INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE 
 
 KNOX COLLEGE 
 
 Petagljpital anb fittrarg Socictn, 
 
 BY 
 
 THE PRESIDENT, W. ARiMSTRONG, M.A., 
 
 OS THE EVENING OF 
 
 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1st, 1871. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY. 
 
 ROWBILL * HUTCUIBOK, PBINTERS, TORONTO. 
 
(^^'0 
 
METAPHYSICAL AND LITERAEI SOCIETY. 
 
 I* 9 
 
 patrons : 
 
 Rev. professor CAVEN. 
 , Rev. professor INGLIS. 
 
 Rev. JOHN CAMPBELL, M.A. 
 Rev. PROFESSOR YOTJNG. 
 
 \V. ARMSTRONG, M.A. 
 
 JJrte-^rtsibcnts : 
 
 E. COCKBURN, B.A. | D. L. McKECHNIE. 
 
 Iletotbmg SJecretarg : 
 
 J. SCRIMGER, M.A. 
 
 Corwsponbing ^£tnfar|| : 
 
 W. M. MARTIN. 
 
 treasurer : 
 
 R. PETTIGREW, B.A. 
 
 Comnnttet : 
 
 H. H. MCPHERSON, B.A. I W. FRIZZEL. 
 
 P. NICOL. I J. H. RATCLIFFE. 
 
ORDINARY MEMBERS. 
 
 AciiEsoN, Samuel. 
 AcHEsoN, Stuart, 
 aumstrono, \v., m.a. 
 Ballantyxe, F. 
 Baft IE, G., B.A. 
 Beattie, F. R. 
 Bell, a. 
 
 buknett, j. r. s. 
 Campbell, J. 
 Carmichael, J. A. 
 Caswell, D. J. 
 COCKBURN, E.,''B.A. 
 CURRIE, H. 
 
 Fisher, S. 
 
 Fotiierixgham, T. F., B.A. 
 Fraser, R. D., M.A. 
 Fraseb, J. B., M.D. 
 Fraser, J. 
 Gallagher, W. 
 
 GUNN, R. 
 
 Henderson, R. 
 Henry, J. J. 
 Johnson, D. C. 
 Johnston, T. 
 
 JOHNfTON, W. 
 
 Junor, K. F. 
 KiPPiN, A. H. 
 
 Lochore, R. S. 
 McAlmon, J. 
 McClelland, A. M. 
 McDonald, D. 
 McFarlane. a, 
 McKechnie, D. L. 
 McKellar, H. 
 McKeracher, D. 
 McNeil, D. 
 
 McPherson, H. H., B.A. 
 McQueen', J. 
 McRoBBiE, G. G. 
 NicoL, P. 
 Panton, E. 
 Pkttigrew, R., B.A. 
 Ratclikfe, J. H. 
 Reid, W, 
 
 Rennelson, W. H., M.A. 
 Ross, D. 
 
 Rutherford, W. 
 Scrimger, J., M.A. 
 Sinclair, A., B.A. 
 Stewart, A. 
 Stewart, J. 
 Thynne, R. 
 Tully, a. F. 
 Wightman, J. R., B.A. 
 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 To the Members of Knox College Metaphysical and 
 Literary Society. 
 
 Gentlemen, — At this the first public meeting of our 
 Society for the present year, it devolves upon me as your 
 President to deliver the customary Inaugural Address. So 
 far as I am aware there is nothing that should mar tbe 
 pleasurable feelings to which an occasion like the present is 
 expected to give rise. Our Society is in a prosperous con- 
 dition. We have reason to congratulate ourbelves not only 
 on the number of new members added to the roll, but also on 
 the hearty spirit that has hitherto pervaded our meetings. 
 And, if we do regret the absence of some whose faces were 
 familiar, whose voices we were always glad to hear, our 
 regret is lessened when we remember that they have gone 
 forth to the fight for which they were here preparing, and 
 their valor in the field is a cause of just pride to us as 
 students of this College and merabeis of this Society. With- 
 out mentioning other names of equal honor, I may allude 
 to the fact, thet the President of our Society last year is now 
 
 I President of a rising College in the Far West, being thus 
 rapidly raised from the ranks of this Society to the dignity 
 
6 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 It 13 not my intention, however, to go over the annals of 
 the past ; but, with your permission, what I shall say to-night 
 will be concerning the age in which loe live, and ourselves 
 in relation to it. 
 
