i 
 
 A DDilKSSES 
 
 DELIVERED AT TUE 
 
 INAUGURATION OF REV. WM. S. PLUMER D. D. 
 
 AS 
 
 PROFESSOR OF DIDACTIC AND PASTORAL THEOLOGY 
 
 IN THE 
 
 Patent EJfulugical § minanj: 
 
 COMPRISING 
 
 THE CHARGE T<> THE PEOFESSOR, 
 
 BY HEV. E. P. SWIFT, D. D. 
 
 / 
 AND 
 
 THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 BY REV. W. S. PLUMER. D. D. 
 
 DELIVERED AT PITTSBURGH. OCTOBER 20. 
 
 P* r ' L ' 
 
 Pittsburgh: 
 
 PRINTED BT W. S. HAVEN, CORNER OK MARKKT AMD SECOND S' 
 
 1 854. 
 
ADDRESSES 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE 
 
 INAUGURATION OF REV. WM. S. PLUMER D. D. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF DIDACTIC AND PASTORAL THEOLOGY 
 
 ttltm SJefllflgital gerainartj 
 
 COMPRISING 
 
 THE CHAEGE TO THE PROFESSOR, 
 
 BY REV. E. P. SWIFT, D. D. 
 
 THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 
 
 BY REV. W. S. PLUMER. D. D. 
 
 PRINTED BY W. S. HAVEN, CORNER OP MARKET AND SECOND STREETS. 
 
 1 854. 
 
Resolved, That a committee of two be appointed to solicit a copy of the Charge of 
 the Board, delivered by Rev. Dr. Swift: and also, of the Rev. Dr. Plumer, a copy of 
 his Inaugural Address before the Board, and they be instructed to publish the same, in 
 pamphlet form, for distribution. 
 
 (Extract from the minutes of the Board of Directors of the Western Theological 
 Seminary.— ft*. 20, 1854.) 
 
 Rev. E. P. Swift, D. D. 
 
 Rev. and Dear Sir : — In accordance with the above resolution, the 
 undersigned were appointed a committee to carry out the purpose of the Board of 
 Directors, and will thank you. at your early convenience, for a copy, for publication 
 of the Charge of the Board to Rev. Dr. Plumer, by you delivered before them, and the 
 Synods of Pittsburgh and Allegheny, in the Second Presbyterian Church, on the evening 
 of the 20th inst. Very respectfully yours. 
 
 FRANCIS G. BAILEY. 
 LUKE LOOMIS, 
 Pittsburgh, Oct. 23d, IS 54 Committee. 
 
 Allegheny City, Oct. 31, 1854. 
 Gentlemen: Duly appreciating the favorable consideration of the Board in whose 
 name you act, I herewith submit a transcript of the Charge to ycur disposal. 
 
 Respectfully and affectionately, Yours, 
 
 E. P. SWIPT. 
 To F. G. Bailey and L. Loomis. Esqrs. 
 
 Rev. W. S. Plumer, D. D. 
 
 Rev. and Dear Sir: — In accordance with the above resolution, the 
 undersigned were appointed a committee to carry out the purpose of the Board of 
 Directors, and will thank you, at your early convenience, for a copy of your Inaugural 
 Address, delivered before them, and the Synods of Pittsburgh and Allegheny, on the 
 evening of the 20th inst. in the Second Presbyterian Church, in this city. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 FRANCIS G. BAILEY, 
 LUKE LOOMIS, 
 Pittsburgh. Oct. 23d, 1854 Committee. 
 
 Allegheny City, Pa. Oct 30. 1854. 
 Gentlemen: — I received your kind note, and, according to your request, I send you 
 the manuscript of the address I delivered at my inauguration. 
 
 Very respectfully and truly yours. 
 
 WM. S. PLUMER. 
 To F. G. Bailey and L. Loomis, Esqrs. 
 
THE CHARGE. 
 
 REQUISITES TO THE SUCCESSFUL CULTIVATION 
 
 or 
 
 CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY. 
 
 My Dear Brother: 
 
 While quietly pursuing your pastoral avocations in a 
 distant city, the voice of the Supreme Council of the Church to which 
 you belong, summoned you to assume the responsible post of Professor 
 of Theology, in one of her principal TJieological Seminaries. As an 
 obedient son, you have promptly responded to her call ; and here you 
 have found a new edifice arising on the ruins of the first, a senior and 
 junior associate at their posts, and two convened Synods ready to 
 receive you. Having now been inducted, by an impressive and solemn 
 formality into that oflice, the Board of Directors have imposed upon 
 me the duty of addressing to you, in their name, and that of Jesus 
 Christ, such fraternal counsels as befit so high a trust. 
 
 The occasion is an affecting and eventful one, not only to yourself. 
 but to this Board, and this large assembly — and, indeed, to all who 
 love the church of the living God, and would cherish a holy interest 
 in those educated, devoted young men who. from year to year, and 
 from class to class, are here to come up to qualify themselves for 
 active ministerial service in the vineyard of the Lord. The particular 
 department of instruction to which you have been appointed is Didac- 
 tic and Pastoral TJieology. This is the science of God — and of man, 
 as a rational and moral being — and of true religion, as it is made known 
 to us by a divine revelation, and as it is perceived and understood by 
 a divine faith. It differs from all other sciences in the loftiness and 
 utility of its objects, the vastness and eternity of its principles, the 
 source of its elements in the inspired record, and the supernatural 
 illumination of the human soul which it implies. No employment, 
 therefore, draws a created mind into higher communion with God. 
 
6 
 
 and the objects of the invisible world, and into loftier and holier con- 
 templations, or is in itself more honorable and blessed. The Bible 
 is the source of all our theological knowledge ; and its doctrines, and 
 facts, and moral laws we receive as divine, on the naked authority of 
 God. Reason, as an instrument of knowledge, is legitimately employed 
 in discovering and weighing the proofs and vouchers of its being indeed 
 a divinely inspired and unerring revelation, and then interpreting its 
 contents according to the rules of language, and stating, proving 
 and defending it against all the world, and all that is sceptical in our 
 Dwn hearts. 
 
 That form of theological truth which you are expected to impart, 
 and no other, is comprehended in the Confession of Faith. The church 
 believes, indeed, that " the Bible " without tradition, the authority of 
 Councils, or the sanction of men or angels, " is the religion of Protes- 
 tants ;" and it is because she believes that this Confession embodies 
 the very mind and meaning of the Holy Spirit in the Bible, she will 
 have no other teaching, since she will have no other Bible. 
 
 She expects you, then, out of the depths of your own conviction, 
 ably, faithfully, and thoroughly to state, illustrate, and defend this 
 system ; and by research, meditation, prayer, and the help of the 
 Holy Ghost, to bring " out of the law " and the doctrine of the cross, 
 those wonderful things in truth and righteousness, by which your 
 pupils may be thoroughly furnished as able ministers of the New 
 Testament. What form of doctrine this is in detail, the occasion will 
 probably lead you more appropriately and ably to express, than I can 
 do ; and I shall, therefore, confine my observations to a notice of some 
 of those things which seem to be required in the successful cultivation 
 of sound theology, and the professional training of the ministry. 
 
 In the Apostolic age the doctrine and discipline of Christianity was 
 pure and true in its simple unclassified elements ; but, like our sinless 
 mother in the primeval garden, its innocence and purity stood unpro- 
 tected from those encroachments which the sin and folly, the pride, 
 and weakness of Christian men, might intentionally and unintentionally 
 make upon it. If Jewish dogmatists had so marred, before the time 
 of Christ, the ancient laws and theology, that Moses, if he could have 
 re-lived, would scarcely have known his own system, it is no matter 
 of surprise that before the close of the first, and during the second, 
 third, and fourth centuries, men's views of the doctrines of Revelation 
 had become false and corrupt. The first departures from primitive 
 simplicity were not, indeed, mainly doctrinal ; but in that and the 
 
succeeding periods, down to the present time, almost every conceivable 
 form of divergence has occurred ; so that Didactic Divinity itself 
 travels through the circles of almost every science — and the question 
 which I propose is, how she can best attain the objects of this journey ? 
 And, 
 
 First — If Theology is a revelation of the glory and righteousness of 
 God, and a convincing knowledge from him of man's necessities and 
 ruin, and heaven's unspeakable gift, need I say that it cannot be ex- 
 pected to unlock its treasures and reveal its mysteries to an unrenewed 
 and nnhumbled mind. 
 
