Though later, much later, in commencing this establishment than we ought to have been; we trust it is about to commence under the smiles of the great Head of the Church; and that we may confidently regard it as a token for good to the Redeemer's kingdom. Yes, brethren, we have more reason to rejoice, and to felicitate one another, on the establishment of this seminary, than on the achievement of a great national victory, or on making a splendid addition to our national territory. It is the beginning, as we trust, of an extensive and permanent system, from which blessings may flow to millions while we are sleeping in the dust. Let us, then, rejoice and be exceeding glad; and in the midst of our joy, let us look up to the Source of blessing, who can cause the walls of our Zion to rise even in troublous times.* While we congratulate each other, let our petitions ascend, with our praises, to the throne of grace, that the seminary this day established, and, as we verily believe, founded in faith and prayer, may be a fountain, the streams of which shall make glad the city of our God; flowing in every direction, and abundantly watering the abodes of Zion's king, until all flesh shall taste his love, and see his glory!

3. If what has been said be correct, then those who are more immediately charged with conducting this Seminary, whether as Directors or Professors, ought to consider themselves as honoured with a very solemn and weighty trust. The design of the supreme judicatory of our Church, in founding this Seminary, is nothing less than to train up an ABLE AND FAITHFUL MINISTRY; a ministry on whose piety, talents, and learning, the temporal and eternal welfare of thousands, now living, may, speaking after the manner of men, depend; a ministry, whose character may have a commanding influence, in forming the character of others, and they again of those who may successively fill the same office, until the end of time! The design is interesting beyond expression; and the task of those who are appointed to carry it into execution, is serious and important to a degree which mortals cannot estimate. When I cast an eye down the ages of eternity, and think how important is the salvation of a single soul; when I recollect how important, of course, the office of a minister of the gospel, who may be the happy instrument of saving many hundreds, or thousands of souls; and when I remember how many and how momentous are the relations, which a Seminary, intended solely for training up ministers, bears to all the interests of men, in the life that now is, and especially in that which is to come; I feel as if the task of conducting such a seminary, had an awfulness of responsibility connected with it, which is enough to make us tremble! O my fathers and brethren! let it never be said of us, on whom this task has fallen, that we take more pains to make polite scholars, eloquent orators, or men of mere learning, than to form

*War had been declared, by the United States, against Great Britain, a few weeks before this discourse was delivered.

able and faithful ministers of the New Testament. Let it never be said, that we are more anxious to maintain the literary and scientific honours of the ministry, than we are to promote that honour which consists in being full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and the instruments of adding much people to the Lord. The eyes of the Church are upon us. The eyes of angels, and, above all, the eyes of the King of Zion, are upon us. May we have grace given us to be faithful!

4. This subject suggests matter for very serious reflection to the Youth, who are about to enter as students in this Seminary, with a view to the gospel ministry. Behold, my young friends, the high character at which you are called to aim! You have come hither, not that you may prepare to shine; not that you may prepare to amuse men by philosophic discussion, or to astonish them by flights of artificial eloquence: but that, by the blessing of God, upon the use of means, you may become faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also; that you may become wise in winning souls to Christ; that you may prepare to go forth, defending and proclaiming the messages of grace to guilty men, and persuading them to be reconciled to God. Seek to excel. It is noble to excel. But let it be always for the edifying of the Church. THIS, my young friends, THIS is the object which is recommended to your sacred emulation. We charge you, in the presence of God, to let all your studies and aims be directed to this grand object. Seek with humble, persevering, prayerful diligence, to be such ministers as you have heard described; and you will neither disappoint yourselves nor the Church of Christ. Seek to be anything else; and you will be a grief and a curse to both. May God the Saviour bless you, and prepare you to be workmen that need not be ashamed!

5. From this subject we may derive powerful excitements to young men of piety and talents, to come forward and devote themselves to the gospel ministry. We trust no young man will ever think of that holy vocation, until he has first given himself up a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, by Jesus Christ. We would not, for any consideration, be accessory to the sin of alluring into the sacred office, those who know nothing of the power of godliness, and who, on the most favourable supposition, can be nothing better than miserable retailers of cold and unproductive speculations. But while we say this, and repeat it, with all the emphasis of which we are capable, we assert, with equal confidence, on the other hand, that wherever fervent piety appears, in any young man, united with those talents. which are adapted to the office of an ambassador of Christ, it is incumbent on their possessor, without delay, to devote himself to the work of the ministry. There are only two questions which need be asked concerning any youth on this subject. "Has he a heart for the work? And has he those native faculties, which are susceptible of the requisite cultivation?" If these questions can be answered in the affirmative, I hesitate not to say, that in the present state of

the Church, it is his duty to seek the ministry. Young men of this College! have none of you any desire to serve your fellow-men, and to serve Christ, in this exalted office? You have but one short life to live in this world; and you must, in a very little time, decide how you will spend that life. "We confidently pronounce, that it can be spent in no manner so desirable, so noble, so godlike, as in the gospel ministry. If then, you love the Lord Jesus Christ, come— we affectionately invite you to come, and take part with us in the ministry of the grace of God. The example of Christ invites you to come; the tears of bereaved churches, who can find none to break unto them the bread of life, entreat you to come; the miseries of wandering souls, who find none to lead them to heaven, plead with you to come. Come, then, and take part with us in the labours and rewards of the ministry of reconciliation!"*

