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MhoS6 1846

INAUGURAL LECTURE

READ BEFORE

THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

IN THE DIVINITY SCHOOL

THURSDAY, MARCH 17th, 18;i<J.

BY
R. D. HAMPDEN, D. D.
REGIUS PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY.

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LONDON .
B. FELLOWES, LUDGATE STREET.
OXFORD: D. A. TALBOYS.
MDCCCXXXVI.

INAUGURAL LECTURE.

Called to fill the principal chair of theolo
gical instruction in this University, at a season
of peculiar perplexity and apprehension of
danger to the Church — I must confess I al
most sink under the burthen and responsibility
of the task which I have undertaken. I natu
rally feel that the purest best heart, and the
clearest strongest intellect, are in themselves
inadequate to the exigencies of the post — and,
therefore, that however conscious I may be of
rectitude of faith and zeal, however strenu
ously I may exert the utmost powers of learn
ing or talent I may possess, I must still fall
far short of the high temper of mind which the
office exacts.
Had I then rested the question of under
taking the office simply on the answer which
I could give to the inquiry, " Who is suffi
cient for these things," I should not have had
the presumption to present myself before you,
as, on this day, commencing the arduous duties
of the office by an inaugural address to the
members at large of the University.
But I have reflected with myself, on the

other hand, that however mean the instrument,
God may be pleased to bless it ; that if I re
ferred all my exertions to his providence and
grace, with unreserved reliance on his promised
aid, I might obtain a strength and a success
in this holy cause, not my own, but such as
he gives to the humble ; — when I have re
flected, I say, on this consideration, I have not
thought it right to shrink from the responsi
bility, however painful, or to look exclusively
to my own unworthiness.
Nor is it with any undue assumption to
myself of the promises of divine grace and
assistance set forth in Holy Scripture, that
I have adopted this resolution, of taking on
me this heavy burthen of duty. For the same
divine word, which gives the inspiring assur
ance — " My grace is sufficient for thee," tells
us also that God will give his Spirit to all that
ask him, that the earthiness of the vessels does
not prevent his committing to them heavenly
treasures ; that he has on occasions chosen
the " weak and foolish things of this world"
to confound the wise and prudent, and amidst
all their natural inefficiency, to work the de
signs of his providence — not bidding us look to
the world's applause and recommendation, as
the criterion and sanction of our fitness for his
service. In the simple conviction then of my own
sincerity of purpose, and not in the vanity of
a fanatical confidence, do I solemnly profess

in the face of the University, that it is my
heart's desire to serve God faithfully and de
votedly in that station in his Church in which
He has placed me. And I ask only to be
regarded with the kind and candid feelings
which such a profession honestly made, natu
rally invites. Further, as I fully believe there
are none whose eyes are fixed on my conduct,
whether here or elsewhere, who, however fear
ful of the result, would not rejoice in my faith
ful discharge of the office ; so I trust I shall
have your good wishes and prayers that I may
acquit myself in it as a true member of Christ's
Holy Catholic Church, in life and conversation
blameless, in doctrine uncorrupt, rightly di
viding the word of truth, and building up
others on our most holy faith ; to the glory of
Him, who is at once our Head and our great
Corner-stone, the Divine Author and Giver of
our salvation.
This persuasion of a real secret co-operation
in the work on the part of so many deeply
interested in its success, will be a great en
couragement in prosecuting it. I shall feel
that I do not stand alone — that whatever I
may design of real advantage to the Christian
cause, will be seconded by the devout sym
pathy of all candid minds ; and humbly trust,
that, as we are told for our comfort and en
couragement, " the effectual fervent prayer of
a righteous man availeth much," the Holy Spirit
B 2

4
will not be wanting to bless such designs with
effect. From these prefatory observations on the
spirit with which I enter on this sacred office,
I proceed to give you a general outline of the
basis on which my whole teaching will be
founded. Undoubtedly he who would rightly expound
the truth to others, ought to be deeply and
firmly rooted and grounded in that faith which
he would inculcate. Personal faith, personal
holiness, are clearly indispensable requisites in
him who would act the part of a watchman in
the towers of Zion, to go round her battlements,
and to give security and peace to those within
her walls.
The great foundation then that I would lay
for all my teaching is no other than that on
which all our Scriptural instruction is built,
Jesus Christ himself, "God with us," "The
Lord our Righteousness," the Divine Being
condescending to take our nature upon Him,
and submitting to sufferings and death on the
Cross for our sins. " For other foundation,"
as the Apostle says, " can no man lay than
that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." What
ever either minister of the Gospel may preach,
or professor of theology inculcate, it is all
valueless unless it have reference to this pri
mary " mystery of godliness." For without

