„B 41 .S83 Copy * 1 5^3 Scholastic Education and Biblical Interpretation, AN INAUGURAL ADDRESS, AT THE OPENING OF THE TROY UNIVERSITY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1858. BY JAMES STRONG, S. T. D., Vice President and Professor of Biblical Literature in the Troy University. TROY, N. Y.: WILLIAM H. YOUNG, 216 RIVER STREET. 1859. **f t 1 choJastic Education and Biblical Interpretation. AN" AT THE OPENING OF THE TROY UNIVERSITY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1858. BY JAMES STRONG, S. T. D., Vice President and Professor of Biblical Literature in the Troy University.- —**3>-*-^— o-^»— :- $ TROY, N. Y.: William h. young, 216 river street. 1859. * 17 learning, before lie is qualified to enter upon his busi- ness in his own name; his indentures are his matricu- lation. The apprentice or clerk is but another name for student, and the farm, shop or store is, to all in- tents and purposes, a school, differing only in form according to the particular end in view. But all these, before entering their special preliminary terms, have need of a more or less extensive course of general education in those branches of knowledge which are useful to all ranks, conditions and employments ; and they would be enabled to attain greater and more cer- tain eminence in their respective callings, could they have the further advantage of having passed through an agricultural, mechanical or commercial institute, and there received such a comprehensive and sys- tematic course of instruction in these departments as they are not likely to enjoy in the actual details of planting, building or trading, — which in any case will come in due time. And so too the lawyer, the physician or the clergyman, besides his collegiate studies, finds a benefit, or rather a necessity, in attend- ing the law school, the medical institute or the theo- logical seminary ; yet after all this, he expects to learn much from the actual duties of his chosen profession, in the court room, the sick chamber, or the pulpit and pastorate. Of late Normal Schools have in like man- ner been instituted for the special purpose of training instructors of youth in the best methods of tuition and government, still leaving, of course, the multitude of practical minutiae to their daily experience in the school-house and class-room. Let me not, then, be misunderstood. It will be per- ceived I have used the term " scholastic," not in the technical sense, as applied to the system of Aristotel- ianism devised by the schoolmen of the middle ages, 18 but merely as expressive of a school in the ordinary and proper acceptation of this word. I have explained how this mode of education is not at variance with the practical, nor intended to supersede it. Neither can be substituted for the other. The scholastic is de- manded prior to entrance upon the contemplated engagements in life, for the obvious and simple reason that the presence of these leaves little leisure or facility for abstract study, while the practical follows as the natural and necessary complement. The value of the former is even appreciated by those who for any cause have neglected it in early life ; all such, who have risen by the force of other talents to intellectual promotion, have regretted to their dying day their irreparable error or misfortune. On the other hand, I doubt if a single real subject of scholastic education can be found who would advise its omission as a preliminary to the other, where opportunity allowed its attainment. Be it remembered, the choice does not lie between the two modes ; the question is, shall the individual receive the scholastic first, and the practical afterwards ; or shall he accept the latter at once, and have it alone 1 The order is irreversible ; if he pass by the school when in youth, he will find that he has missed the golden oppor- tunity for life ; he cannot become a boy again. Cruel, therefore, is the well-meant, perhaps, but mistaken counsel sometimes given by older friends, urging the young man prematurely into the experimental duties of his proposed vocation, ere he has availed himself of the preliminary studies pertaining to it, with the fallacious assurance that he will be able afterwards to pick up the desired qualification, when erroneous habits have be- come fastened upon him. As well might the gardener hope to fertilize the soil after the field is sown, or while the grain is ripening. The tree grafted in its mature age with the buds of learning may yield a little precious fruit ; but it will never attain the fair luxu- 19 riance of the sapling graft, while the native shoots will continually betray the uncultivated stock.