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vinced that religion has more to fear from a dead formalism or a blind sentimentalism than from any proper exercise of the reasoning powers. The right use of reason can never do away with any of the leading doctrines of Christianity. can neither encourage a life of supine inactivity, nor a disregard to the moral character of our conduct; nor can any rational ideas of development affect the great truths of divine revelation.1

Our ideas and conceptions of divine truth must of necessity partake of the imperfections of our nature, and be subject, in some measure, to the like errors and prejudices that characterise our judgments on other things. One has only to

means demand our belief."-(Dr. FAWCETT: Sermons.) "That it is the duty of man to exercise this characteristic faculty of his nature in distinguishing truth from error, in judging what is right, in examining the evidences of revelation, and in interpreting its meaning is unquestionable." (Dr. D. DEWAR: Divine Revelation.) "The holiness of God, or his wisdom directing his goodness, must approve of and require that rational creatures conform their internal and external acts to the dictates of pure reason."-(Dr. PYE SMITH.) "Reason discovers what is natural, and reason receives what is supernatural."-(Dr. WHICHCOTE.) "The existence of God and authority of Scripture are the first in our religion, and they are conclusions of reason." (Religion and Reason.) "Truth need never fly from reason; there is an eternal amity between them."(Rev. J. SMITH.)

1 "The statement that Christ died and rose again can never be developed into a doctrine that He never descended from the Father. The statement that He died for our sins can never be developed into a naked Deism. The statement that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, can never be developed into the statement that it is as it was meant to be. And the statement that he that believeth on Christ hath everlasting life never can merge itself into some after-faith resting our hope upon mere obedience to the law."-(Rev. J. MILLER: Nature of Christianity.)

2"The whole tenor of the Scriptures prepares us to demand that theology be invariably conformed to the laws of the mind and the actual economy of the moral and material universe. The changes which have taken place in orthodox systems of divinity since the era of the Reformation have been chiefly owing to the changes in the system of mental and moral science."-(ALBERT BARNES.) "The doctrines of revealed religion, like all other objects of human thought, have a relation to the constitution of the thinker to whom they are addressed; within which relation their practical application and significance is confined. . Religious ideas, in short, like all other objects of man's consciousness, are composed of two distinct elements,―a matter furnished from without, and a form imposed from within by the laws of the mind itself."-(MANSEL: Bampton Lectures.) "When we attempt to look into the unseen world, we carry our ideas of time and place and sensible objects along with us; and we cannot divest ourselves of them or provide ourselves with better; yet

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look at the history of Christianity for abundant evidence of this in all ages." From the time of the Apostles down to the present, religious dogmas and opinions have been fashioned or tinctured by the philosophical opinions and errors of the time.2 In fact, does not religion in every one of us take a form corresponding to the particular cast of mind of the individual?3 Nay, does it not even vary from

perhaps they have as little relation to the objects we aim at as the ideas which a man born blind acquires from what he hears and feels, have to the true nature of light and colours."-(Rev. JOHN NEWTON: Letters.)

1 "There is something that tends to shape and modify the prevailing systems of theology in each age; to make them what they are then, and different from what they were at other times. The prevailing views of science, the systems of mental philosophy, the perceived errors of former ages, the enterprises in which men are engaged, the temperament of an individual or a people, all tend to modify the theology of an age.”(ALBERT BARNES.) The religion of each age must in a large measure be conditioned by the state of knowledge existing in that age."-(Prof. SHAIRP.) However men may amuse themselves, and admire or almost adore the mind, it is certain that, like an irregular glass, it alters the rays of things by its figure and different intersections." (BACON.) "I fully believe that it will be impossible to discover a single system of theology, a single volume on the subject of the Christian religion, in which the author's views are not modified by the metaphysical opinions of the age or of the individuals."--(Rev. J. MARSH.)

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2 "He must either be very blind or bigoted who refuses to admit that Paul and James, and Peter and John had each his own conception of the revealed way of life and duty; and that in writing their apostolic letters they taught it each according to his own conception of it.

