combination of the doctrines dispersed through the pages of revelation. Theological study is necessarily incomplete, until the fruits of the biblical and historical investigation just recommended, are brought together, and an organic and harmonious system is constructed from them. In this whole employment, it were well, if there were less solicitude to maintain any human form, any established system of belief, and more to apprehend the essential spirit of Christianity. How often have the technical schemes of faith, to which so much importance is attached, been subverted, while, contrary to the forebodings of their adherents, the spirit by which they were animated, has sprung from their ruins, in a form more beautiful and congenial.-It were well also if the study of divine truth could be prosecuted, with a less anxious reference to immediate, practical utility. It is not the office of the student of revelation to enquire, what will be useful, but simply what is true; assured that the truth, whatever it may be, will be more useful, than any thing which he might substitute for it, having been designed by God for the highest good of men, and adapted by his wisdom to their wants. It is well remarked by a late writer,* that "there can be no greater impediment to the progress of science, than a perpetual and anxious reference at every step to palpable utility." "Inquiries after truth," he says, "should be prosecuted in every possible direction, even where they have no apparent relation to the good of society, in the certainty that the result will at some time be beneficial." If now the naturalist, the mathematician, or metaphysician may urge on his investigations, under the persuasion that the truth he may discover will contribute in some way, and in the hands of his successors, if not in his own, to the good of the world; how much more the theologian, who inquires after a truth, the whole design and intent of whose revelation is the welfare of man?

It is worthy of serious inquiry, whether this more interested and extended study of our doctrinal system, must not precede the hoped for advance of Christianity. It was in this way, and not by wild and impetuous efforts, that Spener and Franke sought to prepare for the reformation of which they were instrumental. And it is with the same enlightened

Mr. Bailey of Sheffield, author of the Essay on the formation and publication of opinions.

views of the bearing of evangelical doctrine upon the kingdom of Christ, that the noble company of modern reformers in Germany, are devoting themselves so ardently to the study of all the departments of Theological science.

But the knowledge of the doctrines of Christianity should not only be studiously pursued; it must be industriously circulated, by those who would hasten the coming of a better day. Indeed, the substance of Christian effort must ever consist in holding forth the word of life. The existing evils in our moral and social state, can be removed in no other way, than by bringing all the orders and institutions of society under the pervading influence of the doctrines of Christianity. To this influence, mingled so early and strongly in the forming elements of our society, is our favoured country indebted, for its moral and religious superiority to other portions of the world; but it must be greatly increased before our land will be, what a Christian land should be. Is there not reason, however, to suspect, that the movement as to doctrinal knowledge, is rather retrograde than forward, in the public at large? This we know is the belief of many, whose age enables them to contrast the past with the present. The vehicles of general religious information are, indeed, greatly multiplied; but they are more occupied in conveying the news of religious operations to the Christian public, than in exhibiting and enforcing the doctrines of our religion. How few of all the books and periodical publications of the day, have for their object to establish the minds of Christians in the belief of the fundamental articles of their system! How little of the instruction given to the young in families and Sabbath Schools, is of a doctrinal nature! The Catechism is laid upon the shelf, and covered with the dust of neglect, and its place often supplied by the religious story-book. From the pulpit, too, how rarely are there now heard those clear and lucid exhibitions of scriptural doctrine, which were regarded by the older divines as the best and only means of promoting a stable, enlightened and vigorous piety! This growing tendency to omit doctrinal instruction, unless checked, must issue in a state of things sadly the reverse of the sanguine expectations we are accustomed to cherish. And parents and teachers, who now neglect to instruct those committed to their charge in the elements of Christian faith, ought not to wonder should they see them hereafter unstable as the

shifting sands of the desert, and driven about by every wind of doctrine.

Would we guard against instability, apostacy and fanaticism, we must guard against that ignorance of religious truth, which is the fruitful parent of these evils. Would we do any thing to realize the cherished hopes of the Church, we must prepare for their accomplishment from afar, and begin the train of causes, by disseminating the knowledge of Christian doctrines. That sort of piety which is now wanted, and by whose steady energies the christianization of the world is to be accomplished, must be grounded in the convictions of the understanding, as well as fired by the ardours of feeling.

There is still another duty which Christians owe to the system of revealed truth, viz. to contend for it, when it is assailed. This duty, like those already mentioned, results principally from the established connexion between the truth and the moral renovation of men. If there is any thing in the world worth contending for, it must be a system so nearly allied to the present and eternal welfare of our whole race. The sublime results to which the doctrines of the Gospel are conducive, enjoin an unyielding steadfastness in their defence, and condemn that false toleration by which they are often surrendered. The magnitude of the end for which the truth is revealed, the reconciliation of the world unto God, ennobles zeal for its maintenance, and advances martyrs for its cause to an equal rank with the most illustrious benefactors of mankind.

