THE 
 
 PLENARY INSPIRATION 
 
 OP 
 
 THE SCRIPTURES 
 
 ASSERTED, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF THEIR COMPOSITION 
 
 INVESTIGATED, 
 
 WITH A VIEW TO THE REFUTATION OF 
 
 ALL OBJECTIQg&=^3PS£IR DIVINITY. 
 
 
 WITH AN APPENDIX, ILLUSTRATIVE AND CRITICAL. 
 BY THE REV. S. NOBLE. 
 
 $t]<riv o KeXffoj, — " E( fjiev Stj OeXtjcovctiv <nroicpivf.c6ai fxoi toff ov $iaireipu>ii£vta, -navra yap^ 
 oida, aXA' w? e| icov itavTwv k^Ho/ievo) ev av £X 01 '' — Aokei It fioi toiovtov ti TrrrroiTjKcvat, 
 <i)j u riff m Atyvtrru) EmSrjfirjaas, tvda 01 /xev Aiyvirriwv <ro<pot, Kara ra irarpia ypafmara, 
 voXKa <pi\oco<povcn -rrepi rwv wap' avroig vevo/xiGfievuiv 8awv, 01 6e iSiwrai fxvOovs rivas atcov 
 aavreg wv tov$ \oyovs ovk tizicravTai, \itya stt' avroif cppovoveiV uero iravra ra AtyvTnwv 
 tyvu)K£vat, roig iditarats avrwv fiadrjTevcras, Kai fiTjSevi ru>v uptwv av^ii^ai, firiS 7 ano rivas 
 durum ra AiyviTTHOv anopprjra fiadwv. Orig. cont. Cels. L.^%f\^ 
 
 FROM THE LONDON EDITION. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 CROCKER AND BREWSTER ; HILLlARD, GRAY AND CO. J COTTONS AND 
 BARNARD J AND BENJAMIN PERKINS AND CO. 
 
 1828. 
 
BOSTON. 
 
 John Cotton, Printer, 184 Washington Street. 
 
 ^J-5-?f- 
 
 s 
 
.LI. 
 
 OF THE r 
 
 UNIVESLSITTi 
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 So numerous are the works which have been produced in vindi- 
 cation of the divine authority of the Scriptures and of the truth of 
 the Christian Religion, so high the reputation of many of them, and 
 so unquestionably great their merit, that it might almost appear 
 like presumption in any one again to handle this argument. Cer- 
 tainly, however, while fresh attacks upon the foundations of the 
 Christian Religion are continually being made, it is necessary that 
 fresh works should be composed in its defence ; even though they 
 added no more that is new to the vindication of Revelation, than 
 the renewed ranks of its assailants produce against it. 
 
 But laudable and useful as the production of works of this class 
 is, he who now solicits the attention of the Public would never 
 have appeared as an Author, merely to add to their number. He 
 has long been impressed with a serious conviction, that fully to 
 meet the difficulties which infidel writers have raised, it were 
 necessary to put the controversy on a different ground from that 
 which has been taken by the most popular of the Christian advo- 
 cates. He is of opinion, that the ablest of their works are more 
 adapted to silence, than to satisfy, even an ingenuous inquirer. 
 The former effect is or ought to be produced, when such circum- 
 stances and considerations are alleged as cannot be accounted for 
 upon any other hypothesis than that which supposes the truth of the 
 religion : but to accomplish the latter object, the circumstances in 
 the documents of the religion, which, as the Sceptic thinks, are 
 incompatible with the belief of their divine origin, must, also, be 
 satisfactorily explained. This is what few of the modern advo- 
 cates of Revelation attempt ; and they who have attempted it have 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 seldom satisfied even their own friends : indeed it is now usual to 
 admit, that some of the difficulties are such, as, in the present state 
 of knowledge upon the subject, or by any principles which have 
 yet been applied to it, are inexplicable. With this drawback, the 
 success wilh which they have handled the other part of the argu- 
 ment too often fails to produce any deep conviction ; notwith- 
 standing they have proved, with a completeness which leaves little 
 room for fair denial, that Christianity, in general, may, — nay, must 
 be true, whether all the seeming difficulties in its records can be 
 explained or not. 
 
 The perpetual theme of modern defenders of Christianity, is, 
 Miracles ; which, they shew, were certainly performed by Jesus 
 Christ and the apostles, and which they extol as the proper evi- 
 dences of a Divine Revelation. So far as relates to the latter 
 assertion, the Deist is ready enough to take them at their word : 
 he admits that miracles are proper evidences, and desires, there- 
 fore, to see some performed. With the express terras of this 
 request, the Christian advocate declines to comply ; but he under- 
 takes to prove, instead of it, that the sceptics of former ages might, 
 if they pleased, have had that satisfaction. 
 
 But do not both parties here somewhat mistake the matter ? If 
 the evidence of miracles were so convincing as the Deistical writ- 
 ers usually suppose, how come some of their acutest reasoners to 
 object to Christianity on that very ground, — because it records 
 them among its documents'? If, on the other hand, that evidence 
 were so essential as the Christian advocates admit, how can we 
 account for their having ceased ; and ceased, not only in countries 
 where the profession of Christianity is established, but even where 
 attempts are made to sow in new soils the seed of the gospel ! 
 Ought not this palpable fact to make the Christian hesitate about 
 affirming so confidently, that miracles are so highly important as 
 evidences of the truth of Revelation ? Ought it not to lead us to 
 conclude, that, either separate from, or in addition to, this use of 
 miracles, some other cause was required to their exhibition ; and 
 that, this ceasing to operate, they ceased also ? Thus may we not 
 infer, that they were performed under the Jewish dispensation, 
 because they were suited to the nature of that dispensation, and to 
 the Jewish character ; that they were performed also at the com- 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 mencement of Christianity, on account of its original connexion 
 with Judaism ; because, likewise, the Jewish dispensation was not 
 finally terminated till the destruction of Jerusalem, which put a 
 total end to the types and shadows of the ceremonial law ; and 
 because, in general, they were suited to the state of the human 
 mind at that time ? but that the cause of their entirely ceasing 
 soon afterwards,* was, because they were not suited to the nature 
 of the Christian dispensation, nor to the state of the human mind 
 which was introduced with, or produced by. that dispensation 1 It 
 is certain that, with the introduction of Christianity, the human 
 mind received a capacity of being enlightened by the substance of 
 those things of which the Jewish law, with the miracles wrought 
 to confirm it, and those also wrought among the Jews bv the 
 Founder of Christianity, were types: and this new state of the 
 mind required evidences more congenial to its own nature. 
 
 Now this view of the subject does more for the support of 
 Christianity, by nullifying the demand of the Deist for present 
 miracles, than would be effected in its behalf by miracles them- 
 selves, could they still be produced. For certain it is that mira- 
 cles would not have that convincing effect which both parties 
 ascribe to them. Accordingly, when they were wrought by the first 
 teachers of Christianity, the conversion of opposers does not ap- 
 pear to have been their chief intention : on the contrary, where 
 opposition prevailed, it is said of the Saviour himself, that he 
 could not do many mighty works because of their unbelief ;f and 
 never did he perform one when defied to it. Still, because no 
 one, in those days, doubted the possibility of such performances, 
 the fame of them spread abroad. But we well know what excuses 
 the Jews readily framed, for refusing to believe the revelation thus 
 
 * What was the exact period of their cessation, — whether, with some, we sup- 
 pose the power of performing them to have died with the Apostles ; or, with 
 others, to have continued for one, two, or three centuries afterwards ; or even, with 
 the Roman Catholics, to exist still ; is of little consequence ; since few will con- 
 tend that, after the Apostles, it was constantly enjoyed by the teachers of Chris- 
 tianity, or was so exercised as to add much effect to their preaching. The pheno- 
 mena which may have sometimes attended private acts of faith, or, as most will 
 prefer to say, (in regard, at least, to modern cases,) of imagination, belong to a 
 different order. 
 
 f Mark vi. 5 ; Matt. xiii. 58. 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 authenticated to them : and are we sure that even all of those, 
 who now are loudest in condemning the folly, in this respect, 
 of the Jews, and who take most pains to prove the infallibility of 
 miracles as evidences to a Divine Revelation, would accept any 
 doctrine which they now reject as contrary to their reason, could 
 its advocates work a miracle for their satisfaction 1 Would they 
 not presently evince as much ingenuity as the Jews, in evading 
 the force of the miraculous proof, and justifying their adherence 
 to their former opinion 1 We may infer the result from the exam- 
 ple of a celebrated controversialist, and a strenuous advocate for 
 the efficacy of miraculous proof; who yet scrupled not to affirm 
 in one of his publications, that were an angel from heaven to an- 
 nounce to him a certain doctrine, which many think they plainly 
 read in the Scriptures, he would tell him in reply, that he was a 
 lying spirit : If then a celestial visitor would have been so rudely 
 treated by this mighty polemic, who also was an eminent philoso- 
 pher, what would be the fate of a human teacher of any obnoxious 
 doctrine who should pretend to confirm it b}' miracles 1 Would 
 he not be reviled as a juggler and a cheat 1 would not the philo- 
 sophic science of his antagonists be put in requisition to devise for 
 the phenomena some plausible solution from natural causes 1 and 
 would not some secret method of putting these causes into action 
 be the utmost that would be allowed to the operator 1 The only 
 difference between the philosophic and the Jewish opponent 
 would be this ; that while the one allowed a positive miracle to 
 have been wrought, but assigned the cause of it to Satanic energy, 
 the other would deny any miracle at all, and would ascribe the 
 whole to the energies of Nature. 
 
 Let us suppose, however, the Deist to be somewhat more can- 
 did, and to be capable of being satisfied, at the time, that a mira- 
 cle had been performed : Imagine him then to appeal to a modern 
 inheritor of the Apostolic gifts, (if any such existed,) enumerating 
 the difficulties with which, to him, the documents of Revelation 
 seem to be attended, affirming that certain statements in the Sa- 
 cred Records appear to him repugnant to reason and replete with 
 contradictions, and begging to be informed how the difficulties may 
 be reconciled, and the record containing them viewed as altogether 
 uorthy of a divine origin : And suppose the Christian teacher to 
 
PREFACE. VII 
 
 answer, " I will presently convince you that the Record is from 
 God ; but as for the difficulties in it, you must reconcile them 
 yourself in the best manner you can ;" and were immediately to 
 perform some notable miracle : How would the Deist be affected 
 by it 1 Would the wonder displayed before his eyes remove all 
 darkness from his mind 1 When thus certified that the Revelation 
 came from God, would he understand it any better 1 If he before 
 thought it unworthy of God, would he now see the ground of his 
 error? If it before appeared to him to include contradictions, 
 would these immediately vanish ? In short, though silenced, would 
 he be satisfied? 
 
 Now this appears nearly to resemble the situation, in which the 
 inquirer, whose attention has been directed to the difficulties which 
 have been raised by Infidel Objectors, is placed by the defences 
 of Christianity most in esteem, when they insist so much upon the 
 miracles wrought at its origin. A compulsory conviction, (com- 
 pulsory as far as it goes,) is produced, that the religion thus evi- 
 denced must be true: but the question as to how it can be true, is 
 left just where it was before : and yet till this also be seen ; till 
 the question of reason be as satisfactorily answered as the question 
 of fact ; no conviction can penetrate very deep. The miracles 
 wrought by the first promulgators of Christianity, are certainly 
 brought again, by the labours of modern advocates, almost before 
 our senses ; but, happily, not quite : for if they were, the effect 
 would be, to deprive the mind of that superior freedom which 
 Christianity, among its other benefits, was introduced to restore, 
 and not to open the understanding, but to close it. A sceptic thus 
 convinced that the Scriptures have the sanction of divine authority, 
 would be placed in the situation of an Englishman and a Protest- 
 ant in such a country as Spain : in his heart he might think the 
 government a tyranny and the religion priestcraft ; but being quite 
 satisfied of their power, the fear of the Inquisition might compel 
 him to hold his tongue. It is not congenial to the nature of the 
 human mind to acquiesce in implicit faith contrary to the dictates 
 of its own understanding : and if this is not congenial to the na- 
 ture of the human mind in general, assuredly it is peculiarly re- 
 pugnant to it at the present day, when so astonishing a spirit of 
 inquiry has so universally gone abroad. The sceptic will now 
 
V1U PREFACE. 
 
 ask, " While the phaenomena of nature are in every direction be- 
 coming intelligible, and we are admitted to see the rationale — 
 the philosophy, of every other science, is Theology for ever to 
 present nothing but dogmas, for which faith is demanded while 
 understanding is denied 1 Will she, alone, never answer the 
 request for her reasons, but by alleging her miracles?" 
 
 Let not, however, these remarks be misunderstood. Nothing is 
 further from the intention of the writer, than to depreciate the 
 merit, or undervalue the utility, of the vindications of Revelation 
 here alluded to : all that is meant to be insinuated is, that they 
 require something in addition to render them fully efficient to their 
 object. If, while the Deist is convinced by them that miracles 
 were actually wrought at the commencement of Christianity, and 
 that Revealed Religion had a divine origin, he is induced, in con- 
 sequence, to suspect that the circumstances in its documents which 
 he regards as revolting to reason only appear so because they are 
 not understood: the conviction wrought in him may be lasting, 
 and may finally be exalted into an enlightened faith. But to se- 
 cure this result, it surely is necessary to lead him, as well as to 
 drive him ; — to resolve his doubts and remove his difficulties, as 
 well as to assure him, that the religion is true in spite of them all. 
 
 Is has long, then, been the conviction of the writer of these 
 pages, that such a view of the Volume of Revelation might be pre- 
 sented as should be adequate to this object : but he little thought 
 that ever he should venture to attempt it himself. The present 
 work is entirely the product of circumstances, and its publication 
 is what they who do not acknowledge a Providence in every 
 thing, would call purely accidental. 
 