 Look back upon the map of the journeyings of God's elect in all 
 past time, and see, my brother, how the review magnifies and solemn- 
 izes the office you are to hold ! Who was the Church's first teacher 
 of Divinity, but the Almighty God himself ? Who taught Theology to 
 Abraham, and Enoch, and Moses amidst the thunderings of Sinai, 
 himself the preceptor of the sons of the Aaronic priesthood ? Look at 
 yonder man, with a little cluster of the sons of the prophets at 
 his side, and the King and all Israel before him in their idolatry and 
 wickedness, as he is about to demonstrate that there is a God ! and that 
 the Lord is He ! What holiness ! what faith gleams upon that eye as 
 it gently rises towards that rainless sky ! Who was the Theological 
 Professor of that band of Hebrew youth, whom Nebuchadnezzar 
 selected for education ? Perhaps it was Daniel, the elder inmate. 
 And when we come down to the Sox of God himself, at the head of 
 his twelve, and also hi3 seventy disciples, we find him delivering lessons 
 of Divinity, in the Temple, and in the synagogue, and on the sea, and in 
 the wild and rugged mountains, amidst miracles the most creative, and a 
 profoundness and sanctity the most awful ! And although for centuries 
 after the apostolic age, ancient history is surprisingly silent and un- 
 certain, as to how and where theology was systematically taught, we 
 know that the martyred Polycarp, Irenaeus, Cyril, and Clement, the 
 self-sacrificing Trinitarian Athanasius, and the illustrious Augustine, 
 were Professors of Theology. After them, in later times, come up 
 to our view, the Christian-like Wickliff, the noble Huss, Luther, that 
 prodigy of faith and prayer ; the John-like Melancthon, the devoted 
 Beza, the peerless Calvin, the industrious and faithful Doddridge, the 
 gifted Chalmers, and the unsurpassed Alexander. To such investiga- 
 tors, this hallowed science has yielded up its precious illuminations ; 
 but if we look back to the third and fourth centuries, or through the 
 sad and awful occultations in the seminaries of Alexandria, Geneva, 
 
8 
 
 and Wittenberg, and into the Rationalistic and Puseyitic schools of 
 Germany and Britain, where great, and learned, and intellectual men 
 were found to teach Infidelity, Pantheism, Pelagianism, and Soeinian- 
 ism out of God's Holy Bible, do we not see that without the spirit of 
 the Bible, it is as " the blind leading the blind ?" Arius, and Paul of 
 Samosata, and Pelagius and Arminius may, indeed, have been renewed 
 men ; but their evasions, concealments, and reasonings were unlike 
 honest, open lovers of the Gospel. 
 
 Secondly — The auspicious cultivation of sound theology demands 
 varied and profound acquisitions in scriptural knowledge, earnest 
 study and unwearied investigations, not only in Biblical and Oriental 
 attainments, but in all the departments of science. The idea that, in 
 answer to prayer, God might be expected to open the meaning and 
 doctrine of the holy oracles to him who could not even intelligently read 
 them (in the original), has now passed away among all thinking men, 
 and the world has settled down in the belief that Heaven bestows 
 grace and knowledge by the use of rational and appointed means. 
 Heretical expositors of the Bible, and Infidel teachers of Christianity 
 have come forward with the profoundest learning and the highest gifts, 
 to undermine the walls of our Jerusalem ; and Compendiums of Mental 
 and Moral Philosophy, and Logic, and Psychology, and of History, 
 Medicine, and almost every branch of literature and science now, more 
 or less, branch off into Philosophic and often dangerous discussions of 
 Christian truth. The only rational effect of these things upon the 
 Evangelical Protestant world, should be to rouse them up to push for- 
 ward, and outrun these reckless innovators in every legitimate field 
 of sacred knowledge, remembering that exegesis, investigation, and 
 laborious and scientific research, and profound scholarship are here 
 (like the altar, the wood, and the offered oblation of the prophet, not 
 one thing of which could be wanting, ere he made his solemn appeal 
 by faith and prayer to the God of Israel,) indispensable to our rational 
 trust in the Lord, to fortify and defend the sanctuary of the cross, 
 when learning, subtilty, and eloquence would assail it. If God's 
 teachers and ministers resolve to be satisfied to hold their old posi- 
 tions, and rely upon their old proofs and illustrations, repeating ac- 
 knowledged truths in the beaten way, while Scepticism is learnedly 
 ransacking the heavens and the very bowels of the earth — the hiero- 
 glyphical records and monuments of antiquity, and the very depths of 
 philological science, trying to sap and undermine the very walls of the 
 holy city — what shall be the fate of those young detachments of 
 
9 
 
 Christ's soldiers, who go forth to be fallen upon by the metaphysics 
 and transcendentalism of the schools ; the rabbinical craftiness of the 
 Jews, the philosophical fatalism of the Turks, and the oriental subtilty 
 of the Hindoos ? Who can tell how much more power and brilliancy 
 Edwards, Whitefield, Fuller and Baxter might have displayed, to the 
 glory of Christ, if they had possessed the means of a thorough early edu- 
 cation ? If Basil, instead of being borne away by the love of monastic 
 life and the austerities of asceticism, spending his time with Monks 
 and Hermits in praying and singing psalms and devotional exercises 
 in deserts and solitudes, had devoted his gifted intellect to the re-in- 
 vigoration of the waning theology of his times, how much more useful- 
 ness might he have gained. True, indeed, it is most vital for the 
 teacher and the student, of a divinely inspired science, daily to feel 
 that without humbleness of mind, and purity of heart, and communion 
 with the Spirit of God, his real progress is impossible. Of Justin 
 Martyr, Tertullian and others, we hear, with sorrow, the historian say 
 that these gifted men failed in their controversy with the Jews, from 
 the want of a thorough acquaintance with the language, history, and 
 learning of the Hebrews ; and that their defences of Christianity 
 against learned Pagans, also failed for the want of accuracy and ap- 
 plication. Thus the whole analogy of God's kingdom of providence 
 and grace teaches us that no gifts nor graces, nor heavenly effusions, 
 can acquit the Church of her whole duty, if she does not strive to 
 defend the glorious system of redemption, the noblest of all sciences, 
 by all and the best of human instrumentalities. Origen and Clemens, 
 of the famed Theological school of Alexandria, of whom Jerome said, 
 " no men ever had more knowledge," and many good men since may 
 not have most profitably and wisely employed their learning ; but still 
 Theology is incapable of advancement without eminent acquisitions. 
 If any suppose that the breathings of holy affection must inevitably be 
 sacrificed on the altar of intense study, let them contemplate the great 
 teacher — the immortal Owen — whose matchless acumen and Herculean 
 powers, and highest distinction in rabbinical, and scientific, and theo- 
 logical learning, blended with equally remarkable sanctity and purity 
 of heart, all humbly consecrated to the crucified Redeemer, and be 
 convinced of their error. 
 
 Thirdly — The auspicious pursuit of systematic Theology must have 
 a constant reference to it as one complete and indivisible revelation; 
 one edifice with many dependent parts ; and its aim must be to give 
 each its just proportions and appropriate place. There is, as you 
 
10 
 
 know, a tendency in particular times, in particular tastes, and in the 
 prevalence of particular controversies, to disturb this harmonious 
 adjustment. Athanasius, in the East, and Hilary, in the West — those 
 able, exemplary and pious men — were so absorbed for most of their 
 lives in the Arian controversy, that they thought too little of a divine 
 and dying gospel. The acute Dr. Emmons, the teacher of so many 
 New England Pastors, laid out all of his strength upon a metaphysical 
 and ingenious, but unbiblical theory of Mental Philosophy ; and 
 upon all topics not capable of being tinged with his ruling speculation, 
 his teaching was brief, meagre, and superficial. Dr. Samuel Hopkins, 
 as his system of divinity shows, was a very pious, strong-minded man, 
 but the metaphysical idea that " all sin consisted in selfishness, and 
 all holiness in disinterested benevolence," seemed to him the factotum 
 of all Divinity ; and his pupils could hardly preach a sermon without 
 one of these peculiarities. 
 
