pure state of morals never yet existed, and never will exist, where there is not the fear of God, and where religion is dishonored.

In fact Christianity stands, in regard to the solution of many questions connected with the welfare of society, in the same relation to Moral Philosophy and Political Economy, and the science of Politics, as Algebra does to Arithmetic. It is the more comprehensive science, and by means of it, problems may be solved for the solution of which the mere politician has no elements. The sciences which teach men the rules of wellbeing whether as individuals or as communities, are, so far as they are sound, but experience, and the structure of organized nature, echoing back the teachings of the Bible. What principle of Christian Ethics does Moral Philosophy now presume to call in question? Infidels themselves being judges, the New Testament morality is the most perfect the world has ever seen. What are the general principles of political economy, but an imperfect application to the intercourse of trading communities of those rules of good neighborhood and of that spirit of kindness which Christianity inculcates? What is the larger part of political science, but a laborious and imperfect mode of realizing those results in society which would flow spontaneously from the universal prevalence of christian morals and of the christian spirit?

Does the Gospel command us to be temperate? Science, some eighteen hundred years afterwards, discovers that temperance alone is in accordance with our constitution, and political economy reckons up the loss of labor and of wealth resulting from intemperance; and then, after an untold amount of suffering, what do they do but echo back the injunction of the Bible, "add to knowledge temperance"? In regard to every course that would lead men to unhappiness the Bible has stood from the beginning at the "entrance of the paths," and uttered its warning cry. The nations have not heard it, but have rushed by, and rushed on, till they have reaped the fruit of their own devices in the corruption of morals, in the confusion of society through oppression and misrule; in disease and death; and then philosophy has condescended to discover these evils, and if it has done any thing for the permanent relief of society, has brought it back to the letter or spirit of the Bible. The Bible is not a treatise of moral philosophy, or of political economy, or a manual of politics, nor is it to be preached as

any of these. It is a book, the object of which is to fit men to become freemen in the great kingdom of God with that liberty wherewith Christ makes them free, but in doing this it necessarily does all that is requisite to make them good members of an earthly community, and good citizens of an earthly government.

Need I speak further of the adaptations of the Gospel to commend it to you as an object of interesting study in this point of view? Were it necessary, the materials are abundant and striking. It is indeed in this respect, like the great elements of nature-like the atmosphere to which I have already indirectly compared it. How simple is this fluid in its structure? How varied and indispensable in its uses? See it furnishing the breath of life, supporting combustion, conveying sound, reflecting light, diffusing odors, giving rain, wafting ships, bearing up birds; and see the Gospel adapted to the infancy of society and to its highest state of cultivation, to the young, to the aged, to every climate, and to every form of social organization. See it expanding the intellect, purifying the affections, giving life and peace to the conscience, reforming the vicious, elevating the lowly, humbling the proud, comforting the afflicted, giving to life its highest joys, taking from death its sting.

It is then by studying the Gospel as a science connected in its spirit with other sciences, and in the adaptations now spoken of, that its ministers will acquire true liberality of mind. This consists in seeing the extent and connections of truth, and in giving every thing its proper place. It is opposed to bigotry on the one hand, and on the other to that fashionable and selfconceited cant, which has its basis in a want of discrimination, and in indifference to the truth. The liberal minded political economist is he who has extended views and sees their connection with human happiness, and who, in proportion as his views become clear, values and abides by them. And thus it is in religion. True liberality does not consist in any compromise of the truth, in any lowering of its standard, nor in any insinuations respecting the general fallibility of man, and the impossibility of ascertaining it. It has no fellowship with that estimate of the Gospel of truth, which regards it as so little better than heathenism that it is not worth the cost of being sent to those who are destitute of it. Its language is, "Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift." The man of a truly liberal, that is of a comprehensive and discriminating mind, cares comparatively little when he sees the remoter stones in the arch of truth removed,

whereas, bigotry regards every stone as of equal importance; but when he sees the hand of error approaching the key-stone of that arch, and there is danger that it will pluck it away, God forbid that he should be indifferent. Then he could shriek in the agony of his spirit, and if need be can come forward holding up his fettered hand and saying, "For the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain." If need be he can go to the stake. There is truth that is "the hope of Israel."

Connected with this mode of studying Christianity, there is also a quiet conviction of its truth, which is most happy in its effects upon the temper and influence of him who has it. This conviction may, I know, be produced in other modes, but true science being an expression of the relations which subsist among the works of God, it is evidently impossible that any man should invent a system of truth which shall be analogous to it, in its severe yet beautiful expression, and which shall at the same time travel on and adapt itself to the more correct and expanded views of the physical universe which time discloses ; and when we see Christianity possessed of both these requisites, we seem in all our studies to inhale its truth as an element of our intellectual life, and to gain a conviction nearly allied in strength to that produced by the witness within ourselves, of which the Gospel speaks.