 The public mind having for some time past had the question 
 respecting the divinity of the Christian Oracles thrust before it in 
 every possible shape, it occurred to the Author, during the last 
 winter, that some benefit might be communicated, at least to a few^ 
 by the delivery of some Lectures, in a public Lecture-room, upon 
 the subject. The thought and its execution were equally sudden; 
 so much so, that the chief part of each Lecture was composed, 
 amid other engagements, and, at first, without the most remote 
 view to any other mode of publication, in the week which pre- 
 ceded its delivery. The approbation with which the effort was 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 received, by a numerous and respectable auditory, far exceeded 
 the Author's most sanguine expectations. From the commence- 
 ment, urgent solicitations were made to him to allow the Lectures' 
 to be printed ; and when, towards the conclusion, he announced 
 his determination to comply with the request, it was received with 
 the strongest expressions of satisfaction. This statement is made 
 simply from a sentiment of gratitude, and to account for the ap- 
 pearance and form of the Work; but without any idea on the part 
 of the Author, that the decision of his auditory will in the slightest 
 degree influence, or even that it can afford any means for antici- 
 pating, the decision of the public at large, before whose tribunal 
 he has thus been encouraged to venture. It is also necessary to 
 state, further, that when he consented to publish the Lectures, he 
 really was not aware of what he had undertaken. So hastily had 
 they been prepared, that, when he had finished reading them, he 
 hardly knew of what they consisted. He was well apprised that 
 much revision would be necessary, and that many important things 
 had been cursorily passed over, which must be more distinctly 
 treated : but he fully expected that the whole would have been 
 comprised in less than three hundred pages. The work was put 
 immediately to the press, and the first Lecture was printed without 
 any very considerable alterations from the original copy: the five 
 others, however, have been enlarged, upon an average, to three 
 times their original extent ; and a copious Appendix has also been 
 added.* Altogether, the book has assumed dimensions much be- 
 yond what was wished ; but for this it is hoped, the importance of 
 the subject will be a sufficient apology. As neither the whole of 
 the work, nor any large portion of it, was ever under the Author's 
 eye together, till it was irrevocably fixed in print, he is aware that 
 it may afford abundant occasion for the severity of criticism: he 
 would wish therefore that it might be judged by its matter and de- 
 sign, rather than its manner and execution. If the former merit 
 condemnation, let condemnation be awarded ; but for the latter 
 
 * To the last Article of the Appendix, — the Remarks upon the late excellent 
 Bampton Lectures by the late Rev. Mr. Convbeare, — no reference occurs in the 
 Work itself, the Author not having read them till that part of his Work was print- 
 ed in which the notice of them would properly have come : he takes the opportune 
 ty, therefort, of making the reference here. 
 
 b 
 
X ' PREFACE. 
 
 be craves some indulgence. The mode of its origin necessarily 
 threw the work into a popular form, which it still retains, espe- 
 cially in the first Lecture : but the Author has endeavoured to 
 render it not unworthy the attention of the lover of studious in- 
 quiry and of biblical literature, while he has mainly endeavoured 
 to assist the pursuit of the earnest investigator of revealed truth. 
 The question respecting the divinity of the professed Oracles of 
 Revelation, is equally momentous to the simple and to the sage ; 
 and this, he hopes, will be accepted as an apology by the learned, 
 for his having treated it in a eoncio ad popalum. 
 
COjVTEIVTS. 
 
 LECTURE I.— Page 1 to 31. 
 
 Introductory. Infidel Objections stated. 
 
 Prevalence of Infidel sentiments, and of an increasing tendency to think 
 meanly of the Scriptures. Their Plenary Inspiration generally relinquished. 
 Design of these Lectures stated. I. Necessity of Revelation. II. The cha- 
 racter which must belong to a Composition which has God for its Author. 
 Inquiry proposed : Do the books called the Holy Scriptures come up to this 
 character ? Answered in the affirmative by the Lecturer, but the Proof re- 
 served for the subsequent Lectures. Answered in the negative by the Deist, 
 on the alleged grounds, that the books in question contain some Statements 
 
 - which are contradictory to each other, some that are at variance with Sci- 
 ence and Reason, and some which are repugnant to Morality ; and that, be- 
 side these positive Objections, the greater part of them is occupied with In- 
 different and Insignificant Matters. Examples. General Reply : That all 
 such Objections arise from taking a merely Superficial View of the Scrip- 
 tures, and from an Ignorance of their True Nature ; and that they may be 
 retorted, so as to assist in proving what the True Nature of the Scriptures is. 
 III. Appeal to the Reader, on the ill consequences of Infidelity. 
 
 LECTURE II.— Page 32 to 83. 
 
 The True Nature of the Scriptures Explained. 
 
 Design with which the Scriptures were given, and the Nature of their Com- 
 position, stated for proof. I. That the title u the Word of God," and the 
 Plenary Inspiration which that title implies, are claimed by the Scriptures 
 1. By Moses and the Prophets for their respective Writings. 2. The claim 
 allowed them, and their absolute Infallibility asserted, by the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. 3. Their Plenary Inspiration insisted on by the Apostles. 4. And 
 recognised, till lately, by the majority of Biblical Critics. II. Proofs, from 
 rational and philosophical grounds, that a Composition which is really " the 
 Word of God," must contain stores of wisdom in its bosom independently 
 of any thing that appears on the surface. III. That the Composition re- 
 ceived as the Word of God, continually assures us that it is inwardly re- 
 plenished with such wisdom. 1. This intimated by the writers of the Old 
 Testament : 2. Expressly declared by the Lord Jesus Christ ; 3. And by hi« 
 
Xii CONTENTS. 
 
 Apostles : 4. Generally believed by the Christian Church, (1.) for many 
 ages, from the Apostles downwards, (2.) and still recognised by the best inter- 
 preters. IV. But this great truth having been abused, that endeavours have 
 been made, during the last two or three Centuries, to restrict the meaning of 
 the Scriptures to their Literal Sense alone. Admitted, that all Controver- 
 sies are to be decided, and Points of Faith established, by the Literal Sense : 
 But that the objection against a further sense would fall to the ground, could 
 it be shewn, that the Scriptures are written throughout according to an im- 
 mutable Law or Rule, a knowledge of which would, in explaining them, 
 substitute certainty for conjecture, and cut off the sources of vague interpre- 
 tation. 
 
 LECTURE III.— Page 84 to 152. 
 
 The Law or Rule Explained according to which the Scriptures 
 are written. 
 
 Preliminary Remark, on the Reasons why the Scriptures are not written in 
 plainer Language. Short Recapitulation. I. A Universal Rule of Interpre- 
 tation afforded in the Mutual Relation, which exists by creation, between 
 things Natural or Material, Spiritual or Moral, and Divine. II. The Nature 
 of this Relation considered. 1. The whole Universe an Outbirth from the 
 Deity, whence it bears, in all its parts, an immutable relation to the attri- 
 butes which belong to the Divine Essence. 2. That on all things belonging 
 to the Moral, Intellectual, and Spiritual Worlds, the Divine Creator has 
 thus first stamped a certain Image of himself. 3. And that he has done the 
 same, though under a totally different form, on all the objects of Outward 
 and Material Nature : (1.) In the chief organs and parts of the Human 
 Frame, and in the arrangement of Pairs observable through all Nature : 
 (2.) In the imitation of the Human Form which reigns throughout the 
 Animal Kingdom, and, by Analogous parts and Functions, in the Vegetable 
 and Mineral Kingdoms also : (3.) In what may be colled the Moral Quali- 
 ties of Animals : (4.) Digression on the origin of Malignant Qualities in 
 Animals and the other productions of Nature. (5.) The subject resumed, 
 and instanced in the Essential Properties of Vegetables and Minerals. 4. 
 Thus that all things in Nature, being Outward Productions from Inward Es- 
 sences, are Natural, Sensible, and Material Types of Moral, Intellectual, and 
 Spiritual Antitypes, and, finally, of their Prototypes in God. III. That, 
 were the Relation between these different orders of Existences fully under- 
 stood, a Style of Writing might be constructed, in which, while none but 
 Natural Images were used, purely Intellectual Ideas should be most fully 
 «x pressed. — 1. That this is in a great measure intuitively perceived by all 
 Mankind. (1.) Hence our conclusions from the Expression of the Counte- 
 nance to the Emotions of the Mind. (2.) And hence the origin of many 
 Forms of Speech in common use. (3.) If such a relation of Analogy be- 
 tween Moral or Spiritual and Material or Natural objects exists in a great 
 number of cases, it must be universal. 2. Palpable instances of the occur- 
 
 • 
 
 • 
 
CONTENTS. XI 11 
 
 rence of such Forms of Speech in the Holy Word. IV. That in ancient 
 times this constant Relation between things Natural, Moral or Spiritual, and 
 Divine, was extensively understood. 1. Proved from intimations in the 
 Historical Parts of Scripture. 2. Confirmatory remarks, drawn from the 
 Mythological Fables of the Greeks and Asiatics, and the Hieroglyphics of 
 Egypt, some of which are explained. V. That in this Relation, then, is to be 
 found the Law or Rule according to which the Scriptures are written, and 
 that a knowledge of it will afford the Key by which their " dark sayings" 
 must be deciphered. — Conclusion : That the Doctrine of Analogies is not 
 liable to the reproach either of Fancifulness or of Novelty, and is worthy 
 the attention of every friend of Revelation and Piety, and of Reason and 
 Knowledge. 
 
 LECTURE IV.— Page 153 to 263. 
 
 Proofs and Illustrations, evincing that the Scriptures are writ- 
 ten according to the Law or Rule developed in the last Lecture. 
 
 I. Of the Style proper to a Divine Composition. Such a Style afforded by 
 the Relation of Analogy between Natural Things and Spiritual, as explain- 
 ed in the last Lecture. II. That if the Scriptures are written by a Plenary 
 Divine Inspiration, they must be composed in this Style. 1. The Word of 
 God must be governed by the same General Law as his Works ; and this is 
 the Law of the above Analogy. (1.) That when the Divine Speech or the Di- 
 vine Word, which is the same thing as the Divine Truth, emanates from the 
 bosom of Deity into the circumference of Creation, or into the world of Na- 
 ture, it there clothes itself with Images taken from that world, and that it 
 cannot otherwise be presented to Mankind : (2.) But it thus is presented 
 with a fulness which no other kind of Language could afford : 2. Variety 
 of Phraseology in the different Inspired Penmen, not inconsistent with Ver- 
 bal Inspiration. 3. The difference between Plenary and Personal Inspira- 
 tion ; and that the former is necessarily occasional, 'and not permanently at- 
 tendant on certain Persons. III. That the Holy Scriptures are the Divine 
 Truth thus brought into a natural form ; and that therefore their Interior 
 Meaning can only be Understood by an application to them of the Law 
 which governs the Relation between Natural Objects and Spiritual and Di- 
 vine Essences. IV. Applicability of the Rule to the Prophecies of the Di- 
 vine Word. The View proposed supplies exactly what, in other Systems, 
 was felt to be wanting. 1. Sentiments of Biblical Critics on the Double 
 Sense of Prophecy. Necessity of making the System uniform. 2. Rule of 
 Analogical Interpretation adopted by Sir Isaac Newton and Bishop War- 
 burton. 3. Defects of their Rule, and the necessity of extending it further. 
 V. Examples of the Light which results from the application of the Rule of 
 Analogy between Natural Things and Spiritual to the Prophecies. 1. 
 Ezekiel's Prophecy of a great Sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel. (Fzek. 
 xxxix. 17 to 20.) (1.) Gpneral Remarks on the Class of Prophecies which 
 can be intended for Spiritual Fulfilment only. (2.) Evidence that this Pie- 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 diction belongs to that Class. (3.) General Signification of Judsea and the 
 surrounding Countries. (4.) The Spiritual Analogy of the relations of Place 
 deduced. (5.) The Signification of the Land of Gog and Magog as result- 
 ing from this Analogy, and of an Invasion thence of the Land of Judaea. 
 (C.) The light thrown by this Prophecy upon that portion of the Prophetic 
 Word which treats in its Letter of particular Countries and Nations. (7.) 
 The Import, in the Language of Analogy, of the Address to the Fowls and 
 Beasts. 2. The Lord's Prophecy of his Second Coming in the Clouds of 
 Heaven, (Matt. xxiv. 29, 30.) (1.) The former part of this Chapter a re- 
 markable instance of that Class of Prophecies which admits a Literal Fulfil- 
 ment : yet the Spiritual Fulfilment the principal thing intended. (2.) The 
 impossibility of connecting the former part of the Prophecy with the latter 
 by the Literal Sense alone, and the Inconsistencies incurred by Commenta- 
 tors in the attempt. (3.) Inquiry instituted into the specific Signification of 
 the Coming of the Son of man in the Clouds. (4.) The terms must have a 
 determinate meaning. (5.) The Import of the phrase, " Son of man," as 
 used in Scripture. (6.) The Ground of that Import in Analogy. (7.) Sig- 
 nification of the Clouds when mentioned in Scripture ; with the Analogical 
 Reason for it. (8.) The Meaning of the Prophecy thus rendered evident. 
 3. John's Vision of Spiritual Babylon, (Rev. xvii. 3 to 6.) (1.) Signification 
 of Babylon in Scripture, as discoverable from the circumstances predicated 
 respecting it : (2.) Of the circumstances predicated of Babylon personi- 
 fied. — Conclusion : That the Prophetic Parts of Scripture are composed 
 in the Divine Style of Writing, and that, thus far, the claims of the 
 Scriptures to Plenary Divine Inspiration are established. 
 
 LECTURE V.— Page 284 to 377. 
 
 Proofs and Illustrations continued. 
 
 The Argument, respecting the proof of the Plenary Inspiration of the Scrip- 
 tures by their Style, more distinctly stated. I. Applicability of the Law 
 which governs the Relation between Natural Objects and Spiritultl and Di- 
 vine Essences, or of the Science of Analogies, as a Rule for the Interpreta- 
 tion of the Historical Parts of the Divine Word. I. Sentiments of Biblical 
 Critics, and admissions of Expositors, on the Typical Nature of the Scripture 
 History: (1.) In regard to the Miracles ; (2.) And other Circumstances. 
 2. Necessity of making the System uniform. II. Just Ideas of the nature 
 and uses of the Israelitish Dispensation necessary to the right apprehension 
 of the Israelitish History. 1. The selection of the Israelites as a peculiar 
 people, not intended so much for their own benefit as for the general bene- 
 fit of mankind. 2. It promoted this object ; (1.) By their filling a station 
 indispensable in tin- Divine Economy, during a period in which a higher or 
 more extensive Dispensation could not have been received, and in supply- 
 ing the Preparation without which such superior Dispensation could never 
 be given at all : (2.) By furnishing the means by which the Holy Word 
 might be written : which they did by representing divine thingR under Ex- 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 temal Symbols and Natural Occurrences ; for which office they were pecu- 
 liarly suited by their distinguishing Temper and Genius. III. Examples of 
 the Light which results from the application of the Rule of Analogy between 
 Natural things and Spiritual to the Scripture Histories. 1. The Miraculous 
 Capture of Jericho : (Josh, vi.) (1.) The Acts of Violence performed by 
 the Israelites, and some of the Enactments of the Law, merely permitted to 
 them " because of the hardness of their hearts," and because they could be 
 so overruled as to afford exact Symbolic Representations of the Spiritual 
 and Heavenly things which are the real objects of all the Divine Command- 
 ments. (2.) The Spiritual Import of the Command to destroy the Canaan- 
 ites; (3.) Of the Circumstances attending the Capture of Jericho. 2. Jeph- 
 thah and his vow : (Judges xi.) Remarks on the literal history. (1.) Ne- 
 cessity for an appearance, on the face of the Narrative, as if the Sacrifice 
 took place. (2.) The Origin of Human Sacrifices : (3.) And of Sacrificial 
 Worship in general ; with its Ground in, and Signification by, the Science 
 of Analogies. (4.)* The Signification of an apparent, and of the actual 
 Sacrifice of a Child. (5.)t The principles applied to the case of Jephthah'a 
 Vow, and shewn to explain, most satisfactorily, the statements of the Nar- 
 rative. 3. The Combat of David and Goliath. (ISam.xvii.) 4. The cir- 
 cumstances attending the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. IV. Examples of the 
 Light which results from the application of the Rule to the Ceremonial Pre- 
 cepts of the Divine Word. 1. The Sacrifices in general : 2. The Prohibi- 
 tion of various kinds of meats : (Lev. xi.) 3. The Law of the Nazarite : 
 (Numb, vi.) 4. Baptism and the Lord's Supper ; which were instituted un- 
 der the Christian Dispensation as an Epitome of the whole Ceremonial 
 Law. — Inference from the whole. V. Additional Argument, 1. Proposed 
 and Illustrated : A false Rule of Interpretation could not draw from the 
 Scriptures a coherent sense throughout : But the Doctrine of Analogies does 
 this : Wherefore it must be the true Rule of Interpretation, and the Scrip- 
 tures must be written according to it. 2. The Argument afforded by the 
 fact, That a number of Writers, living at distant periods, produced Compo- 
 sitions all uniformly following this Law.— Inference repeated, — That the 
 Style in which the Scriptures are composed is the truly Divine Style of 
 Writing ; and that nothing short of Plenary Divine Inspiration could be ade- 
 quate to their production. Thus they are truly denominated the Word 
 of God. 
 