 We might show how great and good men have often had their 
 hobbies : and how their vigorous powers and active investigations have 
 been expended upon these particular topics, to the damage of all beside. 
 
 Let your teachings, my dear brother, respect the " whole counsel 
 of God " in its just proportions, its beautiful symmetry, and its moral 
 order, that the superstructure of your system may be as an edifice " fitly 
 framed together." Let Christ crucified, indeed, be its beginning and 
 its end, its centre and circumference ; and guard all your pupils 
 against whatever all-absorbing themes or illusive speculations there 
 may arise to mar their usefulness, or mislead their judgments. 
 
 Fourthly — The successful cultivation of Theology demands accu- 
 racy of thought and judgment, and the power of separating on every 
 subject, its intrinsic from its extrinsic elements, blended with inflexible 
 rectitude of heart. These are demanded in order to a safe, able, and 
 conscientious interpretation of God's word, by one who must feel a 
 freedom from all authority, but the binding obligation of that word 
 itself ; and yet be able to enter into the comprehension of its great 
 and holy truths. 
 
 It is only when the mind feels wholly free to try, by the tests of 
 Scripture alone, the opinions and reasonings of the most eminent pre- 
 decessors, and the doctrinal symbols of any and every Church, that it 
 can embrace and teach the true faith with the love and ardency of its 
 own individual system : and this impassioned affection is requisite to 
 its acquisition of new and fresh treasures and beauties for the growth 
 of Theology. It may be confidently said that no one, even of the 
 
11 
 
 exact sciences, demands more patient investigation and accuracy of 
 thought than Didactic Theology ; and not a few of its important topics 
 call for a discrimination and power of analysis unsurpassed by the 
 judicial application of the principles of common law ; and while a man 
 may be a judicious teacher of the ordinary topics of Divinity, yet without 
 these habits of close discrimination and earnest investigation he can 
 never become an able Theologian. In some bodies of Divinity, like those 
 of Ridgley and Gill, there is found great accuracy in the statement of 
 the topics of Christian doctrine, but much feebleness and want of con- 
 centration and power in their illustration and defence — unadapted to 
 arouse the understanding of the pupil, and develop his own capacity 
 for earnestness and correctness of thought. 
 
 While you cherish, my brother, a holy ambition that Theology — a 
 living and powerful Theology — may not be stationary in your hands: 
 and while you, as it were, melt down and re-cast all its principles and 
 truths, let all your positions be taken, and your trains of argument 
 be constructed, with clear Scriptural authority, logical accuracy and 
 precision — considering that all these will be engraven on the minds of 
 your students, and pass into popular instruction before the public. If 
 they should be true, strong, and convincing, how much good may you 
 hope to do ! But if inaccurate and indefensible, how painful that your 
 friends should be swept away in the assertion of your teaching. 
 Let no fanciful speculation as to two Theologies, " one of intellect, 
 and the other of feeling," escape your pen ; but let God's truth be 
 stated in propositions, clear, distinct, and logical, supported by per- 
 spicuous deductive evidence. 
 
 Fifthly — Allow me to mention, as a still higher requisite to the 
 successful cultivation of Theological Science, the constant spirit of 
 dependence upon the Great Teacher. I have already referred to the 
 necessity of personal piety; but alas! many pious, able, and learned 
 men have seemed to forget that Theology is a thrice holy and heavenly 
 science, and have been tempted to rely more upon their genius and 
 mental powers, and scholarship, than the aids of the Holy Spirit. 
 What is man ! as he stands as the expositor of the high and awful 
 mysteries of his God and Saviour ? It is remarkable, that in the 
 Theology of Witsius and Watson, and in the university lectures of 
 Leighton, while there is no great learning or originality, there is a 
 scripturalness and a practical pathos which elevates and invigorates 
 the reader's mind. Sometimes, (as I now recollect,) when Dr. Alex- 
 ander had heard his class, and had ably explained some topic of 
 
12 
 
 divinity, he would seem to pause, and painful anxiety to be stamped 
 upon his countenance, as though he were ready to say, I fear the 
 Heavenly Teacher is not here ! let us lay aside our helps and repair 
 to him. Alas! how does the history of Protestantism, its Biblical 
 studies and expositions, theories and speculations, express in mournful 
 utterance the frequent absence in its full power of this most vital 
 conviction of human imbecility ! 
 
 Sixthly — I shall add but one further requisite to the healthful 
 growth of theological science, and it consists in the union of disinter- 
 estedness with benevolence. In nothing, perhaps, was the apostle Paul, 
 and, in an humbler sense, I may add Edwards, more remarkable than 
 for this trait of character. The epistle to the Romans, composed, 
 perhaps, in a heathen jail — and the treatise on the will written in the 
 woods of Stockbridge, among the Indians — how does the simple hope 
 and desire to be useful to man, in all generations, and glorify the truth 
 of God, shine out in these powerful productions ! By disinterestedness, 
 I mean a freedom from all desire to be accounted great, wise and 
 learned by men, or to build up the fame of a particular denomination — 
 but the profession of one ruling aim to honor Christ, and to bless the 
 church and the world with purer, holier and mightier conceptions of 
 Christian doctrine. 
 
 False and dangerous principles, learned and elaborate assaults upon 
 the truth, there are, and will be, in this age of partial reading and free- 
 dom of thought — but it is consoling to believe that the theological 
 views of all the great denominations of Christians are now converging 
 towards the Calvinism of Westminster ; and able teachers may hope 
 for increasing usefulness beyond the bounds of their own church, as 
 well as their own age. You will consider that wherever a sound, vital 
 theology prevails, soundness of moral principles and conscientious 
 moral order will prevail ; and it is not too much to say, that the social 
 and political well-being and prosperity of this great republic must rest 
 upon the basis of sound protestant religion, and that, drawn, as we 
 believe, from that Confession of faith which infused the spirit of liberty 
 and moral courage into the hearts of the Scottish Cameronians and 
 the English Puritans. Yes, let me repeat it, the hope of our country, 
 the resting place of the troubled nations, must be found in the ark of 
 the covenant, in the true faith of God's elect ; and patriotism, loyalty 
 and philanthropy should therefore nerve your soul to develop power- 
 fully, and thus diffuse widely, in their truth and their power, the great 
 living doctrines of our Confession ; to awaken, by them, the slumbering 
 
13 
 
 energies of every gifted and devoted mind that comes under your 
 teachings, and to send our beloved young ministers forth to love them, 
 and to preach them far and near, in the demonstration of the Spirit, 
 that our church, in the great and expanding future, may ably fulfill 
 her part for our nation, and the world at large. This thought brings 
 up the reflection, that while our church, in the trying years of our 
 country's revolution, and the early conveyance of the gospel to its 
 smaller and straitened settlements in the woods and in the mountains, 
 did not fall behind the vocation of her faith ; her printed contri- 
 butions to the treasures of scientific theology have not been equal to 
 the claims of the Protestant church. Her text books of science and 
 divinity are still drawn from over the water. While the labors of 
 Stewart, and the able theological lectures of the late Dr. Woods, of 
 Andover Seminary, and, I may add, the popular systematic discourses 
 of Dr. Dwight, of Yale College, are a lasting honor to these institutions 
 and to their authors, no such extended productions have emanated from 
 our large denomination. The Finleys, Smiths, Woodhulls and Nes- 
 bits, who were the early preceptors of our rising ministry, were sound, 
 able and influential men, but published little. Baxter, Richards, 
 Mathews and Rice were gifted, judicious and lovely ministers ; but, 
 like our own M'Millan, they began oflicial teaching too late in life to 
 mature and leave much behind them. Miller, as an ecclesiastical 
 historian, and Alexander, as a theological professor, stood, for the last 
 half century, as the peerless teachers of their times, fitted to be an 
 ornament to any country and to any age ; but how small a portion of 
 their labors are to go down to form the science of coming time. Does 
 not the church hope now, since she has founded and endowed her 
 seminaries, and is collecting in them her facilities, that her great debt 
 to sacred learning will begin to be paid. 
 
