proportion as that of ordinary divines; yet there is a reason why such writers are in theology particularly worthless. Where facts are to be communicated, a man of very moderate powers, if he happens to have had access to sources of information not generally accessible, can tell us much which it is well worth our while to read. But in interpreting the writings of others, in carrying on processes of reasoning, in discussing questions of practice, in analysing human nature; in all those matters which are the common province of the theologian, the salt that has lost its savour is not more unprofitable than the writings of a feeble or prejudiced mind. And therefore it may be perfectly consistent with a very sincere reverence for the authority of great men to attach but little respect to a large proportion of what is called Divinity.

No words have ever so well described the true excellence of a theologian as our Lord's own comparison. "Every scribe instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, is like unto a householder who bringeth out of his treasure things new and old." Standing, as St. Paul expresses it, in the position of one who judges all things, the pre-eminent greatness of his task requires a cultivation of mind proportionably pre-eminent. His business is twofold, the interpretation of the Scriptures, and the application of them. The first is a matter of criticism and philology; and every work that increases our knowledge of the languages in which the Scriptures were written; that assists us to fix the age and circumstances of the authors of the several books; or that throws light on the state of their times, in all its various divisions, is the proper study of a theologian with regard to this first part of his duty. But the second part of it, the application of the Scriptures, opens to him a still wider field. For this a complete knowledge of his own times is wanting; and such a knowledge is impossible without a knowledge of former times also; the great events, if I may so speak, in the moral and intellectual, no less than in the political history of the human race; the great vicissitudes of opinion, the great influences upon morals, the great social changes which have been affected by or have affected both; these, together with the general constitution of the human mind and character, such as it exists in all ages, are the magnificent subjects which he should study who really aspires to the name of a great theologian.

With respect to the first division of the theologian's studies, the interpretation of the Scriptures, I shall reserve what I have to say for another occasion. On the second division, the application of the Scriptures, it may not be amiss to add a few observations now. I suppose that the Scriptures themselves are constantly studied, and that the student is careful meanwhile to keep himself in a healthy condition morally, by cultivating his religious and his charitable affections; the first by the exercises of devotion, prayer, and meditation, and by reading works of a directly practical character: the second by habitual intercourse with the poor. It is needless to say, that without this no merely intellectual study will be likely to bring forth its proper fruits. But suppose these points to be carefully attended to, and let us imagine a young man, after having taken his degree of Bachelor of Arts, commencing his professional studies previously to his ordination. Now in addition to his scriptural studies, which are to furnish him with his principles of teaching and acting, he wants to learn how to apply these principles for the benefit of his own generation. He is destined to lead a life eminently active, to be thrown amongst his brethren without any more particular occupation than that of promoting their good in every way, temporal and spiritual. It is manifest, therefore, that he ought fully to understand the nature of that society which he is to endeavour to influence; the relations of its several parts to one another; what may have disordered those relations; the views which the several classes entertained of each other and of themselves; and how far these are founded on prejudice or on truth. The irritation against their richer neighbours, which he will often find prevailing in the minds of the poor, renders it expedient that he should be acquainted with the elements, at least, of political economy; so as to explain to the poor the true causes of their difficulties on the one hand, and their only possible remedies on the other. The existence of religious dissent, combined as it often is with political party feelings, makes it fitting that he should well understand the history of his own country, in the true sense of the term. This knowledge is not to be gained by reading what is called ecclesiastical history only; for works of this sort, even when they are not the mere statement of one sect or faction, are yet too limited in their range to give a comprehensive view of the whole subject; but by reading ecclesiastical and civil history together, and by so endeavouring to obtain a clear knowledge of the several parties and sects in their complex character, part political and part religious, and to understand which of these two elements has predominated, and how it has acted upon the other. But the parties of English history are not original in England;-both in religious matters and political they run up into divisions far more universal, and belong to questions which have agitated mankind since the first beginnings of political society. And here is the enduring value of the great philosophers and historians of Greece and Rome; that with a perfect abstraction from those particular names and associations which are for ever biassing our judgment in modern and domestic instances, the great principles of all political questions, whether civil or ecclesiastical, are perfectly discussed and illustrated, with entire freedom, with most attractive eloquence, and with profoundest wisdom. By the perpetual study of Thucydides and Tacitus, of Plato and Cicero, and above all, of the ethics and politics of Aristotle, a man's mind is kept fresh and comprehensive, and he may follow up English history with the spirit of a philosopher, not the narrow-minded zeal of a partisan.

In the works of these great men, the skeleton as it were of civil society, the true form of its parts, their simplest relations to one another, and by what means those relations are disordered and preserved, may be most clearly perceived. But our society derives its immediate growth from the chaos of the middle ages, and there we must trace out the source of its peculiar evils. The main use of ecclesiastical history is thus to be obtained from studying it analytically; from following upwards those evil currents of neglect, of uncharitableness,