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to the present day read by the Church with admiration and thanksgiving; and they testify the great advantage which the royal author obtained from a knowledge of Divine things, while he was the chief magistrate of the same people on the throne of his Father. But since, according to the opinion of a Roman Emperor, "nothing is more difficult than to govern well," what just cause will any one be able to offer for the neglect of a study, to which even kings could devote their time and attention? Nor is it wonderful that they acted thus; for they addicted themselves to this profitable and pleasant study by the command of God; and the same Divine command has been imposed upon all and each of us, and is equally binding. It is one of Plato's observations, that "commonwealths would at length enjoy happiness and prosperity, either when their princes and ministers-of-state became philosophers, or when philosophers were chosen as ministers-of-state and conducted the affairs of government." We may transfer this sentiment with far greater justice to Theology, which is the true and only wisdom in relation to things Divine.

But these our admonitions more particularly concern you, most excellent and learned youths, who, by the wish of your parents or patrons, and at your own express desire, have been devoted, set apart, and consecrated to this study; not to cultivate it merely with diligence, for the sake of promoting your own salvation, but that you may at some future period be qualified to engage in the eligible occupation (which is most pleasing to God,) of teaching, instructing, and edifying the Church of the saints, which is the body of Christ, and the fulness of him that filleth all in all.' (Eph. i, 23.) Let the extent and the majesty of the object, which by a deserved right engages all our powers, be constantly placed before your eyes; and suffer nothing to be accounted more glorious, than to spend whole days and nights in acquiring a knowledge of God and his Christ, since true and allowable glorying consists in this Divine knowledge. Reflect what great concerns those must be into which ANGELS desire to look. Consider likewise, that you are now forming an entrance for yourselves into a communion, at least of name, with these Heavenly Beings, and that God will in a little time call you to the employment for which you are preparing,—which is one great object of my hopes and wishes concerning you!

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In reference to the word angelus, which signifies both an angel and a messenger.

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Propose to yourselves for imitation that chosen instrument of Christ, the Apostle Paul, whom you with the greatest willingness acknowledge as your teacher, and who professes himself to be inflamed with such an intense desire of knowing Christ, that he not only held every worldly thing in small estimation when put in competition with this knowledge, but also suffered the loss of all things, that he might win the knowledge of Christ." (Phil. iii, 8.) Look at Timothy his disciple, whom he felicitates on this account,- that from a child he had known the holy scriptures.' (2 Tim. iii, 15.) You have already attained to a share in the same blessedness; and you will make further advances in it, if you determine to receive the admonitions, and to execute the charge, which that great teacher of the Gentiles addresses to his Timothy.-But this study requires not only diligence, but holiness, and a sincere desire to please God. For the object which you handle, into which you are looking, and which you wish to know, is sacred,-nay, it is the holy of holies. To pollute sacred things, is highly indecent; it is desirable that the persons by whom such things are administered, should communicate to them no taint of defilement. The ancient Gentiles when about to offer sacrifice were accustomed to exclaim,

"Far, far from hence let the profane depart !"

This caution should be re-iterated by you, for a more solid and lawful reason when you proceed to offer sacrifices to God Most High, and to his Christ, before whom also the holy choir of angels repeat aloud that thrice-hallowed song,' Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty! While you are engaged in this study, do not suffer your minds to be enticed away by other pursuits and to different objects. Exercise yourselves, continue to exercise yourselves in this, with a mind intent upon what has been proposed to you according to the design of this discourse. If you do this, in the course of a short time you will not repent of your labour; but you will make such progress in the way of the knowledge of the Lord, as will render you useful to others. For the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.' (Psalm xxv, 14.) Nay, from the very circumstance of this unremitting attention, you will be enabled to declare, that you have chosen the good part which alone shall not be taken away from you,' (Luke x, 42.) but which will daily receive fresh increase: Your minds will be so expanded by the knowledge of God and of his Christ, that they will hereafter become a most ample habitation for God and Christ through the Spirit. I have finished.

ORATION II.

THE AUTHOR AND THE END OF THEOLOGY.

THEY who are conversant with the demonstrative species of oratory and choose for themselves any subject of praise or blame, must generally be engaged in removing from themselves, what very readily assails the minds of their auditors, a suspicion, that they are not impelled to speak by any immoderate feeling of love or hatred, but are more gently induced by an approved judgment of the mind; and that they have not followed the ardent flame of their will, but the clear light of their understanding which accords with the nature of the subject which they are discussing. But to me such a course is not necessary. For that which I have chosen for the subject of my commendation, easily removes from me all ground for such a suspicion.

