of incalculable service to the interests both of humanity and of science.

II. The acquisition of general knowledge would enable persons to profit by their attendance on public instructions.

In the present day, lectures on popular philosophy, astronomy, chymistry, geology, and political economy are occasionally delivered in the principal cities and towns of Great Britain; but, out of a population of thirty or forty thousand, it frequently happens, that scarcely thirty or forty individuals can be collected to listen to instructions on such subjects. This, no doubt, is partly owing to the fee demanded for admission, which is sometimes beyond the reach of many intelligent persons in the lower walks of life. But it is chiefly owing to the want of taste for such branches of knowledge-to ignorance of the elements of general science -and to unacquaintance with the terms which require to be used in the explanation of such subjects, arising from the want of intellectual instruction in early life. Even of the few who generally attend such lectures, there is not perhaps the one-half who can enter with intelligence into the train of reasoning and illustration brought forward by the lecturer, or feel much interest in the discussions, excepting when their eyes are dazzled with some flashy experiment. Hence it follows, that very little knowledge comparatively can be communicated in this way to the population at large, owing to the deficiency of previous instruction,—and that systems of intellectual education, more extensive and efficient than those which have hitherto been in operation, require to be adopted, before the great body of the people can be supposed to profit by attendance on courses of lectures on any department of knowledge.

The same remark will apply, with a few modifications, to the instructions delivered by the teachers of religion. For want of a proper foundation being previously laid, in the exercise of the rational faculty, and the acquisition of general information, comparatively little advantage is derived from the sermons and expository lectures delivered by the ministers of the gospel. Of a thousand individuals which may compose a worshipping assembly where religious instructions are imparted, there are seldom above two hundred (and most frequently much fewer) that can give any intelli

gent account of the train of thought which has been pursued, or the topics which have been illustrated in the discourses to which they have professed to listen. This may be owing, in many instances, to the dry and abstract method by which certain preachers construct their discourses, and to the want of energy, and the dull and monotonous manner in which they are delivered. But, in the majority of instances, it is obviously owing to habits of inattention to subjects of an intellectual nature-to an incapacity for following a train of illustration or reasoning-and to the want of acquaintance with the meaning of many terms which theological instructers find it expedient to use in the construction of their discourses-and such deficiencies are to be ascribed to the mental faculties not having been exercised from infancy in the pursuit of knowledge and in rational investigations.

This deficiency of knowledge and intellectual culture seems to be virtually acknowledged by the ministers of religion; since, in their general discourses, they confine themselves, for the most part, to the elucidation of the first principles of religion. Instead of exhibiting a luminous and comprehensive view of the whole scenery of divine revelation, and illustrating its various parts from the history of nations, the system of nature, and the scenes of human life -they generally confine their discussions to a few topics connected with what are termed the fundamental doctrines of the gospel. Instead of "going on to perfection," as the apostle Paul exhorts, by tracing the elements of Christianity in all their bearings on moral conduct and Christian contemplation, and endeavouring to carry forward the mind to the most enlarged views of the perfections of God and the "glory of his kingdom"-they feel themselves under the necessity of recurring again and again to "the first principles of the doctrine of Christ"-feeding their hearers "with milk" instead of "strong meat." And the reason assigned for waiving the consideration of the more sublime topics of natural and revealed religion, and thus limiting the subject of their discussions, is, that their hearers are unqualified to follow them in the arguments and illustrations which behooved to be brought forward on such subjectsthat such an attempt would be like speaking to the winds or beating the air, and would infallibly mar their edification,

If this reason be valid (and that it is partly so there can be little doubt), it implies that some glaring deficiency must exist in the mental culture of the great body of professing Christians, and that it ought to be remedied by every proper mean, in order that they may be qualified to advance in the knowledge of the attributes, the works, and the ways of God, and to "go on unto perfection."

