well-conducted; you pray and read the Bible. We see your sweetness of disposition and the mildness of your manners; but do you love the Lord Jesus? Have you entrusted to Him your soul's salvation? Are you ready to part with anything which he bids you renounce? And are you so devoted to His service that you are not ashamed to be known as His disciple, as a member of His Church, and as a separatist from a sinful world? Are you willing to take up the cross and follow Christ?

2. And you see how wise it is to abandon at once anything which hinders your salvation. There may be money in the purse, and yet no idolatry of money in the heart. Abraham and David and Daniel had "great possessions," and yet they got to heaven; and, after this, Cornelius and the Ethiopian Treasurer, and Gaius, and Joseph of Arimathea, in "entering the kingdom," took their riches along with them, and used them profitably in the service of their Saviour and their brethren. But the Lord Jesus saw that the plague of this ruler's heart was avarice, or the worship of wealth. He saw that he was in the bond of the same iniquity which made Demas go back to the world, and which turned Lot's wife into a pillar of salt. And, not because there is anything sinful in property, but because to this avaricious youth his property would prove a perpetual snare; because, in his case, to part with it would be the surest sign of his present sincerity

and the greatest help to his future consistency, the Lord Jesus insisted on its entire and instant surrender.

In like manner, whatever stands in the way of your salvation, be it something positively sinful, or something lawful idolized, that is the thing which the Lord Jesus bids you abandon. There is nothing sinful in music; but I have read instances where music was such a mania; where, like a possession, it carried its victims to all company, however unsuitable, and detained them at all hours, however unseasonable; and when they became supremely anxious about the "one thing," they found it needful to cut the strings of their violin, or send away their favourite instrument. There is nothing sinful in a little wine, but if that little create a wish for more, and the man finds that his growing love for strong drink will stand betwixt him and the hope of salvation, he would be a wise man never to taste it again so long as the world standeth. And whatever it be which you find the great obstacle to Christian decision,-play-going, novel reading, frivolous company, the race, the ball-room, the card-table,- -we shall not dispute about its abstract lawfulness; we

only ask, Is that habit so powerful that even for Christ and for heaven you cannot give it up? Is that propensity so strong that this night, when the Saviour says, "Arise, and follow me," you cannot comply, but must go away exceeding sorrowful?

Perhaps the ruler did not notice him; but there was already another young man in Christ's company. That other youth had never boasted great possessions, for he was a peasant's son; but cottage, boat, and earthly all he had left to follow the Saviour; and the Saviour made it amply up to him. He made his disciple rich in goodness, joy, and usefulness. He lived to be the father of many Churches, the penman of five books of the Bible, and a model of Christian charity; and long after the lands of the young ruler were confiscated by the Roman Conqueror, John was inheriting the earth. And even so, if you, dear brethren, are called to make some sacrifice in following Christ, fear not. Whatever you abandon for his sake will be your unspeakable gain; in the present life He will more than replace it with Divine satisfaction, and in the world to come you shall have life everlasting.

OUR Institution opens this session in some respects under more favourable auspices than have hitherto attended any of its commencements. Our staff of Theological professors may now be considered complete. Every department of Theology into which even modern analysis has divided the science has now its appropriated professor. Apologetics, or the department of Theology that concerns itself with the evidences of revealed religion; Exegetics and Hermeneutics, or the science of interpreting and expounding the revealed word; Dogmatics, or the science of classifying and arranging all the doctrines of Scripture into a well-ordered system; Homiletics and Pastoral Theology, that is, the practical application of scientific Theology to the various departments of the pastoral life; and finally, Historic Theology, that is, the history of Theology and of the Church

in its dogmas, symbols, rites, sacraments, and institutions, historically tracing the development of principles to their results, and consequences back to their causes:

each of these five departments (and they may be regarded as embracing all into which Theology has yet been divided), has in our Theological seminary its special teacher.

That the extent of the territory thus spread out before our students, and the scientific survey with which it has been mapped into its various departments, may be adequately apprehended and appreciated, a word or two may be allowed on each of those branches of Theology which during this winter will be taught in our Institution. And

I. APOLOGETICS. The Christian religion is not a cunningly-devised fable, nor a system of truth destitute of the requisite evidences. He that endowed man with

:

reason demands no unenquiring, unreasoning evidence. Credulity is no grace and no duty. "Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits" (1 John iv. 1), is a divine precept still binding upon men. The exercise of the faculties is as much a duty as the exercise of the affections. He that has set before us the beautiful to love and the good to follow, has also set before us the intuitive to know and the true to believe. He that has commanded us to love the Lord with all our heart, has also commanded us to know him with all our understanding and love him we cannot unless we know him, and know him too to be worthy of love. Reason is not a rival is still less a foe: reason is the ally and the friend of faith. Without the exercise of our own faculties there can be no belief. I cannot believe, and I ought not to believe, farther than reason assures me I have proper warrant for my faith, else where is my safeguard against imposture? A mystery does not contradict reason, else faith in mysteries were impossible. A mystery transcends reason as to the mode, but does not contradict it as to the fact of its existence. Reason fully admits the fact though it cannot comprehend its philosophy. Faith and reason are thus fellow-servants of Him who is Lord of both, has implanted both in man and assigned to each its function and sphere.

