character and the traditions of God by the fresh light of the knowledge of His glory, coming to us from a deeper study of His works in nature, in providence and in the human soul. Whence else is it that now we are having for the Fall of man the Ascent of man, and for the inheritance of an accursed nature the unforfeited birthright of the children of God?-But this is superfluous: if you want convincing or stimulating words, you have had them from the chair. In writing to Dr. Martineau, I told him that I had two inducements to second this resolution the pleasure of once more following in his lead, and that the office might be made extremely easy, amply performed, if, imitating the man who, having to follow Burke, appropriated the great orator's speech by "I say ditto to Mr. Burke," I only said, “I say ditto to Dr. Martineau." And I might say ditto to another representative of light and leading. I happened to see the other day and it is really remarkable how one's most casual reading seems to fall in with any matter of interest that is before the mind-the whole principles of this College with our consequent duties of religious growth, given in an epigram by the "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table," who, after extolling one of Keble's most exquisite pieces from the Christian Year, and the fine culture out of which it came, adds, "But I am no Churchman, because I do not believe in planting oaks in flower pots." But that illustration will avail us only if we are true oaks, not dwarf Chinese ones, artificially stunted, but God's and Nature's oaks, that will burst any manufactured vase or tub, and which only unwalled earth and the open sky can nourish or contain. Dr. Barnes closed that far-seeing, broad-church sermon of a

century ago, not unworthy of to-day, with the prayer for this College raised as a Temple to Truth, Freedom, and Religion, Esto perpetua. Yes, Esto perpetua, in its principles of life and growth; but its crown of glory will be when its name need no more be heard; its apotheosis when it will no longer be wanted, when no longer exceptional, because free learning and free teaching, at every seat of learning throughout our land, shall be recognised as the only method of reverent approach towards the knowledge of the inexhaustible God.

XIV. The Study of Theology and the

Service of Man.

BY JOSEPH ESTLIN CARPENTER, M.A.*

GENTLEMEN,

'In the realm of

are thieves and get rid of them Let my lord

ONG ago," said Gotama Buddha to the Brahman Kutadanta, who had asked him about the essentials of a proper sacrifice, "long ago there was a mighty king, Great Victor by name, who had won vast riches and conquered the wide circuit of the earth. As he meditated in solitude there arose in his heart the desire to perform a mighty sacrifice, and he sent for his house-priest and told him his wish. my lord the king,' said the priest, murderers. Let not my lord seek to by death, or bonds, or banishment. provide seed and food for them that till the ground and breed cattle; let him provide goods and capital for them that deal in merchandise. Then will the land be established in prosperity, and men will rejoice and live with open doors.' And the king did so; and these evil doers being intent upon their own affairs, harassed the land no more, and prosperity was established, and men rejoiced and lived with open doors. Then the king

* An Address delivered at the Opening of the Session, October, 1887, by the Rev. J. E. Carpenter, M. A., Vice-Principal.

+ See the Kutadanta Sutta, in the Digha Nikāya, v.

took counsel again with his priest, and he bade him consult the nobles and the priests and the householders. And when they consented, the sacrifice took place. They slew no bulls nor rams, they hewed down no trees for the sacrificial posts, they cut no sacrificial grass. The king's servants wrought their work without fear of the rod and without tears. Each served with free service, and with offerings of milk and oil and honey was the sacrifice performed."

So even in ancient days might the traditional form of the service of God be superseded by the service of man. The teaching of the Indian sage will not appear strange to the student of Hebrew prophecy. "Wherewith shall I come before Yahweh," cries the worshipper, "and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?" "Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams," replies the prophet, "or with ten thousands of rivers of oil?" "Shall I give my first born for my transgression?" asks the agonised suppliant, offering a still higher price for expiation, "the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good," is the austere reply, "and what doth Yahweh require of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"* Nay, the service of man is identical with true religion. When Jeremiah passed sentence on the unfaithful Shallum for his reckless extravagance and his consequent unrighteous oppressions, he contrasted him with his father Josiah: "Shalt thou reign because thou strivest to excel in cedar? Did not thy father eat and

*Micah vi., 6-8.

drink and do judgment and justice? Then it was well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Was not this to know me? saith

Yahweh."* Even in those days, then, there was a social problem. Even in those days there was a conflict between a ceremonial and an ethical religion. And even in those days there were not wanting voices to declare that the service of man was the true path to the service of God.

Nor, on the other hand, has religion failed to inspire great social ideas. Consult the wisdom of ancient China, and you will learn that the moral order of the living personal Heaven is the established basis of the State. Its constancy and impartiality are the symbols of its own righteousness, and the foundations of all virtue among men. In the absence of any external code of revealed law, it has made known its requirements through man's moral nature, and through the order of society, which finds in the several ranks, duties, and ceremonies, its appointed and unchangeable expression. "The great Shang Te," said Tang, "has conferred on the inferior people a moral sense, but to cause them to pursue the course which it indicates is the work of the sovereign." "But the sovereign," said Kaou Yaou,"must remember that the work is Heaven's; it is men's to act upon it. From Heaven are the social orders with their several duties; from Heaven are the social distinctions with their several ceremonies. When sovereigns and ministers show a common respect for these, do they not harmonise the moral nature of the