 It is a trite and hackneyed pluase— '' We live in an age of 
 progress." Everybody says it — everybody believes it Every 
 age to the people who live in it must at least appear to them 
 to be an age of progress. The human mind cannot rest 
 satisfied with cny present attainments, and therefore, whether 
 true or not, must fancy itself in the midst of a movement 
 onward. On before it there ever stands an ideal of perfection 
 — the goal towards which it presses — and every step, how- 
 ever blindly taken, must at least seem to it to be one in 
 advance. It is just this ceaseless struggle for something 
 beyond the present, this felt capacity for progress, that 
 ennobles man, lifts him above the brute, and proves to 
 him his higher destiny. Many and terrible have been the 
 mistakes of men ; mad and foolish many of their enterprises 
 in seeking to give scope to this capacity. They have not 
 been all in vain. Material advancement has been made. 
 The struggles of centuries have lifted us to higher ground, 
 and it may not be too much to hope that experience will yet 
 teach mankind to some extent the path whf-rein true progress 
 lies — the way to universal peace and happiness. 
 
 We are proud to think that we live in an age of real 
 progress — nay more, in an age that will hereafter be looked 
 upon as a great landmark in the history of the world — as a 
 time of moulding and formation— a time in which the mind 
 of man was quickened by a fresh impulse, and received a 
 truer guiding towards the realization of the ideal of human 
 perfection. There are times when the world moves but 
 slowly — ''slowly creeping on from point to point." Now it 
 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 7 
 
 proceeds not slowly but with tremendous stride. In such 
 an age a man is unworthy the name who does not note the 
 tendencies of the times, and so far as he can, seek to 
 guide them aright. And when we consider how rapidly 
 science is advancing, widening in its inBuence as it proceeds, 
 scattering light and blessing and gladness on eery side j 
 when we consider the startling discoveries ,by which the 
 powers of nature are tamed and made daily subservient to 
 the will of man ; when we consider the vast proportions of 
 commerce; the gigantic social and political movements ;. the 
 upheavals of thought in Literature, Politics, and Religion, 
 which characterize the present day, we conclude that it is no 
 holiday task to decide what influence all these things may 
 exert on the true well-being of man. Still, from such an 
 inquiry, no earnest mind can shrink j and I trust I am 
 expressing the sentiments of every member of this Society 
 and of every student of this College, when I say thatit is 
 especially incumbent upon us to look at the question steadily, 
 fairly, and courageously. 
 
 We have come together here as students of Theology. 
 The world has no right to question the sincerity of our 
 motives for the step we have thus takeu; but the world 
 has a right to ask, what object W9 have in view, what 
 influence we expect to exert on mankind? What is the 
 position, then, in which we place ourselves before the 
 world by our presence here ? Is it not, that by the influence 
 of College instruction, of societies for mutual improvement, 
 of mutual contact and private study, we may be the better 
 prepared to guide the progressive tendencies of this age 
 in the path that leads man to happiness and perfection. 
 
 We are here with no less object in view than to fit 
 ourselves to become the true leaders of Society in every 
 
8 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 thing that is ennobling to man or honouring to God. This 
 is a lofty position to take, but no other is compatible with 
 the pretensions of the church and ministry. Looking at it 
 in this light, what a wide range of thought and duty opens to 
 our view! How imperative it is for us to study every move- 
 ment among men, every phase of the society in which we live ! 
 
 We must remember at all times that it is to the present 
 we sustain our relations. It will not do to prepare ourselves 
 for a condition of things that is past. Our study must all 
 have reference to the active present. Knowledge of the past, 
 and conjecture for the future, are only useful so far as they 
 bear on the duty of to-day. He who acts as if he lived in a 
 past age is but at best a grave anachronism, useful only as a 
 warning to others. Action is the watch-word of our day. ■ 
 He who spends his time in dreamy speculations or useless 
 controversy is left behind. Time was when the Minister of 
 Christ could sit in his lone study pondering hour after hour 
 over themes the most abstract or the most sublime, or engage 
 himself in the minutest analysis of his own state of mind. 
 He who would be a religious guide to the present age must 
 make his hours of study tell direcily upon the activities of 
 every-day life. 
 