I will only add, as appropriate to this occasion, that this mode of studying the Gospel has an intimate connection with pulpit eloquence. It will not teach us to be graceful in gesture, or to explode the vowels, but it will furnish, if any thing can, variety of materials, and wealth of imagery, and the power of adaptation and depth of feeling, without which there can be no eloquence. It is in vain to expect that eloquence of any kind, much less pulpit eloquence, can flourish, and shoot high, and endure long, without depth of soil. The water that is to set in motion many wheels must be accumulated, and young men need not be afraid of letting it head back, before they open the gate-they will have need of the whole of it. There is to the preacher more need of this variety of means and of resources than to any other man, because, while he is obliged to speak more, he is permitted to have before him but a single ultimate object. It is the great characteristic of pulpit eloquence, as distinguished from all other, that it has but a single object-to make men better. That which moves or affects men in any way or to any extent, without being adapted to do this, may be eloquence

in the pulpit, but it is not pulpit eloquence. When the true messenger of God touches the chords of excitement, it is not for its own sake, but only as a prelude to those deeper tones which he intends to elicit from reason and conscience vibrating at the touch of truth. The preacher does not come before his fellow men to seek their admiration, or to court a grin, but to transact solemn business, and he who has a vague idea of pulpit eloquence as something which is to affect an audience for a temporary purpose, or to cause an excitement, or to call forth admiration, would find a fitter place in the theatre than in the sacred desk. It is to the one point of making men better that all his efforts are to converge, but if, in doing this, he confines himself to the narrow circle of technical or polemic theology as it is often taught, together with the common topics of exhortation, he will necessarily repeat himself over and over, his discourses will become narrow and dry, and he will lose his influence over many minds. Instead of this, he should remember on this point the spirit of the apostle Paul when he said, "If by any means I might save some," and should construct and arrange his discourses on the principle on which I have already said that the universe, as adapted to the intellect of man, is constructed and arranged-the principle of unity in the midst of variety, unity of purpose, variety of means. Why, not even the grass we tread on, can grow from the influence of a single element. It needs not the sunshine alone, but also the rain and the breezes, and shall the soul of man be expected to attain its full expansion by a less varied and complex influence? Acting on this principle, he is to address the imagination, the passions, the understanding, the conscience; he is to preach plain sermons, metaphysical sermons, doctrinal sermons, practical sermons, written sermons, extempore sermons, bringing out of his treasures things new and old, and in all holding fast to the one purpose of saving them that hear.

Is it said that few can perform all this? I reply, God is not a hard master; he will not require of you that which you cannot perform. He has put into your charge a Gospel which, as we have seen, is adapted to expand the intellect to the utmost, and to call into action all the energies of the soul. Viewed in its grand characteristic of blended majesty and mercy, in its connection with the best interests of man in this life as well as in the life to come, it can hardly fail to call forth an enlightened zeal which shall give energy to every effort, and cause you to

feel that in offering yourselves soul and body on the altar of Christianity you are but doing a reasonable service. It is this full, unreserved, cheerful consecration, so lamentably rare among us, that is, after all, the great secret of usefulness in a Gospel minister; and where this is, it will be accepted of God, according to what a man hath, and not according to what he hath not.

ARTICLE X.

THE MODE OF EXHIBITING THEOLOGICAL TRUTH.

By Edwards A. Park, Bartlet Professor, Theol. Sem. Andover.

THEOLOGY, it has been well remarked, may be considered in two aspects; as essential, and as modal. Essential theology is the substance of divine truth; modal theology is this substance fitly arranged. The department of christian theology is concerned with the essence of christian doctrine; the department of sacred rhetoric is concerned with the manner in which this doctrine should be presented. Theological science collects the materials; rhetorical science arranges them. The preacher's rhetoric then is a new adjustment of his theology.

The mode of exhibiting truth may be divided into two departments; the external and the intellectual. The former consists of attitudes, gestures, tones of voice or expressions of face, and is used only in oral addresses. The latter consists not merely in the words with which truth is attired, but in something more elevated and important; in the arrangement of the various parts of a doctrine; in the juxtaposition of one doctrine with another; in the order and proportion in which different doctrines are presented; in the spirit which is breathed out along with them, and in the adaptation of them to the particular state of those who are addressed. The intellectual mode of presenting truth is therefore of more general interest than the external. Its importance is felt not merely in oral but also in written addresses, and even in all doctrinal meditations.

The object of the present article is to consider, first the importance, and secondly the means of attaining the best intellectual mode of stating divine truth.