1851.] Use in preparing for the Future. 439 Rome does not know how to reconcile Christianity with popular rights, nor reason with revelation. It cannot do this on the basis of its system. It has said something about these things, but it has not discussed them. It can enforce duties, but it cannot recognize rights. It does not know man as man. Nor does it know, nor is it able to satisfy the highest spiritual wants of man. It is not fitted to grapple with the great social problems of modern life. And while the whole of modern society is stirred to its depths by these great questions, which must be met and answered, this venerable hierarchy, in its great councils, is busying itself most intensely with that most important theological inquiry, upon which so much can be said and so little known the immaculate conception of the virgin. A review of the whole history of the Roman Catholic Church is thus one of the best means for refuting its claims, showing us that what it attempts in theory never has been realized in fact; that, if in its grandeur, it be like the venerable cathedrals in which its service is chanted, it is also like the greatest of these cathedrals in another respect, and that is, it has never been completed, -as also in another point, that however grand they are, they are not large enough to hold, nor strong enough to bind that spiritual Christianity, which rests in Christ and not in the church, in justification and not in works, and which is ever favorable to human reason and to human rights. 5. That same history of the Church, which may thus be of use in respect to present controversy, is also of value in preparing us for the future. It has a prophetic office. It bids us look forward to the progress of the church, and to the unity of the church. "It is a maxim in the military art," once said Napoleon, "that the army which remains in its entrenchments is beaten,” and eminently does this hold true of the moral conflicts of the race. And as we read the record of the past victories of the church, we realize more fully its missionary character, and acquire greater confidence in the reality of the scriptural promise that the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. And for the future unity of the church, as well as for its missionary expansion, the study of church history may serve to prepare us. If any lesson is written broad and deep upon the whole course of Christ's militant church, it is this, that the unity of the church is to be the consummation of the church, and not the means of its consummation. This unity is to be attained by means of its inward life, and not by means of its outward forms. External unity is not Christian union. Nothing is more conspicuous in Christian history, than the VOL. VIII. No. 30. 38 --a disdain with which external forms and successions have been treated when they cramped the spiritual power and progress of the Christian church. Nor is such unity to be found in a sacrifice of faith to feeling, though without the feeling it cannot be realized. There must indeed be more of Christian charity, and a more whole-souled faith, living in the great spiritual realities of God's kingdom in Christ. But there must also be and here is where the study of the doctrinal history of the church has its important bearings, a thorough and comprehensive review of the whole course of Christian theology, so that each sect and each doctrine may be judged in the light of the great central truths of the Christian system, and receive its true relative position. Put the church question, and the sacramental question, and the inquiries concerning divine sovereignty and free agency; put the doctrines of atonement, and justification, and regeneration, in their real relations to Christ the living Head; exalt his person and work, and his intimate relations to believers; make him the centre of our systems, as he is of our faith, as he is of the divine revelation, as he is of the history of the church, as he is of the whole history of our fallen race, as he is of the whole kingdom of God in time and in eternity, and we are advancing farthest and fastest towards that unity of the church which is to be its hallowed consummation. And that he is this centre, the whole history of his church, next to the Scriptures, gives the most convincing evidence. In the spirit in which I have now attempted to set forth the nature and the worth of the science of Church History, it will be my aim to teach it, as the Lord may give me strength, in training in this school of the prophets such a ministry as our American churches now need. If ever churches needed a thoroughly trained ministry, it is our American churches in their present position and conflicts. If all the wisdom and fulness of the Christian system ever needed to be poured into the very heart of any society, ours is that society, so united in a few great political and religious convictions, and so divided on all other points. Though the mariner has a richly-freighted bark, and all the powers of steam, and even the terrestrial magnet, he needs more than ever the stars and the sun, and the best instruments of science to tell him where he is. No theological education can be too thorough for our ministry, which does not interfere with the higher moral and spiritual qualifications for the ministerial work. And the most thorough intellectual discipline does not do this, though an inferior culture may. For the most sublime truths of the Christian sys 1851.] Closing Remarks. 441 tem are those which have the greatest practical efficiency; and the most comprehensive study of these truths will enable the preacher to apply them most directly and wisely to the heart and life, and such study alone can qualify him to answer all the objections which he must encounter. Only he who knows the times in which he lives, can act upon the times; and only he who has studied the past, can know the present, and act wisely for the future. We need a ministry trained for conflict and discussion, and trained through investigation and discussion; for on the field of open controversy all the great questions which come thick and fast upon us are to be adjusted. We need a ministry qualified to refute error by showing its grounds, and to advance truth by displaying its symmetry; which can meet argument by argument, a vain philosophy by a higher wisdom, novel speculations by showing either that they are too novel or too antiquated, pretended ecclesiastical claims by pointing to the gaps in the succession, and the assumptions of an infallible church by the documents that prove its fallibility. We need a ministry which shall be conservative without bigotry, and progressive without lawlessness; which shall neither nail the conscious needle to the north, nor strive to watch without the needle's guidance; which shall hold the truth in its fulness, and the truth in its simplicity, and the truth in its symmetry, and the truth in its power; which shall sympathize with all human wants and woes, and which above all temporal wants shall labor for the spiritual welfare of