make us wise unto salvation. It is not we should observe for the vonuara or the thoughts as deposited in the minds of the prophets and apostles, that our confidence is demanded: It is for the reaupara or these thoughts as bodied forth in the writings of prophets and apostles. It is not to the doctrine as existing within the inspired men in the form of ideas, that the high ascriptions of infallible and heavenly truth are given, for at this anterior stage it had not yet efloresced into ygapas or γραμματα οι λογια; and these very terms afford demonstration in themselves, that it is not to the ideal scheme, but to the written exposition of it, that we are required to yield our trust and the obedience of our faith. It is not for the doctrine as thought, but for the doctrine as written-not for the doctrine as residing in the silent depository of an apostle's thoughts, but for the doctrine as couched in phraseology and imbodied in an apostle's words-it is for this latter, that, in all the quotations we have offered, the implicit submission of men is so peremptorily challenged. It is not with the doctrine as existing in the mind of the seer or scribe, but it is with the doctrine as existing in the scripture that has been written by him-it is with that we have to do. And it is uniformly to this scripture that we find ascribed the high prerogative of authority over us, of unerring guidance both for the direction of our faith and our instruction in righteousness. It is not with the truth merely excogitated, but with the truth expressed, that we have any concern; not with the truth as seen by our inspired teacher,

but with the truth as by him spoken to us. It is not enough that the Spirit hath made him to see it aright-this is not enough, if He have not also made him to speak it aright. A pure influx into the mind of an apostle is no sufficient guarantee for the instruction of the world, unless there be a pure efflux also; for not the doctrine that has flowed in, but the doctrine that has flowed out, is truly all that we have to do with. Accordingly,

it is to the doctrine in efflux, that is to the word, that we are bidden yield ourselves. It is the word that is a light unto our feet, and a lamp unto our paths: It is His word that God hath exalted above all his name: It is the word that He hath settled fast in heaven, and given to it a stability surer and more lasting than to the ordinances of nature. We can take no cognizance of the doctrine that is conveyed from heaven to earth, when it has only come the length of excogitation in the mind of an apostle; and it is not till brought the further length of expression, either by speech or by writing, that it comes into contact with us. In short our immediate concern is with, not what apostles conceive inwardly, but what they bring forth outwardly-not with the schemes or the systems which they have been made to apprehend, but with the books which they have written; and had the whole force and effect of this observation been sufficiently pondered, we feel persuaded that the advocates of a mitigated inspiration would not have dissevered, as they have done, the inspiration of sentiment from the inspiration of language. 17. For trace the whole subject-matter of the

Bible downward, from the place it once occupied in the pure and primeval fountain-head of truth in heaven to the place it now occupies in the book that is presented to human eyes, and is made to circulate as the word of life among the habitations of earth. There can be no doubt that in the place of its original residence, it existed in the purest and most perfect form; but had it abidden there, instead of descending upon our world, to men at least it could have been of no use to us it would have been of as little consequence as the merest nonentity. But the Son of God came forth with it from the dwelling-place of the Eternal, and brought it to the earth where He sojourned, without, we may stand well assured, without an error and without a flaw; but had He carried it back with Him to heaven, and withdrawn it from the view of mortals when He withdrew Himself from their view-we should have been still unblest by its light or its influence: But, instead of this, He did leave behind Him with chosen disciples the memory of its doctrines and informations; and, what is more, He sent a heavenly messenger from on high who still, we may be sure, deposited the precious treasure without one taint or particle of corruption in the breast of the apostles on the day of Pentecost. All then is pure and faultless hitherto. To this point the subject-matter of the Bible has been carried, without one shade of infirmity or desecration, But it has one stage more to travel, ere it comes to the end of its journey. It has to pass through the mind of these selected prophets and apostles, and

Now it

to issue thence in language ere it comes forth in the shape of scripture upon the world. is here that we meet the advocates of a partial or mitigated inspiration, and would make common cause against one and all of them. There is not one theory short by however so little of a thorough and perfect inspiration, there is not one of them but is chargeable with the consequence, that the subject-matter of revelation suffers and is deteriorated in the closing footsteps of its progress; and just before it settles into that ultimate position, where it stands forth to guide and illuminate the world. It existed purely in heaven. scended purely from heaven to earth.

It de

It was deposited purely by the great agent of revelation in the minds of the apostles. But then we are told, that, when but a little way from the final landingplace, then, instead of being carried forward purely to the situation where alone the great purpose of the whole movement was to be fulfilled, then was it abandoned to itself, and then were human infirmities permitted to mingle with it, and to mar its lustre. Strange, that, just when entering on the functions of an authoritative guide and leader to mankind, that then, and not till then, the soil and the feebleness of humanity should be suffered to gather around it. Strange, that, with the inspiration of thoughts, it should make pure ingress into the minds of the apostles; but, wanting the inspiration of words, should not make pure egress to that world, in whose behalf alone and for whose admonition alone, this great movement originated in heaven and terminated in earth.

Strange, more especially strange, in the face of the declaration that not unto themselves but unto us they ministered these things, strange, nevertheless, that this revelation should come in purely to themselves, but to us should come forth impurely with somewhat, it would appear, with somewhat the taint and the obscuration of human frailty attached to it. If that word of God have not been carried through all obstructions immaculately on to the Bible-if, as existing there, its high and holy characteristics be at all overcast, or the tarnish of slightest corruption adhere to it; then, to man, it is practically the same as if corruptly deposited in the mind of the apostles, as if corruptly transformed by the spirit or the Saviour on its way from heaven, as if corrupted in heaven itself, or as if evil had found its way into the upper sanctuary, and the light that issues from the throne of the Eternal had been shorn of its radiance. It matters not at what point in the progress of this celestial truth to our world, the obscuration has been cast upon it. It comes to us a dim and desecrated thing at the last; and man, instead of holding converse with God's unspotted testimony, has an imperfect, a mutilated Bible put into his hands.

18. There are many who would shudder at the thought, of there not having been a pure influx into the mind of the apostles; but deny, by their theories of inspiration, that there has been a pure efflux thence upon the world. Now in which of the states, we ask, is it, that the revelation of God to man is spoken of in the Bible? Not, we