sure of a preliminary school, and all this because such advice and recommendations form no part of their duties as an executive body! So then, it is the duty of an executive to act the automaton; the board of trustees of Girard College is only to open its mouth, puppet-like, when the Councils shall pull the strings! By the ordinance creating the board, it is expressly declared, that “it shall be their duty to superintend the organization and management of Girard College, in conformity with the will of the late Stephen Girard ;" and this duty implies that of devising measures of orga nization and management, and, of course, of recommending such measures to the legislative body, with such of the reasons and arguments that induced their adoption, as might be deemed necessary and expedient. So far, then, from traveling out of the line of their duty in "advising" and "urging" what they deemed to be necessary measures, they would have been criminally culpable if they had not done so. It would naturally be expected, that their opinions, the fruit of much time and labor devoted to the study of the subject, would be valuable to the Councils; and their very appointment as trustees was intended to insure this study on their part, and to obtain such advice as their wisdom and experience might suggest.

It is hardly to be wondered at, that the committee, holding such views, should oppose the establishment of a preliminary school, and recommend the dissolution of the board of trustees and the discharge of the president of the college from employment. The Common Council has not yet, we believe, acted on their Report, and we sincerely hope that its doctrines and measures may not find favor with that body. On the whole, it is very much to be regretted that Mr. Girard committed the execution of his will, so far, at least, as the college is concerned, to the city authorities. His usual sagacity seems here to have deserted him. The college has already become an element of great power in the political warfare of Philadelphia; and, in this respect, matters will probably become worse, instead of better, with the progress of time. Still, we indulge the hope, that under the guidance of divine Providence, the Girard College may before many years be fully organized, and the anticipations of Mr. Biddle's Address more than fulfilled; when "there shall be collected within its walls all that the knowledge and research of men have accumulated to enlighten and improve the

minds of youth. It will be the civil West Point of this country, where all the sciences which minister to men's happiness, and all the arts of peace, may be thoroughly and practically taught. Its success will naturally render it the model for other institutionsthe centre of all improvement in things taught, no less than in the art of teaching them-the nursery of instructors as well as of pupils -thus not merely accomplishing the direct benefit of those to whom its instruction extends, but irradiating by its example the whole circumference of human knowledge."

Dickinson College, Nov. 12, 1840.

ART. II.-An Essay on the Necessity of Christ's Sufferings.

BY REV. JOSEPH CASTLE, A. M.,

Of the Troy Conference.

“Ότι οὕτω γέγραπται, καὶ οὕτως ἔδει παθεῖν τὸν χριστὸν,” Luke xxiv, 46.

THE mystery of our redemption completed-the resurrection of Jesus Christ demonstrated-the lacerated hearts of the disconsolate disciples healed and exulting in the assured return of their divine Master from the dominions of the tomb-and Christ graciously condescending to open the Scriptures to their understanding, and thus prepare them to carry the tidings of salvation to a lost world, are some of the deeply interesting and infinitely important truths recorded in this chapter.

The Bible is an inspired volume, and all its truths are important; but some are more so than others, and some fill a more prominent place in the inspired record than others; but none more so than the divine character of Jesus Christ, and the infinite value of his sufferings. He has a name which is above every name; he is over all, God blessed for ever; he bears the same titles, does the same works, and receives the same honors as the supreme God our heavenly Father; and our salvation commenced, continued, and consummated in heaven is wholly ascribed to his sufferings and death. We are bought with a price; we are redeemed, not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ; we are washed, we are justified, we are sancti

fied; we are presented without spot, and blameless, before the throne of the excellent majesty in the heavens, through the blood and righteousness of God's dear Son.

This doctrine has been so often reiterated in the nursery, in the school room, and in the sacred desk, that it has become as familiar, in sound, as household words; and yet there is a richness in it which all the wealth of an angel's intellect could not have produced. God only could conceive the thoughts, and teach the words, which make us wise unto salvation. In the sufferings of Jesus Christ there is a height which no man can reach—a depth which no man can fathom-it lies too deeply buried in the profundity of the divine nature, for man's limited and lapsed powers fully to grasp; but what is revealed we may, we must devoutly and diligently study, and though we cannot fully comprehend, we can believe, and believing we shall adore!