* *An objection frequently urged against a college course of education, that it tends— like a sort of Procrustean bed — to reduce all minds subject to it to a common standard, constitutes the chief argument in its favor, when viewed in the proper light. A " liberal" education differs from a professional one precisely in this — that the former is designed as a general culture of all the powers of the mind, by the pursuit of those branches of knowledge which long experience has shown to be the most useful as a discipline and the most important in a literary career ; w-hile the object of the latter is simply to train one or more of the mental faculties in a given direction, and to furnish the individual with the information needed in a special calling. The one eiubraces the whole sphere of knowledge, and seeks to expand the mind to a full-orbed completeness; the other comprises but a single segment of the circle of truth, and aims meiely at a one-sided improvement of certain natural abilities. Collegiate education, however, is not less practical than professional training, because less technical ; nor less utilitarian, because less mer- cenary : for the various branches of science and fields of activity are so contiguous and connected, that no one can be said to be well prepared in any one department without some degree of familiarity with all the rest. In any other sense than this, the objection here noticed is untrue, for a collegiate course has not and cannot be shown to have the slightest tendency to dwarf or crip- ple any of the native powers of the mind, but only to develop and discipline them all equally. It does not seek to clip the wings of fanc3', to weaken the grasp of reasoning, to dull the eye of observation, or bind the limbs of genius; but only to curb their eccentricities, correct their extravagancies, guard against their infirmities, and, more than all, to nurse into vigor these or other talents of the soul that may be dormant or feeble in any student. If, therefoie, the aptitude for any branch of learning — such as mathematics, (a frequent example., — be peculiarly weak in any given case — the efl'ect in almost every instance of want of culture, rather than of natural ability, (for to admit the total absence of this latter, were to acknowledge in bo far a real mental imbecility,) the true policy evidently is to cultivate the defec- tive habits of mind, as is done by the unbending requirements of the curriculum in college, not aggravate the deficiency by a disproportionate devotion to some more favorite pursuit, as in the partial course of a proiessional school. "If the edge be blunt, apply more strength" — in sharpening it. This argument exhibits the proper order and just relation of professional with re- spect to collegiate study. The regular academic course lays the only adequate and solid foundation for the special professioual course. I have never regarded it as necessary that every body should go to college, any more than that all persons should be lawyers, physicians, clergymen or literary philosophers. The common school is usually a sufficient college for the farmer, the mechanic and the tradesman ; and yet he who would rise to eminence in even these humble paths of usefulness would be mightily aided by a thorough academical preparation. But he w : ho would be something more than merely a calculating machine, a pettifogging barrister, a traveling drug-dealer, or a beneficed homilectician, must gain a broader mental scope and acquire a more extensive intellectual furniture than can be obtained merely in the scientific, law, medical or divinity school. These have an important office in fitting him for his chosen avocation as a citizen and to earn an honorable position among his fellows ; but he needs before, beyond and above any of them a culture as a man, and to bring out in all its lineaments the intellectual image of his Maker within him. If the youth, having passed through his collegiate studies, hae thus proved that he possesses a special talent in any one of these or other literary .fields, he is then better prepared to enter and prosecute it without embarrassment from want of acquaintance with kindred subjects, without the liability to a mistake 20 Education, of course, cannot create talent, any more than a title can confer brains. If the man originally possessed no natural capacity, he will remain equally a blockhead, whether he have passed through a univer- sity or a workshop. It would be well if fond parents would sometimes remember the proverb about making a whistle out of a certain unmusical material. Schools ought not to bear all the odium if they, in common with other institutions of society, have occasionally turned out a dunce ; a part of the blame should be laid upon Dame Nature, or somebody nearer home. Thus, much however may be alleged in behalf of colleges, which can hardly be said of other modes of culture, that they have made many a man respectable who, but for his learning, would have been a perfect common- place in the world. The few that have not been thus elevated by a liberal education may still be of some use to fill in the chinks of society ; just as a cypher has a value if placed at the right hand of a higher digit. It is desirable that literary institutions of every class should combine, as far as may be, the theoretical with the practical in their instructions. There is a world of pretence in education, as in every thing else. Professors fancy that they have a certain dignity of erudition to maintain, and the authors of text-books conceive it necessary for them to keep up a certain conventional style of profundity ; and hence often arises a pedantry, imposing indeed to the uninitiated, but sadly unprofit- able to the student. If the parade that only serves to cover superficiality in the one, and the superfluity that is but a vehicle for dulness in the other, were fairly stripped off, half the stumbling blocks in the way of learners would be removed. The same fault runs of his calling from ignorance of other spheres of engagement, and with greater promise of success by reason of his superior k general discipline. The college there- fore is by no means antagonistic to the cultivation of special laleut in individuals, hut rather aids them iu filling thoir destined position the more securely and effec- tually. 