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LECT. VII. To immediate inspiration he also ascribes his knowledge of the ordinance of "the Lord's Supper," (1 Cor. xi. 23,) which circumstance, taken in connection with certain others occasionally occurring in his Epistles, clearly establishes the principle, that his acquaintance with the institutions, as well as the doctrines of Christianity, was wholly the result of direct communications from above. That these were numerous is implied in his statement: "It is "not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I "will come to visions and (άTOкaves) REVELATIONS of the Lord." (2 Cor. xii. 1.) The language which he employs, when about to describe the characters of the apostasy, conducts us to the same conclusion: "The Spirit speaketh expressly." That, by this clear and unequivocal annunciation of the Spirit (ῥητώς, σαφώς φανηρῶς) we are to understand what the Spirit immediately spoke through him at the moment he was writing, and not any predictions of the Old Testament, nor any prophetic oracles delivered by other inspired men in the apostolic age, appears best to comport with the nature of the subject, and the high station which the apostle occupied in the church. in the church. We remark, finally, that the inspired title of the last book in the New Testament canon conveys most pointedly the idea of instruction supernaturally communicated : Αποκάλυψις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, a developement of future events directly furnished by the

Son of God to the Apostle John in ecstatic LECT. VII.

vision.

From a review, therefore, of all the facts of the case, and from analogy, it appears convincingly evident, that a diversity of degrees or modes of operation did exist in regard to the extraordinary influence which was vouchsafed to the penmen of sacred Scripture; and that this diversity was the result of infinite wisdom, adapting its operations to the existing circumstances of the instruments who were thus employed, and to the nature of the subjects which they were to record. And it appears equally clear, that, except we admit such diversity, it is impossible to form correct scriptural ideas of the subject, or to arrive at those conclusions respecting it, which shall prove satisfactory to the inquisitive mind.

Nor can the distinction, which we have endeavoured to establish, be justly chargeable with an aspect, in the slightest degree, hostile to the divine authority of any part of Scripture. There is no portion of that holy book which was written independently on miraculous influence. Those parts, as we have already observed, which were composed under the lowest degree of inspiration, are, in so far as the book itself is concerned, equally inspired with that which resulted from the highest. In either case, and in all the supposable intermediate stages,

C C

LECT. VII. the end was infallibly attained, viz. the commitment to writing of precisely such matters as God designed for the religious instruction of mankind. The whole volume is divinely inspired. Every part of it is to be received in the light in which it has been presented by the Holy Spirit; and is to be applied to the holy purposes for which he caused it to be written. Exceptions have been inconsiderately taken against such passages as those in which Paul advises Timothy: "Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake, and thine often infirmities;" and desires him to bring the cloak which he had left at Ephesus, &c. (1 Tim. v. 22; 2 Epist. iv. 13;) but neither these, nor hundreds of similar passages, would ever have proved a stumbling-block to any, had it not been for the contracted hypothesis of inspiration, with which they certainly are in direct collision. On the principles which we have laid down, they present not the smallest difficulty, since they were dictated by him who could say: "We have the Spirit of Christ;" and who was as really inspired when he wrote them, as he was when he wrote to the Ephesians: "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;" or when he ordered his Epistle to the Colossians to be read also in the church of the Laodiceans, (Col.iv. 16.) In all such cases the sacred penmen wrote what had for its object, not merely the immediate.

benefit of individual persons, or individual LECT. VII. churches, but what would be useful to Christians in all future times. In the minute as well as in the great; in matters which relate to civil life and personal comfort, as well as in those which respect the soul and the world to come; the Divine wisdom is apparent so that contemplating the most inconsiderable of them, we are compelled to say: "This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working."

LECTURE VIII.

INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES-(continued.)

1 COR. II. 13.

"Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth: comparing spiritual things with spiritual."

LECT. VIII. IN the last Lecture, we entered at some length into the nature of the superior influence, which the writers of Scripture enjoyed, when composing the sacred books, and showed, that, though there was a diversity of operation in the employment of this influence, adapted to their different circumstances and exigencies, it was in all cases, such as to claim for every portion of the work, which they executed, the high character of a divine sanction. Their inspiration was proved to be plenary, and, consequently, demands for the writings to which it attaches, an unqualified reception from all within whose reach they are placed.