"The course, or any of the sections, will be open to all Students who may feel disposed to attend; and examinations on the subject of each section will take place periodically.—The fees of admission will be hereafter determined upon."

The following Volume presents the first effects of the above Resolutions, as constituting the introduction to a course of Theological Lectures, intended to be delivered in accordance with the principles thus laid down.

The author feels that he cannot conclude the present statement by any more appropriate or satisfactory illustration of the feelings which have generally animated the founders of this Establishment, than that which is afforded by the following speech, pronounced by his esteemed friend Dr. Carrick, on the Opening of the College, Jan. 17th, 1831.

"Gentlemen of the Council,-You are met together, this day, on an auspicious and memorable occasion, the inauguration of the Bristol College, of which you are the guardians and founders. This day, Gentlemen, will be held in grateful remembrance by distant generations: for institutions like this, which have public utility alone for their object, are destined to defy the waste of time, and to survive the convulsions of empires. The learned and the good of centuries to come will refer to the act of this day with a thankful recollection of the benefits you I will have bestowed on them, and on their children; for of all the benefits which can be conferred on posterity, education is the greatest,-being the grand inlet of knowledge; the instrument by which the most valuable attainments are acquired.

"It has long, Gentlemen, been the subject of wonder and regret, that in this glorious country of England, so highly favoured by Providence, with more ample means of diffusing education than are possessed by any other nation, so little in that department should have been done; for down to the present time, a want of attention to that important object has been manifested by the Legislature, which it is not less difficult to account for than to excuse. We have indeed two national seminaries which stand unrivalled in the universe, for the splendour of their endowments and their literary renown: which afford opportunities for the cultivation of ornamental and useful learning, and possess too, the means of

fostering and rewarding genius, beyond all comparison with any similar establishment under the sun. Yet however well

adapted these great seminaries may have been for their original purposes; however suitable for a state of society and times long gone by; however ample may still be their stores, -they are evidently inadequate to the wants of the present day; for the wants of a population four times more numerous, and twenty times more rich, and more generally anxious for a good and liberal education; an education useful and practical as well as ornamental; education brought home to their doors, and which can be obtained at a moderate cost; and without that imminent risk, which young men must necessarily run, of falling into evil habits, when turned out into the wide world of Oxford or Cambridge, their own masters, at the dangerous age between boy and man.

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Independently of every other consideration, there ought, in this great kingdom, to be at least a dozen Oxfords, in order to supply the means of education commensurate with the wants of the community. In almost all other countries, especially Protestant countries, although vastly inferior in wealth and numbers to this, universities and public seminaries for literary and general education are everywhere thickly planted. In Italy, the lamp of Science can scarcely be said to have been ever wholly extinguished since the classic days of Greece and Rome. There, universities of name are found in almost every city and every town. Next to Italy, France was perhaps the eldest child of Science, as well as of the Church. Germany, Holland, and Switzerland, became distinguished in more recent times, in this illustrious race of knowledge. Even the Scandinavian kingdoms, in spite of their sterile soil and frost-bound climate, may justly boast of their universities and their learned men. Our own Scotland too, although neither rich nor populous, has long been celebrated in this honourable rivalship; comprehending within its narrow limits not less than four universities of ancient foundation; all of which can reckon amongst their members names of high renown, in every department of science and literature. In addition to these, and to the usual provision of grammar-schools of good reputation, Scotland possesses various public establishments, there called Academies, where every thing but classical learning is taught; where the useful, rather than the ornamental, parts of education are more particularly attended to, and where young men are fitted for

almost every department of real life. But beyond all these, the proud boast of Scotland is its parochial schools: not one parish throughout the kingdom being without its national school, and its schoolmaster: as regularly constituted and endowed as the living and the clerical incumbent. The influence of such an arrangement on the morals, the manners, the habits, the general intelligence, and the religious character of the people, may be easily imagined. That education does not in every case prevent immorality, crime, and wickedness, is a truth to be lamented: but its preventive influence is confessedly great; of which the recent trials under the special commissions afforded a striking example, in the vast proportion of criminals who could not read nor write.