21 through much of our didactic literature ; its point and edge are taken off by the attempt to sheathe it in pom- pous formula?, as if it were unscholarly to write or speak so that men of common sense can understand. The English were so long in taking Sebastopol chiefly, it is said, because every order and arrangement had to go through a tedious routine established by military usage. A little Yankee tact and directness would have cleared the Malakoff long before the impetuosity of the French opened to their allies a passage into it. It is high time that we fully shook off the " red-tape" sys- tem inherited from the same source in literary matters. The prejudice of the masses against the learned will never be entirely overcome till the latter practically acknowledge that the highest proof of merit in their efforts is to make themselves intelligible to the ordi- nary mind. The shell of science needs to be cracked, that its kernel may be reached, not wrapped up in an extra rind of technical garrulity. The American mind demands more than Germanic lore or British solidity or Gallic vivacity as yet has singly afforded. We must have all these fused into one quick but continuous force, like the galvanic belt that girds the globe. The instructor, especially in our colleges, should have so complete a mastery of his subject, and so clear and im- mediate a process of communication, as to be able to transfer at once to the apprehension of his pupils the gist of the matter needed to elucidate each point, with- out the lumber that by-gone forms have piled around it. This, while conveying the largest amount of real information, will at the same time most effectually de- velop the student's own mental resources and stimulate his faculties : it will reproduce the old Athenian acu- men, a spirit more than any other akin with the genius of our own Commonwealth. In short, we want " Young America" in the recitation room, as well as upon the outer theatre of life. 22 The definition of education thus proposed and briefly- illustrated, affords a test of true ■ scholarship. This consists not so much in the amount or variety of the information amassed, as in the accuracy and dexterity of the mental operations or habits formed by its acqui- sition. A man may therefore be very learned, like Adam Clarke or Parkhurst, without much real scholar- ship ; or he may be a brilliant scholar, like Everett, without immense attainments. The object of a liberal education should be to form the latter character, while imparting a sufficient fund of knowledge to enable the scholar to investigate or converse intelligently upon any topic embraced in what is known as the circle of polite literature. Both these results every college should effect, and any thing short of this is in so far a failure of its due object. Whatever is beyond, if it still pertain to the domain of general literature, is appropriate to the office of the University ; if to pro- ficiency in any special department, it belongs to pro- fessional study. This last, I may observe, is specially befitting the position of a professor in an institution of learning, who should therefore be afforded sufficient leisure to push his investigations farther and still far- ther into the fields of research ; and as a stimulus to these, as well as a means of bringing their results be- fore the public, he should be allowed, if not expected, to be engaged in the preparation of text-books and other literary productions. The world owes most of its knowledge to such laborers, and intelligent directors of any scholastic institute will be ready to furnish their instructors every reasonable facility and encourage- ment of this character within their power, for the promotion of science in general, Avere it but for the sake of the honor and efficiency that thereby accrue to their own institution. In fine, while it is required that the collegiate scholar should not be ignorant upon any branch of modern science, physical or metaphysical, 23 (including in the latter philology, mathematics and ethics.) it is essential that he have acquired those habits of application, discrimination and taste, without which he is still a booby, however erudite, or a coxcomb, however fluent. Genius itself will not make amends for the lack of any of these elements, but will ofttimes the rather serve to render the defect the more glaring. "What avails the piercing eye of the eagle that could brave the sun, if his clipped wings tie him down to earth ; or who trembles at the lion's earthquake roar, when his cage bars make his strength the sport of the gaping throng ? The civilized world has never been destitute of schools, to which may ultimately be traced all its social culture and improvement. The Egyptian temples were the earliest depositories of learning, and the priests were not more the ministers of religion than the devo- tees and conservators of science, such as it then was. Moses, who afterwards embodied