is soothed, while yielding to them, by the reflection that he is doing good. To the less devoted, the numberless allurements that, on every side, address themselves to his tastes, his passions present such strong temptations to the indulgence of his propensities, that it is well if he only wastes his time, and does not make shipwreck to his soul."

Dr. Young, after noticing two objections, first that the location is not sufficiently central, and secondly that it is a slave State, concludes with a solemn and animating address to the Professors about to be inaugurated.

DR. ROBERT J. BRECKINRIDGE, Professor of Theology, then delivered an Inaugural Discourse. He commenced by referring to the solemn ceremonies of the occasion and to his own personal interest in them, and proceeded to give his views of the great work on which he was about to enter. He first magnified the Church of the living God, as before and above all ordinances, all office-bearers, and all visible organizations. The mission of the Church to the human race was next briefly unfolded in its two great aims of converting men to God, and of training them for a glorious immortality. The authority of the ministerial office, and the necessity of a divine interposition in calling and qualifying men for its duties, were then pointed out; after which the nature of the training required was dwelt upon more at large. Many striking suggestions are made on this subject. The following eloquent passage describes the work of candidates for the ministry.

"To advance another step in our subject, let us suppose ourselves in the midst of those young brethren of the Lord, who are objects of so much solicitude to the church, and let us see to what subjects it is that they are directing their earnest labours. Many years and many toils, have brought them to these class-rooms; many prayers, many tears, many heart struggles, have attested the depth of their conviction, that they ought to be there; and many gentle, loving and faithful spirits far away, are solemnly mindful of them, as they go in and out in their preparation for the self-denying, but august calling which the Lord has chosen them for. The widow's son, and the stay of the poor man's house, and the hope of the rich and great, and the light and joy of the highest in the land; all are there. I have seen them all, mingled on those humble forms, and the only rivalry is, or should be, who is most willing, who most fit to labour and to suffer for Christ's sake. Thus marshalled, let us begin the work.

First of all, here are those strange tongues, in which, and in no other, it pleased God to bestow on man, the knowledge of himself. These are the very words of eternal life, and herein are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. These tongues must be mastered, and the teachers of God's people must be brought, every one for himself, into that direct and personal communication with the divine Spirit, which may be obtained by the precise knowledge of the very words he caused inspired men to utter. This knowledge is presupposed in every other part of their professional education, and is absolutely necessary to the highest professional knowledge and usefulness in every subsequent employment of life. It does not confer, even when it is most thorough, the true knowledge of God; because it is with the heart that man believeth unto righteousness. But it does confer one means, which nothing can adequately supply, of that true knowledge of God to the renewed heart which seeks to comprehend His whole counsel.

Next, in the natural order of the subject, comes the systematic study of this blessed truth of God, to be nearer to which are all the labours indicated above.

What, precisely, are the separate truths which God has taught to man; and what, exactly, is the great system which taken according to the divine proportion of faith, these truths all united, make up; and what, exegetically on the one hand, and logically on the other, is the method of deducing, first the separate truths, and secondly the general system from them all; and what, in its moral and spiritual import to us personally, is the value and significance of all this truth, to the life that now is, and to that which is to come; and what is the foundation and the extent of the certainty that we may here risk our souls; and what, finally, are the impregnable defences, behind which we may maintain, even against principalities and powers, this heavenly treasure. What infinite subjects!

After this, pursuing the same natural order, comes the history of this truth, in its glorious career from the bosom of God-all across the track of ages, down even to the hour that is passing over us; its conflicts, its victories, the blessings it has conferred, the perversions it has endured, and the disasters it has sustained -all considered in a light purely abstract-as of the truth by itself; then its concrete history, as it is embodied and held forth, in the visible church of God, living and struggling throughout all generations; and then the still more complex history of the truth, the Church, the nations, and the race, all mutually affecting each other, and all united exhibiting the entire course, and to a vast extent the causes and the significance, of God's entire dealings with men. Again, what infinite subjects!

