ment; privately on Dogmatics, and on the interpretation of St. Paul's smaller epistles. He had above 200 hearers. He is a decided favorite. In his lectures he is clear, sometimes original, always instructive and spirited. Strauss is an eloquent preacher; more popular in the pulpit than in the lecture room. His two courses were on Practical Theology, and the Liturgy. Dr. Neander is the great man. He lectured on the Life of Jesus, on Christian Ethics, and on Church History. He belongs to no party, and forms none. He is independent, discriminating, impartial; an unwearied student, and not more honored as a Professor, than esteemed as a man. He always

has from 300 to 400 hearers. No man has more of the confidence of the government, no man is more admired and beloved by the students.

In the theological department, there are Professors of every shade of opinion and sentiment from the most rigid Orthodoxy to ultra-Rationalism. In the philosophical department, there are Professors of every school. The views of all parties have their advocates, and are set forth and defended with perfect freedom. The same subjects are often discussed in the same semester by Professors of different schools; and students have the opportunity of hearing opposite systems stated, illustrated, defended, by the ablest men. Many, therefore, and great are the advantages which attend the study of theology, philosophy, or any controverted subject, at a university like this. The evils of narrow-mindedness, ignorance, bigotry, are lessened or corrected. Where there are many lecturers and a liberal spirit, students hear the best arguments on all sides; learn to know and respect different parties, as well as understand and defend their own. They come in daily intercourse with able men of an opposite faith; they get acquainted, in process of time, with the plausibleness of their reasonings, the honesty of their belief, the virtuous devotedness of their lives, and suggestions of bigotry and uncharitableness vanish. When from their earliest years they have been pursuing their inquiries side by side, when they have in company examined different schemes, and come at last to different conclusions, they still continue to esteem and respect each other; and difference of opinion rarely degenerates into bitter controversy, and personal bickerings. More thorough knowledge, and a kinder spirit prevail, when opportunity is afforded and improved, of studying all

systems, and making acquaintance with people of every sect

and party.

From what has now been said, it appears, that German universities are not so much places of mental and moral discipline, as schools of instruction. They are not so well calculated to form habits of independent and accurate thinking, as to inform the mind, and store it with useful knowledge. They are not institutions of education, but of science and learning. They presuppose riper years, and greater acquirements, than our colleges and universities require. The students who frequent them are older. It is rare to find any under eighteen or twenty: many have passed their thirtieth year; and, sometimes, even grey hairs and tottering steps attend these halls of learning, with the ardor and enthusiasm of youth.

American universities furnish instruction and literary advantages for the several professions, in more or less liberal measure: German universities, on the other hand, do not limit their supplies to the wants of the professions. Every man can there obtain instruction on almost every subject that can interest the human mind, or fit him for any office or station in life. Students are not classed as in our colleges, and required to pursue one set of studies, simultaneously; but each one selects and multiplies his lectures at pleasure. The active mind is not kept back, nor the unprepared one tasked beyond its power. It is common, to spend two years at one University, and a third, and, perhaps, a fourth, at another. Students congregate here from all parts of Germany; and also from Russia, France, Italy, England, and America. Prussia, therefore, may well be proud of her universities.

We think, with Professor Dieterici, that respect for sound learning, such as the universities are capable of affording, pervades the nation, and has the public opinion of all classes in its favor. Elevated claims to thorough knowledge, an ardent desire to be numbered among the educated, extends to all circles of society. The more deeply and generally a sentiment of this kind penetrates every rank, so much the more surely does it elevate the character of the whole people, and make subordinate situations preparatory schools for the university. On the principle of a general connexion between the university and all inferior institutions; on the principle of regular progress from partial knowledge to thorough education, rest the acknowledged claims of Prussia, in respect of science and learning. Half knowledge leads to error. It is there, only,

where highest esteem is shown for the most complete education, where the university goes hand in hand with the general direction and tendency of the whole people, where it coöperates, successfully, with all other institutions, that its good effects are manifested in all departments of society, and its influence felt, down to the lowest elementary schools. It is not professional men, alone, who visit the universities: military officers, mechanics, men of station in society, are seen in their halls. Incalculable gain for society, when knowledge, and the high-minded morality which usually accompanies it, are spread abroad among a people. And if it be true, that light comes from above; that, through well-ordered universities, whose teachers are eminent for learning and moral worth, general improvement and civilization extend to all classes; if it be true, that schools and academies are raised by the influence of these institutions, to a higher rank, and brought into a better condition; then, surely, it is a great glory, an unspeakable praise for any nation, to have done as much as Prussia has, for the increase and support of her universities.