the same distinction of a learned caste in the Levitical order, was not the only one who became versed in all the lore of Egypt ; thither repaired, as to the Germany of ancient times, every one who wished to perfect himself in such know- ledge as then existed. Thales and Pythagoras, the founders of two of the earliest sects of Grecian phi- losophy, are known to have derived important hints, to say the least, from the Egyptian mysteries, into which the latter was at great pains to be thoroughly initiated ; while a large, perhaps the most important part of the writings of Herodotus, " the father of history,"' consists of his travels and observations in that country. The sculptured monuments of the valley of the Xile attest this ancient pre-eminence in literary pursuits, which continued to distinguish the nation down to the burn- ing of the famous library of Alexandreia, and Egyptolo- gy is still one of the most interesting branches of study. It is curious to observe the same connection between 24 science and religion in the celebrated institution of the Magi among the Persians and Babylonians, which was historically the next great school of antiquity, and which, little as its details have reached modern times, had the honor of being the first to ascertain and wel- come the advent of the world's Redeemer. Of Athens as a seat of learning, I have already spoken. Its Porch and Academy have been the very titles of educational institutes ever since, and the various schools of philoso- phy of which it was the focus are familiar to every student. The Greek intellect, sharpened, strengthened, polished by their influence, has made the history and literature of that small city immortal. Victorious Rome was content to become her pupil and copyist. To this day the productions of her poets, historians, philosophers and orators have remained the standard of all just criticism, and their names the very syno- nymes of perfection in the world of letters. There is little in modern books, except what is due to the Bible or to the discoveries of physical science, that may not find its original in the Greek Classics. The dark ages, as they. are called, were not without their schools; the monasteries were not merely the abodes of asceti- cism, but rather the colleges of the times, and the monks were the chief instructors of youth in the lib- eral arts. The Caliphs of Bagdad and the Saracens of Spain were also eminent patrons of learning. Algebra bears to this day the name of its Arabic origin, and modern chemistry is the offspring of mediaeval alchemy. The educational zeal of the Reformers I need not allude to. The glory and strength of Protestantism consist in its spread of intelligence. Of late years the Sunday-School has been added to its schemes of in- struction. The Pilgrim Fathers erected the school- house beside the church, and our national public school system is the pride of their descendants. In no land, not even in Prussia, where education is compulsory, 25 are the people more thoroughly committed to the policy of schools than in this republic ; and in none of its states has this plan been more liberally organized than in our own, the metropolis of which has set a magnifi- cent example of even collegiate instruction, afforded gratuitously to her citizens. The tax for the Free Academy is regarded as legitimate as that for the Croton Water. I hare no share in the apprehensions of some, that we are establishing too many colleges in this country ; the more the better, provided they are well endowed. The number of students always increases with the facil- ities for study, and observation proves that if a college is not at hand, they will be obliged in most cases to content themselves with a lower degree of education ; the expense and inconvenience are usually too great, if it be located at a distance, while its presence in the midst of a community is a continual incentive to the youth to avail themselves of its privileges. It is Yale College that has made New-Haven the Athens of America, and the proximity of Harvard University has no doubt contributed very materially to the literary eminence of Boston. .Troy has already gained an enviable celebrity for her schools ; and she only needs the successful influence of her University to complete her character for intelligence as well as enterprise. I might add, as a consideration not likely to be slighted by shrewd business men, that the influx of students from neighboring regions which a superior institution creates, brings a large accession of influence and activ- ity — and money too. The five hundred or more stu- dents of Yale College, spending each on an average, probably not less than five hundred dollars a year there for board, tuition and incidentals, add at least, $250,000 to the cash income of the city. I presume the Trojans would have no objection to divide a quarter of a million yearly among them. It woidd soon pay back, with a 26 handsome ancl permanent interest the investment re- quired to put the University on an ample basis. As to the excessive multiplication of colleges in this State, I don't believe a word of it. Look at Germany : in that small country are crowded about as many full univer- sities, with their score and more of professorships, all in successful operation, as we have puny colleges in