other book? We may reply: Because it is the main object of the Bible to describe and to inculcate just this spirit and this spiritual frame; and, therefore, if the interpreter do not possess it; if he do not know it in his own heart and experience, how can he appreciate and explain it, as it lies upon the pages of Scripture? How can he, who has no ear nor soul for music, sit in judgment upon the thrilling productions of the mighty masters of harmony? How can he, who has no taste nor talent for mathematical science, soar with Newton and Laplace through the regions of unlimited space, and trace out, with them, the laws that bind together the remotest worlds, as they float in the realms of ether? Just so "the natural man receiveth not the the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him." He that would discern and teach the things of God, must himself be taught from on high.

In reviewing the foregoing remarks and illustrations, we might be justly led to exclaim: "Who is sufficient for these things!" Certainly no one person within the limited space of human life. But we are bound at all times to survey the whole field of our labors, that we may know where to choose our portion, in order to labor with effect, and direct our efforts to the best advantage. Various parts of the field have already been ably tilled by eminent scholars and servants of the Lord; and we must be sufficiently prepared, to be able to enter in, and profit by the fruits of their labors. This every one of us, who begins a course of theological education, can do, and every one is bound to do. We are bound to employ our best powers and faculties, and improve every opportunity, for acquiring such a knowledge of every branch of Biblical and Theological Study, as shall make us, first, well qualified interpreters of the Word of God; and, secondly, the faithful heralds of this word and gospel-message to our fellow-men.

It is not, indeed, the object of a course of study in a Theological Seminary, to render the pupils all at once accomplished scholars; but rather to sow the seed and nourish the shoot, which may hereafter of itself grow up into a noble and firmly rooted tree. The aim is simply to impart the rudiments of a professional education, and to point out the proper way and means, and materials of study, by which the learner may hereafter, through his own efforts, with God's blessing, arrive at a higher and more important standing and influence, as a teacher in the church of Christ.

Yet I would fain hope that the time is not far distant,—and this hope I would desire to press upon the consideration of the friends and patrons of every Theological Seminary,—when the multifarious and important subjects embraced in the Department of Biblical Literature, will not be left, as now, to the teaching and direction of a single individual. One of the most essential branches, indeed, does not belong at all to a course of theological education, and ought not to form an object of elementary study within the walls of such an institution. I mean an acquaintance with the Greek and Hebrew languages. This, indeed, is admitted at once in respect to the Greek; and a previous knowledge of it is a matter of requisition in every Theological Seminary. The Hebrew rests upon precisely the same grounds; there is in it nothing of theology; it is a merely philological acquirement; yet it is not now, perhaps, demanded for admission into any seminary of our land. Still, the time thus spent in the study of it, is so much time taken away from the proper objects of such an institution; and I, for one, can never conscientiously cease to feel, and to press upon others, that a certain previous acquaintance with this language, ought to be made a condition of enjoying the privileges of every seminary for theological education.

The literature and interpretation of the Old Testament embraces a wide and difficult range of studies, entirely distinct from those belonging to the New. Nor are these latter in any degree less extensive or difficult, though of a different character. Each of these clusters of science furnishes occupation enough for the life and labors of any individual; and this is known and felt wherever theological education has been fully carried out. In all the Theological Faculties of Europe, a separate department has charge of the Old Testament, and another of the New. The same feeling of the importance and necessity of such an arrangement, has already introduced it into some of the older seminaries of our own country; and I would indulge the hope, that in due time, the example may everywhere be followed.

ARTICLE VI.

REMARKS ON THE LITERARY AND ECCLESIASTICAL CONDITION OF SCOTLAND.

THE general character of the people of Scotland is well known. The physical features of the country are a fit emblem of the robust and unyielding spirit of the population. No community in Europe has presented a more determined opposition to every kind of foreign influence, especially such as has threatened to mitigate the characteristic sternness of manners, or the rigor of orthodoxy. In every department of study and of action, this strong national peculiarity has showed itself. An undying hold upon "Christ's crown and covenant" nerved the arm and tuned the voice of the Cameronian, as he sent up from a hundred ravines his shout of defiance, or his psalm of thanksgiving. The same iron hardiness is now scaling the fortresses of Affghanistan and thundering against the battlements of St. Jean d'Acre. The Presbyterian General Assembly will sooner incur the hazard of driving from her ranks a large secession of her ablest champions, or her most devout presbyters, than yield one iota of that which, in her opinion, makes the kirk the glory of all lands. Even in the halls of science, there is, in many respects, a tenacious adherence to what the Scotchman of yore fondly cherished. All the ports of the country are closed against the importations of any Teutonic novelties, either in philosophy or exegesis. Parkhurst's Lexicon still maintains its ascendency, and the Hebrew Testament, without the points, is yet the grief and annoyance of the young licentiate in theology. In morals and manners too, the Caledonian stiffly adheres to the precedents of antiquity. In the temperance reformation, the poor, despised Irish are far in advance of their northern neighbors. The Scotch are men of strength to mingle strong drink, equally expert in constructing systems of mental philosophy and bowls of good whiskey-punch.