 LECTURE VI.— Page 378 to 439. 
 
 The whole Fabric of Infidel Objections shewn to be without 
 Foundation. 
 
 I. General View of the System and Arguments of the preceding Lectures : 1. 
 The first stage of the Argument : 2. The second : 3. The third : Impor- 
 
 * Erroneously marked in the place referred to, (3.) 
 t Erroneously marked (4.) 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 t«mt additional Testimony : 4. The last. II. The four Classes of Infidel 
 Objections stated in the first Lecture resumed, and examined by the View 
 which has been developed of the nature of the Holy Word, and of the 
 means of deciphering its true Signification. 1. Imputed Inconsistencies with 
 Reason and Science considered : (1.) Style of Writing in the first part of 
 the book of Genesis. (2.) Genius of Mankind in the Primeval Ages. (3.) 
 Coincidences between the Narratives of this part of Scripture and ancient 
 Traditions. — Conclusion : That the Word of God pronounces no dictum. 
 upon the questions agitated by Science. 2. Imputed Contradictions consi- 
 dered. (1.) The case of the water turned into blood by the Magicians of 
 Egypt. (2.) Why were four Gospels written ? (3.) Theory of their varia- 
 tions proposed. (4.) Illustrated by the different accounts of the treatment 
 and behaviour of the Lord Jesus Christ at the Crucifixion : (5.) By the (wo 
 modes of representing the conduct of the Thieves. (6.) The two accounts 
 of the Temptation in the Wilderness. (7.) Matthew's naming Jeremiah 
 instead of Zechariah a necessary Result of his Inspiration. — Conclusion : 
 That the varying statements of the Sacred Writers, fairly interpreted, actu- 
 ally become evidences of their Inspiration. 3. Imputed Violations of Mo- 
 rality considered. (1.) That they only evince the Representative Character 
 of the Israelitish Dispensation. (2.) David not the Pattern of a saint, but 
 the Type of one. 4. Imputed Insignificance considered. General Reply 
 confirmed ; — That all such Objections arise from taking a merely superficial 
 view of the Sacred Scriptures, and from an utter Ignorance of their true 
 Nature. III. Address to Christians on the Necessity of taking higher 
 ground in their Controversy with Deists. IV. Address to Deists, on the in- 
 ternal causes of Scepticism. Conclusion. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Page 
 
 No. I. Proofs of the Symbolic Character of the Writings of the 
 
 Old Testament afforded by the Revelation of John - i 
 
 No. II. An Attempt to discriminate between the Books of Plenary 
 Inspiration contained in the Bible, and those written by 
 the Inspiration generally assigned to the whole - - viii 
 
 No. III. The Great Objects and Phamomena of the Mundane System 
 considered, as they are referred to in the Language of 
 Prophecy, and of the Scriptures in general - - - xxx 
 
 No. IV. The Signification of the Clouds, when mentioned in Scrip- 
 ture, further illustrated xxxviii 
 
 No. V. Illustrations of the Jewish Character ; evincing its Aptitude 
 
 for a Dispensation consisting chiefly in External Rites xlvi 
 
 No. VI. Critical Examination of Jephthah's Vow - lii 
 
 No. VII. Arguments for the Literal Interpretation of the first part of 
 
 Genesis considered - - lx 
 
 No. VIII. Remarks on the Recent Volume of Bampton Lectures, by 
 the late Rev. J. J. Conybeare, M.A. ; and on the Support 
 which it afford* to the main Principle of the present Work Ixi 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. INFIDEL OBJECTIONS STATED. 
 
 Prevalence of infidel sentiments, and of an increasing tendency 
 to think meanly of the Scriptures. — Their Plenary Inspira- 
 Hon generally relinquished. — Design of these Lectures stated. 
 — Necessity of Revelation. — The character that must belong 
 to a Composition which has God for its Author. — Inquiry 
 proposed : Do the books called the Holy Scriptures come up to 
 this character ? — Answered in the affirmative by the Lecturer, 
 but the proof reserved for the subsequent Lectures : — Answered 
 in the negative by the Deist, on the alleged grounds, that the 
 books in question contain statements that are contradictory to 
 each other, some that are at variance with science and reason, 
 and some that are repugnant to morality ; and that, beside 
 these positive objections, the greater part of them is occupied 
 with indifferent and insignificant matters. — General reply, that 
 all such objections arise from taking a merely superficial 
 view of the Scriptures, and from an ignorance of their true 
 nature ; and that they may be retorted so as to assist in prov- 
 ing what the true nature of the Scriptures is. — Appeal to the 
 reader, on the ill consequences of infidelity. 
 
 There is a prediction in the second Epistle of Peter,* 
 which can hardly fail to present itself to the thoughts of 
 every believer in Divine Revelation, when he reflects 
 
 Ch. iii. ver. 3. 
 
Z PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 upon the deluge of infidelity, which, in the present times, 
 is seen pouring upon the world. The apostle says, " there 
 shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their 
 own lusts :" upon which it has been justly remarked by 
 advocates of Christianity, that the circumstance of the 
 wide diffusion of hostility to Revelation which it is the 
 lot of the present generation to witness, itself affords a tes- 
 timony of the truth of the Scriptures ; since it is a fulfil- 
 ment of a prophecy which the Scriptures contain. Another 
 divine prediction of Holy Writ, will also frequently occur 
 to the recollection of him who contemplates this state of 
 things : Jesus Christ says, " Heaven and earth shall pass 
 away, but my words shall not pass away."* It is now 
 generally admitted by expositors of Scripture, that the so 
 often occurring prophetical figure of the passing away of 
 heaven and earth, denotes the overturning of ecclesiastical 
 and civil establishments. Of these occurrences the present 
 generation has seen more extensive examples than have 
 before been witnessed since the first establishment of 
 Christianity ; and were it not for the divine assurance that 
 the words of Jesus Christ shall not pass away, — (an 1 these 
 words, in fact, include the whole of the Word of God, since 
 we are assured by Peter that the spirit which inspired the 
 old prophets was the spirit of Christ ;f — were it not for this 
 divine assurance,) we might almost expect, when we ob- 
 serve the activity with which deistical publications are cir- 
 culated, and the avidity with which, in too many cases, 
 their poison is imbibed, that, amongst the moral and civil 
 revolutions of which the present is so remarkable an era, 
 all belief in divine revelation would be abolished from the 
 human mind ; the awful consequences of which would be, 
 to place the moral world in a situation precisely similar to 
 that in which the world of nature would stand, were the 
 sun to be abolished from the firmament. In a neighbour- 
 
 * Matt. xxiv. 35. t 1 Ep. i. \\. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 3 
 
 ing nation we actually have seen this revolution tempora- 
 rily effected. Profligacy of manners and atheistical writ- 
 ings had together destroyed, in a great portion of the peo- 
 ple, all reverence for revealed truth : persons of this class 
 possessed themselves of the government ; and decrees were 
 issued proclaiming Christianity abolished, and disowning 
 any Divinity but the Divinity of reason. The horrors 
 that ensued, by exciting a re-action, prepared indeed the 
 way for re-establishing the profession of Christianity ; but 
 as this is there disguised among the mummeries of Popery, 
 it is not likely, thougli now favoured by the government, 
 to make many but political conversions : and the disre- 
 gard to the Word of God appears to be nearly as great as 
 ever, though contempt for it is not so indecently express- 
 ed. Indeed, there is ample reason for believing, that, in 
 all Roman Catholic countries, infidelity, in a greater or 
 less degree, is prevalent with most of those, who consider 
 themselves raised above the vulgar by station and acquire- 
 ments. 
 
 Are the Protestant countries on the continent of Europe 
 exempt from the contagion ? There is reason to appre- 
 hend that the poison of infidelity is here also spreading 
 not less rapidly than where it is fostered by the corrup- 
 tions of the church of Rome : of which ample evidence 
 might be afforded. But here also another extraordinary 
 feature, discovering the tendencies of the present age in 
 regard to the belief in revelation, becomes conspicuous. 
 Not only is absolute infidelity very prevalent, but the reli- 
 gion that is professed is more and more assuming a charac- 
 ter, which renders it different from infidelity, less in sub- 
 stance than in name. The most low and unworthy ideas 
 of the Christian Redeemer are daily superseding the hon- 
 our that is his due ; and, in the same ratio^ ideas equally 
 low and unworthy regarding the inspiration of the Sacred 
 Volume, are spreading with celerity. The church of 
 Geneva, so long regarded by a large portion of tfie Chris- 
 
4 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 tian world as the centre of illumination, has published a 
 reformed creed, disavowing any belief in the divinity of 
 the Saviour : and the universities of Germany, which 
 have formerly rendered such essential services to the cause 
 of Biblical Learning, seem now to be labouring, through 
 the works of their Professors, to reduce the standard of 
 inspiration to as low a degree as is consistent with any be- 
 lief, that the books which claim it contain a system of 
 true religion ; so low indeed, that it becomes difficult to 
 perceive wherein they differ from the productions of wri- 
 ters who do not pretend to be inspired. A few years 
 since, Dr. G. Paulus, a Professor in the University of Jena, 
 and a Clergyman, published a new edition of the works 
 of the celebrated atheist or pantheist, Spinoza, with a 
 laudatory preface, in which he maintains, that the senti- 
 ments of this acknowledged infidel respecting the inspira- 
 tion of the Sacred Scriptures, are the same which, in the 
 hands of Professor Eichhorn of the University of Gottin- 
 gen, have led to such superior elucidations of the holy 
 Volume. This Professor Eichhorn has published an In- 
 troduction to the Old and New Testaments, with several 
 other works on Biblical criticism, which have been hailed 
 with enthusiasm among his learned compatriots, as prodi- 
 gies of erudition and genius. By erudition and genius he 
 doubtless is distinguished : but how far his works tend to 
 exalt the Scriptures, however they may elucidate questions 
 connected with their language and with oriental antiqui- 
 ties, will be seen when it is stated, that, like our eccentric 
 countryman, Dr. Geddes, he denies any inspiration to 
 Moses. And it is well known that similar latitudinarian- 
 ism, miscalled liberality, characterizes the works of the 
 modern German literati, and teachers of Christianity in 
 general. 
 
 Let us now turn our eyes for a moment to our own 
 country. Britain may undoubtedly be regarded as the 
 Latium of modern times. As in Latium, according to the 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 5 
 
 fables of the ancient mythologists, the virtues of the gold- 
 en age took refuge after they had been banished from the 
 rest of the world ; so is it in Britain, unquestionably, that 
 the greatest portion of true religion is in these ages to be 
 found. Here also, however, the destroying plague has been 
 let loose ; and its ravages have been extensive. Owing in 
 part to the freedom which the human mind in this favored 
 country enjoys, and the liberty of publishing its thoughts, 
 which is necessary to the keeping alive of this inestimable 
 privilege, deistical and atheistical writings have long been 
 here abundant : a Hobbes set the example to Spinoza, as 
 did a Toland and Tindal to Voltaire : and the most des- 
 ponding anticipations were long ago formed by the friends 
 of religion, of the devastating effects which might finally 
 result from the audacity of its assailants. What would 
 these worthy persons have thought, had they witnessed 
 the indecency, as well as audacity, which characterizes 
 the efforts of infidelity in the present age ? In their times, 
 but comparatively a few speculative persons entertained 
 any doubts of the truth of the Christian religion : and the 
 attacks which were then made against it only excited at- 
 tention in the reading portion of society, which in those 
 days was comparatively small : nay, the authors of such 
 attacks then only addressed them to men of education, and 
 thought the attempt to unsettle the faith of the multitude 
 too desperate an experiment. How different this conduct 
 from that of the present generation of the opposers of 
 Revelation ! Wisely concluding, that the less informed 
 the mind is, the less will it be capable of detecting the fal- 
 lacy of their arguments, the infidels of the present day 
 chiefly aim at accommodating their publications to the 
 taste of the mob ; whose passions, also, they labour to 
 enlist on their side, still more than to convince their un- 
 derstanding. Arrogant assertion, coarse ridicule, affected 
 contempt, bold falsehood, and overweening dogmatism, 
 with unfounded representations of the happiness which 
 
6 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 would ensue were mankind liberated from what they call 
 the tyranny of kings and priests, and placed under no 
 control but that of the presumed infallible guide, Reason ; 
 — these are the chief weapons by which they now make 
 conquests : and as there is undoubtedly much in the human 
 heart, to which all this is congenial and agreeable, their 
 success has certainly been extensive and alarming. The 
 profligate, to whom the restraints of religion are irksome, 
 finds it extremely consolatory to be assured, that the prin- 
 ciples which govern his conduct are really " the Princi- 
 ples of Nature" : and the sciolist in learning feels it highly 
 gratifying to his vanity, to decry as fallacious, all that is 
 beyond the reach of his puny attainment. Scepticism — as 
 incredulity is flatteringly called — may be termed a short 
 road to universal knowledge : for he who derides as idle 
 speculation whatever he cannot grasp by the exercise of 
 his slugoish senses, is in his own conceit as wise as the arch- 
 angel, to whom all the mysteries of God's providence 
 stand open, and all the wonders of the Creative Energy 
 are known. 
 