the whole United States ; to say nothing of the large num- ber of German gymnasia, which are themselves equal to nearly any of our colleges. Little New-England alone has eleven colleges, including two full universities, and they rather help than interfere with one another ; stu- dents come there from all parts of the Union, because it is the land of colleges, which have diffused a literary atmosphere that can hardly be found anywhere else. The Empire State can easily sustain eight colleges, scarcely one of which has yet attained the rank of a full university. The valley of the Hudson deserves to be represented more distinctively than it can be by either of the three located at its mouth ; what section of the state can be found more worth}^ to contain one that shall be a university in fact as well as in name 1 If the public spirit of Troy shall' prove, as it now prom- ises, commensurate to the honor, there is nothing to prevent her securing such an institution for herself. No one must imagine that such a result can be brought about without large, united and continued effort. The funds already realized and pledged for this purpose, although in themselves a noble sum, are by no means sufficient for the permanent maintenance of a college, much less of a university ; at least as much more must be secured to render the design successful. The proper endowment is the practical test as to whether the Troy University is needed or not. Upon the prompt liberal- ity of the citizens of this immediate vicinity will mainly depend the answer to this question. " The gods help 27 them that help themselves," and our neighbors are very apt to act upon the same maxim.* * It may not be inappropriate here to state that the plan of the Troy University embraces in its collegiate course the practical features of the American college sys- tem, by "which a thorough drill in the classics and mathematics is secured by daily recitations, and a sufficient acquaintance with the scientific, philosophical and a'Sthetical branches is made through lectures and other exercises ; while at the same time the Scientific Course affords to those students whose time and object are more limited a more direct, although but partially literary, preparation for the practical affairs of life. The University Course, which properly succeeds these, and is con- ducted by means of lectures on the higher principles of science, literature and art, will enable those who wish to prosecute more thoroughly the subjects elementarily treated in the under- graduate career with all the a 1 vantages peculiar to the German University system. In addition to these facilities, it is in contemplation to establish special schools for professional study, under the same charter and on the same grounds, but each with separate buildings, trustees, funds and faculty, (the President ©f the University forming a common link to secure uniform eo-operatton.) for those who have the learned professions (technically so called) in view, namely — Law, Medicine and Theology. These, with the University Course of Philosophy, will constitute the full complement of the Arts, and will include all the advantages of the English University system. I venture to suggest that if the Rensselaer Insti- tute, which has long attained the highest rank as a Scientific School, in the city of Troy, wete combined as an additional feature of this higher department, it would uotonly form an admirable supplement to the scheme of education thus proposed, but greatly enhance the symmetry and efficiency, not to say extent, of its educational influence, without in the least compromising its high character or internal admin- istration. The whole programme thus delineated forms a complete and compacted series of institutions fliat cannot fail, sooner or later, to constitute a most powerful focus of light and centre of attraction to the ambitious youth of "our land. Nothing commensurate with this threefold development of advanced education has heretofore been attempted in this country. The separate professional schools of Vale and Harvard, and the post-graduate departments of Columbia and Union, are each but parts of the scheme here proposed. If, as will probably soon be found to be both advantageous and practicable, some of the studies of the under-graduate course were made elective, by the partial substitution of modern for ancient languages, of the New-Testament and Hebrew for classic authors, and of advanced science and litera- ture for the more abstruse mathematics, so as to reduce the four years to three for such as intend to lake the University or Professional course in addition, the whole range of topics might be covered by diligent students without any material omission in five years' time, especially if the requirements for admission into the Freshman class are maintained at their proper standard. This would bring a higher point of education than has yet been possible for American youth, entirely within their reach ; and would form an era in the College s\ 7 stem of this country. We hope, at no distant day, to affordsuch facilities and attractions for students, and in so feasible a form, that none shall be obliged to forego the highest culture for lack of time and means, or resort to foreign lands for "want of an opportunity at home. Another loading