it, all our thoughts of eternal life and happi
ness are groundless. " If Christ be not raised,
our faith is vain ; we are yet in our sins." The
preachings of Prophets calling to repentance
would lose their spiritual force and meaning —
the types and shadows of the Old Testament
would want their antitype and substance — the
discourses of Evangelists and Apostles would
no longer sound in our ears as lively oracles
of salvation — the precepts of holy living scat
tered through the volume of Scripture would
be divested of their quickening efficacy.
It is this great truth then, received into the
heart by faith as a living principle of conduct,
and confessed by the mouth with the confes
sion of the humble and contrite sinner, to
which I shall direct all my exposition of Scrip
tural doctrine. By this standard I demand to
be tried; and to the persuading, and under
standing, and love, of this holy truth, I pray,
that all my endeavours may successfully be
directed. As it is the animating principle of
the Scriptures, both of the Old and New Tes
tament, so would I desire that it should never
be forgotten amidst all the various studies and
labours of the theological student. He must
in fact " draw all his studies this way." All
must tend to bow him down in lowliness of
adoration and praise before the cross of his
Divine Redeemer. It is the holy task of the
Christian minister to bring the souls committed
to his care to the true knowledge of this saving

truth. It is the prize of exertion to the theo
logical professor, to impress the stamp of it
on all his teaching ; so that he may in truth,
" know nothing among you but Jesus Christ
and Him Crucified ;" and you may with him
" count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord."
Thus may he hope to render his Lectures a
KTfjua, is del, and not a mere display of theologi
cal erudition for the hearing of the moment, an
cvywvicrfia is to irapa^prifia a/covetv.
Addressing myself to Christian hearers,
Christian in the highest sense of the term, as
implying the disciples of an atoning Saviour,
devout believers in the proper Deity of our
Lord Jesus Christ, I need perhaps scarcely
add, that the enunciation of this great saving
truth involves in it the teaching of a vast
scheme of vital doctrine for its full and proper
development. To those here present, it can,
I repeat, be hardly necessary to say that it is
not enough for the Christian Preacher or Pro
fessor nakedly to set forth the truth that " Je
sus is the Christ," without those accompanying;
portions of doctrine which give to the cardinal
verity its body and expression. But as I speak,
not to masters in Israel only, not to the scribe
well-instructed in the kingdom of God only,
but to "babes in Christ also," to those whom
too general statements might mislead, and to
whom it may be useful to hear " line upon
line and precept upon precept," I shall go on.

7
to point out how the right inculcation of the
doctrine of " Christ Crucified," draws along
with it the exposition of a number of other
revealed truths no less holy and vital from their
inseparable connection with it.
How is it then, that, as children of the adop
tion in Christ, we are introduced within the
pale of this saving truth, that Jesus Christ
came into the world to save sinners by the
atoning merits of His death and sacrifice on the
Cross? Evidently by our baptism in this holy
Faith, by the mystic sign and seal of our re
generation, when we were consecrated to God
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost. When we were thus first
placed in the arms of Christ, we were brought
into the holy presence of the blessed Trinity ;
we commenced our Christian condition as the
creatures of God the Father, the redeemed of
God the Son, the sanctified of God the Holy
Ghost. To know Jesus, therefore, as the Christ
indeed, is to know that sublime and ineffable
relation in which He stands to us, as the only
begotten Son of God, who was with the Father
and the Holy Spirit before all worlds, and co
equal with Them in majesty, and glory, and
holiness, taking upon Him our nature, stooping
to the humiliation of our manhood, and so be
coming a meet sacrifice, oblation, and satisfac
tion, for the sins of the whole world. Thus it is,
that to know Christ is emphatically to know and
feel that God is Love. We know and feel that

God loves us, not only because He has blessed
us with life, and placed us under the mercies
of His natural Providence, but because He is
also the Father of Jesus Christ, and the Giv r
of the Spirit ; because He has created us again
in His Son, and sustains our spiritual existence
by personal communion with His Holy Spirit.
Hence the Scripture has said : " No man hath
seen God at any time : the only-begotten Son,
which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath
declared Him." If we know Jesus Christ, we
know also that revelation of God which He
hath declared. We believe, in short, in the
full sense in which our Church has expressed
it, " three Persons and one God," " a Trinity
in Unity and an Unity in Trinity."
To this sublime confession, I among others
here present, have solemnly and devoutly been
pledged in infancy by the fostering care of the
Church, and to the same in the mature age of
reflection I have as solemnly and devoutly set
my hand. And I reverentially appeal to the
Searcher of hearts as a witness that I have never
for one moment swerved from this true faith of
the Gospel, but that, the more I have inquired
into Scripture, — the more conversant I have be
come with theological antiquity, — the more I
have laboured to " know of the doctrine whether
it be of God," by improving in doing the will of
God, — the more I have been convinced that the
Trinitarian doctrine professed by our Church
is the true one — that it cannot be denied with-

9
out expunging the Scriptures themselves, and
unlearning every lesson which inspired Pro
phets, and Evangelists, and Preachers have
taught us.
In what I have ever written, or said, or
thought, on theological subjects, I have con
stantly had this deep conviction of the sacred
Truth present to my mind. Whether I have
been engaged in speculative discussion, or in
practical teaching, I have had in view to bring
it home to the understanding, (so far as such
a mystery could be brought home to the un
derstanding,) free from glosses and miscon<-
structions, and to the heart in all its winning
persuasiveness to holiness and divine consola
tion. I will not pretend always to have stated
my conviction in the fullest, clearest manner,
so as to have avoided all possibility of misinter
pretation. I will not claim to have been in
variably accurate in the use of words, or to
have anticipated every possible objection that
could be raised against particular modes of
statement. Nor again can I presume that I
have always made my practical aim so distinct,
and so direct to the heart, as invariably to have
hit the object in view. Who is there so expert
in unfolding and recommending the truth, how
ever deeply he may have drunk of the pure
fountain of the oracles of God, however learned
in the stores of theology, however versed in the
art of practical address and persuasion, that
can boast of having guarded strictly against all