 But while our church thus anticipates from her theological seminaries, 
 thus firmly established and endowed, the able and rich productions of high 
 biblical, and historical, and theological learning, and research, and spirit- 
 ual excellence, it is to be especially remembered that our future minis- 
 try are here to be trained up for the service of Christ, and that in this land, 
 and in these stirring times, she demands rather a practical, well discip- 
 lined and devoted, than a learned ministry. She would, indeed, have 
 good and thorough scholars in all the branches of philosophy, chemistry, 
 geology, mathematics, and natural and civil history, and the ancient lan- 
 guages, and able expositors of God's Word, and men mighty in the Scrip- 
 tures ; but above this she wants judicious, prudent and faithful pastors — 
 
14 
 
 deeply humble, experimental and ardent men, whose lips have been 
 " touched with a live coal from off the heavenly altar," thoroughly 
 acquainted with the inward struggles and searching anxieties of a 
 renewed heart and a holy life, and embodying the gospel and its 
 experience in their own personal history, turning its precepts into 
 moral laws, and its glorious doctrines into living principles of precious 
 truth. It will be unnecessary for me to dwell upon those important 
 and, perhaps, sometimes painful duties which you and your associates 
 will be called to fulfill. The church will leave it for you conscientiously 
 to determine whether the young men, who from time to time come to 
 the threshold of this Seminary, are possessed of such discretion, and 
 sound judgment, and mental qualifications as may fit them, when im- 
 proved, to be respectable and useful ministers of the Word — and 
 whether the soundness of their religious sentiments, their discreet and 
 exemplary deportment, and their habits of order and close application 
 are such as shall be likely to throw no discredit upon the church and 
 the ministry. Their mental discipline, and training to the best habits 
 and methods for the acquisition and communication of knowledge — 
 the exercise of their gifts and talents, to make them acceptable and 
 successful preachers, self-denied and judicious pastors, and skilful 
 defenders of the faith — are among the most useful ends of the institu- 
 tion to them, as preparing them for professional improvement and 
 usefulness in after life. Their time here will be precious and expensive. 
 Let them have your ablest facilities, and earnestly enforce the most 
 diligent application. 
 
 But it still remains for me to refer to by far the most difficult and 
 solemn part of the trust which is committed to your hands by our church, 
 in connexion with your official associates : I refer to the spiritual qualifi- 
 cations of your pupils for the work of the holy ministry. Often as you 
 refer to the plan on which our General Assembly began the policy of 
 her theological seminaries, your mind will be struck with her language : 
 " Convinced that the filling of the Church with a learned and able 
 ministry without a corresponding portion of real piety, would be a 
 curse to the world and an offence to God and his people, the Assembly 
 do hereby solemnly pledge themselves to the churches under their 
 care, that in carrying into existence, etc., it shall be their endeavor 
 to make this a nursery of vital piety, as well as of sound Theologi- 
 cal learning ; that an inward sense of the power of Godliness 
 may grow continually in a spirit of enlightened devotion and fervent 
 piety." 
 
15 
 
 This is a very holy covenant between the Churches, and through 
 the Assembly, with her official teachers ; and when we consider how 
 liable young men, as well as others, are to be deceived, and how 
 deceitful the human heart is, we may well tremble. 
 
 The secular press, in speaking of the recent fall of a highly gifted 
 and distinguished minister, whose character had stood fair for more 
 than twenty years, observed of him, that his love of miscellaneous 
 reading, his fondness for objects of taste, and his desire to display his 
 brilliant powers of elocution, had probably induced him, with no higher 
 motive, to seek the ministerial office. Thus, for these years, he was 
 set to feed the flock of God, to lead immortal souls, to comfort 
 mourning saints, to direct anxious sinners, and watch for the lambs of 
 Christ's fold ! Great God, how astonishing thy patience to guilty 
 mortals ! 0, how fearful his presumption ! and yet most likely he 
 thought himself sincere. Such is man, if left to himself. But what 
 if the candidate, virtuous, prudent and diligent, is barely sincere and 
 pious, will he be thus qualified to go forth as a self-denied, humble 
 and living herald of the cross, willing to do and to suffer at home or 
 abroad, whatever the Master may require ? Brilliant genius, richly- 
 stored scholarship, and classic eloquence, may win the popular favor ; 
 but, my brother, you know how little these can do, if they do not, as 
 it were, intensify the humble fervor of a devoted heart. Even habits 
 of unwearied well-doing and moral virtue can do but little more, if 
 living graces, planted by the Holy Spirit in the heart, and nurtured 
 by watchfulness and prayer, are not the master-principles of the soul. 
 Perhaps there has been no period since the Reformation, when so 
 many causes were combined to bring forward into the pulpit and the 
 literary lecture hall, and into the career of moral and semi-religious 
 literature, a class of men destitute wholly of real piety, or possessed 
 of very slender conceptions of the power of Godliness. At the same 
 time, never did the ministerial work and office in our towns and cities, 
 and on the far distant widening fields of the great Christian harvest, 
 in these wonderful times of advancing civilization, opulence, reading, 
 and luxury, demand on all sides a mightier revival of Apostolic holiness. 
 Tne world stands ready to be taken by the army of the living God ; 
 and by one effective onset of the sword of the Lord to strike its colore 
 and run up the banner of Jesus Christ. At the same time, how 
 formidable, insidious and skillful is the spirit of formalism, through all the 
 masses of society ! To say nothing of the unexplored fields of Central 
 Africa, the primeval forests and hamlets of the Andes and Rocky Moun- 
 
16 
 
 tains, the boundless plains and prairies of the Missouri, Columbia, 
 Colorado — China and India, and the oceanic isles begin to lift up their 
 voice to our Church and country, to send them that Gospel which 
 Christ has promised them ; and for the gift of which the time-piece of 
 prophecy seems to strike the hour. And then the sunny plains of 
 Papal nations, once trod and discipled by holy martyrs, seem to ask for 
 the harbingers of the morning : and demand an army of bold and faithful 
 pioneers of redemption to bring back the Royal David to his usurped 
 metropolis. And amidst all this deafening importunity, our country 
 and our churches cry to you — send us ministers of a holier unction, a 
 keener edge of zeal and fervor, whose faith and training have been 
 cradled amidst mightier searchings and communings of the Holy Spirit ! 
 0, my brother, my brother, who but God can sustain your troubled 
 spirit as your daily thoughts and nightly meditations struggle and 
 groan beneath the pressure of these responsibilities ? Do all you can ; 
 watch and pray, and study, and leave the rest to Him. 
 
 The men chosen by the highest judicatory of our Church, to conduct 
 the professional, educational training of her ministry may be expected to 
 sustain and wield a superior influence in all her courts and counsels ; 
 and their opinions to be sought with no ordinary interest; and the 
 policy of the Church at large, and the usefulness and prosperity of 
 many local congregations and Pastors will often much depend upon 
 the wisdom of their co-operations. The Pastors and Churches congre- 
 gated around this theological centre, especially, will regard you with 
 much respect, confidence, and affection; and we trust, that by the 
 disinterested wisdom of your counsels, the excellence of your influence, 
 and your fraternal spirit — yourself unconnected with local questions 
 and interests — you will "strengthen the hands and encourage the 
 hearts" of all; being to each and to all, as occasion offers, the true 
 friend, the wise counsellor, the steady helper, and the skillful peace- 
 maker; ever remembering that you sustain to them all a common 
 relation ; and would both win and recompense the confidence and love 
 which all these ministers and churches repose in you. 
 
 And now, dear sir, with the Bible and the Confession of Faith in your 
 hand, and with the echo from the throne, " If any man shall take away 
 from the words of the book of this prophecy, (this glorious doctrine of 
 Christ crucified,) God shall take away his part out of the book of life and 
 out of the Holy City," you advance — a spectacle to God, to angels and to 
 men, to a post and station in Zion, rendered awful by its responsibili- 
 ties, but glorious in its objects and results! 
 
17 
 
 With great unanimity and cordiality your brethren have welcomed 
 you to this office, and have implored for you the wisdom, strength, and 
 holiness which it will demand ; and with your respected associates, 
 and the Institution itself, you will share in the daily supplications of 
 God's people. 
 