feature in the founding of the Troy University, upon which it seems proper to make at least a passing remark, is its entire freedom from sectarian- ism. While it is the clearly recognised duly of the Church, with the aid of the State, to provide for and superintend the education of youth, yet is there nothing in the branches usually embraced in an academic course that need elicit any denomina- tional peculiarities of sentiments or action. Accordingly this Institution, although under the particular charge and responsibility of the Methodists, (and every College in the land claims some branch of the Christian Church as its special patron.) has 28 I have spoken of scholastic education in general, as a theme appropriate to the present occasion ; I trust I may be indulged in a few words respecting the branch of instruction with which I have been specially entrusted in this institution. Of the importance of Biblical Literature among collegiate studies, I need say nothing here ; the fact of its incorporation as a distinct chair in the course proposed by the Troy Uni- versity, is sufficiently significant on that head : I can only wish that the responsibility of its duties had devolved upon a more able incumbent. I deem it not inappropriate to give brief utterance to some of the sentiments that have actuated me to attempt their discharge. The title of the professorship assigned me implies that my principal text-book is to be the Bible. It will probably strike some as an anomaly that a layman should undertake an office which usually*devolves upon the clergy. I might defend my choice of this field of labor by citing the similar pursuits of Dr. Kitto and Chevalier Bunsen ; but I prefer a direct statement of the views that have induced me to devote myself to its culture. It appears to me that the community has usually mistaken the great prime object of revelation. We hear in almost every address in the Bible cause, arguments used implying that its circulation is intend- ed and calculated to produce the conversion of those nevertheless secured, with a degree of cordiality hitherto unprecedented in similar enterprises, the co-operation of leading momhers of the various evangelical denomi- nations, numbering among its trustees and faculty representatives from the Pres- byterians, Episcopalians and Baptists. This combination, -while it undoubtedly will often call for the exercise of forbearance and Christian courtesy among the legal custodians and literary conductors of the undertaking, is at the same time an ele- ment of power, socially as well as ecclesiastically, if rightly managed, that must ensure a wider scope and influence to all its operations. The fact is significant of the catholic spirit, of the age, and is also eminently auspicious of the enlarged efliciency and success which result from concert of action and a mutual balance of otherwise one-sided views and tendencies. 29 into whose hands it is put. The irreligion of individ- uals and families is attributed to their destitution of the Holy Scriptures, and colporteurs are provided for the purpose of furnishing every man, woman and child throughout the land with a copy, in the hope that it will be the instrument of leading them to a saving knowl- edge of the truth. Now all this effort in the multipli- cation and distribution of the Bible is no doubt well in itself, and a commendable exercise of Christian liber- ality ; for much good is doubtless thereby done in various ways, and in some instances the copies thus circulated appear to have been the means of reviving early religious impressions, and to have powerfully seconded other spiritual influences that eventuated in a decided change of moral character : but I apprehend that if the enterprise is induced and sustained by the hope of thereby directly effecting the regeneration or even reformation of the recipient of the Scriptures, we are acting under a false impression, and shall fail of our object. I have yet to learn of an authentic instance in which the simple perusal of the Bible, without pre- paratory and directive influences, has changed any one's religious sentiments, awakened his moral convictions or enabled him to attain the peace of a believer. I know that cases by the score are cited in Bible reports and anniversaries, as well as elsewhere, that seem and are intended to support such a conclusion : but the col- lateral forces that intensified the spiritual movement and directly brought on the soul-crisis, are either kept wholly out of view or assigned an inadecpiate share in the effect. Far be it from me to derogate a particle from the honor due the written word of God : I prize it infinitely above everv other book, and count it a privilr^r : : spend my days in exploring and elucidat- ing its sacred contents ; but I am not therefore disposed to enhance its importance by unsound arguments, nor to make it usurp the proper sphere of any other legiti- 30 mate institution of Christianity. Novel as the position may seem to many,* I invite a candid consideration of the opinion which I cannot but avow, that the simple reading of the naked text of Scripture, in our own or any other version, or even in the original itself, without any note, comment or person at hand to expound, direct, discriminate and apply the truth, has scarcely been and probably