6. Finally, if the representation which has been given be correct, then the Church at large ought to consider it as equally their privilege and their duty to support this Seminary. If one may judge by the language and the conduct of the generality of our Church members, they seem to consider all regard to institutions of this kind, as the province of ministers only. They readily grant, that ministers ought to be prompt and willing, to give their time, their labours, and, where they have any, their substance, for this end; but for themselves, they pray to be excused. They either contribute nothing toward the object; or contribute in the most reluctant and sparing manner, as if they were bestowing a favour, which they have a perfect right to withhold. My dear brethren, it is difficult to express in adequate terms either the sin or the folly of such conduct. Seminaries of this kind are to be founded and supported BY THE CHURCH, as such. It is THE CHURCH that is bound to take order on the subject. It is THE CHURCH that is responsible for their establishment and maintenance. And if any of her members, or adherents, when called upon, will not contribute their just portion of aid for this purpose, the Head of the Church will require it at their hands. Professing Christians! look upon the alarming necessities of the Church; upon destitute frontier settlements; upon several hundred vacant congregations, earnestly desiring spiritual teachers, but unable to obtain them. Look upon the growing difficulty with which the most eligible and attractive situations in the Church are supplied; and then say whether those who still remain idle can be innocent? Innocent! Their guilt will be greater and more dreadful than can be described. Come, then, brethren, humbled by the past, and animated by the future, rouse from your lethargy, and begin to act in earnest! Your Master requires it of you! The aspect of the times requires it of you! The cries of the neglected and the perishing require it of you! Your own privileges and blessings require it of you! Yes, ye who

See Address of the Presbytery of New York, on educating poor and pious youth for the gospel ministry. 14.

call yourselves Christians! If you love the Church to which you profess to belong; if you possess a single spark of the spirit of allegiance to her divine Head and Lord; nay, if you desire not a famine of the word of life; if you desire not the heaviest spiritual judgments to rest upon you, then come forward and act, as well as speak, like friends of the Redeemer's kingdom. Come forward, and give your influence, your substance, and your prayers, for the help of the Lord against the mighty.* AMEN!

ARTICLE XIV.

AN INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

BY THE REV. ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER, d.d.

HIGHLY respected and venerable Directors of the Theological School; and other learned and respectable auditors, convened on the present solemn occasion:

The institution and commencement of a Theological Seminary, under the patronage and direction of the General Assembly of our Church, ought to be a subject of mutual congratulation to all its members. But it cannot be concealed, that the same causes which have operated to render such an institution urgently necessary, have also opposed serious obstacles in the way of carrying it into effect. The deficiency, among us, of that kind and extent of learning requisite to confer dignity and respect, as well as usefulness, on the professor's chair, is too obvious to require remark. But every important institution must have its infancy and growth, before it can arrive at maturity; and however long we might have deferred this undertaking, the same difficulties would probably have met us at its commencement, which we are now obliged to encounter. The sentiments and emotions by which my own mind is agitated, in consequence of the new and important station in which I find myself placed by the choice of my brethren, and especially, the deep sense which I entertain of my insufficiency for the work, I shall not attempt to express. If the design be of GOD, he will prosper the undertaking, notwithstanding the weakness of the instruments employed in carrying it on; and will crown our feeble efforts with success. On HIM therefore may our hope and confidence be firmly fixed; and may "his will be done on earth as in heaven!"

I have selected, as the subject of the discourse now required of me, the words of our LORD, recorded in the 5th chapter and 39th verse of the gospel according to John:

Ερευνάτε τας γραφάς. Search the Scriptures.

The verb here used, signifies, to search with diligence and atten

* Judges 5: 23.

tion. Its literal meaning appears to be, to pursue any one, by tracing his footsteps. Thus it is employed by Homer, to express the lion's pursuit of the man who had robbed him of his whelps, by his footsteps; and the dog'st pursuit of his game, by his track. The precise meaning of the word, therefore, both in its literal and figurative application, is expressed by the English word, investigate. It may be read, either in the indicative or in the imperative mood. Doctor Campbell, in his new translation of the Gospels, prefers the former, and renders the passage, "Ye do search the Scriptures;" but Wetstein and Parkhurst consider it to be in the imperative, agreeably to our version: and certainly this rendering gives more point and force to the sentence, "Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me."

Although the word, vgapas, Scriptures, is of such general import, as to include writings of any kind; yet there can be no doubt but what the Scriptures of the Old Testament were here intended. This phrase is used in the New Testament, as we use the word Bible, which, though literally signifying any book, yet is now appropriated to designate the volume of inspiration.

The history of the origin of alphabetical writing is involved in considerable obscurity. The first notice which we find of the existence of such an art, is contained in the command given to Moses, in the xvii. of Exodus, to write a certain transaction in a book; and soon afterwards we read that the law was written by the finger of JEHOVAH, on the two tables of testimony.§ To me, it appears very probable, therefore, that it was about this time a subject of revelation to Moses. As a precise pattern of the tabernacle was shown to him in the Mount, and as certain persons were inspired with wisdom to fit them for the execution of that work, why may we not suppose that this wonderful art, so necessary for recording the revelations received from God, for the use of posterity, was also made known to Moses? One thing is certain; that all the alphabets of the western portion of the globe, and probably those of the eastern also, have had a common origin: and we have no authentic account of the invention of an alphabet by any people; so that whenever this art of writing may have had its origin, I am persuaded it was no invention of man, but a revelation from GOD.

With respect to the antiquity of these writings, I know of none which can bear any competition with the Pentateuch. Some, indeed, have supposed, that some part of the Vedas of the Brahmins, was written before the books of Moses; but there is no historical evidence on which we can depend in support of this opinion. And we are too well acquainted with the fraudulent pretensions of the Hindoos to antiquity, to place any confidence in their assertions. The ultimate opinion of that incomparable scholar, Sir William Jones, on

*Il. xviii. line 321.

כתב זאת זכרון בספר .14 : 17 f Exodus

† Odys. xix. 1. 436. Exodus 34.