Luther, and his accomplished "yoke fellow," Melancthon, the last, the son of an armorer; the first, of a miner? Or shall we scale the cloud piercing Alps, and thence admire the amiable and highly gifted soul of Zuingle the shepherd? This catalogue of master spirits, who emerged from the deepest poverty to an eminence towering high above the mightiest princes, surpassing them in intellectual power and influence, and shaking their thrones to their centre, might be increased almost "in infinitum." It is a scripture truth, confirmed by observation, that God takes the "base things of the world, and things which are despised, to bring to nought things that are." That is, he chooses the poor of this world, to carry out his designs in the diffusion of Gospel light. It is also a fact, that many of those worthies of past ages, whose weapons of warfare, were mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds," had been assisted in their preparative studies by the munificence of benevolent friends. This striking duty: "Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things," is what I would urge on the Churches of the Old Dominion. Donbtless there are fine capacities, susceptible of the highest cultivation, allied to hearts, burning as the suppressed flames of a furnace to make known "the unsearchable riches of Christ," at this moment lying dormant in the Churches. Why are they not preparing for the Ministry? Why are they left to mouth out their crude ideas in their attempts to speak, to the embarrassment of themselves, the discomfort of their hearers, and the injury of the cause they would benefit? Ah! I fear they are neglected by the Churches. The belief that no "good can come out of Nazareth," still prevails; and it is this, backed by a covetous spirit, that shackles the intellects of our youth, and shuts the college door on those who would do honor to their patrons, and be ornaments to our blessed religion. I verily believe that there are at this hour, scores of young men in the Virginia Churches of approved piety, "apt to teach," who ought now to be at our college; but who, for want of funds, are doomed to an inglorious ignorance. While it is expedient to keep back an ambitious aspirant, who would use the Ministerial office only as a passport to popularity, and to secure "filthy lucre," retiring modesty, indicating usefulness, ought to be encouraged. How cruel to withhold aid under such circumstances! I maintain that the Churches, who are able, are responsible to God, for the neglect of Ministerial education.

1. Because they possess the means. It would be difficult, I apprehend, to find the Church that could not do a little for this enterprise. We do not require an impossibility, nor does God, but we do claim something from every Church, to defray the expenses of Ministerial instruction. "For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not accor

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ding to that he hath not." God, too, in the distribution of wealth, occasionally drops a fortune or two, in the different societies of the brotherhood. How ought this property to be disposed of? To be consumed on our lusts, and so exert an evil influence among the brethren, and before the world? "I trow not." A portion of it, at least, should be appropriated to the benevolent institutions of the age, and of those, one is for the education of Ministers. Who can compute the amount of good a Church might bring about, by qualifying only one young man, the better to preach the Gospel. She might thus put a ball in motion which would roll onward and onward to eternity. "The gold and silver are the Lord's," and if they be applied to unrighteous purposes, while the cause of Christ is left to bleed, the stewards will have to answer for this misappropriation at the judgment. 2. The Churches will not hear an uneducated man. It is a modern fact, that even the most covetous Churches testify to the worth of education. The first question propounded when a Minister is recommended to a Church, is: "Is he educated." A strong-minded, common-sense preacher, well read in the Scriptures, is frequently set aside for the novice hot from the college. And though he may not be able to sustain himself in his new position for a single month, yet because he is a graduate he must be taken, and the other left. I cannot say that I would always approve this preference, still, it proves that Churches know the value of education, if it can be had without previous cost. Then let every Church educate. Why import? Most likely every Church might furnish her own preacher, out of her own membership.

3. By educating their Ministers. the Church would educate the mass of the community in which they are located. A large portion of those who attend service, have no means of instruction, except as they hear it from the pulpit. They have neither time nor money to enable them to improve in the use of language. They speak as their neighbors speak-" Murder the king's english," and violate the plainest rules of grammar. But let them attend the ministry of one whose thought is accurate, address chaste, and pronunciation good; and there will be a manifest improvement of that community. Here is the reflex influence of an educated Ministry. The very individuals who in the first instance furnished the education, now reap a harvest from it themselves. The pulpit is the high school which craves no additional tax.

4. In conclusion, we shall not spend time in refuting objections. The time for that necessity no longer exists. That God approves education is too manifest to admit of a doubt. His choice of those possessing, not only good native powers of intellect, but a settled purpose to improve those powers, to effect deliverances and establish reformations in the world, sets all doubting on the subject at rest. If the Israelites are to be brought out of Egypt, he will call a Moses, "skilled in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,"

to the work. If prophets are wanted to make known his mandates, they must take a course of study in the school of Elijah. If he will call Apostles to spread and confirm Christianity, they must be instructed three years by the ablest master the world has ever known. If the scriptures are to be translated, He will stir up the spirit of a Tyndal, a Judson, or a Wickliff. In fine, if he would have an able and successful servant for any department of the divine office, that servant "must study to show himself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

Need I say more of the utility of education, of the ardor with which young men should seek it, and of the duty of the Churches to encourage and sustain it? Brethren, let us foster our society, so laudable in its designs, and withal so useful in giving reputation. and success to the rising Ministry. In it and similar organizations, are comprised our liberties, our wealth, our virtue, our happiness, and as a powerful auxiliary, our salvation.