 Here then are two classes of persons among whom the 
 contagion of infidelity has spread rapidly indeed. But is 
 it among such, only, that its converts are to be found ? 
 This we would by no means presume to assert. No doubt, 
 many have had their minds unsettled in regard to the 
 truth of revealed religion, who were not prepared to take 
 the inoculation of infidelity by a predisposed state of the 
 mental organization ; many even, to whom it would be a 
 great relief, could they have their doubts removed to the 
 full satisfaction of their understanding. These are they 
 who have had their attention directed to certain difficulties 
 which appear to exist in the sacred volume ; and which must 
 ever appear as real difficulties to those who are not aware 
 of the true nature of every divine composition, and of the 
 design for which, and the principles according to which, it 
 is written ; although when these are correctly understood, 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 7 
 
 all seeming inconsistencies at once disappear. Whilst then 
 these difficulties are so industriously brought forward, and 
 presented to the attention with every comment that can 
 help to make them appear insuperable ; whilst also an an- 
 tidote of sufficient power is not afforded by the writings 
 which have been published in reply, — for such, I fear, 
 must be allowed to be the fact ; — we cannot so much won- 
 der at the immense increase of infidel sentiment at the 
 present day ; an increase which is really tremendous and 
 appalling ; such as must excite the strongest apprehensions 
 of the final issue with all who do not confidently rely on 
 the assurance of Jesus Christ : — " Heaven and earth shall 
 pass away : but my words shall not pass away." 
 
 And whilst the fortress of revelation is thus furiously 
 assailed by those without, how is it defended by those 
 within ? Alas ! by giving up its outworks to the enemy, 
 and leaving unguarded a passage to the citadel. 1 am not 
 now speaking of the works that have been written in de- 
 fence of Christianity ; but of the principles which, in 
 modern times, have been laid down from high authority, 
 regarding the inspiration of the Scriptures themselves. 
 By way, as it would appear, of compromising the matter 
 with the enemy, the doctrine of the plenary inspiration of 
 the Holy Word has, within a recent period, been general- 
 ly relinquished by those who sit in Moses' seat, and who 
 pronounce, ex cathedra, what the church is to believe. I 
 allude not to such as are generally regarded as apostates 
 from the orthodox faith ; but the authorities to which I 
 refer, are the acknowledged oracles of the orthodox church. 
 The present Bishop of Winchester, for example, in his 
 work designed for the instruction of young clergymen, 
 called " the Elements of Christian Theology," lays down 
 the doctrine upon this question thus : u When it is said 
 that the Sacred Scriptures are divinely inspired, we are 
 not to understand that God suggested every word, or dic- 
 tated every expression. From the different styles in which 
 
o PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 the books are written, and from the different manners in 
 which the same events are related and predicted by differ- 
 ent authors, it appears, that the sacred penmen were per- 
 mitted to write as their several tempers, understandings, 
 and habits of life, directed ; and that the knowledge com- 
 municated to them by inspiration on the subject of their 
 writings, was applied in the same manner as any know- 
 ledge acquired by ordinary means. Nor is it to be supposed 
 that they were thus inspired in every fact which they related, or in 
 every precept which they delivered. They were left to the 
 common use of their faculties, and did not, upon every 
 occasion, stand in need of supernatural communication ; 
 but whenever, and as far as, divine assistance was necessary, 
 it was always afforded." Again he says, u Though it is 
 evident that the sacred historians sometimes wrote under 
 the immediate inspiration of the Holy Spirit, it does not 
 follow that they derived from revelation the knowledge of 
 those things which might be collected from the common 
 sources of human intelligence. It is sufficient to believe, 
 that by the general superintendence of the Holy Spirit, 
 they were directed in the choice of their materials, enlight- 
 ened to judge of the truth and importance of those accounts 
 from which they borrowed their information, " (and which 
 he states afterwards were accounts written by uninspired 
 men) " and prevented from recording any material error" 
 He is here treating of the writers of the Old Testament ; 
 of the writers of the New Testament his sentiments are the 
 same. He says, " If we believe that God sent Christ into 
 the world to found a universal religion, and that, by the 
 miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, he empowered the 
 apostles to propagate the gospel, as stated in these books, 
 we cannot but believe that he would, by his immediate in- 
 terposition, enable those whom he appointed to record the 
 gospel for the use of future ages, to write without the 
 omission of any important truth, or the insertion of any 
 material error." And these sentiments are generally receiv- 
 
ed as orthodox — are quoted from Bishop Law, and recOTSfc^iij^ £&*, 
 mended, though not expressly adopted, by the late Bishop 
 Watson, in his answer to Paine, and are laid down in nu- 
 merous works as the true principles of Scripture Inspira- 
 tion. What ideas the profoundly learned Bishop Marsh, 
 one of the Professors of Divinity at Cambridge, entertains 
 of the inspiration of the Sacred Scriptures, is evident from 
 his laboured scheme to account for the composition of the 
 three first gospels, as given with his translation of Michael- 
 is's Introduction to the New Testament ; in which he sup- 
 poses a principal and a supplemental sketch of the Saviour's 
 life and discourses to have been first drawn up by unknown 
 authors, — to have had various additions made to them 
 afterwards as they passed through various unknown hands, 
 — and at last to have been digested by Matthew, Mark, 
 and Luke, with further additions, into the form of their 
 respective gospels. Other statements of this nature might 
 be mentioned ; but they all agree in the leading principle 
 of allowing only a very partial inspiration to the sacred 
 writers. Bishop Lowth, for instance, is a name ever to be 
 mentioned with respect by the Biblical student, for his 
 valuable Prelections on Hebrew poetry, and Version of 
 Isaiah : but when he represents the prophets as borrowing 
 ideas from one another, and as improving or debasing what 
 they thus borrowed according to the sublimity of their po- 
 etical genius or the purity of their critical taste ; does he 
 not degrade them, in a great degree, from prophets to 
 mere poets ? He certainly endeavours to elevate our es- 
 teem for their talents as men ; but he assists in abolishing 
 our reverence for their writings as flowing from the imme- 
 diate dictate of God. 
 
 Now how do Deists receive these concessions so liberally 
 made ? The advocates of Revelation may be regarded as 
 saying to them, " See ! we have come half way to meet 
 you : surely you will not obstinately refuse belief, now 
 that we require you to believe so little." What does the 
 2 
 
JO PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 Deist answer ? He says, " You are admitting, as fast as 
 you can, that we are in the right. If you, who view the 
 subject through the prejudices of your profession, are con- 
 strained to give up half of what we demand, unbiassed 
 persons will augur from the admission, that truth would 
 require a surrender of the whole." No, my friends and 
 brethren ! he who would effectually defend the Christian 
 faith must take his station on higher ground than this. 
 What ! tell the world, that to escape the increasing influ- 
 ence of infidelity, they must surrender the plenary inspi- 
 ration of the Scriptures ! As well might we tell them, that 
 to obtain security when a flood is rising, they should quit 
 the top of the mountain to take refuge in a cave at its base. 
 Assuredly, this is a state of things, calculated to fill the 
 breast of the sincere and humble Christian with profound 
 concern, if not with deep alarm. On the one hand, he 
 beholds Divine Revelation assaulted with unprecedented 
 fury and subtlety by those who avow themselves as its 
 enemies ; — on the other, he sees it half betrayed and de- 
 serted by those who regard themselves as its friends. 
 Every devout believer in Revelation feels an inward pre- 
 dilection for the opinion, that the inspiration of a divinely 
 communicated writing must be plenary and absolute. He 
 feels great pain on being told, that this is a mistaken no- 
 tion ; — that he must surrender many things in the Sacred 
 Writings to the enemy, to retain any chance of preserving 
 the rest ; — that he must believe the writers of the Scrip- 
 tures to have been men liable to error, as a preliminary to 
 his assurance that the religion of the Scriptures is true. 
 Surely, every one whose heart does not take part with the 
 assailant of his faith, must be glad to be relieved from the 
 necessity of making surrenders so fatal. The bowed staff 
 eagerly springs back to its natural straightness, when 
 lightened of the weight under which it bent : so he who 
 has relinquished the doctrine of plenary inspiration, only 
 because he saw no other way of accounting for the diffi- 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 11 
 
 cuities which have been pointed out in the Sacred Writ- 
 ings, will return to it witli joy, as soon as he sees how 
 those difficulties may be explained, without the hypothesis 
 of error in the inspired penmen. Reflection, then, upon 
 these things, has occasioned a desire in myself and some 
 friends, to bring before the public, a view of the nature of 
 the Holy Word in which this is done, — a view which, I 
 strongly feel, is the only one that places the Divine Book 
 beyond the reach of injury from infidel objections. It is, 
 however, with much diffidence, that I address an auditory 
 from a station, which is at other times occupied by some 
 of the ablest men, whom the Christian ministry of this 
 metropolis can boast :* [and I feel the same self-distrustj 
 in a still greater degree, on addressing the public from the 
 press.] My only hope of obtaining acceptance, is founded 
 in my conviction of the solidity of the sentiments, which 
 I am to be the very inadequate organ of unfolding : sure, 
 also, I am, that no candid minds Will be less pleased wit i 
 the truth, because it is offered through a channel, which 
 they might not previously have supposed adapted to con- 
 vey it. The defence of the oracles which contain the 
 revelation of the Christian religion, is the common duty 
 of all who assume the Christian name : and all who are 
 sincerely attached to the Christian cause, will extend the 
 right hand of fellowship to any one, be he otherwise who 
 he may, who can point out a new line of defence, and shew 
 how the divine authority of Revelation may be more 
 effectually upheld. We are assured, also, that the Lord's 
 care over his church can never be intermitted ; that in 
 proportion to the magnitude of the dangers to which she 
 is exposed, will be the communication of means by which 
 she may be defended : and it is perfectly in harmony with 
 the ordinary economy of Divine Providence, that those 
 
 * A series of Lectures on Scripture Biography was then in a course of 
 delivery at Albion Hall, by the most eminent Ministers of the Independent 
 Connexion. 
 
12 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 means should come from a quarter whence they are least 
 expected. Confiding then in the divine support, on the 
 one hand, and relying, on the other, on the charity and 
 love of truth which must ever reign in the bosom of the 
 true Christian ; — appealing also to the liberality and re- 
 gard to pure reason which is constantly professed by the 
 Deist ; I beg the favourable and earnest attention of this 
 auditory, [and of the reader,] while I discuss the subjects 
 announced for consideration in these Lectures. 
 
 The question of the Necessity of Divine Revelation, has 
 been so frequently and so satisfactorily treated by others, 
 that, as it is my wish, as far as possible, to avoid going 
 over ground that has been trodden before, I shall not dwell 
 long on this part of the subject. 
 
 The view which I would take of this question, is this. 
 It is certain, that all the facts with which history brings 
 us acquainted in regard to the state of mankind in former 
 ages, and all those which are supplied to us by the obser- 
 vations of travellers respecting the present state of man- 
 kind in the different countries on the globe, afford the 
 most decided evidence, that, without aid from Revelation, 
 man is little better than a brute ; — that to Revelation 
 are owing all the superior excellences which ennoble his 
 character as a man. Infidel writers talk of the light of 
 reason, and they speak of the duties of man in society, 
 with every thing necessary to his moral and intellectual 
 improvement, as being easily deducible by the light of 
 nature. The high utility of these sources of intelligence 
 I readily admit : but when I hear such assertions as these, 
 I always feel a wish to be informed how it has happened, 
 that the light of nature never conducted man to these dis- 
 coveries, except when Nature had the means of lighting 
 her candle at the torch of Revelation. It is evidently from 
 the general improvement in the intelligence of the human 
 mind which Revelation has produced, that modern infidels 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 13 
 
 have been enabled to illuminate their reveries with some 
 beautiful truths : These truths were not discovered to 
 them either by the light of nature or the light of reason : 
 they took them first from that religion in which they had 
 been brought up ; and then, finding them recommend 
 themselves by their own evidence, and to be agreeable to 
 the light of reason and nature ; they have ascribed them to 
 that source ; and thus they set up the offspring of Revela- 
 tion to destroy the authority of the parent. 
 
 Never yet was a nation known to have emerged from 
 barbarism to civilization, without instruction communi- 
 cated, either immediately or traditionally, from Revela- 
 tion. According to the testimony both of the Scriptures, 
 and of other ancient authorities, all religion, which was 
 all originally founded in Revelation, began in the east, 
 and has thence been diffused in the west ; and it is Avell 
 known, that the same has been the tract in which civiliza- 
 tion has flowed over the world. The first created men 
 had, as the Scriptures assure us, the knowledge of God 
 and of their duty communicated to them by immediate 
 Revelation. After the flood, Revelation was continued in 
 the family of Noah, by whose posterity all the powerful 
 and highly polished nations of antiquity were founded. 
 Even the Grecian and other ancient mythologies were cor- 
 ruptions of the originally true religion communicated by 
 Revelation to Noah and his descendants. This takes 
 away the plea of those, who would appeal to the philoso- 
 phers of Greece as examples of the efficacy of the light of 
 nature. This plea has indeed been well answered by 
 Leland and others, who have shewn, that, under the name 
 of philosophy, the most ridiculous fancies in theory, and 
 the most corrupt abominations in morals, were often foist- 
 ed on mankind, and that a man would wander in darkness 
 indeed, who should draw all his light from such fountains 
 alone. But admitting, for argument's sake, that it would 
 be safe to take the best of the philosophers as guides in 
 
14 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 religion and morals : it is a well known fact, that both 
 Plato and Pythagoras derived a part of their systems from 
 the priests of Egypt, whom they went expressly to con- 
 sult ; and though the pure light of Revelation was in 
 Egypt greatly obscured, yet it is certain that all the true 
 knowledge of a religious nature which the Egyptians pos- 
 sessed, was what remained from their original descent from 
 the son of Noah. As natives of Greece then, where the 
 religion derived from the revelation to Noah existed un- 
 der one form of corruption, and as students in Egypt, 
 where the same original religion existed under another 
 form of corruption, Pythagoras and Plato possessed them- 
 selves of all the remains of knowledge which tradition had 
 preserved from that Revelation. I would by no means 
 affirm, as some learned men have done, that Plato borrow- 
 ed any of his ideas from the Jews, or that the writings of 
 Moses afforded any of the materials for the Grecian my- 
 thology : but there was a revelation existing in the world 
 before that given by the instrumentality of Moses, and 
 which was similar to his in substance, though different in 
 form ; and this, turned into symbolic representations, was 
 the foundation of the popular religion, whilst the ideas 
 veiled in those symbols were the basis of philosophic 
 speculation, among all the distinguished nations of 
 antiquity. 
 