cannot be the actual means of leading a soul out of the bondage of sin.f The saving truth is * Since this sentiment was uttered, — which I have heard was immediately con- demned as heretic-ally untrue by some of my theological friends, and as warmly pro- nounced to be orthodox by others, — I have met with an extended vindication of the same view in the pages of the " Journal of Sacred Literature" 18.34, April No., p. 7 — 10; July No., p. !J22. The remarks (by Rev. Dr. Burgess, the editor,) are so apt to my design that I quote a portion of them : " It is not our purpose to dwell on the causes which led to the adoption of this novel principle of action {that of printing the Bible without note or comment for circulation among the common people] on the part of the [British and Foreign] Bible Society, or to justify or blame what perhaps in tho circumstances was inevitable. We wish rather to call attention to a mode of thinking in relation to the Scriptures, which has accompanied the Society in its course, if it has not been created by it. Tho old doctrine, as far as we are aware, was that tho Scriptures were part of a system, deriving their efficacy from their keeping their place in it, and being used according to its laws; the new ono claimed for the Bible itself an independent standing, and treated it as sufficient for the conversion as well as the edification of mankind. In other words, before the epoch we are speaking of, [that of the rise of special societies for the circulation of the Bible,] the divine records were inseparably connected with oral teaching, and accompanied and assisted the preachers of the Gospel ; "but since then, they have been looked upon in many cases as adequate in their solitariness for all the pur- poses which Christianity contemplates. We do not affirm that the new theory has ever been broadly stated or acknowledged, but it has been extensively acted upon, and therefore has had a powerful influence. The thinking and phraseology of a very large portion of the Christian public has been imperceptibly moulded by this idea, and certainly many deeds of Christian benevolence proceed on a presumption of its entire truthfulness. The circulation of the Bible is often spoken of as identi- cal with the spread of Christianity ; its price has been talked of as the moral thermometer or scale by which it influence is to be tested ; and the shipment of vast numbers to foreign shores has been estimated as little less than an evangelical inroad upon the powers of darkness. Every now and then some new phase of this idea startles the public, and calls for some energetic action." In short, the popu- lar veneration for the word of God is in great danger of degenerating into mere book worship. \ Whatever may be thought of the doctrine here advanced, in its extreme applica- tion, it will yet probably not be disputed by any that the Christian church has always acted upon its assumption for all practical purposes, inasmuch as the conver- sion of mankind has never been left wholly to the written word of God without his spoken message attending it; and it cannot be denied that in the vast majority of oases persons attribute their conversion, (so far as external instrumentality is con- cerned,) to the living minister or private Christian. Whether therefore a few peculiar instances of solitary conversion by means of the Bible alone, can be substan- tiated or not, (and indeed it would be difficult to find a case of total disconnection 31 indeed there, all of it and in perfection ; but there is so much of it, and it is so combined with historical, doc- trinal and practical difficulties, that the uninitiated mind, with the additional embarrassment of a depraved heart and wrong previous habits of thought, would never, I believe, without some other external assistance, be able to discern it in that distinct and condensed form which is essential to regenerating faith. Those to whom the messages of the prophets were originally addressed, complainingly exclaimed, "Doth he not speak parables ?" and our Savior declared of his own auditors, " Hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." The Ethiopian treasurer on the road to Gaza, reading Isaiah's almost historical prophecy of the Redeemer's passion, when Philip inquired, " Understandest thou what thou readest V could only reply, " How can I except some man should guide me ?" Of course the helping influences of the Holy Spirit are supposed to be present in every ca^e ; but its office is to enable the person to lay hold of the atonement as well as feel his need of it, after the intellect has apprehended it, — not to impart the truth directly and without regard to the ordinary process of enlightenment. An instance strik- ingly in point is that of John "Wesley, as he landed in London, still groaning for deliverance from his burden of sin, after his American mission. He had gone to Georgia to convert the Indians, and he returned with the conviction that he was himself unconverted. In the graphic language of the forth-coming history of Methodism, "Here was a man of healthful tempera- ment, of rare intelligence, of pre-eminent logical acute- ness,-who had read every line of Holy Scripture in the very language in which prophet or apostle had penned it ; and yet, with the Bible in his hand and an anguish from all other religions influences,) the position assumed above remains so generally true as to warrant the distinction based upon it, and moreover to deserve greater attention than has usually been given to it. 32 of earnestness in his heart, he stumbles before the most important and most simple truths of revelation."