 Time was when the minister could issue from his study 
 * once a week, and arrayed in official costume, dictate to 
 a reverential audience what views they should hold in 
 matters of the highest importance. Nowadays there is 
 nothing received, simply because it is ex cathedra. The 
 right of private judgment is exercised everywhere, and 
 exercised with a special vengeance in church pews. He who 
 m the pulpit persistently indulges in false feeling or false 
 logic, who habitually gives forth crude ill-digested thoughts 
 or badly expressed sentiment is sure, sooner or later, to be 
 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 9 
 
 brought to the bar of a merciless criticism and condemned. 
 At no time have men seemed more ready than now to obey 
 the Apostolic injunction, "Prove all thingvS." Some that 
 they may scatter everything sacred to the winds ; others that 
 they may the more surely ''hold fast that which is good." 
 Creeds hoary with age ; beliefs handed dov/n as sacred heir- 
 looms from generation to generation, are submitted to the 
 minutest analysis, and if they cannot stand the test of the 
 smelting furnace, are thrown away as metals of the baser 
 
 SOku . " 
 
 We rejoice at such a spirit. Without it, truth can never be 
 found ; without it, real progress would be impossible. 
 
 Another feature of the age worthy of notice is the general 
 diffusion of knowledge among all classes and grades of 
 society. Learning, long confined to academic halls, bursting 
 the barriers which made it flow in these narrow channels, is 
 spreading in every direction. A great mental excitement is 
 among the people everywhere. Hence, we have popular 
 editions of all books from the profoundest philosophy or 
 most recondite science to the last sensational novel or the 
 latest lines from the pen of a favourite poet. In a thousand 
 ways does the craving for a higher knowledge make itself 
 felt. May it increase until ignorance, the parent of crime 
 and misery, is driven from the earth. It makes the heart 
 beat faster to contemplate what purer forms of life, what 
 nobility of character may result when the general intelligence 
 of mankind is raised from grovelling in the dust 5 when every 
 man realizes the fact that he is sonjething more than a mass 
 of self-interested, ''money-making clay." 
 
 No one will deny these to be characteristics of the present 
 age. It is well, then, for us to remember that these are the 
 circumstances under which we are here preparing ourselves 
 
10 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 to become teachers and guides to men in matters of the 
 weightiest import — to remember, too, that if we would main- 
 tain our proper position and influence in society, it can only 
 be by thorough preparation — a preparation that will enable 
 us to stand the test of severest criticism, and lead the way in 
 advance of the general intelligence of the people. This is 
 no small task. It will involve much patient toil and unwea- 
 ried exertion. It will demand a most extensive course of 
 reading — a continued study of books and men. 
 
 But, says some conscientious objector, "I am here as a 
 student of Divinity. Theology is ray special subject, and to 
 it I must confine my attention." With the words of this 
 objection we entirely agree. We would even put it in 
 stronger language, and say it is the duty of every student to, 
 study nothing else but Theology. If, however, by Theology 
 the objector means no more than a comprehensive view of 
 church creeds and formularies, with an orderly arrangement 
 of proof texts from the Bible, we must demur to any such 
 contracted view of the science. We must take Theology in 
 its widest signification, as embracing all that we can know 
 about God, his being, his attributes, his connection with the 
 universe, and his dealings towards mankind. Where, then, 
 can we place a limit to it ? True, the Bible is the unfailing 
 and infallible source of Divine knowledge. Everything that 
 can be drown from or based upon the Bible is of pre-eminent 
 interest to the student of Divinity. But the Bible is not the 
 only source whence knowledge of God can be derived. He 
 can have only a limited idea of his responsibility as a teacher 
 of things Divme who does not on the one hand seek to 
 bring the light of Science and Philosophy, of Literature 
 and Art, of History and Politics, to bear upon the written 
 Word as it unfolds the character of God and the redemption 
 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 11 
 
 of man ; and, on the other hand, seek to infuse the spirit of 
 that Word into studies and activities of life. 
 
