and human wisdom folly.

"I am entirely of your opinion," returned Mr. Stanley, "if he rest in
his learning as an _end_ instead of using it as a _means_; if the fame,
or the pleasure, or even the human profit of learning be his ultimate
object. Learning in a clergyman without religion is dross, is nothing;
not so religion without learning. I am persuaded that much good is done
by men who, though deficient in this respect, are abundant in zeal and
piety; but the good they do arises from the exertion of their piety, and
not from the deficiency of their learning. Their labors are beneficial
from the talent they exercise, and not from their want of another
talent. The Spirit of God can work, and often does work, by feeble
instruments, and divine truth by its own omnipotent energy can effect
its own purposes. But particular instances do not go to prove that the
instrument ought not to be fitted, and polished, and sharpened for its
allotted work. Every student should be emulously watchful that he do not
diminish the stock of professional credit by his idleness; he should be
stimulated to individual exertion by bearing in mind that the English
clergy have always been allowed by foreigners to be the most learned
body in the world."

Dr. Barlow was of opinion that what Mr. Stanley had said of the value of
knowledge, did not at all militate against such fundamental prime truths
as--"This is life eternal to _know_ God and Jesus Christ whom he has
sent. I desire to _know_ nothing, save Jesus Christ. The natural man can
not _know_ the things of the Spirit of God. The world by wisdom _knew_
not God;" and a hundred other such passages.

"Ay, Doctor," said Mr. Tyrrel, "now you talk a little more like a
Christian minister. But from the greater part of what has been asserted,
you are all of you such advocates for human reason and human learning as
to give an air of paganism to your sentiments."

"Surely," said Mr. Stanley, "it does not diminish the utility, though it
abases the pride of learning, that Christianity did not come into the
world by human discovery, or the disquisitions of reason, but by
immediate revelation. Those who adopt your way of thinking, Mr. Tyrrel,
should bear in mind that the work of God, in changing the heart, is not
intended to supply the place of the human faculties. God expects, in
his most highly favored servants, the diligent exercise of their natural
powers; and if any human being has a stronger call for