months, applications have been made by eighteen candidates, only four of whom can be admitted. Nothing in the order of means appears to be wanting to meet the exigency, but an increase of that Christian liberality, sanctified by prayer, in which the Institution originated.

After the Report had been read,

The Rev. JOHN JONES then proposed the thanks of the company to the Rev. James Parsons for his sermon that morning. Sincerely did he wish that his strength were greater. His desire was, to use the language of Scripture, that "his health may prosper."

The Rev. Dr. HARRIS had heard a question proposed in the grounds by one The CHAIRMAM said, he could not dis- of the company respecting animalculæ miss the subject to which he was about and the nature and objects of the microto refer, so rapidly as he had done the scope; and it had suggested to him the former. He was tolerably acquainted | thought, that it could not but be desirable with the course of study pursued at the that a microscopic observation should be University of Oxford, having himself made of moral motive. We wanted not been educated there; and he would say, merely "the Voluntary principle," but that the instruction afforded at Cheshunt Evangelical Voluntary motive. After was, generally, fully equal to that im- some further remarks upon this subject, parted at Oxford, whilst in some branches the Rev. gentleman referred to the com--he would instance logic and moral parative want of earnestness and untiring philosophy-it was superior. The essays zeal in those who held the office of the read by the students that morning had ministry. With their work to perform, been to him a delightful treat, exhibit- and their motives to action, they should ing, as they did, not, indeed, sanctified resemble the angel "flying through the mediocrity-although that was to be midst of heaven, having the everlasting respected; but sanctified intelligence. Gospel in his hand." He then adverted He could not, on the present occasion, to the objects contemplated in the esfail to remember, that one of the objects tablishment of the College, to the usefulcontemplated by Lady Huntingdon in ness of many of the ministers it had sent her benevolent plans, was the formation out, and among them the late Rev E. of a system of active itinerancy for carry-Parsons of Leeds, and concluded by an ing the Gospel into all parts of the eulogy on his son, the Rev. James country-and in the name of that country Parsons, and the expression of a hope -in the name of that county in which that the students of the College would they were assembled, where there was follow his example. so much spiritual darkness and deathfor the sake of perishing men, he would call upon the meeting to copy the ex- The Rev. JAMES PARSONS acknowample of Lady Huntingdon, by active ledged the compliment. He hoped the and persevering itinerant labours. He circumstance of his being present to-day trusted he should be forgiven, if he re- would be considered as some proof of the ferred to one or two topics, upon which interest he took in the success of the his judgment and his feelings compelled College. He had not been there since him to speak. To the tutors of the 1826; and when he looked back upon College much praise was due for their occurrences since then, solemn feelings able and industrious discharge of the came over him, and he could not but be duties of their office. Great credit was grateful for what God had done for him. also due to his friend on his right, the Fondly attached, as he was, to his own Treasurer, for his efforts, not only gene-denomination, he yet felt particularly rally to promote the prosperity of the interested for Cheshunt College, because Institution, but also for his endeavours it was designed to aid in the extension of to introduce and to maintain a high standard of education. Nor could he forget the obligations under which they were placed to the trustees. It was with much pleasure that he proposed to them, "Prosperity to Cheshunt College, and to all kindred Institutions." (Loud cheers.)

Thanks having been unanimously voted,

the church-the extension of the church in an evangelical, not a political sense. The Rev. gentleman then exhorted each to labour in his own sphere for the extension of that church, especially by itinerant labours. With regard to what had been said respecting his health, he said, it was not the state of his health,

but his pastoral duties, which prevented his preaching in London this year. He was fond of that line which was often quoted by Whitefield

"Man is immortal till his work is done."

pressed his satisfaction at seeing Sir Culling in the chair-"A post," said Mr. C., "which I have so much better filled" (Laughter)-I beg pardon-I meant to say, which he has so much better filled than I ever did. But as my error has excited your good humour, I hope the contributions to the Institution this day will prove its genuiness."

Dr STROUD proposed an expression of thanks to Dr. Harris and Mr. Sortain as tutors of the College.

The Rev. Mr. SORTAIN returned thanks, and urged the want of books for the library, especially of recent and improved editions.

The Rev. J. BLACKBURN proposed the health of the treasurer and trustees. In the course of his observations Mr. B. suggested the desirableness of a conference being held between the Herts Congregational Union and the Christian Instruction Society, to devise means for carrying the Gospel into all parts of the county.