The defence of the doctrines of the gospel has, accordingly, been considered a sacred duty in every age of the Church. The true-hearted Christians in the days of early persecution loved the doctrines of Christianity too well, and knew too well their efficacy, to yield them up without a contest. Standing firm upon their inmost convictions of truth, they could be moved neither by the allurements or menaces of worldly power. Could they have listened to the dictates of worldly policy, and silently acquiesced in the perversion of the doctrines of Christianity, they would have looked upon themselves as traitors to the cause of God on earth.

How much is the Church of later and more peaceful days indebted to the noble intrepidity, the holy fortitude and firmness, of these early defenders of its faith! Had Athan

asius or Augustine, not to mention others, quietly surrendered the vital doctrines for which they contended, the Christian world might to this day have been overspread with the disastrous shadow of Arian or Pelagian heresy!

There are many who seem to suppose, that there is no longer any occasion for that vigilant and jealous defence of the doctrines of the Gospel, which was formerly necessary,that these doctrines have become sufficiently established by the efforts of our predecessors, and that our whole duty lies in making them known through the earth. But this opinion overlooks the fact, that most errours in religion have their root in the depravity of human nature; and though they may be suppressed at one time, they will again spring up, as long as the quality of their native soil is unaltered. It proceeds, too, on a mistaken view of the appointed lot of the Church on earth. "It is but ignorance," says that great philosopher whom we have before quoted, "if any man find it strange, that the state of religion, especially in days of peace, should be exercised and troubled with controversies: for as it is the condition of the Church militant to be ever under trials, so it cometh to pass, that when the fiery trial of persecution ceaseth, there succeedeth another trial, which as it were by contrary blasts of doctrine, doth sift and winnow men's faith, and proveth whether they know God aright.”

Happy, indeed, would it be for us, if we could believe that these "contrary blasts of doctrine" had spent their force, and would never again sweep over the Church. But one must be very unobservant, who does not see, that there are tendencies of theological sentiment at the present time, which threaten, in their full developement, the essential doctrines of the Christian faith. If this be really so, how false and dangerous is that security respecting the doctrines of Christianity, into which so many are lulled by the present outward prosperity and the opening prospects of the Church! Should the Church of this day, flushed by its recent victories, become negligent of its own defence, and leaving the Palladium of its safety unprotected, send forth its sacramental hosts for distant conquests, it could not be long before its triumphant legions must be called back, to recapture their own walls and bulwarks from the insidious foe.

Beside the dangerous tendencies of theological sentiment to which allusion has been made, there are other dispositions infused by the spirit of the times, which are pecu

liarly adverse to religious truth, and which demand peculiar watchfulness in guarding its interests. That impatience of the restraints of authority,-that irreverent contempt of ancient opinions and usages,—that restless spirit of innovation,that all-pervading rationalism, which will receive no mysteries unexplained, and thinks to fathom and comprehend even the deep things of God;-these, and other congenial dispositions, which so strongly characterize the present times, are most unfriendly to the pure belief of a system of truth, authoritative in its very nature, as revealed from God, venerable in its aspect, as handed down through a long tradition, and humbling to the pride, and far above the measure, of reason, in the sacred mysteries which it contains.

There is still another circumstance which seems to make this watchful guardianship of the great interests of truth, the more general duty of all the friends of religion. It has been the method of Providence in past ages, to raise up single individuals, prepared by a peculiar training and by eminent endowments of wisdom and piety, whose higher station should enable them to descry from afar any threatening danger, and whose more ascendant influence should enable them to adopt the necessary measures of precaution. But in the wider diffusion of knowledge, and consequent equalization of influence, this method would seem to be forsaken, for one more consonant with the altered condition of society. We see but few, indeed, who rise so far above the republican level of the Christian community, and the minor sectional interests of the Church, as to have either the ability or desire to consult for the general good of the common cause. Since, then, we can look to no official or recognized guardians of the momentous affairs of the cause of Christ, how important is it that private Christians should accustom themselves to more enlarged views, should enquire into the ultimate bearings and consequences of prevailing opinions and practices, and feel especially that they are sacredly bound to guard that system of faith, upon whose purity the whole prosperity of religion depends!

In the discharge of this duty, it must be unwise to forbear to speak and act, until the assault is made directly upon the essential doctrines of the system. It is then commonly too late to offer effectual resistance. The first divergencies of opinion should be noticed and exposed. The outposts should be strongly contested, and the sleepless sentinel,