I do not deny, that here indeed I yield to the feeling of love; but it is on a matter which if any one does not love, he hates himself, and perfidiously prostitutes the life of his soul. Sacred Theology is the subject whose excellence and dignity I now celebrate in this brief and unadorned Oration; and which, I am convinced, is to all of you an object of the greatest regard. Nevertheless, I wish to raise it, if possible, still higher in your esteem: This, indeed, its own merit demands; this, the nature of my office requires. Nor is it any part of my study to amplify its dignity by ornaments borrowed from other objects; for to the perfection of its beauty can be added nothing extraneous that would not tend to its degradation and the loss of its comeliness. I only display such ornaments as are, of themselves, its best recommendation. These are, its OBJECT, its AUTHOR, its END, and its CERTAINTY. Concerning the OBJECT, we have already declared whatever the Lord had imparted; and we will now speak of its AUTHOR and its END. God grant that I may follow the guidance of this Theology in all respects, and may advance nothing except what agrees

with its nature, is worthy of God and useful to you, to the glory of his name and to the uniting of all of us together in the Lord! I pray and beseech you also, my most excellent and courteous hearers, that you will listen to me, now when I am beginning to speak on the AUTHOR and the END of Theology, with the same degree of kindness and attention as that which you evinced when you heard my preceding discourse on its

OBJECT.

Being about to treat of the AUTHOR, I will not collect together the lengthened reports of his well-merited praises, for with you this is unnecessary. I will only declare (1) Who the Author is; (2) In what respects he is to be considered; (3) Which of his properties were employed by him in the revelation of Theology; and (4) In what manner he has made it known.

I. We have considered the OBJECT of Theology in regard to two particulars: And that each part of our subject may properly and exactly answer to the other, we may also consider its Author in a two-fold respect,-that of LEGAL and of EVANGELICAL Theology: In both cases, the same person is the author and the OBJECT, and the person who reveals the doctrine is likewise its matter and argument. This is a peculiarity that belongs to no other of the numerous sciences. For although all of them may boast of God, as their Author, because he is a God of knowledge; yet, as we have seen, they have some other object than God, which something is indeed derived from him and of his production. But they do not partake of God as their efficient cause, in an equal manner with this doctrine, which for a particular reason, and one entirely distinct from that of the other sciences, lays claim to God as its Author. God therefore is the Author of legal Theology; God and his Christ, or God in and through Christ, is the Author of that which is evangelical. For to this the scripture bears witness, and thus the very nature of the object requires, both of which we will separately demonstrate.

1. Scripture describes to us the Author of legal Theology before the fall, in these words: "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it:" (Gen. ii. 16, 17.) A threat was added in express words, in case the man should act deceitfully; and a promise, in the type of the tree of life, if he complied with the command. But there are two things, which, they preceded this act of legislation, should have been pre

viously known by man: (1) The nature of God, which is wise, good, just, and powerful; (2.) The authority by which he issues his commands, the right of which rests on the act of creation. Of both these man had a previous knowledge, from the manifestation of God, who familiarly conversed with him, and held communication with his own image through that Spirit by whose inspiration he said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh." (Gen. ii. 23.) The Apostle has attributed the knowledge of both these things to faith, and, therefore, to the manifestation of God. He speaks of the former in these words: "For he that cometh to God must have believed [so I read it,] that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." (Heb. xi. 6.) If a rewarder,

therefore, he is a wise, good, just powerful, and provident guardian of human affairs. Of the latter he speaks thus: "Through faith we understand that the world was framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." (Heb. xi. 3.) And although that is not expressly and particularly stated of the moral law, in the primeval state of man; yet, when it is affirmed of the typical and ceremonial law, it must be also understood in reference to the moral law. For the typical and ceremonial law was an experiment of obedience to the moral law, that was to be tried on man, and the acknowledgment of his obligation to obey the moral law. This appears still more evidently in the repetition of the moral law by Moses after the fall, which was specially made known to the people of Israel in these words: "And God spake all these words:" (Exod. xx. 1.) and "What nation is there so great that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?" (Deut. iv. 8.) But Moses set it before them according to the manifestation of God to him, and in obedience to his command,-as he says: "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." (Deut. xxix, 29.) And, according to Paul, "That which may be known of God, is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them." (Rom. i, 19.)

2. The same thing is evinced by the nature of the object. For since God is the Author of the universe, (and that, not by a natural and internal operation, but by one that is voluntary and external, and that imparts to the work as much as he chooses of his own, and as much as the nothing, from which it

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