It has not been my intention, in this discourse, to undervalue the services of those whose opportunities for mental improvements have been limited. "God forbid!" Jehovah himself has affixed to their "labors of love" the broad seal of his approval, in having made them instruments in the conversion of many immortal souls. My object has been to provoke young Ministers to emulation in the pursuit of knowledge. I know that the Clergy of present age, must have enlarged views, and well trained minds, as well as sanctified hearts. The march of mind is onward, and still onward. Its susceptibilities are never satisfied. Like the daughter of the "horse-leech," they cry: "Give, give." The mass is being educated, and they will receive instruction from none but educated teachers. The free Schools at the North are doing wonders in the diffusion of knowledge. It is in vain that the people of the South, dispute the palm with the North on the subject of general education. The general intelligence there, by reason of the free schools, compared with that in the South, is as the sun shining against a cloud. But similar schools will be established among us. The South will be redeemed, and the mass will be enlightened. This is the strong argument for the immediate education of our Ministry.

Young men, brother Ministers in Jesus, let me urge it on you "to study to show yourselves approved unto God." Difficulties you will have in abundance, but if your souls be once lighted by the torch of knowledge, you can master them all. If you cannot enter college, employ a private tutor. Should you be too poor to do this, and your Church refuse you aid, then draw on your own resources, and do the best you can alone- Neither be discouraged nor intimidated by what any one may say or think. That stereotyped phrase, "drink deep or taste not," has more in it of pedantry than of charity or good sense. I say taste, and drink as deep as

you can. Taste to-day, taste to-morrow, taste while you live. Thus shall you be a finished workman in sacred things, and receive the approbation of your Heavenly Father. AMEN.

THE LATTER DAY GLORY TO BE BROUGHT ABOUT THROUGH THE DIFFUSION OF RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE:

*

A Sermon, delivered before the Va. Baptist Sunday School and Publication Society, June 4, 1844, in the Second Baptist Church, Richmond, by Rev. J. R. SCOTT, Pastor of the Market St. Baptist Church, Petersburg Va.

"Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." -DAN. XII.: 4.

The great body of Evangelical Christians are united in the belief, that, before the final consummation, this world is destined to witness an era of moral splendor, as yet unparalleled in its history. It is to be an era in which the Gospel shall have triumphed over every form of false religion ;-the jarring sects of Christendom shall have been merged into the one only true and perfect Church, the nations, joined in one common brotherhood, shall learn war no more, but in the pursuits of peace, seek each other's prosperity hardly less than their own,-and all the lesser circles of society shall be pervaded by those mellowing, ennobling, joyous influences, the natural products of genuine piety and benevolence. It is to be an era that shall teach what the angels meant by the welcome they sang to the babe of Bethlehem, in their sweet carol, "glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men."

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This expectation has been excited by the study of those glowing pictures thrown by Prophecy's inspired pencil upon the canof Revelation; by the contemplation of those significant promises by which the Father assured the Son that he should see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied; by the witness of the inherent tendency of Christianity; and by the observation of the results, so vastly greater than the most sanguine could have anticipated for the outlay,-which have followed the efforts already put forth for the extension of the Redeemer's Kingdom.

These brilliant anticipations form not merely a cheering perspective, with which the Church is privileged to regale herself, when she would turn from the gloomy scenes around her, but an end for

*As portions of the discourse, and the conclusion entire, were not written until after its delivery, the author cannot profess to give the sermon more than substantially as preached.

which she is to strive. As such an end, we are happy to say, they are coming to assume a more and more definite shape in the view of the faithful; they are becoming more and more settled in their position, and distinct in their outline; and attracting towards themselves a steadier and steadier gaze. The people of God are beginning to take it for granted, not only that this end must, and cannot fail to be realized, but also, that it is to be accomplished through their own instrumentality; and that the Church cannot withhold her energies from its prosecution without forfeiting the character of being that body which Jesus constituted when on earth, and to which he committed, along with the care of his ordinances, the business of conducting to complete and final victory the triumphs of his cross.

The means which are to be employed in this stupendous and honorable work are various. There is one, however, which stands forth the most prominent of all; which may, indeed, be said to lie at the foundation of the rest; to which, at least, the others may be regarded as in some sense but subsidiary. I refer to the diffusion of faithful evangelical instruction. To this subject, in its bearing on the arrival of the glorious era so fondly anticipated, I would call your attention in the present discourse. It will be my aim on this occasion to impress your minds with the fact so clearly revealed in the word of God, that the universal diffusion of religious knowledge by the Church, is the great prominent means by which the latter day glory is to be brought about.

This, I am aware, my friends, sounds very much like an axiom; and the query may arise, why should a truth so familiar,-one implied in the very existence of every association formed for the spread of the Gospel,-be made the theme of discourse on an occasion when every one is eager for novelty? Would to God, brethren, the action of our Churches indicated that they did regard our proposition as self-evident. Readily as its truth is accorded, there is but too much ground to apprehend either that christians are not aware how much is involved in it, or that their pure minds are sadly in need of being stirred up by way of remembrance. Could I but hope by this discourse barely to impress on your minds more deeply what you already know and concede, and thus far to stimulate you to vigorous and consistent action, my chief solici tude on this occasion would be disposed of.

To proceed. The slightest inspection of the prophecies which foretell the triumph of the Redeemer's kingdom, must convince every one of the truth, and of the importance of our proposition, The era which that triumph shall introduce, is to be one of intelligence, a period in which religious knowledge shall be every where disseminated. Indeed, what but this, the prevailing acquaintance with sacred truth,-is it, which must be regarded as the very basis of the millennial structure? True, the happiness of our race will be the crown of the love and obedience which 21-Vol. 3.