Mr. CHALLIS said, he was delighted with the speeches that had been made that day, because they were practicaland, certainly, no better practical illustration of what a preacher and a pastor ought to be could be given than was afforded in the person and labours of Mr. James Parsons. The movement which that rev. gent. was engaged in carrying on for the evangelisation of the city of York, and of the surrounding country, would, he doubted not, be supported by the prayers of all present. He (Mr. C.) referred to this subject in passing, but the business upon which they were then assembled had reference to Cheshunt College. He was its treasurer, and, therefore, he must speak to them about finances. He was happy to say, that Mr. Remington Mills, although unable to be with them, had sent a checque for £10 10s.; Dr. Collyer had also sent them £10, Mr. Flanders had contributed £50; Mr. W. J. Taylor, £50; another friend, £50.-(A voice, "That's the Treasurer"). He was not desirous of lowering the hallowed tone of the meeting by reference to money, but if, as a friend who had preceded him had said, it was necessary to observe moral motives with a microscopic eye, he must be allowed to say, that the Institution could not prosper, unless the greatest attention were paid to its pecuniary resources. But he would say no more upon that subject, but would refer to that which had been dwelt upon by preceding speakers. Certainly, in his judgment, no subject of Christian enterprise had been so much neglected as that of the Christian ministry. what subject could be so important? | There were thousands in heaven to attest its momentous consequences, and thousands on earth too. How many present owed their religious impressions to a preached Gospel! For himself, he could say, that he never sufficiently felt the unutterable importance of institutions for training men for the work of the ministry, until he became connected with Cheshunt College. After some further observations, Mr. C. ex- o'clock.

And yet

The Rev. Mr. Lucy, of Bristol, said that two members of his church were now in the College. He thought he was only expressing the feelings of all the ministers with whom he was acquainted, when he said that they were perfectly satisfied with all the changes that had taken place in the College. It was true there had been suspicions, but they were removed. And he was happy to know there was now in the Connexion as great an attachment to the great truths of Christianity as there had ever been. The connexion had lost none of its Whitefieldism.

The TREASURER then read a list of subscriptions and donations made that day, which amounted to about £360.

After a vote of thanks to the Chair had been passed, and the Chairman had acknowledged it,

The Rev. J. SHERMAN said his brother Blackburn had said he (Mr. B.) was not in bondage. He must be allowed to say, that he rejoiced that he (Mr. S.) had been enabled to break through the old and stupid custom of washing down sentiments by draughts of intoxicating liquors. He had thus become a free man. After the remarks that had been made at the expense of the tee-totallers, he felt himself bound to say thus much.

The meeting broke up at about six

ST. JOHN closes his Gospel with a somewhat remarkable passage: "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." There can be no controversy, that the evangelist here employs language, which is not to be taken in a literal sense; but there can be as little, that he describes the recorded acts and words of Jesus, as bearing but a small proportion to His actual deeds and discourses. The simple fact that far more was omitted than related by the evangelists-this it is, that every one must see to be the assertion. Now this being so, it strikes us at first sight as singular, that three of the Gospels should be so much alike. Matthew and Mark and Luke record for the most part the same transactions, and (though with greater exceptions) the same discourses. But why should there have been any repetition, when the sum of the things related must in any case be less than the sum of the things omitted? We cannot doubt, that it was with some wise design that the Holy Spirit so guided the pens of the sacred writers. Nor is it difficult to discover reasons for it. It must be evident, that there is a weight in the testimony of three witnesses, which is scarcely ever given to the testimony of one; but that is only where they witness in great part to the same facts. "In the mouth of two or three witnesses," says St. Paul," shall every word be established." And it is worth observing, that when the things related are the same, there are variations in the mode of relating them; one dwells on one incident, and one on another; one omits a sentence, which another inserts. Now there is what we may call a great naturalness in this. You will never obtain precisely the same description from different observers, unless they have combined together. Yet this evidence of truth must have been wholly wanting, had the evangelists related only different occurrences.

We have been incidentally led to this remark; but our present object lies rather with what has been omitted in the sacred text. And from this silence of Scripture, we think we may draw one or two important lessons.

We are well assured, that there could not have been one single day of our Saviour's life, in which there was not much occurring, which was important to be preserved. Yet the Gospels are almost silent concerning the first thirty years of his

VOL. XII.

3 T

sojourn upon earth. They pass almost entirely over the seasons of childhood and of youth. But who does not wish to trace the growth of this "Second Man, the Lord from heaven?" Who burns not to know in what degree and at what periods the majesty of heaven shone out? We read but of one incident, disclosing a surprising display of miraculous wisdom; and when we learn that "He went down with His parents and was subject unto them," we long to follow Him, and trace the history of a Child, who, though He was "like unto us," had a mother who knew in Him the Son of the Highest. And even taking the Gospels as a history of the last three years of our Saviour's mortal pilgrimage, there is little told of His private life; very much of which we should deeply love to know. If we read that He passed a whole night in prayer to God, we are not told what were His petitions; we have but the briefest notices of the subject matter of His communings with God. So it has "seemed good in the sight" of the only Wise; and can we gather no instruction from the circumstance?

Now we are bound to believe, that enough has been transmitted to us for every purpose of faith and of practice. This is the first inference, that we would draw from the statement of St. John: Scripture must be sufficient, without the aid of tradition, because the Holy Ghost guided the evangelists in their selection of the acts and discourses of our Lord. You have only to concede the inspiration, and you concede also the sufficiency of Scripture; part was taken, and the rest left, under the direction of the Spirit of God. We know that the Romish Church claims at least equal authority for the traditions, as for the Gospels and Epistles; and insists that from the former as well as from the latter must be learnt the doctrines and duties of Christianity. But it is on the Bible, and the Bible alone, that Protestantism takes its stand; our fundamental principle is, that God has made a revelation of Himself and of His will, and that He has left no deficiencies in that revelation. We refuse to stir a step on the authority of additions to it. The writers of the Gospel had before them a vast assemblage of facts, which might have been recorded; and why were they not written, if intended to be conveyed? Oh! if I do but stand by St. John as he concludes his Gospel, I learn at once to reject all tradition. He writes last; he writes to supply all deficiencies, and to add all that the Holy Spirit would add to the record of the other three evangelists; and since it is the Spirit of God, who has guided him in his selection, I feel that it is the Spirit of God, who has withheld from me that which is omitted. And thus there is virtually a great sameness between the manner in which St. John concludes his Gospel and the manner in which he concludes his Revelation; between the passage with which we commenced these remarks, and that text-" If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this Book."