However, with all this unnecessary rigidity, with all this reluctance to reform what is obviously untenable and mischievous, we still love the land of the Covenanters. A thousand delightful associations cluster around her glens and her moun

tains. We are glad to fasten our eyes on a national character which is permanent, as well as pure. Honored be the country which has withstood the torrent of German neology and Parisian licentiousness. Cut off she indeed is from the polite circles of London; she is removed from being a kingdom; her regalia are now empty things, kept for a show; but she has, what is far better, the Bible and the Catechism. Her parish schools are worth ten thousand fading diadems, and, we had almost said, ten thousand Jameses and Marys, like those who once wore them. Honor to the people that would not bow down before the waxen images of Rome; that was not terrified by the High Commission of Charles I.; that never succumbed to the atrocious persecution inflicted by the ordained tools of Charles II.; and that welcomed with an outcry of joy the subversion of the Stuarts, and the accession of the House of Orange. We delight to recall the illustrious names which adorn the Scottish literary and ecclesiastical annals; Knox, "who never feared the face of man," and the prototype of much which his church and country have since been; the Erskines, ather and two sons, not decorated with literary honors, but men of holy life, of steadfast purpose, and eminently meet for the inheritance of the saints in light; and the Livingstons, the Bostons, the Rutherfords, the Gillespies, the Willisons, whose memories wear an amaranthine freshness. In other connections, we might enumerate two of the great triumvirate of British historians; and four or five honored and never-dying names in intellectual science; and two or three of the children of sweetest song, who have given an immortality, throughout the civilized world, alike to obscure tradition, to local scenery, to uncouth metres and a barbarian accent. Genius, pouring itself out on the soil where it was nurtured, and hiding itself in scenes and stories exclusively national, has won a more lasting fame than genius employed in writing the history of continents, or speculating profoundly on the universal nature of man. Adam Smith created, not an era in political science, but political science itself; still, great as are his merits, the Cotter's Saturday Night will outlive the Wealth of Nations. The philosopher speaks coldly to the practical understanding; the plough-boy poet addresses the heart of man in all the stages of its development.

We now proceed to inquire, What are the prominent causes of these marked peculiarities in Scottish character? To what

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are we to attribute the boldness, the strength, the intelligence, the decided reputation for virtue and moral power, which have, for centuries, distinguished the inhabitants of North Britain? In the facts and considerations, which we shall adduce as an answer to these interrogatories, we shall accomplish the main purpose of the present essay.

In the first place, the climate, and the physical features of the country have, unquestionably, exerted an important influence. Scotchmen, if they should live at the sources of the Indus, would be Affghans; if in the fastnesses of Circassia, Koords, sleeping under the black tent, or waylaying the luckless traveller; or, if on the Green Mountains of New England, independent Christian yeomanry. Mountains and floods, mists, roaring torrents, silver lakes, precipitous crags, the unceasing dash of the ocean, beating on the hard rocks,-all such things become the elements, or the occasions of intellectual and moral power. They act, inevitably, on the hearts and the minds of the beings who are conversant with their sublime and beautiful phenomena. Who could sail, as Sir Walter Scott did, around the waters that wash three sides of the country, and not receive permanent impressions? Even Dr. Johnson, phlegmatic as he was, and a cordial hater of all Scotchmen, except his obsequious biographer, revealed something like poetic enthusiasm, when he journied to the home of St. Columba. This influence of material objects is not inconsiderable in any circumstances. The Arab, in his boundless desert of sand, is linked in affection to the few and the burning objects with which he every day meets. The dazzling column of sand reminds him of his dear birth-place, and of the long succession of Sheikhs, who have come in and gone out before his tribe. How much greater must be the effect of natural objects in a northern and mountainous region, especially if these objects be associated with stirring events in the national history! Here was the glen, that sheltered William Wallace from his foes. There stood a hut, in which the outlawed Bruce found an asylum. Deep in that cavern, where the crystal water bubbles up, the Covenanter's infant was baptized, and on that little knoll the aged elder was gathered, not to his fathers, but to his final rest. In that narrow vale, how often has the death of Jesus been remembered, when his disciples met in trembling and fear, or in joyful thanksgiving over some great deliverance! The pious Scotchman, like the wanderer to Padan-Aram, comes to holy ground,