10
misconception ? Especially, too, where a re
condite track of observation is pursued, where
the meaning of controversial statements is to
be disentangled, and the thread of obsolete
speculations and reasonings to be recovered,
there will, in all probability, be an opening for
misunderstanding on the part of others on
whom the light of his researches falls but dimly
amidst the surrounding shadows. Still if there
is a real desire on the part of the teacher to in
culcate the truth, (and there is no one, I trust,
who will suspect me of any other desire,) there
must be a natural interpretation of my words
consistent with such desire, and distinct from
the perverse sense which has been drawn from
them. If, then, I am candidly judged by this
my real intention, it will be found that in no
thing have I departed from the true catholic
faith of the Trinity, but that, on the contrary,
I have made it my ground-plan of theological
instruction throughout, the fundamental, true
assumption, on which my argument proceeds
in every theological discussion.
And now, as Theological Professor, can I
have any other object proposed to me but to
guard this sacred deposit with all fidelity and
diligence! May God forbid that any thing I
may say or do in the discharge of this trust,
should have any other effect but to strengthen
and extend the knowledge of the revelation of
God through Jesus Christ — the mystery of the
Trinity — God the Father, God the Son, and

11
God the Holy Ghost, one God blessed for ever
more. Accordingly, in expanding the great Gospel
truth of Salvation through the blood of Christ,
I shall be led to enforce also, that of our Sanc
tification by the Spirit. We cannot rightly
believe that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for
our sins, without embracing also the firm as
surance, that He is with us still by His Spirit,
the Holy Comforter, pleading with our hearts,
preparing and assisting us in working out our
salvation, and filling us with all joy and peace in
in believing. The Scriptures assure us that
" without Hiin we can do nothing," that God
" worketh in us both to will and to do, of his
good pleasure ;" that to bring forth good fruit,
we must grow in Him as the branches in the
vine ; and that it is the peculiar office of the
Holy Spirit thus to unite us to Christ, and in
corporate us, as lively members, into His mys
tical body the Church. The sound faith in the
Holy Trinity, in itself the work of the Holy
Spirit, carries us to the acknowledgment of the
real proper personality of the Holy Ghost.
Under the influence of this faith we feel that
we have One with us who is mightier than the
Tempter, and the world around us, and our own
sinful lusts; that we have a living Guardian
and Supporter, whose eye is never off us; a
Friend that will never absent Himself from us,
unless we grieve Him and provoke Him by our
hardness of heart to leave us desolate. For the

12
promise is, that He shall " abide with us for
ever." Now if we believe in the Atonement of a
Divine Redeemer, and the Sanctification by a
Divine Comforter, we cannot but be cordially
disposed to receive the doctrines of Justification
by Faith, of preventing and co-operating Grace,
of the necessity of Repentance, and of Chris
tian Holiness of life, of the Corruption of our
Nature, and of a day of Final Retribution and
Judgment. The application to the heart of the
true Trinitarian doctrine entirely cuts off all
human- pretension, and sinks our highest merits
into demerits. Under this conviction we truly
say, that " Faith without works justifieth us;"
that " by grace we are saved, through faith ;
and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of
God ; not of works, lest any man should
boast;" God by His preventing grace putting
into our hearts good desires ; by His co
operating grace enabling us to bring the
same to good effect. " Because Faith," as our
Homily expresses it, " doth directly send us to
Christ for remission of our sins, and that, by
faith given us of God, we embrace the promise
of God's mercy, and of the remission of our
sins, (which thing none other of our virtues or
works properly doth,) therefore Scripture useth
to say, that faith without works doth justify*."
And so again, to know that the Holy Spirit is
with us, dwelling in our hearts, is to know fur-
a Third Part of the Sermon on Salvation, p. 24.

13
ther, that of ourselves we have no power to
turn unto God, but that His grace must come
down to us and bring us to Him ; that we must
cast away our sins, by the same Divine grace,
and bring forth fruits meet for repentance,
purifying ourselves even as He is pure who
" dwelleth in us."
Nor, again, do I see how he who holds rightly
the Incarnation and Atonement of our Lord can
look at his own nature, otherwise than in the
language of the Article, as " very far gone from
original righteousness," and " corrupt," in the
strictest sense of the term. When we go back,
too, to the earliest records of Scripture, and
find that this Divine Expiation was provided
in the counsels of the Almighty at the trans
gression of the first man, surely we must ac
knowledge, as it is simply declared in Scripture,
the depth of the root of that sinfulness for which
the Redeemer came to atone. It is clear, as
the Scripture shews, that in Adam all die, even
as in Christ all are made alive — that though
there is no condemnation for those who are in
Christ, still the infection of nature, the fault,
and depravation, remains in every man, the
flesh warring against the spirit continually, and
weighing down and impeding the immortal
principle within us.
In close connection with the leading truths
to which I have referred, follows the doctrine
of the Sacraments. I have spoken already of
Baptism, as the sign and seal of our regenera-