 If you have not lived in vain, you have already learned that 
 no position of usefulness, or influence, even in the Church of God, 
 and no measure of humble, sincere devotion to its good, can shield 
 you from difficulties, disappointments and heavy trials of your faith 
 and patience ; and that your heart must often, perhaps, sigh in the 
 consciousness that on earth you may find no proper appreciation of 
 your sacrifices and labors. You are not unmindful of those anxieties 
 and sufferings, as well as severe and protracted mental labors, which 
 are inseparable from this high station, and the divine discipline which 
 its best and holiest execution will in a sort require. Such is life, as 
 devoted to the functions of the holy ministry. " You ask me," said 
 Gregory Nazianzen, the champion of the Nicene Creed, " how I am ? 
 I am very ill ; I no longer have Basil, no longer Csesarius — the one my 
 spiritual, the other my natural brother. My body is sickly ; age shows 
 itself upon my head ; my cares grow more complicated ; business ac- 
 cumulates upon me ; friends prove untrue ; the Church is without 
 shepherds; we are journeying in the night; Christ sleepeth. What 
 then is to be done ? Alas ! there is only one escape for me from 
 these evils, and that is death." There is an air of sadness in these 
 words of that truly great, and learned, and eloquent man, derived, 
 perhaps, from his monastic habits and severe austerities ; but there is 
 in them much of sober truth and devout experience. But whatever 
 ecclesiastical solicitudes, and wasting exertions, and painful reverses 
 there may be in the futurities of yourself, and this Institution, put on, 
 my brother, the holy panoply, and go forward with faith, and courage, 
 and cheerfulness. Think of that redeemed Church, so dear to God, 
 whose consecrated sons you would train up for the Saviour of the 
 world. Think of the great cloud of ministerial witnesses who, as 
 teachers of the rising ministry, have preceded you ; but, above all, 
 think of the judgment-seat of Christ, and aim high — reach forward, 
 and humbly, and nobly wind your way to plant the doctrine of the 
 cross further up on the heights of Israel's mountains ; and then at its 
 foot, like Moses, lay down your commission and receive the recompense 
 of sovereign grace. 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 The occasion makes it proper that I should say a word to the 
 Board of Directors : 
 
 The services of this evening, my brethren, call npon us to review 
 with gratitude "all the way in which the Lord hath led us," and to 
 renew our exertions to build up this Institution. Thirty years ago 
 next May, the speaker, seeking, as we stood in the church on Washing- 
 ton Square, and on the first day of the sessions of the General Assembly, 
 the co-operation of an excellent and eminent brother* of the Synod 
 of Pittsburgh, long since deceased, we successfully applied to Doctors 
 Green and Miller, then in the Assembly, to favor the establishment 
 of a Western Theological Seminary. On their recommendation, a 
 meeting for consultation was held at Dr. Green's, and he consented to 
 bring forward the overture, and Dr. Miller to support it. The pro- 
 posal was adopted, and a Board was chosen, scattered from Alabama 
 and the Mississippi to the shores of Lake Erie, (Dr. Campbell, then 
 of Tennessee, being one). Our attendance from this region cost us 
 a journey of three weeks. After its final location here, a Board of 
 Directors was chosen, of which (consisting of twenty-one Ministers and 
 nine Ruling Elders,) four ministers and one Ruling Elder remain in 
 office ; and fifteen Ministers and seven Elders have gone down to the 
 grave. Solemn reminiscence to us all ! In these thirty years we have 
 had our dark and perplexing times, and great pecuniary and other em- 
 barrassing difficulties. One of our Professors died on his way to this 
 place, and five at different times have left us — all good and estimable 
 men. It is noticeable that while there have been four changes in each 
 of the three departments, all, with this single exception, are still living. 
 In the progress of years our property has become available — our 
 endowments are far advanced — our Alumni are scattered abroad, and 
 our General Assembly has finally resolved that this location is never 
 to be disturbed. All that remains is to proceed and build up what 
 the Head of the Church has thus begun. I would not presume to 
 speak for my elder brethren, all of whom, and especially our Patriar- 
 chal President, who still survives, have rendered to it much more useful 
 service than I have ever done ; but for myself I would say, that in 
 doing this with new Professors and new arrangements, younger men 
 and new and fresher Directors should be called in to take our place in 
 the service of the Board. We who have served for so long a time 
 
 * Dr. Obadiah Jennings. 
 
19 
 
 should be contented with our past honors, and may well claim a release, 
 and hand over our sacred trust to more vigorous hands. 
 
 To the esteemed Brethren of the two Synods here present, all 
 alike supporters of this Seminary, may I be allowed, on this, doubtless, 
 the last and final opportunity I shall have on such an occasion, with the 
 expression of fraternal love, to say a word commending it to their 
 fostering care. We have now, brethren, separate Synodical relations, 
 and shall no more stand side by side in these annual assemblings ; but 
 it matters little, for "the time is short," and soon no geographical 
 lines, we trust, will ever separate U3 from each other. In respect to 
 this and the other Institutions, common to us all, I seem to hear from 
 behind the curtain the voices of our still much-loved M'Millan, Patter- 
 son, M'Curdy, Jennings and Brown saying^ Onward ! Brethren, on- 
 ward ! with the work of the Lord ! We have now for our Seminary 
 mainly its endowments, and its chosen Professors ; but what shall 
 become of its usefulness if it has no students, and they are not to be 
 found in the Church ? If we compare the present with earlier periods, 
 our progress, in this respect, has not realized our hopes ; and in the 
 dearth of candidates there may spring up a hurtful competition in our 
 Theological Seminaries. Our hope must be in the Angel of the 
 Covenant, and the returning power of his Holy Spirit to all our 
 churches. Then with the parents will come the sons, and with the 
 sisters will come the brothers, and the God of our Fathers " shall 
 establish the work of our hands upon us," and raise up for us heralds 
 to preach his Gospel unto the ends of the earth. 
 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
 
 Venerable Directors and Trustees of the Western Theological 
 Seminary — Members of the Synods of Pittsburgh, Allegheny 
 and Wheeling, and other respected hearers: 
 
 You are entitled to full information concerning the 
 doctrines and principles of those charged with conducting the studies 
 of the rising ministry, in the Seminary established among you by our 
 General Assembly. In the time allotted to this service, it is impos- 
 sible to present satisfactory views of the whole field of theological 
 inquiry. It would, doubtless, gratify many, if such a topic should be 
 discussed as would indicate the general course of instruction pursued 
 in the department of Didactic Theology. Such a theme is not wanting. 
 In theology are many truths, the clear avowal of any one of which 
 commonly indicates one's views on the whole circle of doctrinal teaching. 
 The great central truth of the religion of sinners relates to the person, 
 character, work, sufferings and offices of Jesus Christ. As a man is 
 sound or corrupt here, so is he elsewhere. Both now and in the last 
 day, the great question in determining character is the same — What 
 think ye of Christ ? On this subject the controversy is of long standing. 
 It goes back to the first two men ever born. Cain and Abel did not 
 agree on this point. There the strife began, and it has never ceased. 
 The reproach of Christ, in the days of Moses, was the hardest thing 
 to be borne in the profession of the true religion. — Heb. xi: 26. 
 When the Messiah was born, the strife was resumed with more warmth 
 than ever. The wise men brought their gifts of gold, frankincense 
 and myrrh ; but when Herod heard of his birth, he was troubled, and 
 all Jerusalem with him, and he sought the young child to destroy him. 
 And when Christ first became a public teacher, some said, He is a 
 good man; others, He deceiveth the people. One party worshipped 
 him; the other crucified him. And when he was on the cross the 
 spectators were divided — some looking on with unutterable grief, 
 others wagging their heads av.d deriding him. Even the thieves, who 
 
22 
 
 were crucified with him, were not of one mind ; one resisting him, the 
 other calling him Lord. On the day of Pentecost the controversy was 
 revived with great vigor, and with great advantage to the cause of 
 truth, and it has been kept up ever since. All the friends of God 
 have been on one side, and all his enemies on the other — if not openly, 
 yet secretly ; if not by profession, yet in practice. For eighteen 
 hundred years a large portion of all the heresies that have arisen have 
 related to the person or work of Christ. Infidelity is most bitter 
 against Christ, while piety feeds upon the truth, of which he is the 
 sum. Some men scoff, others admire and adore. Some obey, others 
 cry, We will not have this man to reign over us. In no age has 
 wickedness been more bold than in the present. It attacks all that is 
 precious in the character of the author of eternal salvation. In these 
 circumstances, it is right that you should know what sentiments are 
 to emanate from the chair of Didactic Theology. To do full justice 
 to such a subject in an hour will not be expected, but enough may be 
 said to remove all doubts as to the tenor of the instruction given. 
 