 The study of one department of knowledge aids in the 
 study of another. All sciences are intertwined, and all are 
 subservient to the greatest of all sciences. Theology. 
 
 We should therefore study Geology and Mineralogy not 
 merely that we may be able to describe the successive strata 
 cf the earth's surface, or tell the chemical composition of its 
 mintral products, but that we may gain nev/ conceptions of 
 the wonder-working God from the tracings of his finger in 
 its rocky album. 
 
 We should study Natural History not merely to be able 
 to arrange all the plants and animals of the globe in classes 
 and sub-classes, and label them with names nigh unpro- 
 nounceable — not merely to learn some of their properties and 
 peculiarities; but that in the manifold adaptations and con- 
 trivances which are presented everywhere m nature from tne 
 dust of the fungi to the giant pine of California — from the 
 microscopic animalculce to the ponderous whale, we may 
 may recognize the more fully the power, the wisdom, and 
 the beneficence of Him who supports, sustains, and rules 
 over it all. We should study Astronomy, not for the 
 pleasurable bewilderment of contemplating world on world 
 revolving in illimitable space ; but that we may be led 
 thereby to form truer and more devout conceptions of that 
 Infinite Mind which by a single law binds and blends so 
 many systems together in perfect harmony. 
 
 We should study Philosophy, not that we may hope to 
 be able to answer all the questions she asks, or solve the 
 mysteries which hang around our being ; but that, humbled 
 when we perceive the narrow limits within which our know- 
 ledge is confined, we may the more deeply feel it true that : 
 
12 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 " Our little systems haye their day, 
 They have their day and cease to be ; 
 They are but broken lights of thee, • ' . 
 
 And thou, O Lord, art more than they." 
 
 We should study Art, for by it the mind is elevated and 
 refined, and [thereby enabled to approach nearer to a con- 
 ception of Infinite Goodness and Truth. 
 
 We should study History, for it is the manifestation of 
 God's Providence towards men and nations. All literature, 
 in short that is worthy the name, whether prose or verse, 
 should be the object of our attention, for, as Carlyle says: — 
 "Literature is but a branch of religion, and always parti- 
 cipates in its character." Nor does this view confine within 
 too narrow limits the domain of literature, for it can be true 
 without making every poem a psalm, every essay a sermon, 
 history an ecclesiastical record, and biography a detail of 
 daily devotions and pious reflections. 
 
 Some will no doubt say that the scheme of study indicated 
 here is chimerical 5 that there is no need for a Divinity student 
 to seek to become a polymath ; that there is much of which he 
 can and must afford to be ignorant. Now, we do not say that 
 we are bound to pursue the facts of science with the minuteness 
 of a Lyell, a Huxley, or a Herschel | that we are to spend our 
 time in philosophical speculations like a Kant or a Hamilton, 
 or are to cultivate history like a Hallam or a Froude; 
 but, certainly, we cannot well afford to be ignorant of any 
 departmpnt of knowledge that will serve materially to give 
 us more Widit as to the character of God, the nature of man 
 or the relations in which man stands to his Maker and to 
 his fellow-men. We hold that it is only by making pure 
 theology the basis of study, and looking upon all departments 
 from a theological point of view, that we can hope to 
 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 13 
 
 advance ia true knowledge or preserve our minds from being 
 weakened by desultory reading and useless flights of thought. 
 