"The infant and ambitious states of America were not slow in discovering this all-powerful lever of education, so necessary to lift them to that universal empire in every thing to which they fondly and openly aspire. I remember when studying at Edinburgh the three or four years immediately following the conclusion of the American war, the university was crowded with American students (all intercourse with this country having for some time previously been interrupted), who, when they returned to their own country, became in various instances the efficient founders of colleges in their respective states; where medicine and all the branches of useful learning are now successfully taught. And although during these years, there were not fewer than twenty or thirty Americans annually, who took their degree of Doctor in Medicine; almost ever since, as soon as these gentlemen had brought their new institutions into action, you may look in vain for almost a single American in the long lists of Edinburgh graduates. I have mentioned these otherwise trivial circumstances, in order to show how rapidly institutions of this nature, founded in usefulness, and fostered by patriotism, grow up into maturity; and we may from hence feel confident, that the tree of knowledge which we have now planted in our own venerable city, with so many advantages both natural and moral in its favour, will prove still more vigorous in its growth, and abundant in its produce.

"With respect to its origin, the Bristol College is somewhat remarkable. The ancient seats of learning were, almost without exception, reared by the fiat of kings, princes, and potentates, or dignified churchmen, and nourished by the wealth and influence of an all-powerful clergy; while ours is

the result of the voluntary subscriptions of a few private individuals, unsupported by any thing but the merit and usefulness of the Institution itself.

"We had indeed one precedent, one bright example, in the formation of the London College, an establishment of which a nation may well be proud. Yet this great work, it must be owned, was effected under far more favourable auspices than ours; and when we consider the vast combination of aristocratic and commercial wealth and influence which conspired in the formation of the London College, directed as it was by the magic wand of the master spirit of the age, the now Lord Chancellor Brougham, whose universal talent and matchless industry place him far above all other men,-when these vast advantages in favour of the London College are considered, your efforts and achievement seem fairly superior in merit, although inferior in splendour.

"Notwithstanding, Gentlemen, the purity of your views, you have had some difficulties to struggle with in the outset, and you may have still some perhaps to overcome. But when I reflect on the unanimity and zeal which have been hitherto so eminently displayed by the founders and patrons of the Institution; when I reflect on its own intrinsic excellence; the enlightened and beneficent principles on which it is founded; embracing, as it does, all denominations of Christians in the common bond of charity and public usefulness; where Christianity is displayed as the true foundation of all useful instruction, but where the minor differences in opinion are merged in the single, the grand outline of Christianity itself; when I reflect on these things, I feel perfectly confi dent that the partial and temporary obstructions, or rather retardations of your progress, will be speedily surmounted, and that a signal victory will crown your labours. Your Institution has had to abide the common lot of all improvements,―misapprehension, distrust, and perhaps too a certain dash of jealousy, which peculiar circumstances might tend to palliate or excuse. But time will undeceive the unwary; a little sunshine will dissipate this morning cloud; and those who from misconception of your motives have withdrawn for a time their countenance, will feel anxious to return to you, when they see that their fears were groundless. It is a glorious conquest to convert an adversary into a friend.

"But however deeply we may regret the absence of certain venerable and highly respected individuals, whose counte

nance and support we had reason to expect; your unaided exertions have, I am proud to say, been hitherto singularly successful. In little more than a year from the commencement of your labours, you have advanced to the consummation of your wishes. You have in that short space of time organized the various machinery of your Establishment; and you open it this day for its grand and ultimate purpose, the education of youth. Thus far you have been eminently fortunate in all your proceedings, and your good fortune has in no respect been more happily conspicuous, than in the acquisition you have made, of the justly distinguished Professors, who are about to carry into practice your beneficent intentions; under whose auspices and able direction, it is impossible to doubt of the success of the Bristol College.

"Before I conclude, I would beg to address a very few words to that portion of this company who are the peculiar and ultimate objects of our labours and solicitude,-the Students of the Bristol College.

"You are now, young Gentlemen, about to enter on a most important and critical portion of your lives; upon the proper or improper employment of which, your success and respectability in the world, your happiness both now and hereafter, will greatly depend.

"Let me intreat you to reflect, that life at best is but short; and that we cannot afford to suffer any part of it to run to waste. You must now lay in a stock of knowledge which may carry you through life, whatever your after-pursuits may be, with usefulness and honour. But recollect, this is not to be done without exertion, without the frequent sacrifice of momentary pleasure and gratification. Self-denial is a virtue of the highest quality; and he who has it not, and does not strive to acquire it, will never excel in

any thing.

"Remember, Gentlemen, that all is the gift of industry. Without industry nothing valuable can be acquired; and by dint of industry every thing is at your command. Industry and perseverance, with moderate talents, will effect that which the greatest talents without industry can never accomplish.

"You must consider your advancement in learning as the chief and sole object of your ambition. Let your whole desire for the present, be the distinguishing yourselves in the various exercises through which that requisite stock of knowledge is to be acquired; and you will have ample time hereafter for the enjoyment of pleasure,-of that intellectual