 Jesus Christ is a wonderful, a glorious person. To look away from 
 self and man to Christ, is to lay hold on everlasting life. If men 
 would be safe, let them flee to him. When he is in the ascendant, 
 the night flies away, and the morning comes — a morning without 
 clouds. His names and titles are as important as they are significant. 
 Every one of them is as ointment poured forth. His lips drop as the 
 honey-comb — honey and milk are under his tongue, and the smell of 
 his garments is like the smell of Lebanon. His people sit under his 
 shadow with great delight, and his fruit is sweet to their taste. To 
 them he is altogether lovely. He is their Advocate, the angel of the 
 covenant, the author and finisher of faith. He is as the apple-tree 
 among the trees of the wood, the alpha and the omega, the Beloved, 
 the shepherd and bishop of souls, the bread of life, the bundle of myrrh, 
 the bridegroom, the bright and morning star, the brightness of the 
 Father's glory, and the express image of his person. 
 
 He is their Creator, captain, counsellor, covenant, corner-stone, 
 covert from the tempest, a cluster of camphor, and chiefest among ten 
 thousand. He is to them as the Dew, the door into the fold, a diadem, 
 a daysman, a day-star, a deliverer, and the desire of all nations, ranks 
 and generations of pious men. 
 
 In their eyes he is the Elect, Emmanuel, the everlasting Father, and 
 eternal life. He is a Fountain of living waters to thirsty souls, of joy 
 to troubled ones, of life to dying ones. He is the foundation on which 
 
23 
 
 his people, with safety, build their hopes of heaven. He is the father 
 of eternity, the fir-tree under whose shadow the saints rejoice, the 
 first and the last, the first fruits, the first-born among many brethren, 
 and the first begotten from the dead. 
 
 To his chosen he is as the most fine Gold, a guide, a governor, a 
 glorious Lord God, the true God over all, God blessed forever. He 
 is Head of the church, the help, the hope, the husband, the heritage, 
 the habitation of his people. He is the horn of their salvation. He 
 rides upon the heavens by his name, J AH. He is the Jehovah of 
 armies, the Inheritance, Judge and King of his people. He is their 
 Light, their life, their leader, their law-giver, their atoning lamb, the 
 lily of the valley, the lion of the tribe of Judah. 
 
 He is the Man Christ Jesus, the master, the mediator, the minister 
 of the true sanctuary which the Lord pitched, and not man. He is 
 the mighty God of Isaiah, the morning-star of John, the Michael of 
 Daniel, the Melchisedek of David and Paul, and the Messiah of all the 
 prophets. He is the Only-begotten of the Father — full of grace and 
 truth. He is both the root and the offspring of David. He is the 
 Peace, the prince, the priest, the prophet, the purifier, the potentate, 
 the propitiation, the physician, the plant of renown, the power of God, 
 the passover of all saints. He is a polished shaft in the quiver of God. 
 
 He is the Rock, the refuge, the ruler, the ransom, the refiner, the 
 redeemer, the righteousness and the resurrection of all humble souls. 
 He is the rose of Sharon. He is the Seed of the woman, the seed of 
 Abraham, the seed of David, the Son of God, the son of man. the 
 strength, the shield, the surety, the shepherd, the shiloh, the sacrifice, 
 the sanctuary, the salvation, the sanctification, and the sun of 
 righteousness of all believers. 
 
 He is that holy thing that was born of Mary. He is the Truth, the 
 treasure, the teacher, the temple, the tree of life, the great testator 
 of his church. He is the Way, the well of salvation, the word of God, 
 the wisdom of God, the faithful witness, the wonderful. 
 
 His person is one ; but his natures are two. He is both human and 
 divine, finite and infinite, created and uncreated. He was before 
 Abraham, though not born till for ages the patriarch had slept with 
 his fathers. He was dead, and is alive forevermore. On earth he 
 had not where to lay his head, yet he disposes of all diadems. He 
 has the arm of a God, and the heart of a brother. To him all 
 tongues shall confess and all knees bow ; yet learned he obedience by 
 the things which he suffered. None loves like him, none pities like 
 
24 
 
 him, none saves like him. It is not surprising that such a person 
 lives and reigns in the hearts of his people. No marvel that the 
 virgins love him, and the saints praise him, and the martyrs die for 
 him, and the sorrowing long for him, and the penitent pour out their 
 tears before him, and the humble trust in him, and the believing lay 
 fast hold of him. His frown shakes the heavens, his smile gives life, 
 his presence converts dungeons into palaces, his blood cleanses from 
 all sin, his righteousness is the white robe of the redeemed. 
 
 If men would be safe, or wise, or holy, or happy, or useful, or vic- 
 torious — let them look to Jesus, let them look to none else, let them 
 walk in him, abide in him, glory in him, and count as loss all things 
 beside. You may look at the law till the spirit of bondage over- 
 whelms you with terrors and torments. You may go about to estab- 
 lish your own righteousness till you can boast and perish like a 
 Pharisee. You may weep till the fountain of your tears has gone dry, 
 you may have all gifts, understand all mysteries, bestow all your goods 
 to feed the poor, yield your body to be burned ; but all these things 
 will not atone for sin, will do nothing towards regaining the lost favor 
 of God, will not make you meet for the inheritance of the saints in 
 light. None but Christ, none but Christ, none but Christ, has been 
 the cry of the faithful witnesses of all ages, when truth has triumphed, 
 when oracles were struck dumb, when sinners were converted, when 
 saints rejoiced, when the word of God mightily grew and prevailed. 
 
 True piety begins, continues and is perfected by our union with 
 Christ. We are cleansed through his blood, we are clothed in his 
 righteousness, we are purified by his Spirit — we meet the demands of 
 the law of this day of grace, when we walk as he walked, and have 
 the same mind that was in him. 
 
 In proportion as men are truly pious, they make him the foundation 
 and the top-stone, the sum and substance and centre of all their hopes 
 and rejoicings. He is believed on in the world, not merely because 
 there is no other way of salvation, but because this way is so admira- 
 bly adapted to all the necessities of sinners, and because it brings 
 glory to God in the highest. The true believer not only trusts in 
 Christ ; he glories in him. He not only makes mention of him ; he 
 admits none into comparison with him. To all the ends, parts and 
 purposes of salvation Christ stands alone. There is none like him. 
 there is none with him, there is none before him, there is none after him 
 there is none beside him. If God's people exalt him above all others, 
 so does his holy and eternal Father. If they crown him Lord of all, God 
 
25 
 
 also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name that is above every 
 name. If they surpassingly admire and extol him, there is cause for this 
 preference. It is not a whim that has seized them. It is a holy, 
 reasonable thing to fall before him, and cry, my Lord and my God. 
 If he is the delights of the sons of men, he is also the delight of his 
 Father. Listen to the voice from the excellent glory, " This is my 
 beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 
 
 We sadly err, when we begin in the spirit, and end in the flesh ; 
 when we regard Christmas the author but not as the finisher of faith. 
 A legal spirit is the bane of piety. It is as great a foe to comfort as 
 it is to gospel grace. Through the law believers are dead to the law 
 that they might live unto God. This is the gospel plan. Here is the 
 secret of growing conformity to God. Here is power, here is wisdom, 
 here is life. We are complete in him. 
 
