Salts. Their nature; sulphates, nitrates, carbonates.

Metals generally. Iron, copper, lead, tin, zinc, gold, silver, platinum, mercury. Powers of matter. Aggregation, crystallization, chemical affinity, definite equivalents.

Combustion. Flame; nature of ordinary fuel; results of combustion, i. e. the bodies produced.

Heat: natural and artificial sources; its effects. Expansion; solids, liquids, gases. Thermometer; conduction; radiation; capacity; change of form; liquefaction; steam.

Relation of chemical affinity in the voltaic pile; ordinary electricity; its excitement and effects.

General elements of vegetable bodies; of animal bodies.

ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY.

The mechanical, chemical, and vital properties of the several elementary animal textures.

General principles of animal mechanics.

Outline of the processes subservient to the nutrition of the body; and general plan of structure of the organs of assimilation. Nature of digestion; course of the lacteal absorbents. Structure of the organs of circulation. Principal varieties in the plan of circulation in the great divisions of the animal kingdom: viz. mammalia, birds, reptiles, fishes, mollusca, articulated and radiated animals.

Mechanism of respiration in the several classes of animals; chemical effects of respiration in the several classes of animals.

Chemical properties of the secretions; structure of secreting organs.

Functions of the nervous system.

The sensorial functions, comprehending the physiology of the external senses, especially vision and hearing.

VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY AND STRUCTURAL BOTANY.

Elementary structure. Cellular and vascular tissues; their properties, modifications, especially those which are more or less characteristic of the larger natural groups.

The axis of a plant. Its anatomy; the principal modifications of internal structure and external form.

Leaves. Their venous and parenchymatous structures.

Inflorescence. The relation of its modifications to each other.

Floral envelopes. Their principal modifications; the relation borne to each other by their different series; the theory of abortion.

Stamens. Their structural analogy; modification; use; the theory of their order of development and suppression.

Pistil. Theory of structure; modification; organic analogies; changes it undergoes while it ripens into fruit.

Seed. Its origin as an ovule; original modifications; maturation; albumen ;

embryo; germination.

Irritibility and stimulants.

Processes subordinate to the functions of nutrition, especially those termed absorption, digestion, exhalation, respiration.

Motions of contained fluids; circulation, rotation.

Results of secretions, especially those useful in medicine.

Processes subordinate to the function of reproduction, especially the fertilization

HISTORY.

History of Greece to the death of Alexander.

History of Rome to the death of Augustus.

History of England to the end of the seventeenth century.

THE FRENCH OR THE GERMAN LANGUAGE.

Translation into English.

Translation from English into French or German.

The examination for the degree of Master of Arts takes place once a year, and commences on the first Monday in May. No candidates are admitted to this examination, until after the expiration of one academical year from the time of their obtaining the degree of Bachelor of Arts, nor unless they have completed their twentieth year. The fee for this degree is also £10, and is returned to the candidate if he fail to pass the examination. Candidates may be examined in any one of the following branches of knowledge according to their own option: I. CLASSICS.

II. MATHEMATICS AND NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.

III. LOGIC, MORAL PHILOSOPHY, PHILOSOPHY OF THE MIND, POLITICAL
ECONOMY.

The examination in classics includes the following subjects:

The Greek and Latin classic authors.

Prose composition in Greek, Latin, and English.

Ancient history, and the history of Europe to the end of the eighteenth century.

The examination in mathematics and natural philosophy includes the following subjects:

Algebra, including the theory of equations.

The examination in branch III. is left to the discretion of the exaaminers.

It will be evident from the preceding account that all candidates for degrees undergo severe examination. In fact, the examination for the degree of Bachelor of Arts is much severer than that at Cambridge and Oxford for the same degree, while the degree of Master of Arts is conferred at those universities without any examination at all. No one, in fact, will be able to despise the degrees granted at the University of London; but they must, on the contrary, be admitted to be the fair and honourable distinctions of real learning.

CRITICAL EXPOSITION OF HEBREWS VI. 4, 5, 6.

"FOR it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come; if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame."-Hebrews vi. 4, 5, 6.

Or more literally :

"For it is impossible to renew again unto repentance, those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, and yet have fallen away; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put him to an open shame."

In early times, the genuineness of the entire epistle suffered at the hands of the Roman church, in consequence of this passage. It appears from Tertullian, that she hesitated to receive it into the canon, because it contains the verses in question. During the controversies that were long agitated concerning the re-admission of the lapsed into the communion of the faithful, the discipline adopted by the Roman church was milder than that of others. Against her practice, therefore, the present passage was urged by the more rigid, who contended that the lapsed ought not to be received again into the bosom of the church. Hence the members of the Roman, thinking it opposed to their ecclesiastical practice, were unwilling for a time to believe that the epistle was written by Paul; or that it could be entitled to canonical authority.*

The sentence has abundantly occupied the attention of commentators, and called forth tedious discussions of little interest, and frequently of less importance. The great reason why it has been canvassed and investigated with minute frequency is, because it has been supposed to bear on the Arminian controversy. The subject, therefore, of so much polemical discussion demands attention from every intelligent Christian; and it is impossible to dismiss it with a cursory survey, unless we totally disregard the multitudinous sentiments that have been entertained respecting it. I design not, however, to review all the opinions to which it has given rise; or to examine the various connexions which it may be thought to have with certain theological dogmas. To heap together the rubbish of vague statements, incoherent notions, and erroneous hypotheses, is a task at once irksome and unprofitable. It is true, that a passage of Scripture may originate some prevailing senti