14
tion in Christ. Our Saviour has sanctified
water to the mystical washing away of sin, by
declaring that " except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God ;" and by an express pro
mise, that " he that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved." We cannot doubt, therefore,
the efficacy of Baptism among the means of
grace. Christ's blessing has descended on it ;
and the use of the sacred rite, therefore, be
comes indispensable to all who are within
reach of it. And therefore our Church with
reason speaks of the charitableness of the act
of bringing children to Christ's holy baptism ;
and in virtue of Christ's promise regards the
baptized as regenerate and grafted into the body
of Christ's Church.
Again, the Sacrament of the Body and Blood
of Christ is in like manner justly regarded by
our Church as the spiritual food and susten
ance of the soul. Our Church, indeed, has
rejected the fond notion of Transubstantiation ;
but does not therefore the less hold a real vital
presence of Christ in the Sacrament. The
Church forbids our holding the doctrine of a
corporal presence, yet does not presume to
overlook the strong words of Christ declaring
" this is my body," " this is my blood," and
" he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my
blood dwelleth in me and I in him;" and will
not therefore incur the impiety of emptying
this holy Sacrament of its gifted treasure of

15
grace. And thus it is asserted in the Catechism
that the Body and Blood of Christ are verily
and indeed taken and received by the faithful
in the Lord's Supper.
I have adverted to these leading topics of
Christian education, by way of pointing out to
what object I purpose to direct every course of
theological instruction in which I may hereafter
be engaged. The nature of this Lecture obliges
me only to touch on them very summarily.
The candour of my hearers will I trust supply
omissions which the hurry and anxiety of the
moment must have occasioned, and receive
what I have said rather as a specimen than as
a complete outline of Christian truths. To fill
up the outline would take not paragraphs but
volumes. Believe me only, that I have no
thought to detract one iota or tittle from the
whole counsel of God revealed in the Bible.
I now proceed to speak of the authorities
and the course of religious study, to which
my whole theological instruction will have re
ference. Let me then at once state that I purpose
leading my hearers to the Scriptures themselves
as the sole supreme Authority of all revealed
truth. When I see in the Bible itself how ex
clusively it reserves to itself the right of de
claring the truth of God — when I find it assert
ing its own sufficiency and certainty in making
us " wise unto salvation" — when I observe our

16
Lord himself citing the Scriptures of the Old
Testament as decisive authorities, — his Apostles
also appealing to them, — the primitive converts
commended for their zeal in searching the
Scriptures, — our Lord again characterising
them as " testifying of" him, — St. Paul ap-
approving Timothy for having known the Scrip
tures from a child ; — looking to these facts and
to the practice also of the early Church in all
its controversies of deciding by the testimony
of the written word, — I cannot admit any other
authority as approaching at all to the weight
and sanctity of the Evidence of Scripture. I
should feel myself untrue to the great principle
of Protestantism, which broke the seals of the
Bible and opened wide its pages to the reading
of every Christian man — I should feel myself
also untrue to the teaching of the Church of
England, which so strongly declares that " Holy
Scripture containeth all things necessary to
salvation, so that whatsoever is not read
therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to
be required of any man, that it should be be
lieved as an article of the faith, or be thought
requisite or necessary to salvation ;" and again,
that " although the Church be a witness and a
keeper of Holy writ, yet as it ought not to de
cree any thing against the same, so besides
the same ought it not to enforce any thing to
be believed for necessity of salvation"— if, I
say, with these strong assertions of the para
mount authority of the Bible, I should receive

17
any other authority as a legitimate source of
divine truth, I should convict myself of desert
ing the cause of Protestantism and of our own
Church, no less than the cause of the Bible
itself. I shall be imperatively called upon by my
duty therefore in this chair of Theology to lead
the student (to use the words of our Ordination
service) to be diligent in prayer and in reading
of the Holy Scripture ; and especially to em
ploy his mind " in such studies as help to the
knowledge of the same." It will be my pride
to train him to be " mighty in the Scriptures,"
so that he may at his command draw forth by
God's blessing the waters out of these living
wells, and distribute them according to the
needs of the Church in seasonable streams.
But will my performance of this most sacred
duty, of upholding the paramount authority of
the Bible, require me to disparage the authority
of the Church, and the free use of private reason
in examining and judging of the truths of Re
velation, and the manifold helps of human
learning ? Far from it. It will require me
certainly to underrate the importance of these
guides to the truth, as viewed in competition
with the exclusive divine authority of the Scrip
ture, not to dispense with them. If indeed the
state of the Church was such at any particular
period as to give apprehension that the high
ground of Protestantism was at all endangered, —
that there was risk of a shade being thrown
c

