of mind;" and that "the more widely science is diffused, the better will the Author of all things be known."* In this view, Christian scholars will go all lengths with your lordship; they will traverse the whole field of Creation, in all its immensity, and proceed in search of facts and phenomena to the utmost verge of the universe of God; and when that search is completed, will sit with you, in the temple of science, the livelong day, to investigate both those facts and their phenomena, and will delight in this way to ascend through nature to her Author; all this will they do; but with this they will not, cannot rest satisfied. They respectfully but earnestly ask, that your lordship will, in return, sit down with them to investigate the written Word which illustrates parts of the divine character to which Creation cannot speak. They hold, that from his Works we ascertain his wisdom, power, and, to some extent, his goodness; but that from his Word alone we learn his justice, truth, love, and mercy. We are conducted to God in both cases; and, starting from different points, behold the divine character in different aspects; and that view will, upon the whole, be the most perfect, which combines both Nature and Revelation. The two fields are not, however, to be considered as of equal importance. The knowledge of the one is desirable,-that of the other, indispensable. The one is a matter of ornament; the other, of existence.

The Jewish writers uniformly concur in their statements respecting the means of establishing and upholding this new kingdom; they declare, with one voice, that it is to be brought about by the spread of knowledge. They are also most explicit as to the subject of this knowledge. They constantly and emphatically attest that God himself, not his works, is its subject.

* Observations upon Education.

This is a fact, my Lord, of the greatest importance; for in this it is that you and the whole body of mere philosophers are found arrayed against the testimony of the Scriptures; and this lies at the bottom of the contempt which most literary and scientific men feel for Christian missions. Your lordship's philosophy leads you to resolve every thing into habit. The fullest written statement of your views, on this fundamental point, is given in the following words :-“ If, at a very early age, a system of instruction is pursued, by which a certain degree of independent feeling is created in the child's mind, while all mutinous and perverse disposition is avoided,-if this system be followed up by a constant instruction in the principles of virtue, and a corresponding advancement in intellectual pursuits, if, during the most critical years of his life, his understanding and his feelings are accustomed only to sound principles, and pure and innocent impressions,— it will become almost impossible that he should afterwards take to vicious courses, because these will be utterly alien to the whole nature of his being. It will be as difficult for him to become criminal, because as foreign from his confirmed habits, as it would be for one of your lordships to go out and rob on the highway. Thus, to commence the education of youth, at the tender age on which I have laid so much stress, will, I feel confident, be the sure means of guarding society against crimes. I trust every thing to habithabit, upon which, in all ages, the lawgiver, as well as the schoolmaster, has mainly placed his reliance,— habit, which makes every thing easy, and casts all difficulties upon the deviation from the wonted course.' Such, my Lord, was the exposition for which, I well remember, mitred men gave you thanks. None of the

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Speech in the House of Lords, May 23rd, 1835. Speeches, vol. iii. 242.

Right Reverend Prelates uttered a breath of protest against the positions of the speech, as set forth in the passage just transcribed. To this passage, therefore, I now beg, with much respect, to call your lordship's attention. These words are infinitely the most momentous that your lips ever uttered, or your pen ever wrote ! If in this passage there is a word of truth, the sacred Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, are a mass of error! You stand opposed to the whole body of prophets and apostles. Neither Testament contains one word in support of your representations. Your creed has not even the doubtful praise of being mingled with truth. To enumerate its errors were to enumerate its phrases. It is a fearful confirmation of the view which I have already in this letter charged upon your lordship. Your philosophy on this highest of questions has nothing Christian in it. You are at issue with the Bible. You seek to attain the same end, but you rely on means wholly repudiated by the word of God. You stand at the farthest remove from every doctrine peculiar to revelation. Your views on another kindred subject are of an equally exceptionable, unscriptural, and fatal character. In your Inaugural Discourse before the University of Glasgow, you laid down your opinion upon the subject of responsibility, thus :—“The great truth has finally gone forth to all the ends of the earth, THAT MAN SHALL NO MORE RENDER ACCOUNT TO MAN FOR HIS BELIEF, OVER WHICH HE

HIMSELF HAS ΝΟ CONTROL. Henceforward, nothing shall prevail upon us to praise or to blame any one for that which he can no more change than he can the hue of his skin or the height of his stature."

Taking this sentence, my Lord, as a whole, there is in it more sound than sense, more grandeur than truth. With regard to man's non-accountability to man, the only reason for regret is, that your lordship's declaration is contrary to the fact. The ends of the earth are

so far from having heard this great truth, that not one nation in Europe has acknowledged it. Without exception, they are all smarting under the rod of spiritual oppression. Freedom of conscience, religious equality, have no recognised existence in any of the monarchical governments of our world. We long and pray for the arrival of the era which your lordship believed to have come, and unite in deprecating and denouncing all persecution of man on the ground of his religious opinions. But the matter to which I particularly refer, is your view of man's belief. That view is at variance equally with the declarations of the Sacred Writings, and with the experience of mankind. No truth is more certain than that the understanding is influenced by the heart. Few men have had ampler opportunities than your lordship, both in private and in courts of law, of also seeing how much men's faith is affected by their interests. Gain is of easy conviction; loss is troubled with more than academic doubts. Again, faith, credence, belief, has always to do with a testimony, and that with evidence. Now, a man's treatment of evidence will mainly depend upon his feelings. Where pelf, passion, pride, or prejudice, is concerned, it will not be difficult to set aside a body of evidence that would suffice to convince a whole world of candid men. The Word of God does not call upon individuals to believe in the absence of evidence. The gospel of mercy is attended by a mass of evidence so varied and abundant, that nothing short of the enmity of pride and the darkness of pollution can prevent its reception. This subject will come before us again.

My Lord, let us now appeal to the Word of Life with respect to the means of the world's regeneration, and we shall see how different it is from your lordship's philosophy. The knowledge of God is uniformly represented as the grand and the only instrument of the world's renovation. Examples to this effect abound

In the case of

in both the Old and New Testaments. the marvellous moral renovation, already referred to in the present letter, the reason is, that THE EARTH SHALL BE FUll of the knowledge of the Lord AS THE WATERS COVER THE SEA."*

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My Lord, this is the uniform statement of all the Hebrew writers. They set light by all knowledge which has not God for its subject. In illustration, let me compare your lordship's speeches and writings with the Scriptures of the prophets and apostles. In the former I find no account made of the Divine character as the object of knowledge; in the latter, I find no mention of aught besides; with the one it is nothing; with the other, every thing. In your lordship's scheme of education, it appears that God is not in all your thoughts." It is confessedly no part of your system to cultivate the spirit, or to establish the habit, of devotion. Neither the fear nor the love of God has any place in your plans of tuition. Your views of human nature are such as lead you to repudiate the moral means which the Scriptures supply. The Scriptures assume-indeed they frequently state-that ignorance of God, and enmity towards him, form the sole source of human woe. This is, with Christians, a first principle. Hence, one

great object of the gospel is to revive the knowledge of the true God. Your lordship, by patient and careful inquiry, will see the necessity of this provision. Real philosophy, indeed, will conduct you to that conviction. You will not despise the immortal Pascal," that prodigy of parts," as Locke calls him. This first of Continental philosophers, and greatest of men, thus speaks of the true religion :-" In order to render man happy, it ought to convince us that there is a God; that we are under an obligation to love him; that our true felicity consists in our dependence on him, and our only

* Isaiah xi. 9.