avail anything in so plain a case; and upon this ground, where so many laurels have been won, the feeblest stripling in the ranks of Methodism, will fearlessly encounter the greatest Goliah of the church. Let truth only have fair play, and with the most trifling aid from literature, she will soon bring down to the ground the Babel of error, though it be supported by all the learning in the world.

If the church of England be, as the clergy say, the most pure and apostolic church in Christendom, and her ministers the most virtuous and learned body of men in the world; if the churches of the dissenters be founded in error, and their ministers ignoramuses, why are the clergy perpetually roaring, the church is in danger? It always affords me much amusement to hear a visitation sermon. In the former part of the discourse the parties are flattered for their parts and piety, and the church adored, as built upon a rock, enjoying the divine protection, and bidding an insulting defiance to the gates of hell. By and by, however, my ears are stunned with a cry, the church is in danger! Gracious heavens! I have said to myself, what is the matter? Has her God forsaken her? It is discovered, that this impregnable fortress is tottering upon a sandy foundation! What gigantic foe has made his appearance and menaced her destruction? I listen with attention and anxious expectations, and at last gather from the incoherent harangue, that a few noisy creatures without arms or sense, are led on by the prince of darkness to storm the church. More astonishing still! I only reply to all such orators: Is not God more than a match for the devil? Is not learning able to cope with ignorance? If you take the affirmative, you may dismiss your fears; if the negative, you give error and ignorance the advantage of truth and learning, and thereby make a liberal education of no value to a minister.

It is sometimes said, to the praise of the clergy, that during the dark ages, the little learning which was preserved in the world, was to be found principally in

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monasteries and religious establishments, among the sacred orders. The fact is not denied; but what was the reason? Was it not a favourite tenet of the church, that ignorance is the mother of devotion? Did not the clergy, on this very principle, keep the people as ignorant as possible? And after they had introduced universal darkness among the laity, is it much to their credit that they preserved a few glimmerings of light among themselves, by which they might profitably practise their impositions on the deluded vulgar?

Much confusion has prevailed on the subject of this essay, by not distinguishing betwixt the learning which is immediately related to christianity, and that which is unconnected with it. A man who understands jurisprudence is entitled to the appellation of learned gentleman; but he is no more qualified by his legal knowledge to teach christianity, than to give lectures on agriculture. That sort of learning which serves to explain the scriptures, ought to be studied by a minister; but that which is foreign to his profession, may very well be dispensed with : we do not deem a man unqualified to teach music, merely because he is ignorant of Newton's theory of colours.

As christian ministers, the greater part of the learning of the clergy is of no use to them at all.

By learning Latin, they become acquainted with the heathen moralists; but this does not assist them either to explain or enforce christian precepts. In many instances, the lax morality of the old philosophers has been recommended from our pulpits, instead of the pure and sublime virtue of the gospel; and it has been enforced by considerations gathered from the pagan writers, such as, the nature and fitness of things, the beauty of virtue, and deformity of vice, the pleasure of a good life, and miseries of a bad one; while the scriptural principles and motives of obedience have been lost sight of, such as, the love of God, the death of Christ, the aids and comforts of the Holy Ghost and future rewards and punishments.

The mathematics form a principal branch of educa

tion at our universities. When a young man has demonstrated every proposition of Euclid, he has not proved one doctrine or duty of christianity. Astronomy should be understood by sailors, and makers of almanacs; but it is of very little use to a christian minister; his business is not with the laws of the heavenly bodies, but with the moral government of God: it is not to trace the motions of planets and comets through the heavens, but to direct the motions of men in a new and living way to eternal felicity. Algebra will assist us in bringing to light hidden quantities, but it will afford us no aid in developing the mysteries of our holy religion.

The caution of the apostle, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy," is as necessary now as ever. The modern method of philosophising has made more fools and infidels, than christians. The cant about the laws of nature, and the works of nature, which is now generally adopted, is the invention of atheists to explain the phenomena of creation and providence, without any reference to the supreme Being. Nature, they say, has contrived this, and done that. But what is this nature, that is so full of wisdom and energy? Is it a real being, or a nonentity? If the former, wherein does it differ from the divinity? If the latter, how can it either think or act at all?

