And this reasoning is not confined in its application to passages commencing with the conditional if. This is only one mode, out of many, for expressing suppositive propositions. But the reasoning applies with equal force to every passage where supposed delinquencies, however expressed, are denounced. For example: "Every one that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house upon the sand, &c., and it fell, and great was the fall of it." "He that believeth not shall be damned." "Whosoever shall say to his brother, Thou fool, is in danger of hell fire." Now all these faults are supposed; and, consequently, according to the doctrine set up in the Exposition, they never can occur, and, therefore, never can be punished. No man can fail to believe. No man can be damned. Is this wholesome doctrine? Is this correct interpretation? Yet it is the legitimate result of the premises laid down in the Exposition. And this result assumes a still more serious character when we consider to how large a portion of the Scriptures it extends. The truth is, the Bible, as a whole, is a code of moral laws. And these laws do, and must, from the very nature of things, contemplate supposed cases of delinquency. This is the case with all laws, human and divine. Open any statute book in our country, and you will find it so. Such are the laws of all nations, excepting only the ex post facto laws of tyrants. Hence, all the commandments and precepts of the Bible involve, directly or indirectly, cases of supposed moral delinquency. Therefore, this strange principle of exegesis, which says that all such delinquencies are impossible; and that, hence, the penalties annexed will never be inflicted, jeopardizes the truth of the Bible as a whole. It makes that sacred book a volume of nullities. It drives its presumptuous ploughshare under the very foundations of the moral government of God. Apply this principle to the civil code, and you reduce the whole to a dead letter in an instant. Let it be avowed before an enlightened court by an advocate, and it would be taken as evidence of his insanity. That the principle will not hold, when applied to the Bible, might be shown directly by referring to innumerable cases recorded. Instance those of our first parents, Lot's wife, Pharaoh, and Achan: for in all these cases the supposed delinquencies actually occurred, and the threatened penalties were executed.

We have now stated some of our reasons for adopting the Arminian construction of this passage, and some of the absurdities that result from that given in the Exposition. And now if the author still think, that to save the doctrine of the inevitable perse

verance of the saints, is of sufficient importance to justify him in doing violence to the connection in which the passage is found, and to the acknowledged scope of the writer, and in assuming principles unfounded in themselves, and which, in their consequences, nullify the meaning of large portions of Scripture, and undermine the authority of the divine law, why, he must be allowed his opinion; but it is doubtful whether the world will be convinced of its soundness, or its wholesome tendency.

R.

ART. III-Education in the Methodist Church.

THE charge has been repeatedly brought against the Methodists, that they are ignorant, both in the ministry and in the laity. This imputation has been indignantly repelled; and, to show its falsity, appeals have been made to distinguished names, which are acknowledged to adorn the annals of science, both sacred and secular. It is probable, however, that the Christian spirit has been as little manifested in the temper with which the charge has been met, as in the motives with which it has been made. It requires but a glance to see that the reply has not met the imputation, and that the imputation itself is not worthy of a reply.

It is very true, that the doctrines which were defended and illustrated by the varied learning of Wesley, and the profound theological erudition of Watson, are daily extending their sway, commending themselves to the favor of all judicious divines, and greatly modifying, if not entirely uprooting, systems of theology that had grown venerable long before these men exposed their unsoundness. It is very true, that Biblical literature has been greatly enriched by the extensive philological acquirements of Clarke and Benson. It is very true, that Charles Wesley, Thomas Olivers, and other preachers, their associates and successors, have left such evidences of poetical genius, that many of their devotional poems, could they be considered apart from their religious associations, would be ranked among the most spirited lyrics in the English tongue. It is very true, that Fisk, Emory, Ruter, and others who might be named, have both adorned and enriched the literature of their language. And it is equally true, that a list, by no means diminutive, might be named, of men now living, of whose reputation for sound scholarship, neither their church nor their country has any cause to be ashamed.

But while we consider these claims to a literary reputation worthy of the highest respect, we freely admit that the Methodists, as a people, are, and have ever been, comparatively unlearned in human science. The multitudes who swell the number in their communion have, for the most part, been gathered in from the humbler walks of life, from that grade of society which enjoys but few of the advantages of cultivation, and feels but little of the pride of birth and worldly importance. Their ministry have generally been selected from the same ranks, and have been aided only by the same imperfect means. Their attention has been engrossed. by subjects but indirectly connected with those branches of learning which are deemed essential to eminent scholarship, and they have not been able, therefore, to overtake the progress of general science and refined literature. No array of eminent names, which we are able to present, can fully meet the imputation, that the Methodist Church, as a body, is unlearned.

