men are not numerous, and the mass of writers on all subjects are naturally of a very different description. And although this has not happened especially in theology; for the multitude of ordinary historians or biographers, or writers of travels, is as great in proportion as that of ordinary divines; yet there is a reason why such writers are in theology particularly worthless. Where facts are to be communicated, a man of very moderate powers, if he happens to have had access to sources of information not generally accessible, can tell us much which it is well worth our while to read. But in interpreting the writings of others, in carrying on processes of reasoning, in discussing questions of practice, in analysing human nature; in all those matters which are the common province of the theologian, the salt that has lost its savour is not more unprofitable than the writings of a feeble or prejudiced mind. And therefore it may be perfectly consistent with a very sincere reverence for the authority of

great men to attach but little respect to a large proportion of what is called Divinity.

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No words have ever so well described the true excellence of a theologian as our Lord's own comparison. Every scribe instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, is like unto a householder who bringeth out of his treasure things new and old." Standing, as St. Paul expresses it, in the position of one who judges all things, the pre-eminent greatness of his task requires a cultivation of mind proportionably pre-eminent. His business is twofold, the interpretation of the Scriptures, and the application of them. The first is a matter of criticism and philology; and every work that increases our knowledge of the languages in which the Scriptures were written; that assists us to fix the age and circumstances of the authors of the several books; or that throws light on the state of their times, in all its various divisions, is the proper study of a theologian

with regard to this first part of his duty. But the second part of it, the application of the Scriptures, opens to him a still wider field. For this a complete knowledge of his own times is wanting; and such a knowledge is impossible without a knowledge of former times also; the great events, if I may so speak, in the moral and intellectual, no less than in the political history of the human race; the great vicissitudes of opinion, the great influences upon morals, the great social changes which have been affected by or have affected both; these, together with the general constitution of the human mind and character, such as it exists in all ages, are the magnificent subjects which he should study who really aspires to the name of a great theologian.

With respect to the first division of a theologian's studies, the interpretation of the Scriptures, I shall reserve what I have to say for another occasion. On the second

division, the application of the Scriptures, it may not be amiss to add a few observations now. I suppose that the Scriptures themselves are constantly studied, and that the student is careful meanwhile to keep himself in a healthy condition morally, by cultivating his religious and his charitable affections; the first by the exercises of devotion, prayer, and meditation, and by reading works of a directly practical character: * the second by habitual intercourse with the poor. It is needless to say, that without this no merely intellectual study will be likely to bring forth its proper fruits. But suppose these points to be carefully attended to, and let us imagine a young man, after having taken his degree of Bachelor of Arts, commencing his professional studies pre

* I mean such works as Bishop Wilson's most admirable "Maxims," and "Sacra Privata," Taylor's "Holy Living and Dying," and many others of the same class. I should rank with them Pascal's "Pensées," if I did not consider it to belong also to a class of works separately noticed elsewhere," the master works of human genius."

viously to his ordination. Now in addition to his scriptural studies, which are to furnish him with his principles of teaching and acting, he wants to learn how to apply these principles for the benefit of his own generation. He is destined to lead a life eminently active, to be thrown amongst his brethren without any more particular occupation than that of promoting their good in every way, temporal and spiritual. It is manifest, therefore, that he ought fully to understand the nature of that society which he is to endeavour to influence: the relations of its several parts to one another; what may have disordered those relations; the views which the several classes entertain of each other and of themselves; and how far these are founded on prejudice or on truth. The irritation against their richer neighbours, which he will often find prevailing in the minds of the poor, renders it expedient that he should be acquainted with the elements, at least, of political