IS
over the authority of Scripture by the exalta
tion of that of the Church or of private reason,
or of learned exposition ; then it might be in
cumbent on the Christian teacher, loudly to
proclaim the glad tidings of the Bible, and the
Bible only, as the charter of our salvation. At
all times indeed it becomes us to entertain a
holy jealousy of encroachment on the supre
macy of Scripture : so apt is human reason,
under some form or other, to lift itself up to
an usurped importance, and to derogate from
the exclusive sanctity of the Divine word.
We ought therefore to watch with anxious care
above all things, that precious deposit of the
oracles of God especially committed to our
veneration and care.
Still when we are calmly reviewing the whole
state of the case, we must not overlook those
provisions for the right interpretation and use
of Scripture which have been especially given
to us. When our Saviour himself was quitting
his earthly ministry, he appointed his Apostles
to take up his mission, saying to them " as my
Father sent me, even so send I you." He
promised further to be with his Church " alway
even unto the end of the world," that his Holy
Spirit should " abide" with the Church " for
ever," and "guide his Apostles into all truth."
St. Paul also distinctly characterises the Church
as " the pillar and ground of the truth." We
cannot doubt therefore that the Church at
large, and in particular its ministers, as the im-

19
mediate bearers of the Apostolical commission,
are means appointed by the Scriptures them
selves for the exposition of the Divine word.
It is only, however, we should observe, in
subordination, in humble and devout subordina
tion, to the Divine word itself, that the Church
has received its sacred commission. The word
only which the Scripture puts into its mouth, can
the Church utter as the word of Divine Re
velation. To the Law and to the Testimony is
its appeal. To the caviller and objector its
only answer is, " It is written."
In this its subordinate capacity, however, the
services of the Church are most important. It
has to initiate and train the infant disciple in
the faith, to point out to him the way in which
he should walk through the wide world of
Scripture truth, and impress that truth on his
heart by preaching and example. It has to
bear the message of salvation, — to proclaim
Christ crucified, — so that the disciple may come
to the living oracles in which the great Sacrifice
is revealed, and say, " Now we believe, not
because of thy saying, for we have heard him
ourselves, and know that this is indeed the
Christ, the Saviour of the world."
On this ground it is, that the Church inter
poses so usefully with her Creeds, and Articles,
and Homilies, and Catechism, and Liturgy, and
Canons. All these are subservient, in different.
manners and degrees, to the edifying of the
body of Christ, to the strengthening of Chris-
c2

20
tians in their most holy faith, to the devout
understanding and practical reception of the
Divine Revelation itself. Far be it from me to
lessen the reverent estimation of these monu
ments of early piety and ancient zeal for the
truth of God. I am satisfied in my own mind
that they have been of essential use for main
taining the Christian religion in its integrity,
in holding together the faithful in fast commu
nion, in keeping the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace. Under this conviction, how
ever freely I may have discussed the abstract
phraseology in which they are expressed, I
have said whatever I may have on any occa
sion said concerning the Creeds and Arti
cles of the Church. At the same time I place
them at a vast distance from the sole authentic
records of the Divine Will, the Scriptures them
selves. They are not, I conceive, for one mo
ment to be brought into comparison with the
claims of the Revelation itself on our reverence
and love. Their value is relative to the Scrip
tures and derived from the Scriptures. Have
they guarded and inculcated the truth as it is
written ? This is the question with regard to
them. I fully believe that they have done so,
by the watchful superintendence of Christ over
his Church ; and I therefore esteem them very
highly for their work's sake, though they have
wrought that work by the hands of fallible men,
and amidst all the imperfections of human lan
guage.

21
It is evident, indeed, that but for the exist
ence of an authorised ministry, we could have
had no fixed canon of Scripture as we have at
this day. For what has fixed that canon, but
the constant uniform reception by the Church
of the sacred Books which we now receive as
divinely inspired. This function of the Church,
as the keeper of God's Holy word, is sufficient
in itself to recommend to us the authority of
the Church as demanding our deference and
attention. It is no light thing that to it have
been committed the oracles of God. It puts
the Bible into our hands. If we reverence the
Bible, we must reverence also the messengers
who bear it to us, for their labour of love. For
only reflect on the ease and satisfaction with
which we now refer to the sacred volume. As
great as would be the perplexity of heart, had
we not so ready a criterion of the canonicity of
the sacred books to refer to as that which the
standing body of the Church presents ; so great
ought to be our satisfaction and gratitude now
that we do possess this safe criterion.
With respect to the use of private reason in
judging what is the truth of Scripture, the dis
pute on the subject is, in great measure, owing
to the fallacious sense in which the term private
reason is employed. If we understand by it
the uninformed reason of every man acting
independently of all counsel and aids for form
ing a right judgment, there can be no doubt
that ;i private reason of this kind is not a proper

22
judge of religious truth. At the same time it is
true in one sense, that every man's private
reason must be to him the ultimate judge of
what is true or false in religion as well as in
other concerns. For every subject of consi
deration must ultimately be decided by that
tribunal which each man's faculties, each man's
state of mind and heart, erect within him. But
more particularly in regard to religion, the duty
of " searching the Scriptures" is evidently so
urgent to every Christian, that every one who
can read them or hear them, is clearly bound
to use his best reason in examining for himself
into the matter revealed. So that a truly
Scriptural Church, as the Church of Eng
land, will never discourage among its members
the free application of their reason to the in
quiry into revealed truth. But while this is
granted, let it not be assumed immediately that
any kind of employment of private reason in
such inquiry would be sanctioned by a scrip
tural Church. The very duty of avoiding undue
prejudice requires of every one that he should
inform himself to the utmost before he pre
sumes to decide, — that he should seek the in
struction and advice of those more instructed
in Christian knowledge, more advanced in Chris
tian perfection, than himself, and in particular
of those who are his appointed spiritual guides.
Then again in searching the Scriptures, pri
vate reason must pursue the same method as
in all other inquiries for ascertaining the truth.

