Greek, foolishness. Such a system, it is forcibly argued, could never have triumphed as it did, had not the power of God indeed worked with it.

Fully to unfold to the class now for a time entrusted to my care these most important doctrines, will hereafter be my gratifying task; and my earnest prayer will be, that, however feebly, it may yet not altogether unprofitably be discharged. May I be enabled to give a reason of the hope and the faith which we place in them, in the spirit so solemnly inculcated of meekness and fear; fear of unnecessary offence, fear of unfaithful compromise by suppressing any portion of essential truth committed to our charge, and fear of injuring its simplicity by the intermixture of any presumptuous explanations of our own beyond that which is written! I will now only observe on this subject, that the single question before us must ever be "What is written?"-the only reasonable place for objection must be while inquiring into the evidence of Revelation. If this evidence be satisfactory, no objection can possibly lie against any of the contents of that Revelation; these must be implicitly and submissively received. We may not dare to pursue a partial course,-to embrace the portions we approve, and reject those we disapprove. We may not dare to modify and pare down the doctrines of a credited Revelation to make them suit any preconceived hypothesis of human reason. The only question, I repeat, must ever be, "Hath God indeed spoken ?" If he hath, shall he not say to every whisper of doubtBe still, and know that I am God!

Is this then contrary to reason?-far, my friends,

far from it: it will ever be my endeavour to place in its just light the real union of Reason and Faith. Faith hath indeed sometimes been contrasted with Reason, as if these two principles (both the gifts of the Author of all light) were or could be, when rightly understood, in opposition the one to the other; but they are in truth inseparably combined,-Reason is the handmaid of Faith, and Faith is the perfection of Reason. Them hath God joined together, and let no man presume to put them asunder, either by exalting unassisted Reason, or by stripping Religion of her aid and attendance. If we examine the objects of religious truth, we shall find that the faculty which gives them admission into our souls, is Reason. Sense and Reason are the two eyes of the mind; and while material objects appeal to Sense, spiritual objects appeal to Reason; she is the porteress, as it were, sitting at the gate of the soul to receive and usher them in. I do not mean that she first suggests them; that is the higher office of that great Power, the primary source of all illumination, who created her for this among other purposes. But I assert, that she does and must first entertain them; the leading idea of the existence of a Deity is in the first place recognized and received by her; and the other elementary truths of religion follow in their order. These truths are indeed so impressed by her Maker on her essence, that even when his more direct voice is silent, she still repeats them-faintly and feebly indeed, and languishing as cut off from the source and cause of her knowledge;-but still she does repeat them, and she loves to trace them in the

beauty, order, and harmony of the universe. When his more direct voice is heard,-when Revelation speaks, it is indeed her place and office to sit silent and listen, and with all other creatures to keep peace before her Creator, receiving humbly truth from him who is the one great Eternal Truth. But this her submission is not forced or constrained; her prostration is a voluntary prostration; it is a duty which she teaches and enforces on herself. There is indeed a proud and rebellious principle, a miscalled and spurious reason, more justly termed as being often mistaken for her heavenly prototype-the wisdom of this world, which acts otherwise: but to confound the two, even in name, is alike injurious to the cause of true religion and true reason. Submitting herself thus readily and entirely to revelation, it is therefore to true reason that revelation appeals, calling on her to reject every false pretension to that title, and to admit, approve, and attest the true. When the beautiful feet of them that preach the Gospel of Peace wander afar amidst the nations that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,—is not their mighty errand, the mission of reason, as well as of religion? Does not reason furnish them from her armoury with the keen weapons which must expose the abominations of Juggernaut, the follies of Brahminical superstition, and the fallacies of Mahometan imposture? and must not these weapons be first successfully employed to clear the way for the more appropriate use of the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God? Are not the disciples of Christianity, from the beginning, instructed to be ever ready to give a reason for the hope that is in

them? I have said, that as Reason is thus the handmaid of Faith, so is Faith the perfection of Reason. The object of reason is truth; the highest and noblest truths are those which religion supplies, and the reception of these by reason constitutes faith. Religion is indeed that first philosophy, else vainly sought, in which alone the eternal form of truth subsists. The triumph of reason is to give to the objects of intellect the victory over those of sense; and to make the distant and the future gain ascendancy over the present: but this triumph, in its most exalted degree, is that of faith,

-it is by faith, the evidence of things not seen, that objects spiritually discerned overbalance the objects of sight. It is by faith, the substance of things hoped for, that eternity triumphs over time; this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith; it is faith that giveth to reason the wing and the eye of the eagle, enabling her to soar towards the heavens, and to look upwards to the Sun of Righteousness.