We consider the Scottish Theology as admirably adapted to the national character: not that religion can be exalted by those who profess it; but there are some in our world whom religion more readily (we might almost say more easily) exalts and ennobles than others. There is an innate nobility, but no innate religion. The Scotch have much of the former from nature, the latter they have de

rived from grace. There is a high-toned independence about both, the result, not of passion, but of principle, and the effort of, a severe and sound religious discipline. This is chiefly owing to their system of parochial schools and ministerial visitation. The clergyman of the parish may be styled the religious schoolmaster of his people. He catechises the young, and instructs all ages with the pure word of eternal life. He is placed in the happy medium between poverty and wealth, neither lolling away his precious time in lordly splendour, nor humbled and broken in spirit by the prospect of a rising family without provision, or a feeble old age without solace, save what the hand of charity doles out so niggardly to the cast off labourer in the Lord's vineyard. We are not the panegyrists of the Scottish Church-in many things she has fallen from her first love; but we are not blind to that moral glory which she has, and still continues to shed on her population.

We are sensible that a wide departure has taken place in many instances from that system of wholesome discipline which the venerable fathers of the Kirk enjoined; but we may be permitted to rejoice that a reformation is in progress which bids fair, under the divine blessing, to restore the glory to the Scottish Israel. The days of moderatism are fast hastening to a close. In the large towns where evangelical preaching has become prevalent, the churches are crowded with serious and attentive congregations. The system of church patronage, that blight upon all ecclesiastical purity, has of late been greatly amended, not so much by any express enactment of the church, as by the irresistible voice of public opinion, There is a flame kindled within the precincts of the Scottish sanctuary, which we trust will not be quenched till all the dross be purged away, and the fine gold only remain.

There was no man more instrumental in bringing vital Orthodoxy into repute than the late lamented Dr. Andrew

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Thomson. In debate irresistible, in controversy terrible, in pulpit eloquence clear and persuasive, he stood forth on every occasion as the champion of the church's best and dearest interests. We deny not that he had faults. He himself never concealed them, and they were those of a generous and unsuspecting temper. He never used the stiletto. He was no cowardly assassin, afraid to strike, yet determined on revenge. He always wielded his terrible sword in the open field, and in fair combat. Meanness or subterfuge was to him an utter abomination, hence the vehemence with which he sometimes expressed himself, and the apparent acrimony which pointed his arguments. Though harsh, and frowning, and sarcastic to the enemies of the truth, he could be engaging as a little child to the friends whom he loved, or the companions whom he de. lighted with the sallies of his wit. There was a nobleness about his whole deportment, which shone alike in his manly gait, and in the strongly marked features of his intellectual countenance. He was a man every inch, whether trampling down indignantly the flimsy defences of ingenious sophistry in the apocryphal controversy, or storming the citadel of moderatism in the General Assembly. His sermons and lectures were masterly specimens of the didactic style of preaching. They exhibited lumi. nous and forcible statements of divine truth; every difficulty was met in a spirit of the utmost candour, and few, indeed, could escape untouched from the grasp of his mighty intellect.

We have long thought that this distinguished divine concentrated in himself more of the peculiarities of the Scottish Theology than any other of his day. He had all the shrewdness and metaphysical acumen of his countrymen, their deep and thorough knowledge of the Scriptures and to all this was superadded a certain chivalry of character, which made him choose the most arduous station for the sake of encountering the difficulties which belonged to it. The structure of some minds leads them to glory in danger, and to esteem only that victory which is obtained by the most perilous struggle.

Such was Dr. Thomson, whose sudden death, almost in the prime of life, threw a deep and solemn gloom over the crowded city which had so often been the scene of his intellectual prowess. There was reason in the celebrity which he had acquired, and sincerity in the lamentations

which were uttered, on his departure into "the rest that remaineth for the people of God." Before his time an unhappy association had grown up between great talent and great coldness and formality in religion. Truth com

pels us to confess, that some of the most distinguished names in the churches of Scotland sunk their character as divines in that of philosophers. They seemed more ambitious to acquire the fame of sages of morality than teachers of the Gospel of Christ. Their sermons were chaste and elegant compositions, adorned with all the flowers and graces of rhetoric, but destitute of any vitality or savour of godliness. Similar essays, with similar efforts, might have proceeded from the Lyceum of Plato, or the porch of Aristotle. They had merely this distinctive peculiarity--their motto was a Scripture text, and their audience Christians by name and profession. It is evident how frigid and vain such ministrations must have been to those who were "dead in trespasses and sins." To save souls from the error of their way, requires altogether a different style of preaching.

The eloquence which kindles the soul into enthusiasm as it falls from the academic chair, is but a poor and sorry substitute in the pulpit for the message of peace and reconciliation in Jesus Christ.