23
It must compare Scripture with Scripture,
things spiritual with spiritual, and so gather up
the fragments of truth scattered throughout the
sacred volume and put them together. This
is a perfectly legitimate employment of reason.
It is a very different process from that of the
speculatist who selects certain abstract notions
and fram es definitions, and argues from them what
must be the truth of Revelation. The true
Christian inquirer uses his reason to the utmost
in interpreting what he reads in Scripture. He
reasons, and concludes, and judges, but he does
not speculate. He pursues what is called the
analogy of faith, analysing and combining the
passages of Scripture, and so forms a com
prehensive scheme of religious truth from the
Bible. Without such a process, he is the mere
disciple of scattered texts, and not a truly
Scriptural divine.
All these methods are but ingredients for
the formation of a right judgment, and unless
a person gives them a reverential attention, he
has not taken proper measures for searching
the Scriptures. He is like a man going to sea
without chart, or compass, or rudder, to be
drifted wherever the tide and wind may carry
him. He is not bound indeed to follow the
counsel he may receive implicitly, but he is
bound to give it due attention, and after that to
decide for himself. The case of the eunuch in
the Acts of the Apostles reading the prophet
Isaiah, is an illustration of this. " Understandest

24
thou what thou readest ?" was the question put
to him by Philip. And what was the answer,
" How can I, except some man should guide
me?" Philip accordingly "opened his mouth
and began at the same Scripture and preached
unto him Jesus." Here then we have an ex
cellent example of the mode of employing our
reason in religious inquiries. The Scriptures
are to be in the hands of the inquirer, the voice
of superior human wisdom is to be heard,
and the truth is thus to be drawn out of Scrips
ture. We have at once the word of God, the
teacher, and the candid private judgment, act
ing in concord. The order indeed in which
these present themselves to the ordinary Chris
tian is not exactly what it was to the eunuch
in the Acts. To the Christian in general, the
Christian teacher comes first ; the parent or
the friend, or the catechist, or the minister, tell
him of the truths which he afterwards reads in
his Bible ; and his own judgment follows ap
proving and receiving what he has learned and
read. But the state of the case is substantially
the same in all instances. The three elements
will always be found conspiring to the forma
tion of right belief. Nature has provided them
for our instruction. Divine Grace seconds the
dictates of nature and elevates them to the
purpose of our spiritual edification. All this
however is perfectly consistent with the abso
lute supremacy of Scripture as our only divine
oracle of belief and duty.

25
What I have said of the right use of private
reason may be extended to the use of theolo
gical learning, of the works of the Fathers
of the Church, and of our own divines. It is
almost superfluous in me to say from this place
that all these are most valuable helps for at
taining the truth — to the student, to the future
candidate for the ministry, indispensable for the
knowledge of many things with which he should
be conversant. I need say less on this point
now, because the duties themselves of the Chair
will require me to speak at large, on different
occasions, of the writings and services of those
who have laboured in the field of theological
literature. I have now stated to you in general the
views with which I enter on the sacred duties
of this professorship ; both what will be the
great end of my teaching, and the method
to which I shall direct the student. I have
only a few remarks to make further, and shall
then conclude.
That I labour under very great disadvantages
in commencing the duties of my office, is
known to you all ; and I may well say in the
words of the great Athenian statesman, %a\e7roi>
to fterptas eltretv iv q> fioXis ical r\ Bo/ctjctls rrjs akrj-
Oetas /8e/9aioi/Taf '6 re <yap ^vvetBcos Ka\ evvovs aicpo-
arrjs Ta% av Tt ivBeeareptos Trpbs a fiovkerat re ical
itrtaTarat vofilcrete BrfKovcrOat, o re d-jretpos ecrnv a
Kal Tr\eovd%ecr0ai Bid <f)0ovov, ei rt xmep rr)v eaurov

26
(pvcnv aKovot. If the case were only that 1 had
succeeded so able, and excellent, and popular a
man as my lamented predecessor — a man who
adorned the theological chair, not only with the
peculiar qualifications of the Christian teacher,
but with the graces and charities of the Chris
tian pastor; I should find it almost an impos
sible task to reach an estimation, not to say
equal to his, but approaching to that he so
justly enjoyed. But this is not my only dis
advantage. I come before you under a cloud of
prejudice and clamour, which, however easy
for the feeblest among us to raise and diffuse,
it is the hardest thing in the world to remove or
even diminish. For one who has examined
into the ground of an objection there are at
least twenty who repeat it without examina
tion — for one, again, who can apprehend the
force of an objection, there are at least twenty
who never hear the answer — twenty who have
not power, or leisure, or inclination to attend
to, or comprehend the answer. The evil pre
judice, therefore, goes on multiplying in an
increasing ratio, while the means of counter
action are extremely limited. Amongst all
charges too the insinuations of heterodoxy, of
latitudinarianism, of scepticism, are obviously
the most difficult to be removed. They are of
so vague a nature that each person adapts to
them the chimera of his own fears or fancies,
and there is no knowing to what point to
address a refutation. A refutation in fact