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it been otherwise, the mind of God would have been far less fully and adequately conveyed to us than as we have it now; unless, indeed, the writers were to be mere machines."-(Dr. CANDLISH: Reason and Revelation.) The religious systems of the reformers partook of their mental natures. "The strictly Augustinian view of Luther stood in intimate connection with his disposition, as well as with the tendency of his life. Nor should we overlook the evident difference

between the characters of Zuinglius and Calvin. . . Thus they entertained very different opinions concerning the salvation of the heathen. As regards his personal character, Zuinglius probably had far more of Luther in him than Calvin, while the latter is rather to be compared to Melanchthon."-(Prof. HAGENBACH: History of Doctrines.) "I have no hesitation in saying that from the very nature of the case it is nearly, if not quite, impossible for any man entirely to separate his philosophical views of the human mind from his reflections on religious subjects," and "for myself, I am fully convinced that we can have no right views on theology till we have right views of the human mind."(Rev. J. MARSH.) "No man can preach the truth in a perfect form, for there is no man that is more than a fragment of a man."—(H. W. BEECHER.)

"Men commonly look upon God through their own natural temper, which is as if a man should view the sun through some painted glass.

time to time, according to the particular frame of mind at the time? 1 How otherwise can we account for the many religious differences that exist among professing Christians in the present day; the many different sects that have existed in the Church from the earliest times; or the sometimes bright and hopeful, at other times dark and despairing views of God and of divine things that individual Christians experience ? 2

Nor so long as this exists in the nature of things, so long as it lies in the principles of man's inner nature, are we to regard it as an evil. It is not for us to cavil at the established order of things, or to condemn them; but to strive to understand them, and to avail ourselves of them to the utmost for our improvement and benefit. After all, Christianity is not so much a theory or speculation as a life3

Rigorous and hard-hearted men feign to themselves such a God; and indeed such a one will He ever appear to them so long as they are such."(HENRY MORE.) "One man professes a theology of the judgment; a second that of the imagination; a third that of the heart; one adjusts his faith to a lymphatic, another to a sanguine, and still another to a choleric temperament."-(Professor PARK.)

1 When our mind is anxiously framing a religion for itself, the mood in which it happens to be for the hour is very like a mould which fashions and decides the shape of it. If we make a religion at all for ourselves, we may almost be said to make it in our own likeness. If we excogitate and so create a religion for ourselves, we are sure at least to colour it with the hue of our own fancy, much as light takes on the particular colour of the stained window through which it passes."-(Dr. BRUCE: Sampson.) Everything that relates to God and religion has a different effect upon us, according to the state or way of life that we are in."-(W. LAW: Christian Perfection.)

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How has it happened that on many subjects it (i.e., revelation) has been understood so differently, and has given rise to so endless a diversity of opinion and practice? How have men, reading the same Bible, arrived at conclusions so different and opposite ? We ascribe it to the variety which subsists in the capacity and acuteness of the human intellect: to the more or less favourable opportunities possessed by different individuals for accurate observation and experiment; to the influence in some cases of the love of theory, in others to the self-conceited and ambitious fondness for originality, and in others still to the attachment for the old or the love of the new; and to other moral principles which exert a biasing and perverting influence upon the judgment." (Dr. WARDLAW: Systematic Theology.) "As the same thought expresses itself in many languages, so spiritual truths assume ever varying forms. The garment fades the moths devour it-the woven fibres disintegrate and turn to dust. The idea only is immortal, and never fades."-(J. A. FROUDE.)

3" All the doctrines of the Gospel are practical principles. The Word of God was not written, the Son of God was not incarnate, the Spirit o

not so much a thing of the understanding as of the heart and conduct;1 and men err not so much from not knowing the right as from not acting up to what they know to be right.'

If, then, divine revelation up to the time of Christ was a gradual development, and if as we have endeavoured to show, Christianity itself has been developed and improved as men advanced in wisdom and knowledge-then is there every reason to believe that it will still continue to advance with the growth of wisdom and knowledge among men. If we are to look for and expect a reign of righteousness in the latter days upon the earth,3 there is no reason to look for

God was not given only that Christians might obtain right views and possess just notions." Christianity "is a life-giving principle.