* The author of this description is doubtless correct in de- scribing the difficulty in this case to preconceived notions derived from education ; but the same is true of any case, for every one, however brought up, even a heathen, has his own previous system of belief ; and if the careful religious training of Wesley was still no warrant of correct views, who can hope for exemption from some kind of error sufficient to blind the eyes even while poring over the sacred pages ? It was not through his own perusal or even study of the Scriptures themselves, but through their exposition by others, that he at last caught a view of the way of faith. While listening to a layman reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans among an evening assembly of Moravians in Aldersgate-street, he " felt his heart strangely warmed " with the hitherto unexperienced glow of divine love. A spark from the embers of the Reformation kindled the flame which spread from his breast throughout Methodism, — a system to which Henderson in Buck's Dictionary has the assurance to assert that Whitefield would probably have given birth, had the Wesleys never existed ! For twenty-five years the founder of Wesleyanism had been constantly seek- ing personal religion with a devotion that has had few parallels, and with every facility that the volume of revelation could afford ; but he attained it at length through the instrumentality of an humble and even indirect form of the preaching of that word, from the lips and pen of those who had themselves experienced its " power unto salvation." His conversion was but an illustration of the method which the Scriptures them- selves prescribe as that appointed by heaven for this end : " For after that in the wisdom of God, the world * History of Methodism, by Rev. Abel Stevens, LL. D , Now York, 1858-9, vol i, p. 85. 33 by [natural} -wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the [so-called] foolishness of peeachixg to save them that believe." The direct and personal communication of experimental truth to the judgment and conscience of the listener or reader, will be found in every instance, when carefully analyzed, to be the simple and only human instrumentality really efficacious in this result, much as we are disposed to overlook it and attribute the effect to what we may deem more suitable or worthier means. To this office, the most truly great and responsible, as I believe, that a mortal can fill, I make no pretension; I confess, I dare not aspire to it. The usefulness I seek lies in another path, which may however ultimately conduct to the same general issue. Y\ nat then is the legitimate function of the Bible in this important work or in the religious renovation of humanity"? I cannot answer better than in the com- prehensive words of the Book itself : " All Scripture, being given by inspiration of God, is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness ; that the man of God may be perfect. . thoroughly furnished unto all good works." Mark, its purpose is not mainly nor directly the conversion of sinners, but the establishment of the believer in per- sonal piety, and the equipment of the minister for his sphere ; it covers the details of Christian life and use- fulness, rather than the point of induction into these. ' The introduction into a, religious career, although included in its directions, is almost incidental and so involved in the mass of other and seemingly discrepant matter, that the novitiate himself is often puzzled in his attempt to interpret and apply the multiform instruc- tions. If the object of revelation had been simply or chiefly to present a guide-book to the way of life, or to furnish a system of theology, it would have taken the form of a compendious manual like a modern catechism, and might, have dispensed with the bulky introduction KEEL* EGRESS 34 022 138 751 7 of history, the dry abstracts of genealogy, the verbose effusions of poetry, the dim visions of prophecy, and the extended epistolary correspondence, which the sacred volume contains ; but all these have their im- portant uses in furnishing the Christian mind and pulpit, although of course they greatly complicate the task of understanding and applying the divine oracles. Hence arises the need of interpretation, an office co-or- dinate with that of preaching, but which few who earnestly devote themselves to the latter can have leis- ure to prepare themselves adequately to fill. To this humble task I desire to consecrate my energies, and it is the hope of subserving this cause that brings me into your midst. May it appear in the great day of divine awards, that some honor is due to him who lays, though deep under the ground of verbal and exegetical criti- cism, the firm foundations of the spiritual temple, as well as to him who, on the open walls of Zion, brings to its place the top-stone with the jubilant shouts of grace. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS^ ii i inn iii ii nil in 022 138 751 A