The evidences of revealed religion constitute an interesting and important department of study. It is useful as an educational process of disciplining the mind to habits of close thought and patient investigation by which it is trained to sift evidence, detect fallacies, expose error, and conduct long and complicated processes of reasoning, citation, and proof, to remote and perchance unexpected results. It is thus a manly and a healthful exercise in disciplining and maturing our moral and intellectual powers for the actual purposes of life. But it is more. He is but little aware of the state of society who does not know that there is much of infidelity at present abroad. It is not the infidelity of the last century; it is the infidelity of the day springing from the present state of our sciences and our social economics. The learned and most triumphant refutation of past attacks upon our faith will not meet the present exigencies of the case. We are therefore wisely provided with a course of lectures on this subject, and by one who will do it all manner of justice.

II. That EXEGETICS and HERMENEUTICs, that is, the science of interpreting and expounding the revealed will of God, so as to arrive at its real import, must occupy a place in every complete curriculum of theological study, needs no proof. The sense of the sacred word-that is, what God in fact says, must be obtained as the very first step in theology. We might as wisely and as well attempt to construct a temple without materials as a system of theology without an elementary knowledge of texts. Nor is such knowledge easy of acquisition. To the accomplished exegetist much more is requisite than a knowledge of grammar rules and lexical renderings. He must be a man of large reading and larger reflection, of keen perception, and of philosophic habits and acquirements. There is no science, no branch of knowledge, no department of study which we may not render ancillary to the purposes of exposition. By the delicacy of his natural tastes, or by the keenness of his acquired habits of intuition he must detect as by an instinct the allusive and the metaphorical, and distinguish them from the abstract and the literal. The laws and customs of the people whose works he interprets, their history, institutions, and science; the scenery, products, and natural history of their country, and equally those of allied and surrounding nations, he must be familiar withal. In short, whatever forms their character, moulds their habits, originates and influences their ideas, or their speech and style of composition, he must be able to understand and appreciate. A nice delicacy of taste which, like a natural faculty of apprehension, guides him throughout most intricate labyrinths of language with unerring sagacity to the identical ideas his author meant to convey; and which can strip off all natural accretions, incrustations, or artificial discolourings, the passages subjected to his research:-this, call it a natural faculty or an acquired power, is the highest endowment of the exegetist. That I do not insist upon the absolute necessity of his being a converted man himself, the subject of Divine illumination, is simply because the proposition is so self-evident that it needs not even to be enunciated. As well might you expect a blind man to master the theory of colours, or a deaf man the science of sound,-as well expect a blind painter or a deaf musician, as that a man dead in sin and blind in error, should

III. EXEGETICS and DOGMATICS, however cognate, are perfectly distinct. Indeed it is impossible to confound them, or mistake the one for the other. Exegetics develops the meaning of texts. It is no part of its functions, however, to construct a system of doctrines. That is the business of Dogmatics, to which exegetics is the hand-maid. Exegetics discovers the ideas contained in and conveyed by the separate texts of Scripture. Dogmatics combines and classifies these ideas according to their affinity, properties, and relations, into doctrines which consist of a group of cognate ideas, and such doctrines into a system. Exegesis, like the mechanics of David, hew the timbers and fashion the stones and mould the ornaments of the contemplated edifice, and there its functions terminate. Dogmatics again, like the architects and artificers of Solomon, arrange the materials thus prepared into their relative and allotted places, until, from the combined labours of both, there stands forth, in all its symmetry and beauty, the magnificent fabric of a system of truth-the gorgeous temple of the living God.

Nature does not classify her productions in scientific order; and as little does the God of nature assort his revelations into a scientific system. Walk into a field or by the sea shore, and you do not find the plants in the one classified and arranged as in the hortus siccus of the botanist; or the shells in the other assorted as they would be in the cabinet of the conchologist. Nature provides the materials, and leaves to science to classify and arrange them, and just precisely in the same manner does God act in the field of reve

lation. Open an epistle or a gospel, and as in the field of the botanist you find all genera and species profusely commingled together, so here all variety of thoughts, doctrines, precepts, promises, prophecies, narratives, are commingled together in like form.

God acts in revelation as in nature, in

cedure. For the mere purposes of existence, to sustain life, and in comparative comfort too, it needs not science to systemize the works of God, and as little is it essential to the vital functions of the soul that the word of God should come under the operation of the laws of science. The primitive peasant who, ignorant of chemistry, can extract nutriment from the bulb or the tuber, can, ignorant of exegesis and dogmatics, extract spiritual aliment from the word of God. But as science can render the tuber more nutritious and grateful, so surely may it be maintained that science can render the word of God more conducive to the spiritual improvement of man; and in maintaining this position we no more disparage the word of God in the one case than we depreciate his works in the other.