Last of all, comes the Church itself, living and struggling before us, the whole truth of God put into actual movement before our eyes, and in a measure in our hands; the divine organization to which the truth is committed, and through which it lives for ever; the direct preaching of the blessed gospel, with the fruits thereof, and the power thereof; the superintendence and administration of the Church of the living God, in all the amazing efficacy of that sublime spiritual force; history itself, creating in a sense, its own terms, and enacting its deep secrets before our faces, and the real power that has all along decided all things upon earth-here contemplated, as it determines them, by little and little, afresh in our view; God's truth, God's Church, God's people, God's ministers, in all God's heaven appointed ways, and under God's all-guiding providenceacting, and to be expounded to living men. Once more, what infinite subjects! These are the topics which make up the round of strictly professional study, in the most general estimate of its merely intellectual part, to which those who seek the ministry in our church, should be required to address themselves, and which those who are called to instruct them are presumed to be competent to illustrate and enforce. Need we wonder at the solicitude of the Church that these things should be provided for in a manner suitable to their transcendent importance? Need we be surprised that a munificent liberality should mark the conduct of so many of God's people, towards such enterprises? Need we feel alarm, when many shrink back, and many fail, whether as teachers or pupils when brought face to face with things so vast and momentous."

Dr. Breckinridge concluded his discourse with various remarks on the providences of God towards the Institution, and with an exhortation, of which the following is the last paragraph:

"Oh! that I were worthy to be heard, and that my voice could reach every heart throughout our borders! How would I lift it up in passionate entreaties, that the Church would rouse herself up and lay hold on God. Not in this enterprise, not in that; not in this place, nor in the other; but in everything and in every place the moral of her history, so far as I have acted in it, and the absolute sum of all my poor endeavours on her behalf, may alike be expressed in a single word. What has she ever gained by distrusting God? What has she ever lost, by heroic faith? In her darkest as well as in her proudest dayalike when patient counsel alone could save her, as when vehement effort was her only stay-equally when her duty was to suffer all, as when it was to dare all: this has been at once her safety and her renown, that she saw she could gain nothing

by distrusting God, that she felt she could lose nothing by heroic faith. And while she thus sees and thus feels, God will be in the midst of her, for her defence, for her refuge, and for her exceeding great reward; when she encamps, Jehovah dwelling, as with Israel of old, amongst the thousands of his people, and when she sets forward, Jehovah rising up to scatter all her enemies, and put them to flight that hate her."

E. P. HUMPHREY, Professor of Ecclesiastical History, chose, for the subject of his Inaugural Discourse, the proper method of Ecclesiastical History; first, as to the matter of it, second as to the form in which its materials will be most useful to the preacher; and lastly as to the intellectual states which should be brought to this study.

I. History, as to the matter of it, is a collection of facts. Hence, the surpassing value of the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles, as text books in this department, both in regard to the information imparted, and their authenticity. II. In regard to the order of pursuing this study, best adapted to the minister of the Gospel, Dr. Humphrey remarked: "A thorough preparation for the work requires the candidate to comprehend the historical development of the church in all its relations. He should, therefore, pursue the subject after what may be called the topical method. The highest place should be given to the history of Christian doctrine. He might well follow the arrangement adopted in our Confession of Faith, and trace out the history of each doctrine in its several branches, through all the controversies, and corruptions, and reformations which have prevailed. This work accomplished, the student should then acquaint himself, systematically, with the history of Christian worship, through all the stages of ritualism, until its return to the primeval simplicity in which we, this day, serve the God of our fathers. Next the history of church government, should be traced from the presbytery of the Apostolical age through the presidency, prelacy, and papacy, until its reformation into its free and scriptural form. And, still further, the manifestations of the inner life of the Church, its relations to the state, and its extension among the nations, should all be attentively considered."

A few illustrations, drawn from the history of Christian doctrine, are then given in explanation and recommendation of the topical method suggested. The Doctor first showed the influence of philosophy on the dogmatic faith of the Church. 2. Then showed how the method recommended would enable the student to trace the gradual but progressive settlement of our system of doctrine, in regard to the truths relating to God, to the character of man, to the way of salvation and to the Church, in its nature, marks, constitution, officers, &c. 3. This method will likewise exhibit to the student the history of our standards. 4. The origin of the terminology employed in our standards. 5. The comprehensiveness of our system of faith, as compared with preceding Christian documents. 6. Moreover, the history of Christian doctrine further shows that our Confession is an armoury, stocked with weapons for the defence of the truth. 7. "The relation between doctrine and modes of worship are seen historically

in the circumstance that the evangelical system, resting on the idea of justification by faith, has been uniformly associated with simple and scriptural forms of worship; but the opposite system, resting on the idea of justification by the sacraments, has ever established for its disciples the worship of pomp and sense."