27
is impossible, of the ten thousand opinions
by which so vague a charge may be inter
preted. Nothing again is easier than to detach sen
tences from the context and general scheme of
an Author's observations, and to found on them
almost any charge which an objector's own
views may suggest. It is but a light task to
leave out what explains, or qualifies, or re
stricts, the meaning of the sentences, and to
give them a repulsive air by the hardness and
crookedness of the sense put upon them. It
is a familiar rhetorical art, affingere vicina vir-
tutibus vitia, and to make an author guilty of
the paralogisms of his perverse or ignorant
interpreter. All this is easy enough. But
when once suspicions have been scattered
among the public, it is no light task to undo
the delusion. The sophistry may be exposed,
but the impression on the mind of many re
mains ; all have not the power to revert to their
former simplicity : their feelings have been
alienated, and they hear only to disapprove
and condemn.
I do not mean to impute misconstruction
of an author's meaning in all instances to the
fault of the person who misconstrues it. It
may be often due to the ambiguity of words
and forms of expression. Unless an author
therefore can claim (which I am far from
doing) to have in every case most scrupulously
guarded his expressions, so as to render mis-

28
take of his sense unavoidable, candour requires
him to take to himself some portion of the
blame of being misunderstood. I am not there
fore obstinately bent on maintaining the use
of particular words, which, however unexcep
tionable in my own view, appear objectionable
to others. Though I may think their objec
tion in reality unfounded, yet as all writing
is relative to instruction, I am quite sensible
of the necessity of adapting phraseology to the
apprehension of the hearers, and ready to avail
myself of my experience of what is easily un
derstood or not, in order to adopt the best mode
of conveying the truth.
But there is a misconstruction of an author
which is not his fault. It is the overlooking
the main drift of his argument — the singling
out passages for a particular purpose, per
verting them to a sense not the author's, as I
remarked just now — the fastening on him the
consequences drawn by the objector — the
giving an undue prominence to what are only
subordinate parts of his argument to be under
stood with reference to his whole design ; or
if the passages be really important, attributing
to them an importance which he had not in
view. In these and other ways an author may
be greatly misrepresented, and a sensitiveness
of objection may be created against his state
ments, which precludes all fair and reasonable
hearing of his real argument.
Such then is the nature of the difficulty,

29
which I have to encounter. But I appeal
from an excited spirit to a spirit of soberness
and candour. I demand not to be tried by
the conclusions of an adverse school, but by
the calm and gentle reason of men disposed
to give me credit for no less love of the truth
and the faith than themselves, and who will
openly contend with me by argument, not by
censure, and intimidation, and the array of
hostile numbers. " Non tam bene cum rebus
humanis agitur," says an ancient philosopher,
" ut meliora pluribus placeant : argumentum
pessimi, turba est." And a far greater than
the philosopher has said : " Woe unto you
when all men shall speak well of you."
" Blessed are ye when men shall revile you
and persecute you, and shall say all manner
of evil against you falsely for my sake." " If
any man will come after me, let him deny him
self and take up his cross and follow me."
These words are my comfort. I trust He who
spoke them will enable me to proceed on my
way, without repining at the suffering through
which He has required that I should pass, and
without relaxation of spirit in His work under
the painfulness of the counteraction against
which it must be done. I am at all times ready
to meet fair and free discussion ; but to mis
representation, and clamour, and violence,
with God's help, I will never yield. I pray
God to forgive those who may have employed
such weapons against me, and to turn their

hearts, and to grant them more of that mind
which was in Christ Jesus. It is a great grief
to me, I acknowledge, to know that there are
any whose honest, though mistaken, zeal I may
have offended. Such are, I trust, open to con
viction and kinder feelings. I should however,
unless experience had furnished ample instances
of it, wonder that Christian zeal should, in any
individual, have carried him to proceedings de
structive of Christian charity and peace. A
sense of Christian duty and the kind feelings of
the heart will never, I believe, be found apart
from each other, and least of all in doing " the
work of the Lord." After all, however, I ap
pear not here as a functionary of the Univer
sity, or of the Church alone, but as the servant
of a Master in Heaven by whose judgment
I must stand or fall. For, let me say it with
that humility which becomes me in applying
to myself such sacred words : " With me it
is a very small thing that I should be judged
of you or of man's judgment; yea I judge not
mine own self. For I know nothing by my
self; yet am I not hereby justified : but he
that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge
nothing before the time, until the Lord come,
who both will bring to light the hidden things
of darkness, and will make manifest the coun
sels of the hearts : and then shall every man
have praise of God."