It is foretold in the sacred oracles, that "men shall speak of the might of God's terrible acts," that "his saints shall speak of the glory of his kingdom, and talk of his power, to make known to the sons of men his mighty operations and the glorious majesty of his kingdom." This prediction has never yet been fulfilled in reference to the great body of the Christian church. For, where do we find one out of twenty among the hearers of the Gospel capable of rehearsing the "terrible acts" of God, either in his moral or his physical operations of tracing the dispensations of his providence towards nations and communities, in a connected series, from the commencement of time, through the successive periods of history-and of comparing the desolations of cities and the ruin of empires with the declarations of ancient prophecy? Where do we find one out of a hundred capable of expatiating on the "power" of Jehovah, and on the most striking displays of this perfection which are exhibited throughout the vast creation? Or where shall we find those who are qualified to display the magnificence of that empire which is "established in the heavens," embracing within its boundaries thousands of suns and ten thousands of worlds or "to speak," with intelligence," of the glory of that kingdom which ruleth over all," and thus "to make known to others the mighty operations" carried on by Jehovah, "and the glorious majesty of his kingdom?" It is obvious that no such qualification yet exists among the majority of members which compose the visible church. And yet the predictions to which we refer must be realized, at some period or another, in the history of the divine dispensations. And, is it not desirable that they should, in some degree, be realized in our own times? And, if so, ought we not to exert all our influence and energies in endeavouring to accomplish so important and desirable an object? And, in what manner are our energies in this respect to be exerted, but in concerting and executing, without delay,

plans for the universal intellectual instruction of mankind? For, without the communication of knowledge to a far greater extent, and much more diversified than what has ever yet been considered necessary for ordinary Christians, we can never expect to behold in the visible church "saints" endowed with such sublime qualifications as those to which we have alluded, or the approach of that auspicious era when "all shall know the Lord," in the highest sense of the expression, "from the least even to the greatest."

To obtain a comprehensive, and as far as possible a complete view of the system of revelation in all its parts and bearings, and to be enabled to comply with all its requirements, is both the duty and the interest of every man. But, in order to this attainment, there must be acquired a certain habit of thinking and of meditating. In vain does a person turn over whole volumes, and attempt to peruse catechisms, bodies of divinity, or even the Scriptures themselves, he can never comprehend the dependencies, connexions, and bearings of divine truth, and the facts they explain and illustrate, unless he acquire a habit of arranging ideas, of laying down principles, and deducing conclusions. But this habit cannot be acquired without a continued series of instructions, especially in the early part of life, accompanied with serious attention and profound application. For want of such prerequisites the great body of Christians do not reap half the benefit they otherwise might from the preaching of the gospel; and, "when for the time they ought to be teachers of others, they have still need that one teach them again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God." "Hence it is," says a celebrated preacher, "that the greatest part of our sermons produce so little fruit, because sermons are, at least they ought to be, connected discourses, in which the principle founds the consequence, and the consequence follows the principle; all which supposes in the hearers a habit of meditation and attention. For the same reason, we are apt to be offended when anybody attempts to draw us out of the sphere of our prejudices, and are not only ignorant, but ignorant from gravity, and derive, I know not what glory from our own stupidity. Hence it is, that a preacher is seldom or never allowed to soar in his sermons, to rise into the contemplation of some lofty and rapturous objects, but must always descend to the

first principles of religion, as if he preached for the first time, or as if his auditors for the first time heard. Hence our preachers seem to lead us into obscure paths, and to lose us in abstract speculations, when they treat of some of the attributes of God, such as his faithfulness, his love of order, his regard for his intelligent creatures. It is owing to this that we are, in some sense, well acquainted with some truths of religion, while we remain entirely ignorant of others. Hence also it is, that some doctrines which are true in themselves, demonstrated in our Scriptures, and essential to religion, become errors, yea, sources of many errors in our mouths, because we consider them only in themselves, and not in connexion with other doctrines, or in the proper places to which they belong in the system of religion."

Were we then, without delay, to set on foot plans of universal instruction, on a rational principle-were the young generation to be universally trained up in rational exercises and habits of reflection, first at infant schools, and afterward at seminaries of a higher order, conducted on the same intellectual principle, and this system of tuition continued to the age of manhood, we should, ere long, behold a wonderful change in the state of society, in the intelligence of the Christian people, and in the illustrations of religion, which would be introduced into the pulpit. We should behold thousands of intelligent worshippers crowding our religious assemblies, with minds prepared for receiving instruction, and eagerly listening to arguments and illustrations in reference to the most sublime and important subjects. We should behold our preachers explaining the first principles of religion with such clearness and energy, that they should seldom need to recur to the subject, "soaring in their sermons," rising into "the contemplation of some lofty and rapturous objects"-displaying the majesty and supremacy of God in the operations of his moral government among the nations, descanting on his glorious attributes, exhibiting his wisdom in the arrangements of nature and the movements of his providence, illustrating his omnipotence and grandeur from the glories of the firmament, and the magnitude of the universe-directing their hearers to the contemplation of the works of his hand as illustrations of the declarations of his word-demonstrating the truth of revelation from its powerful and beneficent effects--en