Bible, and find no fault either in defect or in excess with any of its ingredients. The question what ought to be the ingredients of this composition, is altogether distinct from the question which respects the precise quality of these ingredients. It is true that the canonical are signalized above all other books, and are invested with a certain religious authority over the faith and consciences of men. But still it remains to be determined in how far they are thus signalized by what height or at what distance are they elevated above them? What is the amount of this distinction? Whether these scriptures shall be received as absolutely perfect and infallible?—or must we concede to a certain extent that they are tinged with human infirmity, and must be received some of them at least as the productions only of creditable men, but not out and out as unerring records both of the history which they narrate and of the mind and purposes of the unerring God? After the canon of the scripture is fixed, these are questions which remain to be settled under the all-important theme of the degree of their inspiration.

2. We have already said, that to begin our inquiry with the Inspiration of the Old Testament forms our best outset for the establishment of the

Inspiration of the New. In regard to many of the writers in the former collection, such is the profusion of testimonies as to God speaking in them, and the word which they uttered and put into a book being the very word of God, that we shall not attempt a full or adequate exhibition of them. Moses "wrote all the words of the law."

"The spirit of the Lord spoke by me," says David. "David in spirit calls him Lord." "The Holy Ghost spoke by the mouth of David." "The Holy Ghost sayeth, To-day if ye will hear his voice"-words spoken through the mouth, and transmitted through the pen of David. "Thou, God, by the mouth of thy servant David, hast said, Why did the heathen avenge," &c. God said to Moses, "I will raise them up a prophet like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command them. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. But the prophet which shall presume to speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die." In these words we read, not only the inspiration of Moses and of Christ, but the inspiration of all the true prophets whom Christ would have acknowledged; and we are accordingly told that God "spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began." We cannot afford to go in detail over the proofs of the inspiration of these prophets separately. But, simply adverting to the positive history in the books of Kings and Chronicles that we have for the preternatural communications of God with Solomon, we shall but remark of Isaiah that he ushered in what he

• Compare Mark vii. 10, with Matthew xv. 4-where what Moses is stated to have "said" in the one passage, God is stated in the other to have commanded.

spake by, "saith the Lord," and "the Lord hath spoken ;" and that the "Holy Ghost spoke by Esaias" of Jeremiah, that "The word of the Lord came unto him ;" and "The Lord said unto him, Behold I have put my words in thy mouth;" and the commandment given to him, was to "write all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book"-of Ezekiel, that he saw visions of God; that the "Spirit entered into him;" that the " Spirit lift him up;" that "the hand of the Lord was upon him, and carried him about in the spirit of the Lord ;" and that, ever and anon, "the word of the Lord came unto him"-of Daniel, that he saw visions, and had revelations that he put into a book-of Hosea, that in calling on the people to hear him, he calls them to "hear the word of the Lord"-of Joel, that his prophecy is styled "the word of the Lord which came unto Joel" of Amos, that his sayings are given repeatedly under the form of " thus saith the Lord"

of Obadiah in like manner, who, propounding his "vision," begins with "thus saith the Lord" -of "the word of the Lord that came unto Jonah"

of "the word of the Lord that came unto Micah," who was "full of power by the spirit of the Lord" of the "vision of Nahum"-of the "Lord answering" Habakkuk, and bidding him "write the vision, that he may run that readeth it" of "the word of the Lord that came unto Zephaniah," who in consequence speaks in his name, and announces that "thus saith the Lord"of the word of the Lord having come by Haggai, who begins to prophesy with "thus speaketh the

Lord of hosts, saying"-of the word of the Lord having come to Zechariah, who saw visions and held converse with the angels of God-and lastly, of Malachi, whose prophecy is in the terms of a direct communication from God himself, speaking in his own person, "I will send my messenger,' "I will come near to you to judgment," "I am the Lord, I change not."

3. Now that the apostles were similarly inspired,* may be inferred from the promises made to them by the Saviour. "It is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." "It is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost." "The Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say." "He shall abide with you for ever, even the spirit of truth." "The Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." "When he

the spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth." The spirit, we read historically, did come. The illumination was given; and, as the fruit of it, the apostles could say, "they had the mind of Christ." "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost." "The spirit gave them utterance." They spake the word of God with boldness." "Which things we speak," says Paul, "not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth." "Christ speaking in

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me."

"So ordain I in all the churches."

"The

The identity of the inspirations of the Old and New Testament seems strongly pointed at in 2 Cor. iv. 13.

things I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord." "My speech and my preaching is in demonstration of the spirit and of power." "We speak the wisdom of God." "Ye received it not as the word of man, but as it is in truth the word of God." "It seemed good unto the Holy Ghost and unto us." These are direct proofs from the New Testament, of the inspiration of the apostles. But what gives such importance to the Old Testament evidence for the inspiration of the prophets is, the similarity in point of endowment and of authority, which is alleged to have obtained, between the teachers of the Old and those of the

New dispensation. "God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son." "That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before, by the holy prophets, and of the commandments of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour." "We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone."

4. But many are willing to admit the inspiration both of prophets and apostles, who stand in doubt of certain of the other scriptural writers. For aught we assuredly know, the historical, and some of the other books in the Old Testament, may have been written by men, not invested with the prophetical office; and we do assuredly know that the Gospels of Mark and Luke, with the book of Acts, were written by men not investep with the apostolical office. In regard to many of