* See Hug's Introduction to the New Testament, translated by Fosdick, pp. 596598; Grotii Annotationes in Ep. ad Hebraeos; Rosenmülleri Scholia, vol. 5. Doederlein, Inst. Theol. Chr. ii. p. 649.

ments which it is useful to know, because ignorance of them might be construed into a deficiency of theological knowledge. But to load the memory with a cumbrous mass of undigested materials cast forth by the fancy or the ingenuity of expositors, is altogether unnecessary. From antique tomes of sacred lore, we may accumulate the recorded utterances of men illustrious in their day for depth and acuteness; and yet, after all our laborious research, we may be utterly ignorant of the subject on which we have been so careful to learn what others have thought and said. Unless we exercise our own powers of reflection, and distinguish between the visionary and the judicious-unless we be endued with fitting discernment to decide upon the probable import of a passage, we shall never attain to eminence in the sacred science of theology. Whilst, then, I shall not touch upon all the hypotheses that have been propounded relative to the words before us, I purpose to allude to the most prominent opinions that have been held respecting them by distinguished commentators. The conflicting statements of expositors, I design to employ as a monitor, warning against rash and hasty conclusions, on the warrant of insecure premises. That I have succeeded where so many have failed, I shall not take upon me to say; it is for the reader to examine and to weigh all that is advanced, without an implicit acquiescence in such asseverations as may appear unsound, or inconsistent with the analogy of Scripture. In a case of this kind, where all are ready to acknowledge difficulty and intricacy, it is much easier to find fault with the opinions of others, and to demolish the well-built theory, than to support our own sentiments with resistless cogency and force of argument. Perhaps we often expect greater light to be thrown around a passage by our researches, than is likely to be attained in the present state of our being. In theology, we are too prone, perhaps, to look for the certainty of demonstration; coming to the study, as we do, with minds habituated to the modes of reasoning pursued in other sciences. But we must frequently be satisfied with probabilities, rather than demonstration. The Spirit, indeed, brings home to the mind of the saint, with all the certainty of intuitive belief, the fundamental truths of salvation, so that it is impossible to persuade him that the Bible is false, and religion a lie. But in respect to the details of sacred Scripture, or the minor topics frequently touched upon in its pages, probability to one Christian may appear error to another. The well-grounded opinion built up on an isolated passage with skilful architecture may, to a different individual, seem to be the aberration of an understanding incapable of surveying with comprehensiveness the whole range of divine truth.

The extreme difficulty of the passage before us, will be at once admitted by every candid Christian who desires to know the mind of the Spirit, and who may have been perplexed in reading a portion of the divine word, apparently so dark and mysterious. I have thought,

therefore, that it might contribute to the enlightenment of some, as well as to the confirmation of others, should there be furnished a perspicuous and full exposition, unfolding the meaning of the terms employed by the apostle, and the amount of truth which they collectively contain. In the exercise of prayer, and with the assistance of a knowledge of the original language, I may perhaps arrive at a satisfactory result. Be this however as it may, I hold it wrong to set about the interpretation of the words, with an anxious desire to bend them to the support of any doctrine in theology forming a part of our previous belief. We must first inquire whether they have any relation to such a doctrine, before attempting to turn them into the channel which our system of theology has dug out, and in which our religious ideas habitually flow. It matters not, whether the Arminian rest upon them as a strong, impregnable argument against the doctrine technically termed "the perseverance of the saints;" or whether the Calvinist endeavour, with opposing zeal, to give them a different construction, averse to the views of the Arminian. In whatever controversy they may have been employed, or for whatever purposes wielded by divines of different schools, all such should be forgotten; until, by a simple process of induction, their full and Scriptural import shall have been ascertained. Before we truly know what language they speak, let us not hold up their testimony as favourable or adverse to a certain creed. Thus shall we contemplate them with a calmer and steadier eye, unclouded by prejudice, and undimmed by the dust of theological controversy.

The first thing to be considered is, the connexion in which the passage is introduced. Táp is a causal conjunction; to what does it relate? Manifestly to the first verse of the chapter, with which the second and third are closely connected. Leaving, says the sacred writer, the first principles of Christian doctrine, let us go on to perfection; for it is impossible to do any good to apostates, to those who have been once enlightened, &c. Let us proceed to the consideration of some higher doctrines in religion; for as to those who have apostatised from the faith, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance. We apply ourselves to such as will be benefited by our instructions; since our business is not with the lapsed, but with such as have embraced, and are still attached to the Christian faith. But why, it may be asked, introduce the mention of apostates at all? Surely the Hebrew Christians, to whom the epistle is addressed, were not in that hopeless state. They were merely in comparative ignorance of the doctrines of religion; they had not made so great proficiency, as the time which had elapsed from their first conversion to the truth would have warranted others to expect. They had been contented with small advances in Christian knowledge; they had not aspired to high things, or sought to perfect their views of truth. This is the sum of the charge which the apostle himself brings against them; but it does not lead to the belief, that