There is the closest possible analogy between the operations of science upon the works and upon the word of God. I take one shrub for example (to revert to an illustration already employed), and note its properties, and so of another, and yet another. I then classify and assort each according to its properties and relations, until having exhausted our stores we find we have constructed a system of botany with all its genera and species and varieties. And just in like manner I take a text and note its import, and so of another, and yet another. We pick out all the texts that have the same meaning, and placing them in one class, give that class a title designative of its doctrine or sense. Having thus disposed of all the texts in the Bible, having classified and labelled them, we next consider the classes in their relation to one another. Out of all these classes we select and place first, that which is the most simple, primary, and elementary, and then place by its side that which is the most cognate, or its nearest corollary. Having thus proceeded until we have disposed of our classes we find we have unconsciously constructed a system of doctrines complete in all its parts. How beautifully simple are the works of God; and how natural are the principles of science! Why children display them in the disposition of their playthings, and we but apply them to higher purposes.*

*

"Theology (that is, religion scientifically developed and systematized), renders to religion (that is, Theology in action), the same

IV. I have often thought that as a medical school is incomplete without an hospital where the principles taught in the school are reduced to practice; so a theological seminary is incomplete without a church and a parish; a church where the students might preach, and a parish where they might visit from house to house, and thus become practically acquainted with the duties of their future profession. But as we possess no such apparatus, and as little is it possessed by any seminary with which I am acquainted, we must employ the best substitute within our reach; and this we do in our class of HOMILETICS and PASTORAL THEOLOGY, where is taught the practical application of scientific theology to the various departments of the pastoral life.

In this class is taught the art of sermon writing—an art, if we may judge from the smallness of the number who excel in it, to the full as difficult as painting or sculpture, or the highest work of poetry, the epic, or the drama. Count up the numbers who have excelled in pulpit oratory, and you will not find it to exceed

service that the astronomy of geometricians renders to those who navigate the ocean. The commander of a ship heeds not the mechanism of the heavens in his voyage nevertheless it is to this science, though himself imperfectly acquainted with it, he would be indebted for the accuracy of his reckoning, the correctness of his calculations, and the precision with which he is enabled to ascertain his longitudes and the consequent safety of the course he is pursuing. And so with the Christian traveller; in the journey of life towards the rest which God has called him, he may dispense with the ancient languages and learned treatises of Theology: yet the very notions of religion he must necessarily possess, will mainly receive their precision and stability from Theological The sciences may exist irre

science

alone and disesteems her!

spective of the people, as the people dispense with the sciences, but there is a reciprocal dependence between true Theology and the religion of the faithful. Theology is the safeguard of their religion, and their religion is the conservator of Theology. Woe to them when Theology languishes and fails to make herself heard. Woe to Theology when the religion of Christ's flock allows her to walk Theology renders services to the Christian community which cannot long be dispensed with without injury. It is Theology that watches over the religion of the people in order that the priest's lips may keep wisdom, and that they may seek the law at his mouth. It is Theology which in the evangelical ministry preserves the purity of its principles, and in its preaching maintains the just balance of all its truths, &c."Preface to Gaussen's Theopneustia, pp. 13, 15,

16, 17.

the number of great painters; or indeed to equal it. Where are our pulpit Claudes, and Titians, and Rembrandts, and Rubens, and Raphaels? those inspired students of nature whose wondrous mastery over colour, and perspective, and form, reproduce on the canvas nature's own beauteous perfections.

But although the highest excellency in pulpit composition may be attained but by very few, yet every man by study under skilful tuition may attain to a higher rank than otherwise he could occupy. Nor is it possible to estimate proficiency in pulpit composition at too high a rate. So much of the success of a minister's labours must, under God, depend upon it, so clearly is a minister's eloquence in the order of secondary causes associated with all for which the ministry was instituted, that too much time and attention cannot be devoted to its acquirement.

I insist upon written preparation for the pulpit, sermons carefully written and re-written and brought to the highest perfection to which matured study and careful revision can bring them. I cannot sufficiently reprobate the practice of juvenile theologians preaching, that is to say, prating, extempore from the pulpit. One hardly knows whether most to condemn the presumption or the sin of such practice, its offence against God or its insult to man. Do you imagine that success in pulpit oratory can be attained without study any more than success in statuary, in painting, or in any other of the eminent arts? Did Demosthenes (whose success is traditionarily associated with the cave and the midnight lamp); did Cicero (who sat up nights in profound study when he had to plead in the Senate or the Forum); did, in short, any man who has attained to a high rank in oratory succeed without laborious preparations? Is there an oration on record that has outlived the occasion on which it was delivered which was not the fruit of deep protracted meditation? Tell me not of the spontaneous inspirations of genius till first you have convinced me that inspired genius is yours; till next you have convinced me that even genius is not improved by study, till finally you have convinced me that genius and study combined can ever meet with a nobler field for their exercise than in preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ. Inspiration is never given to pamper pride or foster indolence. The inspiration of