 In the wars of opinion the greatest contests ever known have been 
 on the question, whether Christ is the sole and sufficient cause of sal- 
 vation. Strange that any, who have God's word, should be at a loss 
 on such a matter. The language of Scripture is clear, " Christ is the 
 end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." This 
 is the sum of inspired teachings on the subject. This doctrine is quite 
 beyond the suggestion of reason. The gospel is not the progeny of 
 human wisdom. The heart of man is strongly wedded to a plan that 
 will not abase pride, nor destroy boasting. Although in regeneration 
 this folly is so far cured that the soul reclines upon Jesus, yet the 
 converted often fall into sad declensions, and lose their clear and 
 lively apprehensions of the one way of salvation provided by God. 
 Then follow darkness, dejection and strange perplexities. To use the 
 strong language of Paul, they are bewitched and obey not the truth. 
 To the challenge, where is the blessedness ye spake of? they can but 
 reply in sighs, and groans, and tears. Christ is their life ; severed 
 from him, they are withered branches. It is only when Christ is 
 clearly seen and embraced, that the grace of the soul is like a river, 
 and its righteousness like the waves of the sea. The act of faith in 
 Christ begins spiritual life, and the work of faith perpetuates it. The 
 entire race of the Christian is run by pressing towards the mark for 
 the prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus. There is no essential 
 difference between the first and subsequent acts of faith in the Re- 
 deemer. They are all the fruit of the operations of the Holy Ghost ; 
 the object of all of them is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ ; the 
 warrant of all of them is the promise cf God, the offer of the gospel; 
 
26 
 
 and they are all accompanied by acts of complete self-renunciation. 
 They all bring Christ into the soul, and awaken living joys. If all 
 believers would practice constant and entire simplicity in their reliance 
 on Christ's love and grace, his blood and righteousness, they would 
 grow exceedingly, and their spirituality would greatly abound. No 
 believer ever fed too much on the bread that came down from heaven, 
 the hidden manna, which is Christ the Lord. 
 
 The great folly of even good men is that too often they forsake the 
 rock of their salvation ; they rely on works, so that the law with its 
 sharp, flaming, two-edged sword must be called in to slay legal hopes 
 as often as they revive. Whenever believers go to Sinai for salvation, 
 its words of terror, its thunderings and lightnings must be let loose 
 upon them ; if they cannot be drawn thence, hope will die within them, 
 and terrors will consume them. Mount Sinai is far from Jerusalem ; 
 but Mount Calvary is hard by it. Ministers whose preaching discour- 
 ages a law-work in the soul, are not wise ; those, who have been the 
 most soundly troubled in conscience, commonly cleave most closely to 
 the gospel method of mercy. The law is still a schoolmaster to bring 
 men to Christ ; the nearer we are to the law as a covenant, the farther 
 are we from Christ, from deliverance. 
 
 How different would be the aspect of the Church of God, if all her 
 members had clear views on this subject, and would walk in Christ, 
 who is the light of life, the life of the world. The hosts of saints, who 
 have finished their course and gone home to God, all found in them- 
 selves sin, guilt, folly, misery and helplessness; while in him were hid 
 all the treasures of wisdom, grace, salvation and glory. When Dr. 
 Nevins was dying, he said, " I recommend Christ to you ; I have 
 nothing else to recommend." Near the hour of his departure, John 
 Brown, of Haddington, said, " The command is, * Owe no man any 
 thing.' What a mercy that there is no such precept as this — Owe 
 a Saviour nothing ; or even this — Study to owe him as little as possible. 
 ! what a mercy that my admission into eternal life does not in the 
 least depend on my ability for anything ; but, as a poor sinner, will 
 win in leaning on Christ as the Lord my righteousness, on Christ 
 8 made of God unto me righteousness, sanctification and redemption ' 
 I have nothing to sink my spirits but my sins, and these need not 
 sink me either, since the great God is my Saviour." M'Cheyne said, 
 il Live within sight of Calvary, and you will live in sight of glory." 
 
 These views coincide with the clear teachings of Scripture. The 
 testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. He is the burden, the 
 
27 
 
 weighty matter of all the old seers. To him gave all the prophets 
 witness. In him patriarchs, prophets, psalmists, evangelists, apostles, 
 martyrs and confessors gloried. He is, and ever has been, and ever 
 shall be, the glory of the Israel of God. Well was it said of old, " It 
 is better to die with Christ, than to reign with Caesar." Exquisite 
 suffering for him is better than exquisite enjoyment with the world. 
 It is better to be a prisoner for him than a prince without him. To 
 die in Christ is to fall asleep in Jesus, and go to be forever with the 
 Lord. 
 
 None can resist his power, overreach his wisdom, defeat his coun- 
 sels, vanquish his hosts, pluck his chosen out of his hand, retard his 
 chariot wheels, or subvert his kingdom. It is easy to make too much 
 of men, of means, of instruments ; but no man ever made too much of 
 Christ. Implicit faith in man is the height of folly ; in Christ, the 
 height of wisdom. He is the ground of the faith and hope of all the 
 saints. Their eyes are unto him. Their desires centre in him. 
 Their motives to holy living are drawn from him. Their sorrows are 
 sanctified by him. Their joys are heightened, chastened, sweetened by 
 him. In our love, confidence and obedience, he will admit no rivals. 
 If he reigns not supreme, he is to us of none effect. One is our 
 master, even Christ. Other foundation can no man lay than that is 
 laid, which is Jesus Christ. There is none other name under heaven 
 given among men, whereby we must be saved. We are as much 
 bound to believe that there is but one Mediator, as that there is but 
 one God. ITim. ii: 5. In office he has neither predecessor, partner, 
 nor suocessor — having none over him, none under him, none equal to 
 him, none with him, none beside him. His grace alone, his blood 
 alone, his righteousness alone, his intercession alone are sufficient for 
 us. We need no other Saviour. None else can do us any good. To 
 seek another is an attempt to defraud him of his crown and glory. 
 " Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into 
 the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and 
 a robber." God will mercifully forgive all sin, whose remission is 
 sought through atoning blood ; but he will pour his most terrible curses 
 on those, who attempt to supersede his Son in his rights as the Saviour 
 of the world. 
 
 Devotion to Christ cannot be excessive. Many follow, and love, 
 and serve, and trust, and praise him too little. But who ever praised, 
 or trusted, or served, or loved, or obeyed him excessively ? In some 
 things it is easy to go too far ; but where excellence is infinite, the 
 bounds of moderation in love cannot be passed. 
 
28 
 
 Scripture and genuine Christian experience unite in teaching that 
 it is not merely Christ incarnate, or Christ teaching ; but also Christ 
 crucified, that is the joy of his people. Paul expressed the natural senti- 
 ments of living, evangelical piety, when he said, " God forbid that I 
 should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." If Christ never 
 humbled himself, he has never been exalted ; if he never died, he never 
 rose from the dead ; if he never was wounded for our transgressions, they 
 still call for vengeance ; if the shepherd has never been smitten, there 
 are no sheep to bring into the fold ; if Christ did not bear the iniqui- 
 ties of us all, we must bear them ourselves ; if his soul was not made 
 an offering for sin, our souls are yet in the thraldom of guilt and under 
 wrath. Of all the miserable drivelers in Theology, none are more 
 foolishly employed than those who set themselves to diminish the 
 greatness of the work and sufferings of Jesus Christ — some teaching 
 that his obedience was due for himself; some, that his death was a 
 mere martyrdom like that of Stephen ; some, that it was merely an 
 appropriate manner of putting the seal of sancity on a great character ; 
 some, that all he suffered was for display or dramatic effect ; and many, 
 that he endured no penalty of the law. Such men can never give 
 any fair or sober construction to such passages as these : " Christ hath 
 redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." 
 Gal. iii: 13. " He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin ; 
 that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. v: 
 21. If Christ is not our surety, we must pay our own debts. 
 
 It is true that the cross of Christ was designed by wicked men as 
 the seal of infamy, the badge of ignominy. The enemy hoped thereby 
 to prejudice the cause of truth among many nations. To some extent 
 this end was gained. Christ crucified is to the Jews a stumbling 
 block, and to the Greeks foolishness. In many eastern nations to 
 this day, it is mentioned as a reproach to Christianity that its author 
 was hanged upon a tree. So strong was prejudice in Japan on this 
 score that it is said some of the Jesuit missionaries in that kingdom 
 denied the crucifixion of our Lord. But wisdom is justified of her 
 children. None, who love the Lord, are offended at his cross. To 
 them it is for a perpetual rejoicing that Christ died for our sins, that 
 his precious blood was shed, that he offered himself without spot to 
 God, a ransom for many: a sweet-smelling savor to God. Scorn and 
 malice, stripes and prisons, tortures and death, have not been able to 
 hinder good men from a steadfast profession of love to a crucified 
 Redeemer. 
 