This doctrine, most wonderful and gracious, commanding the attention of heavenly beings, and worthy of all acceptation, has ever been repugnant to the carnal mind. It was foolishness to the Greeks; and the Jews, though favored with the traditions of the patriarchs, the writings of the prophets, and the institutions of Moses, they stumbled at this stumbling stone, to their national fall; and even the chosen disciples, who enjoyed the public and private instructions of the Son of God, were exceedingly backward to receive this wonderful truth. He therefore complained of their unbelief, and after his resurrection he said, "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." O what a divine discourse must that have been! Happy disciples! how richly were you compensated for all your sorrows! "Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer."

"It behooved Christ to suffer." It was fit, proper, necessary that Christ should suffer these things. But why was it necessary? What has he done to experience the pains of Calvary, and sink in death, beneath a load of shame and wo? Suffering is the natural and necessary consequence of sin, for sin is the transgression of the VOL. I.-14

law of our being, as well as the revealed will of God, and cannot be broken without violence done to the constitution which God has given to nature, at the same time that it offers an insult to the infinite and eternal majesty. Where there is sin, there must be suffering, for sin is an unnatural state, as well as an unholy one. But was Jesus Christ in any sense a sinner because he suffered these things? If this were true, would it not follow that he is not the Saviour, for one sinner can surely as well save himself, as another sinner can save the world? But he was not, in any sense, a sinner, for he had dwelt from eternity in the bosom of the Father; prostrate seraphim had adored before his throne; angels sung his advent; and a voice from the excellent glory proclaimed, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

Prophecy indeed has foretold, not only his birth, eventful life, and wondrous works, but his sufferings and death; but prophecy was not that which rendered his death necessary. The necessity had existed long before the first prophetic harp was tuned to sing the wonders of his love-before the first altar was raised, and the first slain victim bled to teach the nature and design of his death. If it had not been necessary for him to bleed and die, the sacrificial institution would have been unknown; the harps of prophecy would have waked to other themes, or been for ever dumb; the seasons would have returned to find men improved in virtue, and the sun would have run his race until men, full of knowledge, and perfected in celestial graces, would probably have passed by an easy transition from this to a more exalted sphere-ignorance and all its folly-disease and all its pain-death, the grave-yard, and all its horrors would have been unknown. If the necessity had not existed the Son of God would not have suffered; the world's Redeemer would not have died. Indeed, if he had not suffered, the prophetic writings would have remained unfulfilled; but if the necessity had not previously existed, these writings would never have been given.

The sufferings of Christ, which astonished angels, confounded devils, and restored an apostate world to the embraces of God, were not the result of fate, or an eternal series of successive causes, which, according to the faith of some, impiously binds all things, even God himself, and renders all things inevitable, and therefore destroys all free agency, and of course all distinction be

tween merit and demerit-between vice and virtue-and makes even the terms unnecessary and unmeaning. Nor are his sufferings to be traced merely to a divine decree, which, according to the faith of others, foreordains whatsoever comes to pass, for a divine decree ordaining all things, makes all things necessary, and is, therefore, nearly as fatal to free agency as fate itself, as it leaves but one free agent in the universe. But man was free in his rebellion, and Christ was eminently so in his sufferings; for though it was necessary that Christ should suffer these things, it was only so, "that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations." And that men could not repent and be forgiven without this, is evident from the fact, that he died and rose again for this purpose and for this reason. Sin is a perfect paralysis to the soul; it clouds the intellect, hardens the heart, and vitiates all its powers. Man, left to himself, is destitute of every gracious emotion, and would wander for ever, plunging deeper at every step in misery and sin. No man unaided by divine influence ever did, or ever will, repent and turn to God. But if he could repent, and would do so, with the most deep and reforming sorrow, would this be an adequate atonement for the violation of the Creator's law? Repentance will not satisfy the claims of justice at a righteous tribunal on earth, and why should it at the righteous tribunal in heaven? Is God less just than man, and are the claims of man to be met, but the claims of the Almighty to be surrendered? No; God is to be regarded as the infinitely just, moral Governor of the universe, who is never merciful at the expense of his justice, or just at the expense of his mercy, but is the same wise, and holy, and just God, in all the dispensations of his providence, and in all the acts of his righteous administration in heaven, earth, and hell; and his law is unalterable in its nature and eternal in its demands of obedience.

The necessity of Christ's sufferings arose from the position which man assumed, from the relation which he sustained to God in consequence of the original transgression. He was made a little lower than the angels; received his outward form from the dust of the earth, but his mind, his heart, his immortal nature from the breath of God. He was made in the image of his Maker, bore the impress of majesty, and, as a sovereign, all things were placed in subjection under him; but as the creature of God, and as a test