136 



ON THE GENERAL DIFFUSION OF KNOWUEDGE. 



owing to habits of inattention to subjects of an in 

 tellectual nature to an incapacity for following 

 a train of illustration or reasoning and to the 

 want of acquaintance with the meaning of many 

 terms which theological instructors find it expe 

 dient to use in the construction of their discours 

 es and such deficiencies are to be ascribed to the 

 mental faculties not having been exercised from 

 infancy in the pursuit of knowledge and in ration 

 al investigations. 



This deficiency of knowledge and intellectual 

 culture seems to be virtually acknowledged by the 

 ministers of religion ; since, in their general dis 

 courses, they confine themselves, for the most 

 part, to the elucidation of \\\e first principles of re 

 ligion. Instead of exhibiting a luminous and 

 comprehensive view of the whole scenery ofdi- 

 vine revelation, and illustrating its various parts 

 from the history of nations, the system of nature, 

 and the scenes of human life they generally con 

 fine their discussions to a few topics connected 

 with what are termed the fundamental doctrines 

 of the Gospel. Instead of&quot; going on to perfec 

 tion,&quot; as the Apostle Paul exhorts, by tracing the 

 elements of Christianity in all their bearings on 

 moral conduct and Christian contemplation, and 

 endeavouring to carry forward the mind to the 

 most enlarged views of the perfections of God and 

 the &quot; glory of his kingdom&quot; they feel them 

 selves under the necessity of recurring again and 

 again to &quot;the first principles of the doctrine 01 

 Christ&quot; feeding their hearers&quot; with milk&quot; in 

 stead of&quot; strong meat.&quot; And the reason assign 

 ed for waiving the consideration of the more 

 sublime topics of natural and revealed religion, 

 and thus limiting the subject of tneir discussions, 

 is that their hearers are unqualified to follow them 

 in the arguments and illustrations which behoved 

 to be brought forward on such subjects that such 

 an attempt would be like speaking to the winds 

 or beating the air, and would infallibly mar their 

 edification. If this reason be valid, (and that it 

 is partly so there can be little doubt) it implies, 

 that some glaring deficiency must exist in the 

 mental culture of the great body of professing 

 Christians, and that it ought to be remedied by 

 every proper mean, in order that they may be 

 qualified to advance in the knowledge of the at 

 tributes, the works, and the ways of God, and to 

 &quot; go on unto perfection.&quot; 



It is foretold in the sacred oracles, that &quot; men 

 shall speak of the might of God s terrible acts,&quot; 

 that &quot; his saints shall speak of the glory of his 

 kingdom, and talk &amp;gt;,f his power, to make known to 

 the sons of men his mighty operations and the glo 

 rious majesty of his kingdom.&quot; This prediction 

 has never yet been fulfilled in reference to the 

 great body of the Christian chu&amp;gt; ch. For, where 

 do we find one out of twenty among the hearers 

 of the Gospel capable of rehearsing the &quot; ter 

 rible acts&quot; of God, either in his moral or his 

 physical operations of tracing the dispensations 



of his providence towards nations and communi 

 ties, in a connected series, from the commence, 

 ment of time, through the successive periods of 

 history and of comparing the desolations of ci 

 ties and the ruin of empires with the declara 

 tions of ancient prophecy? Where do we find 

 one out of a hundred capable of expatiating on 

 the &quot; power &quot; of Jehovah, and on the most strik 

 ing displays of this perfection which are exhi 

 bited throughout the vast creation ? Or where 

 shall we find those who are qualified to display 

 the magnificence of that empire which is &quot; es 

 tablished in the heavens,&quot; embracing within its 

 boundaries thousands of suns and ten thousand? 

 of worlds or &quot; to speak,&quot; with intelligence, &quot; of 

 the glory of that kingdom which ruleth over all,&quot; 

 and thus &quot; to make known to others the mighty 

 operations&quot; carried on by Jehovah, &quot;and the 

 glorious majesty of his kingdom?&quot; It is obvious 

 that no such qualifications yet exist among the 

 majority of members which compose the visible 

 church. And yet the predictions to which we 

 refer must be realized, at some period or another, 

 in the history of the divine dispensations. And 

 is it not desirable that they should, in some de 

 gree, be realized in our own limes ? And, if so, 

 ought we not to exert all our influence and ener 

 gies in endeavouring to accomplish so important 

 and desirable an object ? And, in what manner 

 are our energies in this respect to be exerted, 

 but in concerting and executing, without delay, 

 plans for the universal intellectual instruction of 

 mankind? For, without the communication oi 

 knowledge to afar greater extent, and much more 

 diversified than what has even yet been considered 

 necessary for ordinary Christians, we can never 

 expect to behold in the visible church &quot; saints&quot; 

 endowed with such sublime qualifications as those 

 to which we have alluded, or the approach of 

 that auspicious era when &quot; all shall know the 

 Lord,&quot; in the highest sense of the expression, 

 &quot; from the least even to the greatest.&quot; 



To obtain a comprehensive, and as far as pos 

 sible, a complete view of the system of revelation 

 in all its parts and bearings, and to be. enabled to 

 comply with all its requirements, is both the duty 

 and the interest of every man. But, in order 

 to this attainment, there must be acquired a cer 

 tain habit of thinking and of meditating. In 

 vain does a person turn over whole volumes, and 

 attempt to peruse catechisms, bodies of divinity, 

 or even the Scriptures themselves, he can nev&amp;lt; r 

 comprehend the dependencies, connexions and 

 bearings of divine truth, and the facts they ex 

 plain and illustrate, unless he acquire a habit of 

 arranging ideas, of laying down principles, and 

 deducing conclusions. But this habit cannot be 

 acquired without a continued series of instruc 

 tions, especially in the early part of life, accom 

 panied with serious attention and profound appli 

 cation. For want of such pre-requisites the 

 great body of Christians do not rean half the b* 