But we proceed to remark that the imputation is not worthy of a reply. Both those who make this charge, and those who impatiently repel it, have mistaken the spirit and design of Methodism. To rival other churches, is no part of the object for which this church has been raised up. To acquire and sustain a reputation, is no part of that object. To promote the progress of science and literature, is no part of that object. When the Wesleys and Whitefield visited the mines of Kingswood and Cornwall, it was not to inspect the geological structure of the earth, nor to search for mineral specimens to adorn their cabinets: but they saw, beneath the filthy and haggard exterior of the miner, a gem more precious than any that sparkles in the caverns of earth, and they renounced their ease, and periled their lives, that they might rescue this treasure from the pollutions that obscured it, and present it purified, a diamond of the first water, to glow for ever in the diadem of Christ. When the hardy itinerant plunges into the frontier forest, and limits his circuit only by the farthest shanty of the settler, it is not that he may explore the wild beauties of nature; it is not that he may be the first to lay before the world the scientific riches of the wilderness; it is not that he may gratify an idle reader, and acquire for himself an evanescent name by a published narrative of romantic adventures. No, it is not for these. But the backwoodsman has gone into the forest, and the panther is scarcely more keen-scented for his blood than the Methodist preacher is for his soul. In one word, the design for which this church has been raised up is, to "spread Scriptural holiness over the earth." If, in the prosecution of this purpose, unlearned men

are needed in any particular section, it is the policy of Methodism to employ unlearned men. If, in another section, learned men are needed, it is the policy of Methodism to employ learned men. But the circumstance of their being learned or unlearned, gives them no preference in the eye of the church, only as the one is best adapted in this section, and the other in that, to carry forward the great work of Scriptural holiness. If, in the pursuit of this object, the Methodist Church has come to be, in any sense, the rival of other churches, this is only an accidental, and, perhaps, an unfortunate circumstance. If she has, by any means, acquired a reputation for some degree of learning and influence, this, also, is only an accidental circumstance, and possibly this, too, may be unfortunate. But it would be most unfortunate of all, if the zeal of the church, in defending her character, should divert her attention from the great work which alone has given her a character. The rescue of lost men from the thraldrom of sin is her appropriate vocation. Her zeal and success in this cause, and not her learning or her want of learning, have given her a name; and now he that comes to us with the charge that our church is characterized by ignorance, manifests, at least, as little acquaintance with the real objects of our pursuits as we do with those things which he supposes ought to characterize a church.

While some have seemed to think that the appropriate business of a church is, to settle the floating speculations of metaphysics and theology, Methodists have always deemed it their vocation to use efficient means for bringing the world to a knowledge of God. They have felt it incumbent to adapt their instrumentalities to the circumstances of those for whose salvation they labor. While, therefore, they have, in some parts of the work, considered human learning comparatively unimportant, they have, nevertheless, endeavored to keep pace with the advancement of the times, at least so far as to be able to prosecute their holy calling in all places, and among all ranks of society. In many parts knowledge is extensively cultivated, but righteousness does not necessarily spring up as the result. The learned and the refined live in the practice of sin, and in these circles, therefore, our church finds a field of labor.

It is for this reason that so vigorous efforts have, within a few years, been made to promote the cause of education in the church. Institutions of various grades have been established, and efforts have been made to enlist the co-operation of the people in their support. The old objection, that a few terms in school will destroy the piety of a young man and fill him with pride, is dying away

before the evidence which facts are believed to present, that fewer, comparatively, lose their piety in school than in other situations; while the manifest favor with which Heaven has regarded these institutions has created the belief, now quite general, that they are among the most efficient means for the conversion of the young. Nowhere have revivals of religion been more frequent, nowhere more general, nowhere have conversions been more sound, than in the literary institutions connected with the Methodist Church; and, on the other hand, we believe that nowhere have religious declensions been less frequent than in the same schools. From a connection with these institutions for nearly ten years, we believe that it is quite within the bounds of truth to say, that the ratio of young persons who are there brought to a saving knowledge of God, to those who there turn back and abandon his service, is not less than as fifty to one-a ratio greater by one half, we believe, than will be found in most other circumstances of life. These facts, if known, would remove the scruples of many who now hesitate to afford their support to the cause of education, lest they should be found doing ill-service to piety; and would soon place our institutions above embarrassment, and crowd their halls with the young, seekers alike of science and religion.

But an important inquiry arises, to which we propose to devote attention. What mode of education is best adapted to the circumstances and wants of the Methodist Church? The question is restricted to this church, with special reference to the great design for which, as we have just said, Providence has raised it up. This design is a practical one. The whole genius of Methodism is militant; not with carnal weapons, but with the sword of the Spirit. Its design is to act upon society in high places and in low; to enfore divine truth upon the consciences of men. An education that shall accomplish effectually these purposes, must have regard to the peculiarities of the times in which we live.

The characteristics of the human mind have varied in different periods of the world. In early ages, before the fame of great exploits could be perpetuated by historical records, the desire for immortality exhibited itself in gigantic works of art. Pyramids and other monuments of Cyclopean architecture have come down to us as the characteristics of those early ages. When, at a subsequent time, the genius of poets and historians was seen to be a more stable reliance, a passion for military glory arose, and the immortal achievements of Grecian and Roman arms were the result. In modern times, a new impulse has been given to the human mind. The great facilities which recent inventions of art VOL. II.-34