 We need not stop to meet the objection so often urged that 
 too much learning tends to call the mind of the minister 
 away from his proper work, the conversion c" s< uls. The 
 fact that Paul was taken from the feet of Gamaliel, and 
 never found his learning a hindrance, is a sufficient answer. 
 Nor must we ever forget the requirements of the present day 
 — the character of the age in which we live. If, as no one 
 will deny, men of the highest order of intellect and greatest 
 attainments in science and letters, look with contempt on the 
 church and her ministers generally; if old and forgotten 
 heresies are being revived and led forth again to battle 
 against the truth ; if we frequently see in pamphlets, treatises, 
 reviews, and novels, boldly asserted scepticism, sneering 
 insinuations against Divine truth, or unmanly side-thrusts at 
 things held as venerable and sacred ; and if, as it seems, 
 there is, an ill-suppressed murmur against the efficiency of 
 the Christian pulpit li^ our day, it is surely the duty of those 
 who would put themselves forward as the special defenders 
 of Truth, that they equip themselves thoroughly for the task 
 they have undertaker.. It will not do to slur over the honest 
 convictions of scientific men, or seek to belittle the doubts 
 which, arising from the great conflict of opinions now taking- 
 place, painfully oppress many an enlightened mind in the 
 present day. 
 
 It is more than probable that our greatest struggle will 
 be against the assumptions of the unsanctified intellect. As 
 soldiers of the Cross, we must not shrink from the fight. 
 And if the enemy draw his weapons from the armoury of 
 Science and Philosophy, we tnust do the same, and wielding 
 them with intellects sanctified by grace and dedicated to the 
 
14 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 cause of truth, seek to vanquish the foe on the ground that 
 he himself has chosen. 
 
 Nor need we fear the result, for we may rest assured that 
 when Philosophy has attained the object of its pursuit; when 
 universal Science has reached its ultimate conclusions ; when 
 the Bible has received its true interpretation, it will be found 
 that Philosophy, Science, and Revelation, unite in maintaining 
 ihe same eternal truths. 
 
 Again, if we look at our position from a social and 
 political point of view, we shall find its responsibility greatly 
 increased. It will be felt by every one who fairly considers 
 the subject that a more intelligent consciousness of Christian 
 obligation both as to great public questions and private 
 actions is much to be desired in the community. Religion 
 should pervade the whole domain of human activity. It 
 should be felt by men in every relation of life, social and 
 political ; and just in proportion as it is felt will be the 
 influence of ministers of the Gospel among mankind. Around 
 us are taking place many great philanthropic movements. 
 Enterprises are set on foot for the removal of ignorance, 
 poverty, and misery ; societies of various kinds are formed 
 for the amelioration of man's condition. To such extent is 
 this being carried as almost to justify the paradoxical saying, 
 '•that we now need a society to protect society against 
 unnecessary societies." In this state of things there is an 
 evident duty devolving upon us. We hold that the Gospel 
 is the power that can truly ameliorate the condition of 
 mankind ; that it is the true enlightener and refiner of the 
 mind ; the only panacea of the world's ills. If, then, we are 
 to maintain our influence in the social sphere, we must 
 prepare to take the lead in every really good philanthropic . 
 movement, and see that it be leavened with the leaven of the 
 Gospel of Christ. 
 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 15 
 
 Nol. only so, but it is our duty to seek to have intelligent 
 views of national policy, that we may he able to advance 
 the true welfare of the country in which we dwell. It is 
 almost considered a virtuo by many now-a-days for ministers 
 of the gospel to manifest little interest in civil affairs. It 
 surely cannot be right to leave the affairs of state uninfluenced 
 by religion. There is an ethical side to public affairs to which 
 we must never close our eyes, if we would have men of in- 
 tegrity in positions of public trust, and purity in the measures 
 brought forward for the welfare of the people. National 
 Government will never attain its true standard until those 
 who frame the laws, frame them with an eye to the eternal 
 law of God ; and those who administer them, do so in the fear 
 of the Lord. 
 
 I have hitherto been speaking only of the attainmenla 
 necessary for those who would be the highest public teachers 
 of this age. The truth of what I have said must be obvious 
 to every reflecting mind. For myself, gentlemen, I am 
 convinced that, unless a high standard of intelligence be 
 maintained among the clergy, their influence upon an age 
 like this will sink very low indeed. Let no one, however, so 
 far mistake me as to think that I advocate for them a life of 
 mere mental culture, or make their duty to lie in a purely 
 rational sphere. The theme, the basis of their life-work, 
 must be the Gospel of Christ ; the preparation for that 
 life-work such as will tend to make that Gospel in its fulness 
 acceptable to all classes of men. 
 