 The sceptic may laugh at the assertion, but I am satis- 
 fied that they who can view things in their causes will see 
 its truth ; that, whatever they who would separate science 
 from religion may pretend to the contrary, Revelation is, 
 in an indirect manner, the fountain-head of all science ; 
 for it is in consequence of the elevation of the faculties 
 that is occasioned by the reception of the truths which are 
 the objects of revelation, and the consequent illumination 
 of the mind with heavenly light, (allow this phrase, ye 
 advocates of the light of nature ! — for if there be such a 
 thing as Revelation, the perceptions which are its offspring 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 15 
 
 must be the progeny of heavenly light,) that it becomes 
 receptive of higher degrees of natural light, and is capable 
 of making greater discoveries in the truths which are the 
 objects of science. It is true that these may be separated, 
 and that men may excel in natural science, who ridicule 
 every thing spiritual : yet it is only in consequence of 
 their receiving the outward part of the sphere of illumi- 
 nation, which continually flows from God into the human 
 mind, through the medium of those who receive the inter- 
 nal part of it, by admitting the truths of Revelation, that 
 progress is made in natural science. All real intelligence, 
 on whatever subject, must unquestionably be the product 
 of a sphere of illumination flowing continually from God. 
 The highest objects of this illumination must be the truths 
 that relate to man's welfare as an immortal being, — the 
 lowest, those which conduce only to his well-being in this 
 world. Intelligence in the former respect then, must be 
 considered as the operation of an interior sphere of divine 
 illumination ; and intelligence in the latter, as the opera- 
 tion of an exterior sphere of the same. Now the former 
 must be to the latter, just what the soul is to the body : 
 and the latter can no more be entirely separated from the 
 former without extinction, than the body can be sepa- 
 rated from the soul without death. Again : Illumina- 
 tion in spiritual things is to illumination in natural, what 
 the heart is to the members. If the femoral artery be 
 divided and secured, the limb will still receive nourish- 
 ment through the anastomosing vessels : this answers to 
 the case of the existence of scientific attainments, with 
 those who deny religion ; who yet receive the exterior 
 sphere of illumination from God, in consequence of living 
 in connexion with those who receive the interior sphere 
 also : but separate the limb entirely from communication 
 with the heart, by dividing all the vessels, and the limb 
 will speedily waste away : and this exhibits the fate of 
 science, were it altogether separated from Revelation. 
 
16 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 Transplant then a colony of atheistic philosophers (Deists, 
 as retaining from Revelation the belief of a God, would 
 not be proper subjects for the experiment : — but transplant 
 a colony of atheistic men of learning,) to a remote corner 
 of the globe, and allow them no communication whatever 
 with the disciples of Revelation ; and the certain effect 
 would be, that they would degenerate by degrees into 
 absolute barbarism. To what cause can be attributed the 
 wonderful superiority in literature and the arts, which the 
 inhabitants of Christendom have so long maintained over 
 all the other nations on the globe, but to their minds being 
 more receptive of light of all kinds, in consequence of 
 their admitting the light of Revelation ? How extraordi- 
 nary too is the power which they derive from this source ! 
 See how they have covered the whole western world with 
 their colonies, and how the aboriginal inhabitants have 
 faded from before them ! Behold what an empire they 
 have established in the east, almost without colonization, 
 by the pure force of moral superiority ! It is not meant to 
 be asserted that they have always made the best use of 
 their superiority, but only that it unquestionably exists. 
 Superiority in arms is, undoubtedly, the offspring of su- 
 periority in arts and science ; and these are the products 
 of natural light, which is the offspring of spiritual ; and 
 thus Christians are the arbiters of the destinies of the 
 world, because they are the depositaries of the Word of 
 God. As the tropical climates so immensely excel all oth- 
 ers in the luxuriance of their vegetable productions, be- 
 cause they receive most directly the recreating energies of 
 the orb of day ; and as all other countries are productive 
 or otherwise according to the proportion which they 
 obtain of the vivifying beams, till, at the poles, perpetual 
 sterility reigns : so are the powers of the human mind in- 
 vigorated or otherwise in proportion to their reception of 
 the beams of Revelation, and when excluded from these, 
 they languish in the torpor of dulness and ignorance. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. IT 
 
 Paradoxical then as the assertion may sound in the ears of 
 some, it is a certain fact, that could those who cultivate 
 science without regard to religion, and who reject the 
 Holy Word, the parent of all science, accomplish the ob- 
 ject which some of them have aimed at, of destroying the 
 Holy Word by the aid of her rebel progeny ; they would 
 accomplish much more than they intended : in digging a 
 grave for Religion, they would open one, in which, not 
 long afterwards, Science also would be entombed. 
 
 In one word, Until an instance can be adduced of a 
 nation that has flourished in arts, morals, and civilization, 
 without any assistance from Revelation, we have full rea- 
 son for concluding, that Revelation is necessary. For the 
 attainment even of these natural benefits, — in order to 
 man's enjoyment of the true excellences and attaining the 
 perfections of his nature, in this life, the light of Revela- 
 lation is indispensable : of the existence and attributes of 
 God, of his own immortality, of the existence and nature 
 of a life hereafter, and of the means by which he may 
 there attain the true end of his being, without the light of 
 Revelation, he would know nothing at all. Here then it 
 becomes indispensable indeed ; and therefore, in all ages 
 of the world, it has been afforded. 
 
 Since then we have such ample reason for concluding, 
 that a revelation from God, under some form or other, is 
 absolutely necessary to the well-being of man : — on the 
 supposition that God, to make the advantages of revelation 
 constant and permanent, should cause it to be communi- 
 cated in a written composition ; what is the character 
 which, we may justly conclude, such a written revelation 
 would assume ? Our ideas on this question will be regu- 
 lated by the ideas we have conceived of the nature of God 
 Himself : certainly, if these are such as are worthy of the 
 Father of Creation, we shall be led to expect something 
 of a most exalted nature in a written revelation of his will. 
 Who then is this wonderful Being, whom we assume to 
 3 
 
18 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 be the author of the writings called the Holy Word ? In- 
 fidelity itself must allow, that this question cannot be more 
 appropriately answered, than is done, as from the mouth 
 of the Lord Himself, by the prophet Isaiah : " I am the 
 First, and I am the Last, and beside me there is no God." 
 " Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, 
 and meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the 
 dust of the earth, in a measure, or weighed the mountains 
 in scales, and the hills in a balance ? Who has directed the 
 spirit of the Lord, or, being his counsellor, has taught 
 him ? With whom took he counsel, or who instructed 
 him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught 
 him knowledge, and shewed him the way of understand- 
 ing ? Behold, the nations are as the drop of a bucket, and 
 are counted as the small dust of the balance : behold, he 
 taketh up the isles as a very little thing,: Lebanon is not 
 sufficient to burn, and the beasts thereof for a burnt offer- 
 ing ! All nations before him are as nothing, and they are 
 counted to him as less than nothing, and vanity. To 
 whom then will ye liken God ? or what likeness will ye 
 compare unto him ?" He is " the High and Lofty One 
 that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy."* It is by 
 such images as these that the prophets of the Old Testa- 
 ment depict the grandeur of the Author of the Bible ; nor 
 does the New Testament describe him in less impressive 
 terms. When he manifested himself to John, as related in 
 the first chapter of the Revelation, it is written ; "lam 
 Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, saith 
 the Lord, Who Is, and Who Was, and Who is to Come, 
 the Almighty."! — I forbear to add any thing to these scrip- 
 tural representations : for in attempting to delineate the 
 ineffable perfections of God, all human language must fall 
 infinitely too low : — yea, this is a theme of so transcendant 
 a nature, that the tongues of angels could never do it jus- 
 tice. Let us elevate our ideas as far as we possibly can 
 
 * Isa. xliv. 6, il. 12 to 18, lvii. 15. t Ver. 8. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &.C. 19 
 
 above all that is earthly and gross ; — let us form the grand- 
 est conceptions we possibly can of the intense ardour of 
 the Divine Love, of the transcendant brightness of the 
 Divine Wisdom, and of the immense extension of the Di- 
 vine Omnipotence : and then let us recollect, that these 
 Divine Attributes are infinitely beyond all that the highest 
 efforts of imagination can conceive. 
 
 Now whilst we are meditating on these three grand 
 attributes of Deity, — his Love, his Wisdom, and his Pow- 
 er ; — if we would endeavour to picture to our thoughts 
 how far they might respectively be exerted, we certainly 
 could never conceive any thing beyond what the Scrip- 
 tures represent them as having actually performed. Thus 
 if we were to consider in what works the Divine Love 
 might most evidently be displayed, we assuredly could 
 imagine nothing more replete therewith than the wonders 
 of our own creation and redemption. For the Lord 
 doubtless created mankind expressly with the design to 
 bless them with every felicity : he also provided an eter- 
 nal heaven in which that felicity might be permanently 
 enjoyed : and what could Infinite Love do more ? Yet the 
 Love of the Lord has done more. For when man had 
 entirely receded from the end of his creation, such was 
 the mercy of Him by whom all things were made, and without 
 lohom teas not any thing made that was made,* that he assumed 
 man's nature by incarnation in the world, in order to lead 
 him back to his Maker and to bliss. 
 
 If again we were to consider within ourselves, in what 
 manner the Divine Power of the Lord might be most evi- 
 dently displayed, we could not possibly imagine any more 
 stupendous exertions of it than those which we see around 
 us. For what amazing power must that have been, by 
 which this fair globe was formed, and peopled with in- 
 numerable inhabitants ; by which the enormous orb that 
 gives us light and heat was created ; and by which my- 
 
 * John i. 3. 
 
20 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 riads of other such immense repositories of heat and light, 
 each with a train of dependant worlds, were called into 
 existence, and arranged in an order that baffles all human 
 intellect to conceive, through the boundless fields of im- 
 measurable space ! 
 
 Since then these manifest exhibitions of the Divine Love 
 and the Divine Power are of so immense and magnificent 
 a nature, must we not expect that an immediate revelation 
 of the Divine Wisdom would be equally wonderful and 
 glorious ? That in all the works which we have already 
 mentioned the Divine Wisdom is apparent, and that none 
 af them could have existed without it, is, indeed, a cer- 
 tain truth : still we may imagine a method in which the 
 Divine Wisdom might be more immediately and expressly 
 discovered. The readiest means we have of judging of 
 the intelligence or understanding of men, is, by their sen- 
 timents and conversation ; and if a man writes a book, we 
 expect to find in it the plainest evidence of his wisdom, 
 knowledge, and mental attainments. Suppose then the 
 Lord God Almighty himself should reveal his Wisdom in 
 this manner ; suppose he should write, or cause to be 
 written, a book for the instruction of man ; should we not 
 conclude, that such as the Lord God Almighty is, such his 
 book would be ? should we not infer, that such a boak, like 
 its author, must, as to its contents, be infinite and divine ? 
 Should we not expect to see the glories of eternal wis- 
 dom shine forth from every page ? All mankind, with 
 one voice, must answer these questions in the affirmative. 
 
 Here then we come to the great question that is at issue 
 between the Christian and the Deist. It cannot be denied, 
 we see, that a written Revelation that is really from God, 
 must answer the character which we have attempted to 
 depict : Do then the writings contained in the book called 
 the Bible, come up to this character ; and are we, on that 
 account, authorised to receive those writings as the Word 
 of God? I hesitate not to reply, with the fullest confi- 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 21 
 
 dence, that they do ; and I hope to make this in some 
 degree evident before the conclusion of these Lectures. 
 
 By the Deist, however, such an answer as this may be 
 received with the utmost scorn. He will readily enough 
 admit, that a book that is really communicated by divine 
 inspiration, ought to answer to the character w r hich we 
 have just described : but he will declare, that he can dis- 
 cover no traces of such a character in the book called the 
 Bible. He will affirm, that such a character as this can 
 by no means belong to a book in which there are many 
 statements that are contradictory to each other ; many that 
 are contradictory to reason and science ; many that are 
 contradictory to just morality ; and the greater part of 
 which book, moreover, is occupied with matters of an 
 indifferent nature, unworthy of the concern of an Infinite 
 Being. To these four heads may all the clashes of infidel 
 objections to the Scriptures be reduced. Some of the 
 objections are, in my estimation, fully refuted in the many 
 valuable defences of the Scriptures which have been pub- 
 lished by various authors ; but some of them, I candidly 
 acknowledge, have not, in my opinion, been adequately 
 met : the reason, I apprehend, has been, because the gen- 
 erality of those who have written in modern times in de- 
 fence of the Sacred Scriptures, had not those just ideas of 
 the primitive ages respecting their true nature and design, 
 which alone can meet every objection fully and without 
 reserve. I will here give a slight statement of the nature 
 of each of these four classes of objections : and I will not 
 shrink from stating them with all the force of which they 
 are susceptible : — because I am completely satisfied, that the 
 views I shall develope in the succeeding Lectures, will be 
 fully adequate to overthrow- them all. It is of no real use 
 to present things partially and unfairly : this always gives 
 opportunity of triumph to an enemy ; and will only secure 
 the attachment of a friend, so long as we can secure his 
 
*A PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 Great stress has been laid by infidel objectors upon their 
 charge of contradictory statements of facts : and of the 
 instances alleged to be such, they have collected a great 
 number. 
 
 Thus, after Moses had directed Aaron, saying, " Take 
 thy rod, and stretch out thy hand upon the waters of 
 Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon 
 their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they 
 may become blood ; and that there may be blood 
 throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, 
 and in vessels of stone ;"* — and after it is related, in the two 
 next verses, that the miracle was performed accordingly ; 
 — objectors affirm that Moses must strangely have forgot- 
 ten himself, to say in the verse following, " And the ma- 
 gicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments." When 
 all the water of Egypt was turned into blood before, how, 
 it is asked, could the magicians repeat the operation ? — 
 But the varieties observable in the manner in which the 
 different evangelists state the events of the life of Jesus 
 Christ, sometimes disagreeing in the order of time, and 
 sometimes in the circumstances with which the facts were 
 attended, have afforded an extensive field for opprobrious 
 animadversions. When Matthew,f in relating the tempta- 
 tion of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the wilderness, makes it 
 conclude with the rebuff he gave the tempter on being 
 offered the dominion of all the kingdoms of the world on 
 condition that he would worship the Satanic deceiver ; 
 whilst LukeJ places last the suggestion to throw himself 
 down from the pinnacle of the temple in proof of his being 
 the Son of God ; — it is argued that the whole is a fiction, 
 marked as such by the prevarication which so commonly 
 attends the testimony of witnesses who undertake to sup- 
 port a falsehood : and Christian advocates, while they 
 deny the inference that the whole or any part is a fiction, 
 
 Exod. vii. 19. | Ch. iv. 10. \ Ch. iv. 0. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 
 
 allow that one of the relaters must have been mistaken 
 regard to the order of time, and that, though he relates 
 true events, he relates them from his own imperfectly in- 
 formed mind, and not from divine inspiration. Again, the 
 objectors ask, What credit is to be given to the veracity 
 of writers, — and, especially, what becomes of their claim 
 to divine inspiration, — when they misquote so grossly the 
 books which they esteemed sacred, as to assign to one 
 writer what is only to be found in the book of another ? 
 Thus Matthew, on occasion of the purchase of the potter's 
 field with the refunded price of the treachery of Judas, 
 says, " Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jere- 
 my the prophet, saying, c And they took the thirty pieces 
 of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of 
 the children of Israel did value, and gave them for the 
 potter's field; as the Lord appointed me.'"* The only 
 passage in the Old Testament which bears any similitude 
 to this, is not in the book of Jeremiah, but in that of 
 ZECHARiAH.f And the harmonizers of Scripture have 
 seen no way of surmounting this difficulty, but by one of 
 two equally dangerous admissions ; — either that Mat- 
 thew ivas mistaken ; or that the book of Jeremiah has 
 come down to us in a very mutilated state. The only 
 other example of deistical objections from alleged contra- 
 dictions which I shall mention, is that drawn from the 
 account of the two thieves who were crucified with Jesus, 
 as given by Matthew and by Luke. After relating the 
 cruel scoffs with which the Saviour was insulted by the 
 Jews as he hung on the cross, Matthew says, J " And the 
 thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same 
 in his teeth :" whereas Luke§ affirms that only one of 
 them displayed this brutality, and that he was rebuked for 
 it by the other ; who, so far from mocking, " said unto 
 Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy 
 
 * Matt, xxvii. 9, 10. t Ch. xi. 12, 13. \ Ch. xxvii. 42. § Ch. xxiii.39 to 43. 
 