We go on to a second inference from the fact, that only a small portion of Christ's actions have been recorded by the evangelists: it must be supposed from this, that the miracles recorded form only a specimen of those, which the Saviour was continually performing. Wonderful fact! I read of miracle after miracle; the deaf hear, the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the incurable are healed, the dying live, the dead arise; but what a supplement is here—“There are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written!" It gives one a fearful glimpse of the extent of the incredulity of the Jews. Indeed it is altogether an overwhelming thought, that the thousandth part of the miracles of Jesus have not been told. There might be mistake or deception in one or two miracles; but a life of miracle-there could be no mistake and no deception in that.

But let us turn our attention to another consideration: is there no reason to believe that our good has been consulted in these omissions ? We have allowed, for example, that we should have been gratified to hear of the young days of our Saviour; but would it have been for our profit? We strongly doubt it. Is it not possible, that there might have been a diminution of that awful mysteriousness, which surrounds (and ought to surround) a being so utterly incomprehensible? As it is, we almost lose sight of Him, from the time when He lay a babe in the manger, till He bursts on us at the marriage of Cana to change water into wine.

We see Him in His infancy, to assure us that He was born like ourselves-" man, of the substance of His mother ;" but we see but a glance, and we nothing doubt that the closer knowledge would have had for us its snares and its dangers. In fact He is thus always presented as a Being, whom we feel that even with our beclouded apprehension of things Divine we can love as a man and worship as a God.

And even in regard to the prayers of our Saviour, there is great reason to think that we are benefited by the omission. We have no right to suppose that the prayers of Christ would have been models for our own. Born without taint of sin, uniting the Divine nature with the human, engaged in a work for others and not for Himself, His petitions must have had an awful peculiarity. Had we known them, we should in all probability have been unwisely curious in prying into the connection between the Divine and the human nature of Christ. There is that, which our eye is yet too weak to gaze upon uninjured, or clearly to discern; and we suppose it to be in mercy, that Jesus "withdraws into a mountain apart," when He would pass all the night in prayer to God.

Nor let ns confound omission with loss. We have to pass into another state, where the record, which would have been too large for this inconsiderable globe, may be spread before us without abbreviation. There may I know how the holy child Jesus moved and acted in the household at Nazareth; there may I learn what were those prayers and supplications, which He "offered up with strong crying and tears, and was heard in that He feared;" there may I hear the mysterious doings of those forty days and forty nights, when He was tempted of the devil; there may I listen to that wondrous commentary, which caused the hearts of the disciples to "burn within them, as they walked to Emmaus," when He "expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." There the Bible may be enlarged proportionably to my dilated capacities; and all that has been kept back because I am too contracted for the investigation, may be given to my knowledge. Oh! there is something, that comes home to me mighty with the images of immortality, when I think that the Bible which I now have is but the first page of that which I am to receive. It makes me elastic. It tells me, that it contains but a fragment of things Divinely done and things Divinely said, that a fallen race might regain its lost immortality. Let others regret that the record is so short; be it mine, to receive with gratitude all that has been told, and expect with gladness all that has been withheld. Yes, the omissions of Scripture are a sermon to me, full of power, full of beauty, on my own destinies if I can but "attain to the resurrection of the dead." When I have listened to Jesus as He discourses on the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and looked on as his path is to be tracked by the line of glorious miracle, oh! I am persuaded that He came down to redeem me; but I can never so realise the portion which He purchased for me, as when I read, that "there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written every one, even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written."

66

It may be worth while, before closing this paper, to notice the terms which St. John here employs: "I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." We have said, that this is not to be understood in a literal sense ; but we think it conveys truth of great importance. We understand it as referring rather to the world's moral capacity. Had all that Christ did and said been written, the Bible would have been too large for the mind's grasp. And it is thus suggested to us, that there may have been especial wisdom displayed in determining the size of the Bible. As much has been given as the world could 'contain ;" and had the quantity written been at all commensurate with the material, the world would have been entirely overcharged. The Bible is not too large for the man of least leisure; and yet so large, that it cannot be exhausted by a whole life of study. It cannot be said of it, that its ponderousness deters men from its perusal; and yet it may be said of it, that whoever begins it, will never reach its close. Its chapters are libraries; its sentences, volumes. And what is this, but DEITY in the Bible-making it like the bush at Horeb, which went burning on, yet was not consumed? The beautiful truth is, that though men have written commentaries upon the Bible, the inspired Volume still remains (we might