 Allow me now to say a few words concerning some traits 
 of character we should seek to cultivate, and the devel* 
 opment of which this College and Society may materially 
 promote. 
 
 The first I shall mention is a manly independence, an 
 individuality of character based on strong self-respect. 
 
16 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 You have heard a good deal recently concerning the 
 comparative value of secular and denominational colleges. 
 Much that is true has been advanced on both sides of that 
 discussion. True it is, that there are some who, leaving a 
 home of tender piety and coming suddenly in contact with 
 the conflicting opinions sure to meet them in a purely secular 
 college, have abandoned the simple faith of their childhood, 
 and, failing to reach the safe ground of a manlier creed, have 
 plunged into hopeless and heartless scepticism. Equally 
 true is it, on the other hand, that ihose brought from homes 
 where no breath of opposition to religion ever reached them, 
 and placed in a denominational college where one set of 
 opinions is constantly held up as alone worthy of attention, 
 are apt to become narrow-minded, and inclined to bigotry. 
 Both these are dangerous extremes. The best character is 
 formed where settled conviction of truth has followed the 
 anxious strugglings of doubt. 
 
 The Christianity which an age like this demands, must 
 be neither a sickly sentimentalism nor a blind belief. It 
 must be somethmg manly and courageous. A character 
 that will not shrink from the arduous duties of life — that 
 can without fear of taint come in contact with the hostile 
 influence of the world. One that is firm to roll back 
 the tide of evil, resolute to grapple with, and strong to 
 overcome the difficulties that cross its path. It must not be 
 like the tender house-plant, scarcely able to bear the sunlight ; 
 but rather like the majestic oak which storms but strengthen, 
 and which roots itself all the more firmly, because of the 
 wintry blasts that howl through its branches. 
 
 That character should be ours which is ready fearlessly to 
 encounter every error, and as fearlessly to welcome every 
 truth. That independence should be ours, which, based upon 
 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 17 
 
 settled convictions formed from the investigation of facts, 
 lifts us above the mere opinions of others. Accordingly, 
 whilst we diligently labour to collect information from every 
 source, let us beware of sinking our own individuality so far 
 as to become the mere receptacles of other men's thoughts 
 —the parrot-like propagators of opinions received by the eye 
 and ear and spoken from the memory not the heart. 
 
 We rejoice that there is no influence brought to bear upon 
 us ni this institution calculated to repress freedom of opinion, 
 but that independence of inquiry is not only urged, but even 
 demanded from us. 
 
 Nowhere is a man more likely to be thrown back upon 
 his own resources, or more surely taught to rely upon his 
 own powers of mind, than in those free discussions which 
 necessarily hold a prominent place in a Society such as ours. 
 
 Not seldom, perhaps, does a man for the first time 
 experience the pleasure which attends the creative power of 
 the mind when forced to deliver an extemporaneous speech 
 elicited in the heat of debate. Not seldom has he learned 
 for the first time really to respect his own opinions, when he 
 finds that, in the judgment of the Society, they are superior 
 to those of his opponents. 
 
 It is only when a man is really convinced of a truth, that 
 hs should presume to teach it to others. Let us then seek to 
 have convictions of our own. Let us dare to express them; 
 and if there be anything further required to constitute true 
 heroism, it is to stand by our convictions when we have 
 expressed them. This alone will give us true independence 
 — true individuality of character. Let us remember, then 
 that if egotism is odious, and self-conceit abominable, a want 
 of due self-respect is as great a defect in a man's character as 
 either. 
 
18 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 Another trait of character well worthy of cultivation is 
 that disposition ivhich will lead us to maintain our own 
 opinions ivith calmness and moderation, and treat the 
 opinions of others loith candor and courtesy. We read in 
 fable of a certain man who went about with an iron flail, beating 
 down whatever came in his way. It is just so with some men 
 who, because they have definite views on some subject, con- 
 sider it to be their duty to be ever avowing them, and to beat 
 down all and sundry who happen to entertain opinions con- 
 trary to theirs. This unreasonableness finds, to a certain 
 extent, a cure in the pitched battles of a debating society. 
 Debaters soon learn that others can hold opinions as well as 
 themselves, and that there are often valid arguments for both 
 sides of a (juestion. 
 
