works of some of the German commentators require to be used with discrimination. Though the palm of superiority may be freely accorded to them as verbal critics and interpreters, the cautious student will be far from approving of that bold and reckless spirit of innovation which has displayed itself in some of their writings, and will have but little sympathy with those anti-supernatural tendencies which have led some of them to divest Christianity of its miraculous character, for the purpose of advancing natural religion at its expense, or of reducing it to a mere part of the general scheme of God's providence for the benefit of the human

race.

It still remains for me to add a remark or two on the subject of Dogmatic Theology; a subject upon which I should have studiously refrained from touching, on the present occasion, had not the situation in which I am placed rendered it imperative upon me to say something.

As regards lectures expressly upon points of doctrine, the practice has been by no means uniform in institutions founded and supported by the English Dissenters. Some tutors have made it a matter of conscience to give such lectures, as a means of guarding their pupils against latitudinarian influences; while others have studiously refrained from this, or any other course, which could be supposed to give an improper bias to the religious opinions of the young men entrusted to their charge.

The course of lectures composed by Dr. Doddridge may be regarded as a fair specimen of the kind of textbook used among the Protestant Dissenters till the establishment of the Colleges at Hackney and Man

chester.

It is drawn up in the mathematical form, and has the usual mathematical terms, displayed in the same regular and systematic order, and following each other with as much exactness and precision as in a professed treatise on Geometry. Each subject of discussion is stated in the form of a proposition, and accompanied by its appropriate solution or demonstration, to which are subjoined scholia and corollaries, so as to give it the appearance of that kind of proof of which, strictly speaking, mathematical truths alone are susceptible. This plan was borrowed by Dr. Doddridge from his tutor, the Rev. John Jennings, of Hinckley, from whose manuscript, written in Latin, some of the earlier parts of the Doctor's work are known to have been a translation. The first deviation from it appears to have been introduced by the Rev. Thomas Belsham, who thus describes his mode of lecturing, during the latter part of the time which he spent at Daventry:-"My method of instructing my pupils is to state every system, to propose the arguments for, and the objections against it, to direct them to a critical investigation of the true meaning of the sacred oracles, to recommend candour, diligence, humility, impartiality, patience and perseverance in the pursuit of truth, and fervent prayer to God for divine illumination. I then leave them to judge for themselves as in the presence of God, and accountable to Him."

The whole of the doctrinal instruction given by Dr. John Taylor, who filled the office of theological tutor at Warrington from the time of its establishment, in the year 1757, till his death in 1761, appears to have been founded upon the view of the divine dispensations, contained in his " Scheme of Scripture Divinity," which he

used as a text-book, and to which Bishop Watson has assigned a conspicuous place in his "Collection of Theological Tracts, in six vols." The student was not pledged to any particular system of doctrine, but left to pursue his inquiries with the most perfect freedom; and nothing can be more admirable, or worthy of adoption by all theological lecturers, than the following series of exhortations which he was in the habit of addressing to each of his pupils on the commencement of his divinity course :-" I. I do solemnly charge you, in the name of the God of Truth, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life, and before whose judgment-seat you must in no long time appear, that in all your studies and inquiries of a religious nature, present or future, you do constantly, carefully, impartially, and conscientiously attend to evidence as it lies in the holy scriptures, or in the nature of things and the dictates of reason; cautiously guarding against the sallies of imagination and the fallacy of ill-grounded conjecture. II. That you admit, embrace, or assent to no principle or sentiment, by me taught or advanced, but only so far as it shall appear to you to be supported and justified by proper evidence from revelation, or the reason of things. III. That if, at any time hereafter, any principle or sentiment by me taught or advanced, or by you admitted or embraced, shall, upon impartial and faithful examination, appear to you to be dubious or false, you either suspect or totally reject such principle or sentiment. IV. That you keep your mind always open to evidence; that you labour to banish from your breast all prejudice, prepossession, and party zeal; that you study to live in peace and love

with all your fellow-Christians; and that you steadily assert for yourself, and freely allow to others, the unalienable rights of judgment and conscience."

Dr. Aikin, the successor of Dr. Taylor, for want of a better text-book, used that of Doddridge; to which, however, he did not exclusively confine himself. He made it his object, like Mr. Belsham, to lay before his pupils a strictly impartial view of the several doctrinal schemes which have prevailed among the different sects of the Christian world; leaving them, without further guidance, to make their own selection from the systems thus indiscriminately brought together. In this plan of lecturing it is undeniable that there is much to win the attention and attract the regard of the youthful mind; but it is equally clear that there is, at the same time, much to excite and nourish within it feelings of presumption and vanity. To adopt the language of the Rev. William Turner, of Newcastle, who has for so many years discharged, with singular faithfulness, the office of Visitor to this Institution," It may be doubted whether the plan of bringing the doctrines of fallible men successively in review before a set of youthful hearers might not be likely either to lead them to fix upon some 'master' in Theology, or to make them conceited sciolists, imagining themselves at once fully qualified to judge and decide on questions which have exercised the wits of the wisest and best of men; or else to induce the opposite extreme of scepticism on subjects with regard to which they find such men coming to such different and even opposite conclusions. Is it not likely that a steady and settled, as well as a free and unbiassed system of opinions, touching the doctrines of

*

revelation, will be formed with greater advantage by a careful critical examination of the original Scriptures? When these have been closely investigated, the mind will be better prepared to judge, with greater ability as well as fairness, concerning the result of other men's researches."

To these judicious remarks I may perhaps be permitted to add, that, if the avowed object of the lecturer be to compare different systems of doctrine, for the purpose of deciding as to their respective claims upon the attention of his auditors, he will attain that object in a very imperfect degree, if he content himself with giving a sketch of the systems themselves, or even with setting forth the arguments by which they have been supported by their respective authors and advocates. Far more instructive to his pupils, and far more conducive to the end which he professes to have in view, will it be to trace these systems to the states of feeling and opinion in which they originated; to review the controversies which they have excited; to point out the successive changes and modifications which they have undergone; and to develop the influences by which they have obtained a hold upon the hearts and minds of those who have embraced them. If, again, the sole object of the lecturer be to indoctrinate his pupils, he will rigidly confine himself within the limits of his own favourite system, and carefully shut out from their view every ray of light proceeding from other quarters. There needs no argument to shew, that neither of these objects falls within the province of the lecturer on Critical and Exegetical Theology. His end will be much more honourably and effectually attained by confining