III. The intellectual states appropriate to this department of knowledge were then briefly pointed out.

"Now some of the intellectual states appropriate to this department of knowledge, are indicated by the circumstance already mentioned, that history, as to the matter of it, is a collection of facts. The student should, therefore, discipline his mind, in the first place, to the love of the truth; and next, to all the processes of thought, inquiry and analysis, which enter into the idea of a severe induction. He should make himself acquainted with the verities of the subject. To this end he should investigate its sources with the ardour of the advocate and the sobriety of the judge. Heedless of all consequences as to the bearing of his researches on his own cherished opinions, or on those of others, he should seek for the truth, by ascending to its higher head-springs. He should approach the final results of his inquiries with cautious, patient thought, remembering that he is seeking for that which when found is to be believed; and he that believeth should not make haste. When at last he has reached the truth, let him gaze with faith as well as wonder on its unveiled majesty; let him receive its dictates with a fixed and absolute conviction; and then let him act on that conviction with an unwavering steadfastness; knowing this, that belief in the simple uncorrupted truth is ever more the law of the spirit of life.

"Still further, it is indispensable, that the student in history enter into a true sympathy, a living communion with the periods which he investigates. A great biblical scholar has said, that he who would interpret the prophets in the Old Testament and the Apocalypse in the New Testament must steep himself in Orientalism. In like manner, if we would comprehend the past, we must allow it to enter into our spheres of thought, living its peculiar life, assuming its own antiquated forms, and robed in its now faded garments."

Dr. Humphrey, in illustration of the last remark, gave an eloquent description of the Council of Nice, which we intended to copy, but our limits forbid. We merely add the concluding paragraph of the Discourse:

And

"With what gratitude to God do we turn from this imposing, but mournful spectacle, to that which is now passing before us! We have a true gospel, a pure church, and a free commonwealth. Here are the sacred Scriptures. Here is our confession of faith, summing up the labours of God's people, through all past ages, in the interpretation of his Word. Here is the assembly of his saints, in the midst of which we honour the Son even as we honour the Father. here is a venerable Synod of the Church, a council composed not of prelates and patriarchs after the commandments of men, but of teaching and ruling Presbyters according to the ordinance of God. Its records are adorned by the names of Rice, and Campbell, and Nelson, and Cameron, and Blythe, and Blackburn, and Wilson-men mighty in the Scriptures, full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. Herein is that saying true, one soweth and another reapeth. Other men laboured and we have entered into their labours. And here and now, we accomplish at last the desire of their hearts, and finish the work of their hands, while we lay in the bosom of this Synod the foundations of a school of sacred learning.

"Now, therefore, arise, O LORD GOD, into thy resting-place, thou, and the ark of thy strength; let thy priests, O LORD GOD, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness!"

The inaugural exercises, so ably and appropriately commenced, have been followed by a course of instruction, which has already drawn twenty-three students to the institution. We anticipate a large accession to its numbers during the next term; and all Presbyterians, whatever may be their partiality for other institutions, should rejoice in the success and prospects of this new Theological Seminary, founded under the auspices of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.

CASES OF WARNING.*

"So that a man shall say, verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily He is a God that judgeth in the earth." Ps. lviii. 11.

I. "You want the horse to drive over to the funeral this afternoon, do you?" said Mr. Essex, to his wife. "Well, I suppose you can take him, but there will be two solid hours of ploughing time as good as thrown away. That preacher who has been visiting Mrs. Martin daily during her sickness will, no doubt, be there to discourse at her funeral. I cannot see the use of any such doings. When people are sick, let them send for a physician, and when they die, let their friends bury them decently, and let the preachers keep away. Their whole business is a humbug, any how. I told the Rev. Mr. Davies so, the last time he came over here; and I added, as I now repeat to you, that when I or any of my family are sick or dead, I want none of the preachers to come and pray with us or pray over us.'

Mr. Essex was a substantial farmer in one of our rural districts. He was somewhat advanced in years, and a large family of children had grown up around him. Unhappily he was an unbeliever, and had trained his whole family to be stout opposers to the gospel. The settlement and success of the Rev. Mr. Davies in his neighbourhood annoyed him greatly. He could scarcely treat him with civility, and at length indeed became manifestly excited and irritated at any incident or allusion that brought up the subject of religion.

Shortly after the above conversation, Mr. Essex with his wife and one daughter, made a fortnight's visit among some friends in an adjoining State. Upon his return he became unwell. His illness proved to be small-pox. He died. The infection spread through the family. Four sons, all grown, went down to the grave in quick succession. Every male in that house died. Each as soon as dead was hurried, at whatever hour it might be of day or night, to his burial.

These cases of warning occurred within the knowledge of one of the ministers of our Church.-Ed.