 'Firs? 
 St 
 
 **Sx T 
 
24 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 kingdom." This difference is accounted for variously by 
 the commentators, some of whom say, that when Matthew 
 speaks of thieves, in the plural, he only means one of 
 them ; whilst others suppose that they both, at first, join- 
 ed in the scoffs, but that one of them afterwards repented. 
 But the objectors treat these solutions as mere evasions ; 
 affirm that the passages are in direct opposition ; and ask 
 in triumph, which we are to receive as the pure Word of 
 God. 
 
 The second class of Objections- — the imputed contradic- 
 tions to science — chiefly regard the Mosaic account of the 
 creation and the deluge. The account of the creation in 
 the first chapter of Genesis, it is alleged, cannot possibly 
 be true ; because the science of geology, which within a 
 few years past has received such great improvements, fully 
 evinces that the whole globe of earth, with its innumerable 
 tribes of inhabitants, vegetable, animal, and human, was 
 not formed within the short space of six days, as there de- 
 tailed. Besides, it is affirmed, that independently of geo- 
 logy, reason alone proves the inaccuracy of the statement : 
 for light is said to have been produced on the first day ;* 
 whereas the sun, moon and stars were not created till the 
 fourth day ;f and it is very certain, as we now often expe- 
 rience on a very cloudy night when the moon is below the 
 horizon, that without sun, moon, and stars, there cannot 
 be any light. It is likewise related, that all the vegetable 
 creation was produced on the third day,;]; thus before the 
 formation of the sun ; yet every rustic knows that without 
 the heat of the sun there can be no vegetation. So also the 
 history states, that, after Cain had killed his brother, he 
 was terrified lest every one that met him should kill him, 
 to prevent which a mark was set on him by God ;§ — which 
 evidently supposes, that at this time the earth had numer- 
 ous inhabitants ; although, according to the record, none 
 
 * Vcr. 3, 5. t Ver. 10, 19. { Ver. 11, 13. § Gen. iv. U : 15. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 25 
 
 were then living on it, beside Cain, but his father and mo- 
 ther, who would know him whether a special mark were 
 set on him or not. With regard to the deluge, they affirm 
 it to be improbable that any general deluge ever should 
 have existed, after the globe was once brought into a state 
 adapted for the support of a human population ; and they 
 raise great objections as to the possibility of providing 
 room in the ark sufficient for the accommodation of the 
 immense multitude to which the prescribed numbers of 
 animals of all species must have amounted,* and to contain, 
 besides, an adequate stock of provision. According to the 
 history, Noah with his companions, animal and human, 
 remained in the ark a year and ten days :f and a long pe- 
 riod must afterwards have elapsed before the devastated 
 earth produced a sufficiency of new food for their support. 
 This objection has been answered by calculations to prove 
 the immense bulk of the ark, which, it has been shewn, 
 must have been equal in magnitude to twenty first rate men 
 of war, and to more than forty of the largest Indiamen ; 
 but this, while it is alleged to be still quite insufficient for 
 the purposes required, has furnished the infidel with ano- 
 ther objection, who contends, that no vessel of such mag- 
 nitude could be made to cohere together. 
 
 But the most serious class of Objections against the di- 
 vinity of the Sacred Scriptures, is that which has recently 
 been urged in such shameless terms, declaring the Bible, 
 — which well-disposed minds have revered for ages as the 
 code of all perfect morality, — to be the most immoral 
 book in the world ! Certainly, to ground this charge, as 
 is in great part done, upon those passages in which criminal 
 practices are mentioned for the express purpose of being 
 condemned, and of warning mankind against the dreadful 
 consequences which must overtake the perpetrators ; or 
 even to ground it upon the incidental mention, without 
 
 * Cha. vii. 2, 3. t Gen. vii. 11. viii. 14. 
 
£5 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 comment, of the commission of great crimes ; — surely this 
 evinces the accusation to have originated in nothing hut 
 deep malignity against the Bible, its Author, and its friends. 
 But the charge deserves more attention when they support 
 it by instances of criminal conduct in persons that are 
 spoken of as peculiarly accepted by God. Thus they 
 dwell much upon the case of Jacob, who, at the instigation 
 of his mother Rebekah, defrauded his brother Esau of his 
 father's blessing, by a most extraordinary deception prac- 
 tised upon Isaac, and supported, when the old man sus- 
 pected it, by the strongest asseveration of a deliberate 
 falsehood.* By the example of the same patriarch, who 
 had two wives and two concubines ; and indeed of nearly 
 all the Jewish worthies and kings, a sanction is given, they 
 allege, to polygamy and concubinage; an opinion also which 
 has not been confined to Deists, since Dr. Madan, a clergy- 
 man of the Church of England, published a well-known 
 book with the design to prove, from the above examples, 
 that polygamy and concubinage are allowable to Christians. 
 But the objectors contend, that worse things are sanctioned 
 even than these ; for by the examples of Ehud and Jael, 
 license is given to assassination. The former was one of 
 the Judges, raised up, it is said, by the Lord, to deliver 
 Israel when in subjection to the Moabites; and who, under 
 the pretence of carrying a present to the king of Moab, 
 obtained a private audience, and then sheathed a dagger in 
 his bowels. f Jael was the wife of Heber the Kenite ; and 
 when Sisera, the general of the army of Jabin king of Ha- 
 zor, was defeated by Deborah and Barak, " he fled to the 
 tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite ; for there was 
 peace," it is expressly said, " between Jabin the king of 
 Hazor, and the house of Heber the Kenite. And Jael went 
 out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in my lord, 
 turn in to me : fear not." And when she had thus invei- 
 
 * Gen. xxvii. 6 to 29. t Judges, iii. 15 to 23. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 21 
 
 gled him into her power, and had lulled him to sleep, she 
 drove a nail through his temples :* for which act, it is said 
 of her in the prophetic song of Deborah and Barak, " Bless- 
 ed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite 
 be ; blessed shall she be above women in the tent."f As 
 for the scandals to which the conduct of David has given 
 rise, who, though called the man after God's own heartj 
 was guilty both of murder and adultery ;§ these are too 
 painful to dwell upon. Moved by such seeming incongru- 
 ities, the Marcionites and Valentinians, with other early 
 sects of Gnostic Christians, regarded the God of the Jews 
 as an evil genius, — as " the prince of this world," whose 
 power Jesus came to destroy :|| and the modern Deists 
 charge Christians with blasphemy, for receiving the re- 
 cord of such transactions as the Word of God. 
 
 The last class of Objections against the Sacred Scrip- 
 tures, is drawn from what persons uninformed respecting 
 their true nature, deem the insignificance of a large por- 
 tion of their contents. What sort of ideas (they ask) must 
 we form of the Divine Being, on the supposition that he 
 is the Author of the Bible, when we find while books 
 filled with directions for the performance of ceremonies, 
 which in themselves can be of no importance ;1F when we 
 see chapters taken up with precepts respecting what sort 
 of food his servants should eat, and what sort of clothing 
 they should wear.** What minute cares must we suppose 
 to engage his breast, when we see him giving such exact 
 instructions about the dimensions of the Tabernacle, and 
 the size and form of all its vessels !|f What useless services 
 must we imagine him to be pleased with, when we find 
 him commanding such a variety of sacrifices to be offered, 
 and giving such precise orders respecting the manner in 
 
 * Judges, iv. 17 to 21. t Ch. v. 24. J 1 Sam. xiii. 14 : Acts, xiii. 22. 
 
 § 2 Sam. xi. 2, 15. || John xii. 31 ; xiv. 31. 
 
 11 See Leviticus throughout, and much of Exodus, Numbers, and Deutetv 
 onomy. ** Levit. xi. Exod. xxviii. if Ex. xxv. to xxxi. 
 
28 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 which the minutest part of the rites was to be perform- 
 ed !* And what contracted and partial attachments and 
 antipathies must we suppose to reign in his bosom, when 
 we behold him exhibiting a peculiar regard to the insig- 
 nificant nation of the Jews,f to the exclusion of the rest of 
 the world ; or when we hear of his commissioning proph- 
 ets, with all the solemnity of divine authority, to denounce 
 anathemas, not only against great metropolitan cities, such 
 as Babylon4 or Nineveh,§ or Damascus, || but against the 
 insignificant abodes of an insignificant population, — such 
 as the villages inhabited by the tribes of Moab and xVm- 
 mon !H Can the Father of the Universe (they demand) - 
 feel such concern, and command it to be written in his 
 Book for the information of the remotest generations, 
 about the domestic affairs of nations whose very name was 
 shortly to perish from the earth, — about the condition of 
 cities which were presently to crumble into dust, and con- 
 found the skill of geographers to decide where they stood ? 
 Such solicitudes as these (our opponents will allege) might 
 not be unbecoming in those fancied deities of the ancient 
 heathens, who were supposed merely to preside over par- 
 ticular districts ; but how (they ask) can we conceive them 
 to dwell in the breast of your great I Am, the High and 
 Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, the Creator of myriads 
 of worlds ? 
 
 Such, under a general form, are the strongest objections 
 which the adversaries of the Scriptures make to their 
 divine authority ; and some of them, it must be candidly 
 admitted, are such as to embarrass the rational inquirer, 
 who enters on the study of the subject without a correct 
 idea of its proper bearing. However, plausible as they 
 may appear, I undertake to affirm, and hope in the suc- 
 ceeding lectures^ to make good the affirmation, that to 
 adduce from such considerations an argument against the 
 
 * Lev. i. to vii. &c. t Exod. xix. 5. t Jer. 1. li. § Jonah i. iii. 
 Jl Amos i. iii. 11 Jer. xlviii. xlix. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 29 
 
 divine inspiration of the Scriptures, is entirely to mistake 
 the whole nature of the case ; that the argument thence 
 deduced falls to the ground of itself, as soon as the true 
 nature of the Word of God is seen, and the design is re- 
 garded for which it was given to mankind ; that, in fact, 
 the existence of such things in the Scriptures as we have 
 adverted to, affords no argument at all when adduced to 
 prove that they have no origin in Divine authority, but 
 yields an irrefragable one when applied, as it ought to be 
 applied, to evince, that the Scriptures must contain much 
 more in their bosom than is extant upon their surface. 
 We propose then to wrest the weapons of the infidel out 
 of his hands, and make them assist in establishing this 
 great truth ; to prove by their aid, not that the Scriptures 
 are not the Word of God, but that they are ; to demon- 
 strate by their help, what is the genuine Divine Style of 
 Writing — what are the true characteristics of a Divine 
 Composition. 
 
 I will conclude at present with exhorting all who favour 
 me with their attention, to be careful to cherish such 
 thoughts of God, and of a revelation from God, as are 
 worthy of the subject. Let us above all things be on our 
 guard how we lightly fall in with the prevailing infidelity 
 of the times. I have no doubt that there is nothing against 
 which the Divine Providence is more anxious to preserve 
 mankind, (so far as it can be done without infringing that 
 freedom without which man would not be a man,) than 
 from falling into contempt for the Holy Word : and that 
 man cannot more perversely abuse the noble powers with 
 which he is endowed, nor run more directly counter to 
 the designs of his Maker, than when he reasons himself 
 out of all reverence for the written revelation of the Di- 
 vine Will. Little as it may generally be supposed, the 
 Holy Word is the chief medium of communication be- 
 tween man and heaven, and indeed between man and God ; 
 
30 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 which communication is cut off, and man falls into a 
 merely natural and animal state, in proportion as he re- 
 gards with contempt this highest and best of his Maker's 
 gifts. Confirmed infidelity — such as extends to scorn and 
 hatred against revelation — is in most cases the result of 
 depravity of heart ; how speciously soever this may be 
 glossed over before the world by subtle reasonings, and 
 a proud display of merely natural, superficial virtues ; 
 though indeed even this covering is cast away by some of 
 the present race of Deists and Atheists : whose works ex- 
 hibit such malignity of disposition, as sufficiently evinces 
 the foulness of the source whence their sentiments issue. 
 Most true is the saying of the Apostle ; that " if the gospel 
 be hid," — (finally, that is ; — for we are not to judge 
 harshly of those who, with sincere intentions, are embar- 
 rassed by honest doubt, — ) " it is hid to them that are 
 lost ;V — that is, to those who are so enslaved to worldly 
 and selfish lusts, as to be unwilling to hear any thing, 
 which, by calling them to higher pursuits, would disturb 
 them in their sleep of darkness and of death. 1 make not 
 these remarks with any wish to intimidate : — the freedom 
 of the rational faculty in the present age is too complete 
 to admit of intimidation : — but I make them to induce 
 those whose tendency to scepticism has not settled into 
 confirmed negation, fairly to weigh both sides of the ques- 
 tion before they decide, and to go into the inquiry with 
 that solemnity of attention which is reasonable, where so 
 much is at stake. These I would entreat especially to re- 
 gard that assurance of Jesus Christ, so consonant to pure 
 reason, — that rectitude and purity of object in making our 
 inquiries, is the best preservative against error in drawing 
 our conclusions : " If any man," says he, " will do His 
 will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of 
 God."* This is the on'y safe rule, where the thing in- 
 
 * John vii. 17. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 31 
 
 quired into is religious truth : and my conviction is, that 
 they who act in the spirit of this rule will find their rever- 
 ence for the Holy Word continually increase, and their 
 understanding of its contents continually improve, till 
 they are satisfied that, like the Word incarnate, it u pro- 
 ceeded forth and came from God." 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 THE TRUE NATURE OF THE SCRIPTURES CONSIDERED. 
 