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It changes the tastes, gives activity to the inclinations, and, together with a new heart, produces a new life." (HANNAH MORE: Practical Piety.) The essence and outcome of all religious creeds and liturgies whatsoever is to do one's work in a faithful manner."—(CARLYLE.) "The end of Christian philosophy is to make men better, not more learned; to edify, not to instruct.”—(Dr. HAMMOND.) "A true philosopher," said Epictetus, 'ought to distinguish himself not so much by what he says as by what he does." 66 Although the theoretical views of the understanding, and the motives of prudence which it presents, may be, to a certain extent, connected with the development of the spiritual principle of the religious life in the Christian, yet a true and living faith is not incompatible with, at least, some degree of speculative error.' -(Rev. J. MARSH.) "If religion consists so much in things and so little in words, it does not become us to be rigid censurers of those who differ from us in sentiments only. Let us judge of others by the law of love, and rather tolerate erroneous opinions than evil practice." (Rev. J. SMITH.) "If the same diligence were exerted to eradicate vice and implant virtue as is applied to the discussion of unprofitable questions, and the vain strife of words, so much daring wickedness would not be found among the common ranks of men, nor so much licentiousness disgrace those who are eminent for knowledge." - (A'KEMPIS.)

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True religion consists, not in a form of words, nor in a set of fancies. It has its throne in the heart, and manifests its beauty in the conduct." -(Rev. J. SMITH.) "How often do we see and acknowledge the power of religion and the growth of spiritual life in minds but little gifted with speculative knowledge, and little versed in the forms of logic or philosophy!" -(Rev. J. MARSH.)

"If every man would only do that which he knows to be his duty the harmony of the universe would be secured."-(HENRY ROGERS.) "We want, not so much the means of knowing what we ought to do, as the will to do that which we know."-(Rev. J. SMITH.) "The world does not require as much to be informed as reminded." (HANNAH MORE.)

"We affirm that, beyond a doubt, a reign of justice is to be anticipated on the fairest principles of computation; and that the argument by which it is established will bear the closest scrutiny of the impartial reason.

this, except as the natural result of the means which we see existing and at work around us.1 It is one of the recognized. rules of right interpretation of the divine operations that when an object can be accomplished by natural, recourse is never had to unnatural or extraordinary means. Economy in the use of means is ever characteristic of the divine operations. If we find in nature around the means by which humanity may be eventually made perfect, nay, if we see them actually working towards this result, it is contrary to every principle of right reasoning to look for its accomplishment by means of an extraordinary or miraculous nature. It is by the advance and spread of knowledge, particularly as brought to bear upon the education of the young, that we are to expect a future millennium.2

Setting aside Scripture altogether (if the expression may be allowed), we maintain that man has, within the range of his natural knowledge, sufficient means for determining that if the course of human history continue ordinated on the same principles, then, in the future, there must come a time when justice shall be the regulative principle of the earth, and man shall carry it into systematic and universal operation." "There is a natural ground for anticipating not only a millennium of justice, in which all man's political arrangements shall be made in accordance with the dictates of enlightened equity, but beyond that period a millennium of Christianity, when the burdened heart of humanity shall return to the true waters of life, and drink from the immortal streams of truth."(Theory of Human Progression.)

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Speaking of the ordinary providence of God, we believe that the fitting of the various parts of the machinery is so nice that there is no need of any interference with it. We believe in an original disposition of all things. We believe that in this disposition there is provided an interposition of one thing in reference to another, so as to produce the individual effects which God contemplates; but we are not required by philosophy or religion to acknowledge that there is subsequent interposition by God with the original dispositions and interpositions which He hath instituted. This is, in fact, the great miracle of providence, that no miracles are needed to accomplish its purposes."-(TAYLOR: Natural History of Enthusiasm.) "We believe God to be as intimately connected with the operation of His hands as if He were doing all by special miracle." -(M'COSH.)

2"On the general management of education depend the honour and dignity of our species. This is a subject with which we are far from being sufficiently acquainted. I often think there may remain a secret in it to be discovered, which will contribute more than anything to the amendment of mankind."-(Dr. RICHARD PRICE.) "The time is coming. . . when the elements of knowledge will be reduced to such forms that men will take them in at the earliest periods of life; and that which has been the sum total of the world's striving will be the capital on which men will begin to trade in the great mental economy."-(H. W. BEECHER.) There is something startling though, when closely looked into, not Utopian and