immortal souls; which shall be ready to live and to die for the church as the body of Christ, and for Christ as the Head of the church, and for all men for the sake of Christ and his kingdom. We need a ministry filled with the powers of the world to come; living in the grand realities of God's spiritual kingdom, and really believing that it is the Lord's; that he hath not forsaken it, that he will not forget it; that though a woman may forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb, yet God will not forget his Zion. Behold, he says, I have graven it upon the palms of my hands, and thy walls are continually before me. Fear not, for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the East, and gather thee from the West; I will say to the North give up, and to the South keep not back; bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth. ARTICLE IX. NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. I. SEDGWICK'S DISCOURSE.1 IN the Numbers of the Bibliotheca Sacra for July, 1850, and Jan., 1851, we adverted to the systems of education pursued at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and to the reforms proposed, or now carrying into effect. The great question in regard to those venerable seats of learning, as well as in respect to the American colleges, founded on the English model, is, Shall they be reformed or revolutionized? Shall the discipline and course of studies be radically altered, or shall salutary, yet not fundamental, changes be effected, from time to time, as the wants of advancing civilization and knowledge shall demand? Many persons, both in England and in this country, are calling for a reörganization of the college system, so that it may conform more or less to the German university course, rather than to the English, and so that physical and mechanical science may become a prominent, if not the absorbing subject of study. We have endeavored to show (and we may do it more at length, hereafter) that no such reörganization is demanded. The study of the mathematics and classics must remain as the basis of the system. No substitute, as regards their effect in disciplining the mind, will ever be found. Besides, no wise man would sever these collegiate systems from the Past. They are rich-especially the English universities—in historic fame. Their present means of doing good, depends in no small degree, on these historical associations. Much of the best education acquired at these seats of knowledge, is the effect of silent and intangible influences, which a radical reform would sweep away. We have also shown, that the university of Cambridge, whatever may be said of Oxford, has not been inattentive to the new claims made upon it in the progress of society. It has undergone great changes, and adopted many improvements within the last fifty years. In confirmation of previous testimonies which we have adduced, we are glad to quote some facts from Prof. Sedgwick. These are of great value, as they come from one eminent in natural science, always in favor of judicious reforms, (now acting as a member of the royal university commission,) and perfectly competent to testify, as he has been almost half a century resident in the university, as an undergraduate, or fellow, and professor. 1 A Discourse on the Studies of the University of Cambridge. By Adam Sedgwick, M. A., F. R. S., Woodwardian Professor of Geology, and Fellow of Trinity College. Fifth edition, with additions, and a Preliminary Dissertation. London, 1850. pp. ccccxlii, and 322. This edition may be regarded as a new work, the fourth edition containing only 169 pages. A large portion of the new edition is taken up in refuting the views advanced in the Vestiges of Creation. The whole volume is full of interest to the general reader. 1851.] Sedgwick's Discourse. 443 Since the general peace of Europe, the numbers at Cambridge are more than double what they were before. Thirty years are gone since the formation of the Cambridge Philosophical Society. In the Transactions, there is hardly a subject which has engaged the attention of the great mathematicians of Europe, that is not discussed in original papers of great value. All the powers of high analysis have been brought to bear on the most severe and knotty questions of physics. The only great discoveries in physical astronomy, made by Englishmen since Newton, have been made at Cambridge, Mr. Airy's discovery of the long period of perturbation in the earth's orbit, by the planet Venus, and Mr. Adams's theoretic discovery of a planet external to Uranus, both the results of enormous labor and consummate mathematical skill. In the early part of the last century, Queen Anne dined in Trinity College, and conferred the honor of knighthood on Newton. In 1847, Queen Victoria offered the same honor to Mr. Adams. On the same occasion, Sir John Herschel presented to Prince Albert, the chancellor, the first bound copy of his Astronomical Observations, made at the Cape of Good Hope, and the Completion of the Telescopic Survey of the whole Surface of the visible Heavens, begun in 1825. Prof. Sedgwick goes on to say that, during the last four years, in the Fellowship examinations at Trinity College, he has found that some of the younger men have shown a very exact knowledge of the Aristotelian logic and other kindred works, of the best metaphysical authors of the last century, and of the bold speculations of the modern German school. Annual courses of public lectures are now given in Chemistry, Mineralogy, Geology, Botany, Anatomy, Physiology, three courses in Divinity, also one course each in the Hebrew, Arabic, and Greek languages. Forty years ago, only one course in Divinity was given, and none in the three languages just named. Now, in these six departments, " public lectures are read to good and earnest classes of young men." The moral and metaphysical lectures of Dr. Whewell, form an entirely new part of the academic course. During the last half century, the external aspect of the university has been greatly changed. The foundation of Downing College was laid in 1807. Large additions, at great cost, have been made to several of these colleges. St. John's, with its new quadrangle, etc., stands preeminent. A noble observatory, stocked with first-rate instruments, has been built from the corporate funds of the university, aided by private subscriptions. Fourteen quarto volumes of reduced observations, attest its activity. One side of a new quadrangle has been added to the public library. The upper floor will hold 100,000 volumes. The number of volumes has been trebled within the present century. Five or six thousand volumes are in constant circulation from the library, besides the thousands from the individual college libraries. A site for a new botanic garden has been purchased. An excellent anatomical museum has been collected. Two large collections in mineralogy and geology have also been added. A magnificent museum of art has also arisen from the bequest of Viscount Fitzwilliam. The social and religious changes have not been less marked. "Intempe |