 Design with which the Scriptures were given, and the Nature of 
 their Composition, stated for proof. I. That the title " the 
 Word of God," and the Plenary Inspiration which that title 
 implies, are claimed by the Scriptures ; and that this is recog- 
 nized by many critics. II. Proofs, from rational and philo- 
 sophical grounds, that a Composition which is really " the 
 Word of God," must contain stores of icisdom in its bosom, 
 independently of any thing that appears on the surface. III. 
 That the Composition received as the Word of God, contin- 
 ually assures us that it is inwardly replenished icith such wis- 
 dom ; — 1 . This intimated by the writers of the Old Testa- 
 ment ; — 2. Expressly declared by the Lord Jesus Christ ; — 
 3. Jlnd by his Apostles : — 4. Generally believed by the 
 Christian Church, for many ages, from the Apostles down 
 wards, and still recognized by the best Interpreters. IV. But 
 this great truth having been abused, that endeavours have been 
 made, during the last two or three Centuries, to restrict the 
 meaning of the Scriptures to their literal sense alone. Ad- 
 mitted, that all Points of Faith are to be established by the 
 literal sense : But that the objection against a further sense 
 loould fall to the ground, could it be shewn, that the Scriptures 
 are written throughout according to an immutable Law or 
 Rule, a knowledge of which icould, in explaining them, sub- 
 stitute certainty for conjecture, and cut off the sources of vague 
 interpretation. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &.C. 33 
 
 In our opening Lecture we took a brief view of the pre- 
 sent state of public opinion, on the subject of the divine 
 inspiration of the Word of God, or Holy Scriptures ; and 
 we have seen that, while absolute infidelity is at present 
 more prevalent throughout Christendom than at any for- 
 mer period since the establishment of the Christian reli- 
 gion ; while the attacks upon the credibility of the Chris- 
 tian revelation were never so unremitted and daring ; the 
 cause has been half betrayed by many of its advocates, in 
 the lax notions which they inculcate respecting the nature 
 of Scriptural inspiration. We also drew a faint picture of 
 what must be the character of a composition which has 
 God for its Author ; we stated the four leading classes of 
 objections by which infidels deny this character to belong 
 to the writings called the Holy Scriptures ; and we ad- 
 vanced it as a fact, to be afterwards proved, that all diffi- 
 culties would disappear, were the true nature of the 
 Holy Scriptures distinctly understood, and the design for 
 which they were given fully discerned. What this design 
 was, we now proceed to state. 
 
 When well-meaning men have been induced to make the 
 admission, that the sacred writers might not, on all occa- 
 sions, be inspired, it has been in consequence of not con- 
 sidering, any more than the opposers to whose railings 
 they have so far yielded, what was the sole design for 
 which the divinely inspired volume was composed. 
 Things, for example, that appear like contradictions, have 
 in some places been pointed out ; and though most of these 
 admit of being satisfactorily answered even in the literal 
 sense, yet, because some of them, if we confine our atten- 
 tion to the literal sense alone, are attended with real diffi- 
 culty, many, even of the sincere friends of Christianity, 
 have admitted, that the Scriptures may, in some instances, 
 have proceeded from fallible authors, — from penmen who 
 were not at all times inspired ! This admission they have 
 5 
 
34 
 
 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 made, to open a door for retreat, in case any of the state- 
 ments made in the letter should be proved by an adversa- 
 ry to be indefensible. But surely had it been considered, 
 that whatever proceeds immediately from God, in the 
 nature of a communication of his will, must be spiritual 
 and divine, and that the sole design of it, in every part, 
 must be, to improve man in the wisdom of salvation ; it 
 would have been seen, that merely historical circum- 
 stances, however important to the actors in them, can 
 never be of such moment in the eyes of an Infinite Being, 
 as that the communication of even the most correct know- 
 ledge respecting them can be a thing to have place in his 
 express Word of revealed Wisdom, unless things of far 
 higher consequence be at the same time referred to and 
 represented by them. Hence, when we find such things 
 spoken of in a book which its Divine Author assures us 
 was given from Him, and which bears so many marks, 
 both internal and external, that evince the truth of this 
 assurance ; we ought to be satisfied, that things of far 
 higher, even of eternal moment, are shadowed forth, and 
 represented to us, under these historical relations ; — as we 
 shall see presently is also expressly declared by the Lord 
 and his Apostles. In short, we ought to conclude, (as we 
 shall find both reason and Scripture assure us must be the 
 case with every composition that has God for its Author,) 
 that in the Sacred Scriptures there is an internal or spir- 
 itual sense, distinct from the letter, but contained within 
 it, and no otherwise capable of being conveyed to human 
 beings in this world of nature ; which spiritual sense must 
 treat, not of natural things, but of spiritual ; not of things 
 relating to the body of man and his transitory life, but to 
 his soul and life eternal : and we ought to conclude fur- 
 ther, that although the historical circumstances detailed 
 in the literal sense are in general substantially true, having 
 occurred as they are related, yet if there are any of them 
 that are in any respect contradictory, the reason must be, 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 35 
 
 not because the narrative is not divinely inspired, but be- 
 cause the letter has been forced, in such instances, to bend 
 a little, as it were, under the weight of the important 
 matters contained within it, to express which more fully, a 
 slight turn has been given to the literal narration. Nor is 
 there, in this supposition, the smallest degree of inconsis- 
 tency. For every composition, either human or divine, 
 must be judged of, according as it is adapted to express 
 the Design of the Author. But a revelation from God 
 cannot be designed to improve us in natural knowledge, 
 but in heavenly or spiritual. If then the literal sense of 
 the Holy Word is so adjusted, as to be a proper vehicle 
 for the divine realities of a spiritual kind with which it is 
 inwardly replenished, it answers the Design for which it 
 was given, whether the literal expression, regarded by it- 
 self, be in all respects perfectly coherent or not ; — whether 
 the historical occurrences, respecting which, regarded by 
 themselves, it is no part of the Divine Author's plan to 
 communicate information, are detailed with all possible 
 clearness or not. In short, if the Design for which a reve- 
 lation from God must be given, had been steadily kept in 
 view, and the outward expression had been jndged of ac- 
 cordingly, it would have been seen that the Word of God 
 does, in every part, contain a spiritual sense, which treats 
 solely of the Lord, his kingdom, man's soul, and his im- 
 provement in heavenly graces, and that the literal sense is 
 constructed purely in subserviency to the spiritual : and 
 then the objections against its divine inspiration would 
 never have been raised, or, if they had, would soon have 
 obtained a completely satisfactory answer. To evince 
 that this is its true character, will be the main object of 
 this and our subsequent Lectures. 
 
 I. The first thing necessary to the clearing up of this 
 argument, is, to ascertain, what is the kind of inspiration 
 which the Scriptures claim for themselves. 
 
36 
 
 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 Here then the fact, that the title, " the Word of God," 
 is claimed by the Scriptures for themselves, is alone suffi- 
 cient to satisfy us, that they assume to have been written 
 by a plenary divine inspiration. For what can "the 
 Word of God" be, but divine speech or revelation flowing 
 from God ? And if this is given us by the instrumentality 
 of men, then must they, so to give it us, have been divine- 
 ly inspired : — otherwise what they wrote would not be 
 the Word of God, but the word of men, — of illuminated 
 men, perhaps, but whose writings could convey nothing 
 more than they themselves conceived and apprehended — 
 the mere sentiments of the writers. 
 
 1. That the books of Moses claim to be the Word of God y 
 is expressed by its being so repeatedly said, that " the 
 Lord spake unto Moses, saying,"* and also, that " Moses 
 wrote all the words of the Lord :"f and whoever has look- 
 ed into the writings of the prophets, knows how often 
 they make the declaration, u The word of the Lord came 
 unto me, saying. "| 
 
 2. But that the title " Word of God" is properly ap- 
 plied to the Sacred Scriptures, is evinced by the use of the 
 expression by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Speaking of 
 the law written by Moses, he first observes, " For Moses 
 said, Honour thy father and mother : and, Whoso curseth 
 father or mother, let him die the death :" and then he 
 adds, M But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or his 
 mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever 
 thou mightest be profited by me, he shall be free ; and ye 
 suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mo- 
 ther ; making the Word of God of none effect through your 
 tradition. "§ Thus we see that the Scriptures of the Old 
 Testament, which we may be sure do not rank higher 
 than those of the New, are denominated, by the highest 
 
 * See almost every Chapter in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. 
 
 t Exod. xxiv. 4. t See the Prophets throughout. § Mark vii. 10 to 13. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 37 
 
 authority, a the Word of God :" of course they must have 
 been given by a plenary divine inspiration. 
 
 The same expression is used again, and the idea convey- 
 ed by it affirmed of all that is properly called cc the Scrip- 
 ture," in another debate of the Lord Jesus Christ with the 
 Jews. When they were about to stone him for having 
 said, " I and the Father are One," he reasoned with them 
 thus : " Is it not written in your law. I said, Ye are gods ? 
 If he called them gods to whom the Word of God came, — 
 and the Scripture cannot be broken, — say ye of him,"* &c. 
 Here, not only is the revelation communicated to the Jews 
 called by its real Author, " the Word of God," but it is 
 authoritatively declared, that " the Scripture cannot be 
 broken ;" where the word "broken" is admitted by the 
 Commentators to be idiomatic, the meaning being, that 
 the Scripture is not to be contradicted or denied, — that its 
 authority is not to be infringed. The purport of the 
 clause, then, paraphrased into familiar language, is clearly 
 this : " If he called them gods to whom the Word of God 
 came — and this you cannot deny, because the authority of the 
 Scriptures is unimpeachable, — say ye of him," &c. Thus 
 then the revelation given to the Jews is recognized by 
 " the Word made flesh," as the Word of God ; and the at- 
 tributes of that Word are assigned to what is emphatically 
 called the Scripture, which is declared, on this ground, to 
 be, what no partially inspired composition can be, abso- 
 lutely infallible, — an authority which, on no pretence 
 whatever, is to be impugned. The same sanction, con- 
 veyed by the same expression, is given by Jesus Christ to 
 " the law and the prophets," or to the whole of the an- 
 cient Scriptures, when he says, after referring to them, 
 « Whosoever therefore shall break one of the least of these 
 commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called 
 the least in the kingdom of heaven. "f Here, to break 
 
 * John x. 34, 35. t Matt. v. 19. 
 
38 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 one of the least of the commandments of the law and the 
 prophets, does not mean merely to live in the neglect of 
 it, but to weaken its authority : the word in the original 
 is the same as in the passage just quoted from John, and 
 means literally to loosen, or dissolve, that is, to take away its 
 obligation. The unlawfulness of this, we find, in regard to 
 the least of the commandments of all the law and the pro- 
 phets, Jesus Christ most decidedly affirms : what then are 
 we to think of those who tell us, that " it is not to be sup- 
 posed that they [meaning Moses and the prophets,] were 
 even thus inspired [meaning, even according to the lowest 
 notions of inspiration,] in every fact which they related, 
 or in every precept which they delivered." Did not Bishop 
 Tomline see, when he penned these awful words, that he 
 was herein " loosing," or destroying the authority of, at 
 any rate, some of " the least of the commandments," and 
 was thus setting his authority in opposition to the authori- 
 ty of Jesus Christ, who so solemnly recognizes the whole 
 as the immovable Word of God. 
 
 3. But perhaps it maybe objected, that the title, "Word 
 of God," is nevertheless only applicable to such parts of 
 the Scriptures as contain precepts expressly delivered in 
 the name of God. We do not, however, find that Jesus 
 Christ makes any such distinction ; so that we have divine 
 authority for denying that any such distinction exists. 
 Besides, what a door for uncertainty would this throw 
 open ! If the writers who recorded those precepts which 
 they deliver in the name of God, were not inspired 
 throughout, they might as easily err in this part of their 
 duty as in any other ; and thus it would be impossible for 
 us to know whether what they delivered as divine pre- 
 cepts were really such or not. However, we are not left 
 to decide this question by our own reasonings ; for, in ad- 
 dition to the unlimiting declarations of Jesus Christ, the 
 Apostle Paul gives us the strongest assurance we can pos- 
 sibly require, as to the entire inspiration of the whole. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 39 
 
 He says, " All Scripture is given by inspiration of God:"* 
 and it is here to be noted, that the five words, " given by 
 inspiration of God," have but one word [dsoflrvsuavos] , 
 answering to them in the original ; and that is one so ex- 
 pressive, that it conveys all that our translators have stat- 
 ed, with that addition of force which results from con- 
 densation. A single word might be framed in English to 
 convey the same meaning, but it would sound harsh, as 
 being unusual : we however might say, " All scripture is 
 God-breathed :" which indeed is just the same in sense as 
 " given by inspiration of God ;" only the word " inspira- 
 tion," being derived from a Latin, and not an English 
 root, does not convey to English ears the primary mean- 
 ing that belongs to it, which is that of breathing-in. No- 
 thing then can be more conclusive than this passage for 
 the full inspiration of the whole of the Word of God. All 
 Scripture was inspired, or breathed-into the writers, by God, 
 — was the result of a divine afflatus, which took such en- 
 tire possession of the inspired penmen, that it was not they 
 who wrote, further than as to the mere motion of the fin- 
 gers, but God himself who wrote with their hands. This 
 is what is included in the idea of u Inspiration of God ;" 
 and to restrict it to any thing short of this, is to charge 
 the Apostle with having spoken at random, without un- 
 derstanding the meaning of his language. 
 
 Paul however does not stand alone in this testimony. 
 He is supported in it by Peter, who affirms the same 
 doctrine, though in quite different terms. " Prophecy," 
 says he, " came not in old time by the will of man, but 
 holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy 
 Ghost."] It is here to be remembered, that the Jews 
 called the writers of the historical books " prophets," as 
 well as those of what we call the prophetical books ; as is 
 known to every one who has seen a Hebrew bible. Now 
 
 *2Tim.iii. 16. t2Ep.i.21. 
 

 40 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 of all these holy men, the Apostle affirms, that they spake, 
 not by the will of man, hut as they were moved by the 
 Holy Ghost : clearly excluding their own will, and of 
 course their own understanding, from any concern in the 
 matter. And here also it will be useful to attend to the 
 force of the principal original word. The Greek term 
 [<pg£o|xsvoi] translated " moved," is one that conveys a 
 much stronger idea than that of the gentle sort of impres- 
 sion to which we apply the term " moved :" it means car- 
 ried away, — rapt, — transported ; — taken altogether out of 
 themselves, and possessed entirely by the power of God. 
 So positive is the language of the heaven-taught writers 
 on the subject of divine inspiration ; and so decisive is the 
 testimony which they bear to the plenary inspiration of 
 the Sacred Scriptures. 
 