 Another lesson taught by debate is, that a person can 
 differ from our opinion without forfeiting his right to be 
 considered a rational being. In this respect some persons 
 seem to have a morbid faculty for mistaking the point in 
 dispute. If they undertake to prove that the earth is flat, 
 they would do so by seeking to prove that all who maintain it 
 is round, are either knaves or fools. This kind of reasoning 
 is not uncommon in the world ; so that it is no vain lesson 
 such logicians receive in a Society such as ours, where each 
 debate is decided strictly in accordance with the merits of the 
 arguments as they bear upon the point at issue. 
 
 But I must not allow myself to be carried away to speak of 
 the special advantages we each receive from our connection 
 with this Society. I have striven throughout to keep a higher 
 object in view. My desire has been to state our relation as 
 students of Divinity to the busy, restless age in which our lot 
 has been cast— to indicate the extent of preparation requisite, 
 if we would do our life-work well, and to shew some elements 
 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 19 
 
 of character we should seek to develop. All along I have 
 assumed the existence of personal piety, and ])ersonal conse- 
 cation to God's service as indispensable prerequisites, and 
 have spoken only of those attainments which should be added 
 thereto i'or the successful discharge of the sacred office to 
 which we are each looking forward. 
 
 Gentlemen, let us seek to realize the true relation in which 
 we stand to our fellow-men. Let us recognize our mission in 
 the world. Let our purpose through life be a lofty one. 
 What that purpose should be, cannot be expressed bettor 
 than in the words of the great Edward Irving : *' There are 
 few things," said he, '' that bind me to the world, and but a 
 few 5 one is, to make a demonstralion for a higher style of 
 Christianity. Something more magnanimous, more hero- 
 ical than this age afftcts^ The world has now need of a 
 higher style of Christianity — something more magnanimous, 
 more heroical, more Christ-like than the present age affects. 
 In the spirit of humility, let us seek to make a demonstration 
 in its behalf. 
 
 Let no preparation be thought too great, since it cannot 
 compare with the greatness of the object in view. That 
 object is, to hold up Christ to the world ; to bring the wisdom 
 of man, the truths of science, the speculations of philosophy, 
 to the lOot of the Cross ; to reclaim the wanderer from the 
 error of his way ; to succor the miserable ; to raise the 
 fallen} to preach salvation to the lost; a rest for the weary, 
 aching heart of humanity. 
 
 Can any acquisition be thought too much, it by it we are 
 enabled to clear a mind of troubling doubts, or free it from 
 the meshes of a fatal error. Can any motive be stronger to 
 impel us to diligent exertion, than the hope of becoming the 
 instrument of raising the degraded, of wiping the tear from 
 
20 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 the pale d'jek of the sorrowing, or of saving a soul from 
 eternal (Icath, 
 
 Such, our mission. The task is great; the difficulties, 
 numerous; the responsibility, overpowering. Yet, leaning 
 on the arm of the Omnipotent One, we would 
 
 " Bate not a Jot 
 (it heart or hope : but still hear up and steer 
 Ri(rht onward." 
 
 Our laith is firm in the power of the Gospel. We are 
 loyal to its truths. We have examined the lines of proof 
 which, converging to a point, have produced the ineffaceable 
 conviction that the Bible is the Book of God. Therefore 
 are we sure it will stand the test even of these sceptical 
 limes, and bring light and life to many in the future, as it 
 has done in the past. 
 
 For a long time now has that goodly ship, the Gospel, 
 been sailing — an ark of safety to many amidst the billows 
 of care, anxiety, and sin. It will sail to the end of time. 
 Its timbers may appear ready to crack before the rough 
 storms that assail it, but they will never give way. In time 
 to come, as in time p4ist, will It carry many a soul safely across 
 the troubled ocean of life to the haven of eternal rest. In 
 that ship is all our confidence, and with full heart we bid her, 
 
 " In spite of rock and tempest roar. 
 Jn spite of false lights on the shore, 
 ^ail on ! nor fear to breast the sea ; 
 Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, 
 Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, 
 Are all with thee, are ail with thee."