But it is objected, that the intellectual powers of a nation do not admit of being measured or reckoned. Certainly not. There is no weight or measure of knowledge and intellect. Yet much may be reckoned. We may tell how many study, how many have been studying, how many teach, how many have taught, and what the state is doing, and has done, for teachers and the taught. But what is gained? As to the real condition and prospects of science, nothing is found out when it is ascertained that many are attending to it, unless they attend to it in the right way, and from the right motive; unless they fetch out solid gold from the depths of the soul. The actual condition of science and intellectual life cannot be given in numbers. Because the expense is great, it by no means follows that much is done; because much is done, it by no means follows, but that much more might have been done, and, perhaps, ought to have been done, in the present state of science. From the fact, that many study, it does not follow that pure love of study moves them; but it does follow, that many are in the way of education; that the want of knowledge and mental discipline is felt to be one of the greatest wants, one of the most urgent necessities of the nation and age; it does follow, that what can be done, is done to supply this want, and to create, diffuse, and deepen intellectual life and energy.

H. A. W.

ART. VI. The Rationale of Religious Enquiry: or the Question stated of Reason, the Bible, and the Church. In Six Lectures. By JAMES MARTINEAU. London, 1836. 12mo. pp. 256.

It is remarked, in the Preface to these Lectures, that "there are systems of Christianity in abundance, as, before the time of Bacon, there were systems of natural science; but the Organon of theology yet remains to be written." A distinction is here pointed out, the neglect of which explains, in some measure, the present degraded state of theological science in England, compared with other departments of intellectual research and discovery. While physical science, political economy, the theories of government and social institutions, the application of the useful arts to the purposes of life, and the higher branches of literature, have been cultivated with singular industry and success, it has been the fate of that master science, which the author of the "Novum Organum" designates as "sacred and inspired theology, the sabbath and port of men's wanderings and labors," to languish in utter neglect, or to be left in the hands of religious artisans, who had neither the taste to perceive its richness and beauty, nor the skill to further its progress. It seems to have been taken for granted, that this was a sphere of thought, on which no new light could fall, which was absolved from the great law of advancement that binds all other human affairs. The idea of infusing any fresh life into its aged veins has been deemed chimerical; so that theology alone, in the midst of scientific progress, nay, of revolution, retains the withered form and rigid features of the past. It is not true, indeed, that there has been any period of English history, in which religion has failed to excite a lively interest. It has been incorporated with the most valuable institutions of our mother country; it has pervaded, in some form or other, her laws, her social habits, her domestic feelings, her language, and her literature; it has found upon her soil, that is so fruitful in all the noblest products of humanity, many of the most glorious specimens of character which it seeks to call forth; and, after all that is said of the decay of piety in modern times, we believe that it maintains a strong hold in the true, substantial English heart, from which it will not easily be dislodged.

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Still, upon looking at the condition of theology in England, merely in its relation to the present state of science, in the civilized world, we must note a striking and lamentable deficiency. Theology, in that country, has not been elevated to the same plane, which is now occupied by the other branches of liberal study; and the consequence is, that it presents few attractions to the most scientific minds; and the spirit of philosophical investigation, which is becoming more and more the order of the day, is almost exclusively turned in a different direction. There is a great deal written on theological subjects, but scarcely any thing with the precision and depth of true science. Even the reforms which have been attempted, are rather the spontaneous protest of reason against absurdity, than a profound discrimination between error and truth. They have consisted, principally, in setting aside some traditional dogmas, which, regarded in a literal point of view, were too preposterous for reception, but without laying open the central source from which such errors proceeded. There has been no thorough discussion of the philosophy of human nature, in reference to religion, of the ultimate criterion of truth, of the history, position, and value of the Scriptures, as the records of revelation; and hence, with all the systems which have been presented, there is no one that has commanded universal assent, or, we might almost say, that has been considered a fit subject for philosophical examination. We are not aware of a single effective endeavour to advance theology to the rank of a free, intellectual pursuit; to bring it into harmony with the progress of scientific culture, and thus to secure it a permanent place in the unity of speculation. It remains, in fact, for all scientific purposes, nearly in the condition that it was in when the wisdom of Cranmer was embodied in the articles of the church, and a code of doctrinal theories established in a form, as cold, as lifeless, as petrified, as any that ever darkened the worst days of Catholic predominance.

It was supposed that the science of theology sprang at once into perfection from the heads of the Reformers; and every attempt to modify its character, was regarded as an offence, and almost as a blasphemy. In this way, it has been left encrusted with ancient errors, while the work of purification has been going on in every other department of inquiry and thought. Astronomy has been separated from astrology, chemistry from the search after the philosopher's stone, medicine from the