Memoir of the Chisholm

84 PROMOTES EDUCATION, &C.
and frailty of the natural man, was evidence
enough of the need in which he stood of re-
ceiving help, from a source purer and loftier
than any which he could himself discover; and
that, on the other hand, the fulness of that
knowledge which the Volume of Inspiration
furnished, was evidence no less clear that there-
in was the help contained, and thence was it to
be derived. The opposite opinions maintained
by many upon that subject, — opinions which
professed to deal with man only as an intel-
lectual being, without any reference whatever
to his higher and eternal destinies, — were, at
that moment, canvassed with more than ordi-
nary zeal, and brought out, by collision, many
a strong announcement and vindication of the
truth.
It was so with the subject of this Memoir.
He could not be indifferent to the facts which
the political events of the day were, every day
and every hour, forcing upon his attention.
The discussions to which they gave rise, were
such as brought him back to the consideration
of first principles, and to the trial of their in-
tegrity. Those, for instance, which were con-
nected with the debate upon the Irish Church