his Gospel would not have been considered as "foolishness" by the Greeks, even those of them who did not fully agree with him. This, therefore, supplies a useful practical rule in judging of any thing you may read or hear: whenever you meet with such a representation of Christianity, as would not have been a stumbling-block to the Jews, or such as would not have been foolishness to the Greeks, you may at once conclude that this cannot be the Gospel which Paul preached. For he would not have been opposed, as he was, had his doctrine favoured either men's pride and worldly ambition, or their spirit of presumptuous speculation.

3. Lastly, I would remark, as another reason for condemning such presumptuous explanations, and metaphysical theories of Christianity as I have alluded to,-all of them equally,-that, if such speculations be allowed, it is evident Christianity must be, not one, but two religions;*-that for the few profound theologians, and that for ordinary men; such as the humble

*See "Romish Errors," chap. ii. on "Vicarious Religion."

shepherds to whom the holy Angels announced the birth of Jesus,-the fishermen and publicans who associated with Him,-and "the common people who (we read) heard Him gladly." Now there is nothing more characteristic of the Gospel dispensation than its oneness; — one Lord, one faith,-one hope,-in short, one and the same religion proposed to all who will heartily receive it.

But is there then, it may be objected, no such thing as theological learning to be cultivated? Are not the educated classes generally, and the clergy in particular, to be the instructors of the more ignorant? And if so, must they not be required to know more than they?

You may answer, certainly; and the very word "instructors," itself shows that this is no objection to what has been said, but a confirmation of it. Look at any such metaphysical theories of our Religion as I have been alluding to their advocates would not, indeed, admit that they do not themselves understand their own curious speculations; but it is plain, at least, that the great mass of mankind never could

be brought to comprehend them. So that these researches into the hidden things of God, even if they were not in themselves unprofitable and presumptuous, could never qualify us to be instructors of the People.

Imagine, for a moment, such persons as the shepherds at Bethlehem, and the multitudes of men and women,-Jews and Gentiles,-Freemen and Slaves,-whom the Apostles converted,―listening to the subtle definitions of the Schoolmen,-to such abstruse theories respecting the nature of Christ,-the reasons of God's proceedings, and the divine foreknowledge and decrees, as I have alluded to, and then consider whether these plain people could have even been expected by any one to be the wiser for what they heard.

But is learning therefore useless? My Christian friends, it would take more than a whole life of the ablest and most assiduous student, now, to place him even on a level, in many points, with such plain men as those I have been speaking of, who were the hearers of Jesus and his Apostles. Let any man have acquired something approaching to that know

ledge of the languages in which the Prophets and Apostles spoke and wrote, which their hearers had had from the cradle,-let him have gained by diligent study, a knowledge of those countries, customs, nations, events, and other circumstances, with which they had been familiar from childhood,—and let him thus have enabled himself, by a diligent comparison of the several parts of Scripture with each other, to understand the true meaning of passages which were simple and obvious to men of ordinary capacity eighteen centuries ago, and he will be far more learned than it is possible for the generality of mankind to be now. He will also be a more learned theologian, in the proper sense, than any metaphysical speculator on things divine; and what is more, such learning, in proportion as it is acquired, is profitable to him, not only as a Christian, but also as a Christian instructor. It will help him, not indeed to explain those things concerning God which the Scriptures omit, but what they contain; to lay before himself and his hearers, not what God has thought fit to keep secret, but what He has revealed.

Yet such studies as these will not give him an advantage over those early Christians of plain common sense and moderate education, who had read and heard little on the subject, except the writings and discourses of those Apostles and Evangelists whose works have come down to us. And what was, to these early Christians, the natural and unstrained sense of those writings, is what we should seek to understand and to believe, if we would have our faith the same as theirs. If later Christians had been satisfied humbly to pursue this study, instead of human theories, there would have been less of what is reckoned abstruse theology, but more of pure Christian faith. Had they all thus honestly relied on Scripture, the mysterious doctrines of our Religion would have been received in Christian simplicity, as Scripture reveals them, without any farther definitions and explanations than Scripture itself supplies; and this would have been "able to make us wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus."

Be it your study, now and henceforth, my Christian friends, to "receive the Kingdom of Heaven as a little child," with a pure, and