NOTE. p. 27.
My application of the term Fact to designate Chris
tian Truths, has, I am sorry to find, been much mis
conceived. It may clear up the difficulty, to some
minds, to point out to their attention the following
passage of Bishop Butler's Analogy, which, as well as
I can recollect, first suggested to me the use of the
term. " This revelation, whether real or supposed, may
be considered as wholly historical. For prophecy is
nothing but the history of events before they come to
pass ; doctrines also are matters of fact ; and precepts
come under the same notion. And the general design
of Scripture, which contains in it this revelation, thus
considered as historical, may be said to be, to give us
an account of the world, in this one single view, as
God's world : by which it appears essentially distin
guished from all other books, so far as I have found,
except such as are copied from it. It begins with an
account of God's creation of the world, in order to
ascertain, and distinguish from all others, who is the
object of our worship, by what he has done : in order
to ascertain, who he is, concerning whose providence,
commands, promises and threatenings, this sacred
book, all along, treats ; the Maker and Proprietor of
the world, he whose creatures we are, the God of
nature : in order, likewise, to distinguish him from the
idols of the nations, which are either imaginary beings,
i. e. no beings at all ; or else part of that creation, the
historical relation of which is here given. And St.
John, not improperly, with an eye to this Mosaic
account of the creation, begins his Gospel with an

32
account of our Saviour's pre-existence, and that all
things were made by him ; and without him was not any
thing made that was made ; agreeably to the doctrine
of St. Paul, that God created all things by Jesus
Christ. This being premised, the Scripture, taken
together, seems to profess to contain a kind of an
abridgment of the history of the world, in the view
just now mentioned : that is, a general account of the
condition of religion and its professors, during the
continuance of that apostacy from God, and state of
wickedness, which it everywhere supposes the world
to lie in. And this account of the state of religion
carries with it some brief account of the political state
of things, as religion is affected by it, etc." Part II.
chap. vii. p. 358, ed. 1820.
I have no wish to retain a phraseology which is not
generally understood. But I think it has no real
difficulty in it, to persons at least accustomed to philo
sophical terms. All such persons know that fact in
philosophical language is not restricted to something
done; though it denotes such a thing in its primary
sense ; but means in general whatever is. I employ
the term to express the reality which belongs to
Christian truths as they are matters of Revelation, as
they exist in the Scriptures themselves, where they
are not so much matters taught, or truths stated sys
tematically, as they are matters revealed. " Hear, O
Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." — " This is
a true saying and worthy of all men to be received,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sin
ners." — " God is Love." Here are several proposi
tions which as parts of the Scripture Revelation are
realities of the kingdom of grace, or facts, as I term
them; when however they are taken out of Scripture
and taught in the same, or equivalent expressions, as

33
parts of a system of Christian truth, they are more
properly doctrines. The Christian Revelation again
is matter of fact, in the primary sense of the term,
because it differs from all pretensions to revelation,
in having a real historical basis for its several com
munications of divine truth ; agreeably to what has
been stated by Butler in the passage above cited.
These historical events on which it is founded are
far from being the whole of the Revelation, but they
are a substratum on which its fabric of truth is
built. I may refer to another instance in which my use of
a philosophical term has been greatly misconceived.
The meaning of the word Law, as it expresses a
general principle has, much to my surprise, entirely
escaped some readers. For what but an ignorance
of this use of the term could have led to an objection
against speaking of the doctrine of the Atonement
as a transcendent instance of a "law" of Divine Pro
vidence expressed by the term Mediation ? Let any
one read over attentively the fifth Chapter of the
second Part of Butler's Analogy on " the Appoint
ment of a Mediator and Redeemer," and he will see
what I intend by thus speaking of the doctrine ; for I
have had this very chapter in my view in what I
have said. It may be enough to quote the opening of
the Chapter to shew this.
" There is not, I think, any thing relating to Chris
tianity, which has been more objected against, than
the Mediation of Christ, in some or other of its parts.
Yet, upon thorough consideration, there seems nothing
less justly liable to it. For, I. The whole analogy of
nature removes all imagined presumption against the
general notion of a Mediator between God and man.
For we find all living creatures are brought into the

34
world, and their life in infancy is preserved, bytthe
instrumentality of others : and every satisfaction of it,
some way or other, is bestowed by the like means.
So that the visible government, which God exercises
over the world, is by the instrumentality and media
tion of others. And how far his invisible government
be or be not so, it is impossible to d«termine at all by
reason. And the supposition that part of it ,is so,
appears, to say the least, altogether 4s credible, as the
contrary^ 'There is* then no sort of objection, from
the light of nature, jagainst the general notion of a
mediator between God and man, considered as a
doctrine of Christianity, or as an appointment in the
dispensation : since we find by experience, that God
does appoint Mediators, to be the instruments of good
and evil to us ; the instruments of his justice and his
mercy. And the objection here referred to is urged,
not against Mediation in that high, eminent, and pecu
liar sense, in which Christ is our Mediator, but abso
lutely against the whole notion itself of a Mediator at
all," etc.

oxrowD : feinted by talboyb and eeowns.