of God independent of every other aid-thoroughly furnished for every emergency and every duty; while the firm persuasion of its ultimate triumph will impart an ardour to his activity, and a moral dignity to his onward step, eminently conducive, through God, to the efficiency of his labours.

6. With our views of the importance of an educated ministry thus sustained, are we not warranted to expect, sixthly, that its importance will be borne out by a reference to history, ancient and modern, sacred and ecclesiastical? And, here, need I remind you that Moses, "God's first pen, as Lord Bacon calls him, and the instrumental founder of the Jewish economy, was rich in all the lore of Egypt; and that from the time of Samuel, with only one exception so far as we know—that of Amos-the prophets and great public teachers of the people were taken by God from the schools of the prophets, where they had been taught the learning of the country and of the day? Descending to the opening of the Christian economy, need I remind you that the apostles, after enjoying for three years the instructions of the Great Teacher himself, were then made learned by miracle?—that he who was last called-the most useful of them all, and who filled the Roman empire with the sound of salvationwas the scholar and philosopher Paul?-and that he, in condemning, as he did, a false philosophy, was in effect pronouncing a commendation of the true? Need I refer to the high estimate in which education was held by the ancient fathers of the Church, by reminding you of the fact that they deprecated the edict of the emperor Julian-forbidding Christians to lecture in the public schools of science and literature-as more destructive to the Christian faith, than all the sanguinary persecutions inflicted by his predecessors? And why did that philosopher of persecution adopt such a measure-but because he well knew the wounds which learning in the hands, of Christian apologists had inflicted on Paganism; and that, as Waddington remarks, it was com

paratively useless to oppress the Christians by bodily ccercion, or even by civil degradation, unless he could at the same time degrade their minds by ignorance.

The time, alas! arrived when they began to choose that ignorance for themselves. At the close of the sixth century, Gregory the Great rejected from the service of religion that learning of which he himself was destitute. How appropriate, that the man who first authoritatively extinguished the light of secular knowledge should have been the first potentate in the new kingdom of Popish darkness; for he it was who, finding the various elements of that great system of imposture ready to his hand, organized them into that gigantic structure of evil which for so many ages stood erect with its foot on the neck of the civilized world. How suggestive the fact that he who said, in effect, "let there be mental darkness," and he who said, "let the man of sin arise and triumph," should have been one and the same individual !

Let it not be supposed, indeed, that we attach any spiritual value to mere knowledge. We are even free to admit that Germany, the nation perhaps the most profoundly learned, has long been the most prolific of infidelity. But much even of that scepticism is only the natural reaction of the mental darkness and depression in which ignorance so long detained the nations. Yes, ignorance has had her millennium-a long and dreary period during which not merely learning became extinct, but almost the curiosity and desire to learn; the Bible became a book comparatively lost and unknown; and the feeble glimmering of knowledge which remained in the hands of a few was employed, not to enlighten but to delude the people; and proved sufficient to hold the enfeebled mind of Christendom in the most servile subjugation.

With what signal effect the weapon of sanctified learning may be wielded, let the history of the Reformation from that fearful condition of the Church attest. Would you know the opinion of the Reformers themselves on the subject? "If we lose the learned languages by our neglect,"

said Luther, "we shall lose the gospel." An unlearned theology," said Melancthon, "is an Iliad of evils; "—a sentiment often reiterated by Calvin also. Need I remind you that our Puritan and Nonconformist forefathers-the champions of truth and liberty in their day-and whose standard theology continues to nourish the piety of the Church, were learned divines? Need I add, further, that among the most useful men of modern days, have been a Doddridge and a Watts, a Wesley and a Whitefield, of England; and, of America, an Edwards, a Bellamy, and a Dwight; and that, besides being educated themselves, they advocated the collegiate preparation of others for the ministry-some of them actually presiding in such institutions?

Far be it from us to deny that God has greatly blessed the preaching of some uneducated ministers. "We therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." He did not bless them, however, on account of their ignorance, but in spite of it. It was not their ignorance which he blessed; but certain other qualities which they possessed in common with the educated man of God-qualities which a wise education would have aided to develope and direct-zeal and devotedness to the glory of God. On the other hand, could we take you to listen to some of this class, you would feel at once that their preaching-in which distinctions are made without differences, assertions are mistaken for arguments, and illustrations of truth substituted for doctrines-is of a character to limit their usefulness to a single class of hearers, and to disparage them in the eyes even of some of that class. And how many a minister of this description, could you address him on the subject, would feelingly deplore his own want of early education, and set forth the disadvantages under which he consequently labours! And thus you might easily obtain, from your own observation, an illustration of the same truth, which history in all ages so abundantly confirms, that there exists a relation between religion and an educated ministry, and that, where the

latter is wanting, the former invariably tends to superstition, fanaticism, or extinction.

And now, what, after all, is the summary of the various arguments in support of an educated ministry, but simply this that ignorance is imperfection; and that, in the case of the man of God, we are anxious to lessen that imperfection as much as possible? What is it but saying that, as sin is the parent of all voluntary ignorance, and as the gospel is the great remedy for sin, we believe it was meant, directly or indirectly, to remedy such ignorance as well as every other evil; and that we are anxious that the man of God should be an instance of its remedial influence in this, as well as in every other respect? What is it but saying, that, if he speak for God, he should speak according to the rules of language; that, if he attempt to reason for God, he should not do it irrationally, but according to the rules of reasoning; that, if he profess to be an interpreter of the Bible, he should spare no pains necessary to render himself a correct expositor" an able minister of the New Testament." In a word, what is it but saying that the man of God should be made as acceptable an offering to the Head of the Church, and as efficient an agent for the diffusion of the Gospel, as his own endeavours and the endeavours of the Church, combined with the prayers of both for the impartation of the Holy Spirit, can possibly render him?

III.

Such being some of the grounds of the importance of an educated ministry, I might enlarge, thirdly, on some of the consequent obligations. The nature of the occasion, however, which has now assembled us, reminds me that you are already alive to those obligations, and allows me to be as brief as the subject will permit. I will only remind you, therefore, that as your sense of the importance of an educated ministry committed you to the erection of

a college, so now the erection of that college commits you to a series of corresponding duties. By selecting the more capable and intelligent, as well as pious, among the youthful members of your churches, to enjoy its advantages; by fairly estimating its 'pecuniary wants and contributing liberally to its support; by allowing its students the full enjoyment of its entire course, instead of hastily terminating their studies, and hurrying them into the ministry unprepared; and by giving the preference, when called to choose a pastor, not to one of ignorant, but of intelligent piety;-by these means, you cannot fail, under God, to secure an intelligent ministry. And by placing these means in your power, the Head of the Church is leaving you to say whether he shall be served by an illiterate, or by an educated ministry.

Brethren, friends of our collegiate institutions, you are committed to a great work. Bear with me while, in few words, I exhort you to view it chiefly in the highest light. View the support of our colleges, if you please, as a service rendered to your respective Christian denominations; and, as such, it richly deserves their practical thanks. But regard it chiefly as belonging to that great system of agencies by which God is subduing all things unto himself. Contemplate it chiefly in that only light in which it can be invested with enduring importance-as included in that infinite plan which subordinates all our movements to its own designs, and which, while it demands the strenuous activity of every agent in the universe, yet absolutely stands in need of none; and thus regarded, you will feel ennobled while rendering it the humblest service.

Think of the support of our colleges, if you please, as a duty called for by the circumstances of the times-as a work for the day. But fail not, in your holiest moments, to regard it as touching the past eternity and the future-as associated with that ministry of reconciliation which was determined on before the foundation of the world, and with that perfecting