 The Christ who reigns and intercedes above, is the same Jesus 
 
29 
 
 who was in Pilate's judgment hall. He who now has the many 
 crowns on his head, is he who once wore the crown of thorns. The 
 same hand into which a reed was put in mockery of his claims to 
 kingly authority, now holds the sceptre over all worlds, all dominions. 
 His state is altered, but his person and character are unchangeable. 
 One powerful motive for seeking glory, honor, immortality and eternal 
 life, is that we may have an eternity in which to behold the Lamb in 
 the midst of the throne — to admire his grace and his person, to praise 
 him for his pity to the perishing, and to learn the height, and depth, 
 and length, and breadth of that love, which passeth knowledge. The 
 Saviour himself on earth offered no more benevolent prayer than this : 
 " Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me 
 whore I am ; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given 
 me : for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." John xvii: 
 24. Without him heaven would be but a place of melancholy exile 
 from earth. Even to see him by faith, is life from the dead to sinners. 
 But to see him as he is in heaven, is the highest enjoyment of which 
 the redeemed are capable. Their honor shall ever consist in being 
 like him, in being with him, and in the beatific vision of his ineffable 
 effulgence. 
 
 So that to the being of a Christian much more is required than a 
 name, a profession, or a persuasion of our happy state. It is quite as 
 possible to pervert the present, as it was the preceding dispensation. 
 One may be called a Christian, and rest in the gospel, and make his 
 boast of God, and know his will, and approve the things that are more 
 excellent, and be confident that he a guide of the blind, a light of 
 them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of 
 babes, and have the form of knowledge, and of the truth in the Gospel, 
 and yet never be conformed to God, never be a real Christian. To 
 love Christ in the creed is well. To leave him out of that, is to drop the 
 sun from the centre of the system. But the great thing is to have 
 Christ in the heart, enthroned, the hope of glory, setting us free from 
 the bondage of corruption. Do we rest the whole weight of our salva- 
 tion on the finished work of Jesus Christ ? Is his death our life ; his 
 shame, our glory ; his honor, our aim ; his throne, our heaven ? On 
 many questions man may err, and go safely to eternity. But immortal 
 interests are bound up in the question of the cross. It will not lose 
 its importance while eternity endures. Married to Christ, we shall 
 be presented without spot to God. Having fled to Christ, the avenger 
 shall not slay us. Ingrafted into Christ, we shall be fruitful branches. 
 
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 Built on him, the gates of hell shall not prevail against us. Coming 
 to him, we shall not be cast out. Believing on him, we shall have 
 eternal life. Looking to him, we shall be saved. But out of Christ, 
 we must perish. God counts as enemies all who hate, yea, all who 
 slight his Son. To have Christ's blood upon the conscience will give 
 peace. To have it on the soles of our feet will mark us for destruc- 
 tion. " He that despised Moses' law, died without mercy under two 
 or three witnesses : of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought 
 worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God ; and hath 
 counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an 
 unholy thing, and hath done despite to the spirit of grace?" Sorer 
 punishment than dying without mercy ! The wrath of the Lamb is 
 dreadful beyond all conception. Let us all labor to be found in Christ, 
 to be armed with his mind, and to glory in his cross. 
 
 Christ crucified is also the great theme for all who teach theology, 
 or preach the gospel, to old or young, to savage, barbarous, or civil- 
 ized. Here is the secret of all genuine success, the power of God, 
 and the wisdom of God. A sight of his wounds will cure the love of 
 sin. So the apostles, the best pastors, evangelists and missionaries of 
 all ages testify. Yschoop said of red men, " Brethren, if you would 
 have your words gain an entrance among the heathen, preach to them 
 Christ, and the efficacy of his sufferings and death" Religious 
 teachers commit a capital error in throwing away this element of 
 power. An aged person once said to his pastor, " I have had to inter- 
 line your sermon, all through and through, with the name of Christ." 
 M'Cheyne said, " Some speculate on the doctrines of the gospel, but 
 say very little about the gospel itself. I see a man cannot be a 
 minister until he preaches Christ for Christ's sake." Francke 
 said, "The love of Christ ought to be much more insisted on by 
 preachers than what is commonly done; because, when we apply to 
 ourselves, in a right manner, his passion, death, and atonement — his 
 merits, and that purchase of salvation which he hath made for us — the 
 knowledge of his love to us, and of our pardon and justification through 
 faith in his blood, is the truest spring and most powerful attractive 
 of our love to him." Bishop Wilson says, " The prominent figure in 
 our representations of Christianity must be Christ himself, in all his 
 attributes and grace. A revived Christianity is a revived exhibition 
 of the glorious person of Christ." Dore says, " To succeed in your 
 attempt to penetrate the consciences of men with a sense of the spotless 
 purity of the divine nature, you must conduct them to the foot of the 
 
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 cross, and show them the Son of God, in the day of his distress, 
 stretched on an ignominious tree, transfixed with the arrows of justice, 
 and exclaiming, in all the agonies of woe, in the most pathetic accents. 
 "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Pearsall says, 
 " Is there not the highest reason to preach Christ frequently ? Are 
 you speaking to dead souls, and can you speak of one so proper as of 
 him who is life ? since ' he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath 
 not the Son of God hath not life !' Of whom more suitably can you 
 speak, than of so able and wise a physician, while you are discoursing 
 to those who are under the most loathsome and dangerous diseases! 
 If he is the rock, the tried stone, the chief corner-stone, laid in Zion, 
 for sinners to build upon — since he is the only surety by whom their 
 debts can be paid, the only city of refuge where they can be safe, the 
 righteousness whereby they are to be justified, the fountain where they 
 are to be washed, the way in which distant souls can be brought to 
 God and glory — there is the highest reason why we should dwell much 
 upon Christ in our preaching." 
 
 John Newton says, " The doctrine of the cross pours a light upon 
 every subject and circumstance in which we are engaged. It enlarges 
 the mind, and forms the judgment and taste agreeably to the standard 
 of truth and the real nature of things. It is especially the fountain of 
 wisdom to sinners. They look unto him, and are lightened. The 
 slight and partial thoughts they once entertained of the great God, 
 the mistaken judgment they formed of themselves, of their state and 
 their conduct, are corrected by their knowledge of the cross — from 
 whence they derive a solid hope, an humble spirit, just views of their 
 duty and obligations, and motives and prospects which animate them 
 in a course of cheerful, persevering obedience to the will of God." 
 Circumstances may hinder a teacher of theology, or a preacher of the 
 gospel, from alluding, for months together, to the deluge, or the over- 
 throw of the cities of the plain ; but how can a religious teacher be 
 innocent when, for weeks together, he does not distinctly point out the 
 way of salvation by atoning blood ! 
 
 And now, honored fathers and brethren, you learn for yourselves 
 what is to be the polar star, pointed out to the young men of your 
 Seminary, to guide them in their quest after truth, usefulness, and life 
 everlasting. Surely no apology is necessary for giving such promi- 
 nence to that dear One, on whom all good hopes depend. To question 
 your approval of exalting Christ to the highest place, would doubtless 
 be doing you great injustice. While some put their schools under the 
 
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 patronage of dead men or dead women, your Institution is dedicated 
 to Him who was dead, and is alive forevermore, and hath the keys of 
 death and of hell. Pray that it may ever remain a bulwark of 
 Apostolic, Reformation doctrine. Pray for its pupils, who are so soon 
 to fill your places. Pray for its professors, who must so soon stand at 
 the tribunal of God, and undergo the examination of omniscient 
 purity for all the impressions they make on the rising ministry. 
 
 In the series of events which have resulted in the solemn services 
 of this evening, there has been a strange union of mercy from the 
 Lord, and of kindness from his people. These have rendered tolerable, 
 trials which otherwise would have been insupportable. They have 
 made darkness light, and rough places smooth. They have taken 
 away stumbling-blocks, and held out most pleasing promises of useful- 
 ness. They have driven away perplexity, and given pledges of help 
 from above, and of brotherly encouragement from you all. I came 
 among you a stranger, and was received as an old friend. In these 
 circumstances, I bow the knee and give praise to the Father of all 
 mercies ; and I beg you to accept assurances of heartfelt thanks for 
 all the love and generosity you have so liberally heaped upon me.