Now we know of no man in the Scottish Church who raised such an arm of might in the battles of the faith, and achieved such splendid triumphs, as Andrew Thomson. He turned the tide in favour of Evangelism in the metropolis of Scotland. We have seen him, in the As. sembly, surrounded by his brethren in the ministry, who heard with breathless attention the words which fell from his lips, and as his eye flashed fire, and his whole frame quivered with emotion, and his voice rose stormy and clear amid those venerable Scots, in the same sphere of action where, in days of persecution and bloody strife, Knox thundered forth his anathemas against the superstition and sins of the people, and we have then thought that no other more fitting representative could be found of him whose epitaph it was- "He never feared the face of man." And now when the narrow house holds that frame which so recently we have seen instinct with vigour, and active in all the duties of a true Christian patriot, we would say with the psalmist, "Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth, and the faithful fail among the children of men."

It is an invidious task to mention the living. The dead, in all their sacredness, are yet public property, in so far as they have lived public men; but when we speak of the living, there is danger either of unjust censure or undue panegyric. But in noticing the salutary reform which has been lately commenced in the Scottish Kirk, around which some of our dearest recollections are entwined, it would be a worse than prudish modesty to pass by the name of Dr. Chalmers, who now presides over near 200 theological students in the University of Edinburgh.

The very mention of some great men is sufficient to excite attention. Their name is their eulogium, and a watchword of spirit-stirring power. Who does not feel within him, at the name of Chalmers, a thrilling admiration, excited as much by that spirit of meek and gentle holiness which adorns his character, as by his gorgeous eloquence and transcendent genius. He consecrates both philosophy and poetry at the shrine of religion. The one when he vindicates theology as the "Queen of the sciences," and the other when he collects from the treasures of his imagination flowers of paradise, wherewith to deck and beautify the garden of the Lord. Providence has now placed Dr. Chalmers at the fountain-head of theology in his native land. He has the future ministry of the Church of Scotland under his guardianship; and without either fear or flattery, we hesitate not to affirm, that its rising clergy will become "scribes well instructed in the mysteries of the kingdom." One of the most useful lessons taught by this master in Israel is, to subordinate all our reasonings to the facts and findings of Scripture. This he contends is true philosophy; for with our glimmering of knowledge to attempt to fathom the counsels and secrets of eternity would be a species of profane madness. Christians know, from sad experience, that their most difficult lesson is humility. The pride of hu man reason urges them to speculate, and the cant so com mon in the present day about freedom of inquiry in religion, would lure them, step by step, into the paths of the destroyer. No mental quality is so invaluable as a sober and sound judgment; it preserves us alike from being carried about by every wind of doctrine, and from running into the forlorn depths of impious speculation. We can testify, from experience, that the course of divinity now taught in the University of Edinburgh is calculated.

to impress the mind with a devout reverence for Scripture, as "all given by inspiration of God, and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and instruction in righteousness." We know not a more magnificent spectacle in this degraded world, than the man of lofty science, learning, even as a little child, in the service of his Lord, and submitting the dogmas of his philosophy to the doctrines of the Gos. pel. It may surely put to the blush those pany theologians who wrangle about a word, or write treatises on a particle, or spend whole months in flimsy, neological speculations, and yet scout all that is worth keeping in the Bible, its scheme of atonement through the blood and righteousness of our incarnate God, that in Chalmers, the Plato of pulpit eloquence, (to use his own expressive words, as applied to Sir I. Newton,) "the highest science is united with the deepest sacredness." It is impossible to cal. culate the precise effects which his prelections shall produce on the rising ministry of Scotland; but of this we are certain, that dark must be the understanding, and perverted the moral affections of that individual who could listen to the powerful argumentations of this great professor on the side of Orthodoxy, without imbibing, at least, some portion of the 'sal evangelicum,' which is so profusely scattered over all his theological preparations.

Thomson and Chalmers together, presented a front which error and sophistry could never penetrate. One has already fallen in the combat, a good soldier of the cross. May the other long be spared to shed a glory on that church, of which he is the brightest living ornament; and to lead successive generations of Scotland's Ministers to the fountains of living water.

The present day is distinguished for rash and adventurous speculations in religion. But while mists and clouds have settled on some of the lesser mountains, the Andes of theology still display their summits in the skies. And in the midst of that temporary dimness and darknesss which have obscured some lesser lights, it is refreshing to behold the great luminaries of the church continuing to shine with unclouded splendour The present storms and dissentions will purify the religious atmosphere, and restore the sanctuary to its primitive healthiness. The Lord hath scattered some of the cedars of Lebanon, but the stateliest are yet untouched in all their luxuriance.

We cannot but approve the decision shown by the last General Assembly, in dealing with those schis