Not a few christians have learned to philosophise away divine providence. The world, it is pretended, is governed by general laws which were made at the creation, when a force was impressed upon them sufficient to keep them in perpetual operation till the end of time. Hence the idea of a particular providence is ridiculed by many clergymen, as well as by deists and atheists. Such a representation may very well suit an epicurean deity, whose happiness consists in idleness. At night heat your oven, and put in your dough; you may go to bed and sleep soundly; it requires no superintendence; by the regular operation of the laws of nature, the bread will be sufficiently baked by morning. An admirable scheme of providence for a

sleepy god! If it would not be deemed too presumptuous, I would ask these dogmatisers, whether it required a fatiguing exertion of deity to create the world; and if not, how it can disturb his repose to be perpetually employed in the government of it. If everything was contrived and fitted beforehand, what is that force which the Almighty, in the beginning, impressed upon his laws, to keep them in perpetual operation? Did he detach his omnipotence from himself, and hang it like a clock weight, to the wheels of nature to prevent their standing still? If God never specially interferes, but has left the laws of nature to regulate everything; I should be glad to know what law of nature inspired holy men to write the sacred volume? and whether it would not be more philosophical, in time of need, to pray to the laws of nature, than to God? I am very much afraid that this new scheme of providence would deprive us of religion, the Bible, and the prime perfections of deity.

If the studies of ministers were directed to subjects immediately connected with the duties of their profession, no man could say more warmly than myself, "Make them as learned as possible." But to call that sort of learning a qualification for the ministry, which neither improves our knowledge of the doctrines of christianity, nor promotes our practice of its precepts, is as absurd as to affirm, that a man who has only learned to make a cart wheel, is qualified to make a watch.

Many people speak on the subject of the learning of the clergy, as though the nation would be in danger of relapsing into a state of barbarism, if the ministers of religion were not profoundly versed in all the arts and sciences. How ridiculous is this! Do people go to church to learn arts and sciences? Are they there instructed in mechanics, geography, history, astronomy, drawing, music, etc.? If the clergy could teach anything in the pulpit besides religion, it would surely be oratory; but their practice of reading is inconsistent with the grace and energy of an accomplished speaker; hence the young gentlemen who are am

bitious of shining in that department, attend at the bar and the senate, rather than at the church, for examples of rhetorical skill. Those who are interested in the arts and sciences will cultivate them, and carry them on towards perfection, whether the clergy know anything or nothing about them; and it is to these persons we owe most of the great improvements made in them, of which we so justly boast.

A good judge, on the subjects of science and learning in general, has observed: "Without entering into an invidious and particular examination of the subject, we may cursorily observe, that the public has not, of late at least, been indebted for the greatest improvements in science and learning, to all the doctors, both the proctors, nor to all the heads of colleges and halls laid together. That populous university, London, and that region of literary labour, Scotland, have seized every palm of scholastic honour, and left the sons of Oxford and Cambridge, to enjoy substantial comforts in the smoke of the common or combination room. The bursars' books are the only manuscripts of any value produced in many colleges; and the sweets of pensions, exhibitions, fines, fellowships, and petty offices, the chief objects of academical pursuits." He goes on to state, that though every candidate for a degree "is obliged to be examined in the whole circle of the sciences by three masters of arts," yet the fact is, that "the greatest dunce usually gets his testimonium signed with as much ease and credit, as the finest genius. The poor young man to be examined in the sciences often knows no more of them than his bedmaker, and the masters who examine, are sometimes equally unacquainted with such mysteries."*

Christianity is a practical system of religion; and the business of a minister is to make his hearers practical christians. If he fail to do this, he may be learned in Latin, in law, in philosophy, in mathematics, etc., but he is not a learned divine. Suppose a medical gentleman were to deliver lectures on the *Knox's Essays, No. 77.