 Such being the strength and unequivocal nature of the 
 expressions in which the inspiration of the Sacred Scrip- 
 tures is affirmed by infallible authority, it really seems ex- 
 traordinary how they who undertake to explain the divine 
 books, should ever have thought of limiting their inspira- 
 tion to so low a degree of it, as is unworthy of the name 
 altogether : and it can only be accounted for by the rea- 
 son before assigned ; that being pressed by the Deist with 
 the difficulties which some passages present, and not re- 
 flecting that these should lead to a higher mode of inter- 
 pretation, the Christian advocates have seen no way of 
 maintaining the general credibility of the sacred penmen, 
 but by allowing their liability to little mistakes. It would 
 however be but a sorry expedient for the preservation of 
 a country situated like Holland, when threatened with an 
 inundation from the fury of the ocean, should they who 
 have the care of the dykes, fearing lest these should be 
 washed away, purposely make a gap in them, as a means 
 of averting the destructive effects of the waves : here, 
 every one sees, that the country, though in a more gradual 
 manner, would equally be drowned ; but the dykes, 
 
fit/* ** _ €^ 
 
 THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. V<T*> 41 
 
 though no longer of any use, might possibly be preserved. 
 By admitting only such an inspiration as does not exclude 
 fallibility, religious establishments may perhaps for a time 
 be preserved : but the objects for which they were insti- 
 tuted will be undermined and subverted. Infidelity will 
 be confirmed and extended ; and the Faith that remains, 
 being emptied of its spirituality, will differ from infidelity 
 in little but in name. Religion will degenerate into a cold 
 morality, which Deism may supply almost as well. 
 
 4. Such laxity, however, did not characterize the senti- 
 ments of former times. Though now it is otherwise, the 
 general belief once was, that inspiration really is inspira- 
 tion ; and they w r ho wrote upon it did not attempt to de- 
 fine the thing, to be something entirely different from what 
 is expressed by the name. This might be proved by co- 
 pious evidence, if necessary ; but it will be quite sufficient 
 here to give the statements of Bishop Marsh, in the Notes 
 to the third Chapter of his translation of Michaelis ; for 
 though he had such low ideas of the nature of inspiration, 
 at least as far as regards the inspiration of the Evangelists, 
 when he formed his singular theory of the origin of the 
 three first gospels, he seems, when he translated the first 
 part of the Work just mentioned, which was several years 
 previously, to have been inclined to favour the higher 
 views of the subject : at least he had, and has, too much 
 integrity to keep them out of sight. He there, complain- 
 ing of his Author for not himself giving a definition of In- 
 spiration, says, that " some understand an inspiration of 
 words, as well as ideas, others of ideas alone ; a third class 
 understand by inspiration an intervention of the Deity, by 
 which the natural faculties of the sacred writers were di- 
 rected to the discovery of truth ; and a fourth class assume 
 a kind of negative intervention, by which they were pie- 
 vented from falling into material error ;. some again as- 
 sume a total inspiration, declaring that the supernatural 
 influence of the Deity was extended to the most>minute 
 6 
 
42 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 historical accounts, while others suppose that it was con- 
 fined to certain parts of Scripture." And, as the authori- 
 ties for the opinion, that inspiration extends both to words 
 and ideas, he gives " most of the German divines of the 
 last [or seventeenth] century, and many in the present" 
 [the eighteenth — for this was written in 1793]. The au- 
 thor whom he translates, — Michaelis, — seems very unset- 
 tled in his own mind, both respecting what he should de- 
 termine inspiration to be, and what books in the Bible he 
 should regard as possessing it ; it appears, however, that 
 where it exists at all, he thought it must be plenary, ap- 
 plying to this subject a passage of Paul, which in our 
 translation stands thus : u We speak not in words which 
 man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teach- 
 eth, comparing natural things with spiritual :"* which de- 
 claration he renders thus : " We deliver doctrines in words 
 taught by the Holy Ghost, explaining inspired things with 
 inspired words." I do not quote this version by Michae- 
 lis as adopting it, or as accepting his application, in the 
 context, of the doctrine he appears to mean to deduce 
 from it ; but only as evidence of what this great scho- 
 lar's opinion of inspiration really was : hereupon Bishop 
 Marsh justly remarks, " It seems, then, that he under- 
 stands a verbal inspiration, agreeably to the sentiments of many 
 ancient Fathers, and many modern divines, who have considered 
 the Jlpostles and Evangelists merely as passive instruments. It 
 is true," the Bishop adds, (and we shall consider the sen- 
 timent in the sequel,) " that this hypothesis renders it dif- 
 ficult to account for the great variety of style observable 
 in the Greek Testament : on the other hand, several writ- 
 ers, especially Ernesti, contend, that it is difficult to ab- 
 stract an inspiration of ideas from an inspiration of words." 
 Assuredly, it is difficult : and this avowal from the cele- 
 brated Ernesti, will perhaps be felt as the more valuable, 
 
 * i Cor. iv. 13. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 43 
 
 when it is remembered, that he was by no means uninfect- 
 ed, on some points, with the lax principles of the moderns ; 
 so that his testimony in favour of plenary inspiration, must 
 be considered as drawn from him by the unassisted force 
 of truth. I will only add further upon this question, that 
 what the sentiments of profoundly learned British divines 
 formerly were respecting it, is sufficiently indicated in the 
 maxim adopted by Pococke, and prefixed as a motto to 
 the Notce Miscellanece, appended to his Porta Mosis of Mai- 
 monides : it is this : u There is not in the Law or Holy 
 Scripture a single letter, on which matters of the greatest 
 importance [in the Hebrew, great mountains,] are not de- 
 pendent."* 
 
 These testimonies, I trust, will be sufficient to show that 
 many writers, and those of the highest authority, have 
 heretofore believed, that when Jesus Christ terms the 
 Scripture the Word of God, and declares that it must not 
 be broken, or its authority impeached ; and when the 
 Apostles assure us that it is given by inspiration of God, 
 and that those who wrote it were carried out of them- 
 selves by the Divine Spirit that possessed them ; they 
 really mean what they say : — those, therefore, who may 
 now be disposed to believe that they mean what they say, 
 will find a cloud of witnesses to support them. It is true, 
 that, at present, the fashion of the times runs the other 
 way ; but it is not a new thing for heaven and the world 
 to stand in opposition : and, on this point, the authorities 
 are sufficiently great and numerous to render the profes- 
 sion of the truth honourable in the eyes of men, as well as 
 in the sight of God. 
 
 This question, respecting the nature of the inspiration 
 which the Scriptures claim for themselves, though of the 
 greatest moment to the Christian, will be little regarded 
 by the Deist : it was, however, necessary to consider it, 
 
 oh™ onnn w^ nm rm fy&i rrnro |« * 
 
 •na a»hn 
 
44 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 because we shall find it pregnant with consequences, in 
 which the Deist also is deeply interested. 
 
 II. It being then certain, that the Scriptures claim to be 
 " the Word of God," according to the full meaning of that 
 weighty expression ; and it being likewise true that many 
 of the greatest biblical scholars deemed the claim thus 
 made by the Scriptures too positive to be evaded, so that 
 we must as much believe them, when they assert their own 
 plenary inspiration, as when they assert any thing else : 
 we beg to be allowed to assume, for the present, for argu- 
 ment's sake, that they really are the Word of God : and 
 with this admission, we proceed to offer proofs, from ra- 
 tional and philosophical grounds, that, if so, they must 
 contain stores of wisdom in their bosom, independently of 
 any thing that appears on their surface. 
 
 If the Bible could, throughout, be understood, and 
 would, in every part, afford a clear, intelligible, and in- 
 structive meaning, by consulting the literal or grammati* 
 cal sense of the words and phrases alone ; or if by thus re- 
 stricting our researches after its meaning, we could always 
 obtain as clear a one as is to be drawn from the works of 
 uninspired writers ; there would then be more reason (but 
 by no means sufficient) for contending, that it never was 
 meant to contain any thing more : but when we find in it 
 passages, to which, unless we allow them an internal sense, 
 we must deny any intelligible sense at all ; — we surely 
 must reject the notion, that the literal sense is all that is 
 intended, — a notion so derogatory to the divine inspira- 
 tion of the Sacred Writings, and which, if suffered to re- 
 gulate our views of them entirely, would compel us to 
 think less highly of the Word of God, than we do of ma- 
 ny of the compositions of men. However, I do not mean 
 to beg the question, but to shew that the possession of 
 stores of hidden wisdom, is not only necessary to vindi- 
 cate for the Scriptures their title of the Word of God, but 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 45 
 
 is an inseparable characteristic of every Divine Composi- 
 tion ; that without it, no writing whatever, were its out- 
 ward form just what the sceptic would require, (would he 
 define what that is,) can be entitled to that appellation. 
 
 Who then does not see, that the difference between 
 Compositions that are really the Word of God and the 
 compositions of men, must be as great, as between the 
 works of God and the works of men ? And wherein does 
 the latter difference most remarkably consist ? Is it not in 
 the interior organization which the works of God possess, 
 beyond what appears in their outward form ? When we 
 look at a picture or a statue, which are among the most 
 exquisite productions of human ingenuity, after we iiave 
 seen the surface, we have seen the whole : and although 
 there are pieces of curious mechanism which contain a 
 complication of parts within their outside case, this only 
 carries us one step farther : when we look at any of the 
 parts, we see the whole ; — the interior texture of the ma- 
 terial of which they are composed not being the work of 
 the human artist, but of the Divine Creator. Whereas, 
 when we look at any of the works of His omnipotent 
 hand, beautiful and exact as they are in their outward 
 form, still the most beautiful and wonderful parts of them 
 are within. Some of these hidden wonders are discovera- 
 ble to the diligent inquirer by means of dissections and by 
 the aid of glasses : but when the most ingenious investiga- 
 tor has extended his researches into the interior construc- 
 tion of any natural production to the utmost limits that 
 human means can conduct him, he must, if he is a wise 
 man, be convinced, that what he has thus discovered, is, 
 after all, but general and superficial, compared with the 
 greater wonders which still lie concealed within. The 
 most expert anatomist never, for instance, reached the seat 
 of the soul, — still less the principle of consciousness and life 
 of which the soul itself is merely the organ ; all which, and 
 even the material forms which are their first envelopes, 
 
46 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 still lie beyond the most subtile form that the gross obser- 
 vation of the senses can discover. The farther, however, 
 the observation of the senses can extend, the greater are 
 the wonders which appear. Just so it is with the Word 
 of God : and so it must be, if it has in reality God for its 
 Author. 
 
 An attention to one or two more unquestionable truths, 
 will make this fact more evident ; and will discover to us 
 with the utmost certainty, what must be the character of 
 a composition that is rightly named " the Word of God." 
 
 God, we know, is a Being Infinite and Eternal. He 
 made the world, and all things in it ; gifting, in particu- 
 lar, every living object with faculties suited to its nature, 
 or to the use it is designed to perform in the grand whole. 
 But although every thing in nature plainly bespeaks its 
 Divine Author, he has not, in any part of nature, a visible 
 existence. His immediate, personal residence, is far above 
 the sphere of this world, or of the universe, of nature, — 
 yea, above that of the worlds of spirit, the abodes of 
 angelic beings : "for behold, even the heavens, and the 
 heaven of heavens, cannot contain him :" — much less this 
 gross, material world, the lowest sphere of his divine ac- 
 tivities. 
 
 Now man, while he is an inhabitant of this natural 
 world, enjoys the gift of speech : and there can be no doubt 
 that he will retain this valuable endowment when he de- 
 parts hence, to move in a higher sphere of existence. In- 
 deed, there can be no doubt that this faculty must be en- 
 joyed, in some mode or other, by all orders of intelligent 
 creatures, from man on earth to the angels of the highest 
 heavens, and even up to the Creator himself, from whom 
 finite intelligences receive it. But as the personal forms 
 of angelic beings are not visible to the corporeal eye of 
 man in the world, so neither is their oral language audible 
 to his bodily ear. Hence the Apostle Paul informs the 
 Corinthians, that when he was caught up, as to his spirit, 
 to the third heaven, he heard there " unspeakable words* 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 47 
 
 such as it is not possible" (according to the marginal read- 
 ing of our bibles, which is allowed to give the true mean- 
 ing which the original word bears in this place ; — such as 
 it is not possible) " for man to utter." There cannot be a 
 plainer testimony to the difference between spiritual and 
 natural speech or language. While the Apostle was in 
 heaven and in company with the angels there, and was 
 thus, for the time, in a state similar to theirs ; he heard 
 and understood their discourse, and possibly took a share 
 in it : but when he returned into his natural state, as an 
 inhabitant of the natural world, though no doubt he re- 
 tained some of the general instruction which was commu- 
 nicated in the angelic discourse, as to the ideas, he found 
 he could recollect nothing of the words in which it was 
 conveyed to him, but only the conviction, that, by natural 
 organs, they were altogether ineffable. 
 
 If then the words of angels are such as are unspeakable 
 to man ; what must the words of God be, as they proceed 
 immediately from himself ? Doubtless, they must be far 
 above either the hearing or the comprehension of any 
 finite being ; and they must be immensely, indeed, beyond 
 the hearing or the comprehension of the inhabitants of the 
 natural world. Before they could become apprehensible 
 to them, they must pass through the spheres inhabited by 
 the higher orders of intelligent creatures, who would hear 
 them in their own spiritual language. For the Divine Be- 
 ing to speak, immediately from his own mouth, in natural 
 language, must be as impossible, as it is for him to appear 
 in all the glory of his Divine Person, before the natural 
 eye. Consequently, if the Word of God, as we have it, in 
 natural language, is really his Word, its literal sense must 
 be a covering, with which it is invested to adapt it to the 
 apprehension of the inhabitants of the natural world ; and 
 the essentially divine speech must lie concealed far within. 
 And as between the immediate personal residence of Deity 
 and outward nature, must be arranged the abodes of all in- 
 
43 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 termediate intelligences ; so between the immediate divine 
 speech of the Lord and the natural expressions into which 
 it falls when it descends into the domains of nature, must 
 be distinct forms of Divine Truth, adapted to the appre- 
 hension of all orders of angelic beings. 
 
 But to resume the analogy between the Word of God 
 and his works. From all that has been advanced it may- 
 be seen that to suppose the literal sense of the Word of 
 God, (upon the assumption that it is rightly so named,) to 
 be all that it contains, because nothing more is obvious to 
 a superficial inspection, is just as reasonable as to affirm, 
 that the human body consists of nothing but skin, because 
 this is all that meets the unassisted eye : but as the re- 
 searches of anatomists have assured us, that within the skin 
 which covers our frame there are innumerable forms of 
 use and beauty, each of which consists again of innumera- 
 ble vessels and fibres ; whilst, after science has carried her 
 discoveries to the utmost, the principle that imparts life to 
 the whole still eludes the search: so the letter of the Holy 
 Word, which may be regarded as its skin, includes within 
 it innumerable spiritual truths, adapted in some measure 
 to the apprehension of spiritually minded men, but more 
 completely to the intellects of purely spiritual beings ; 
 whilst the Essential Divine Wisdom which gives life to 
 the whole, is beyond the comprehension of the highest 
 finite intelligence, and can only be known to its Infinite 
 Original. And such must be the character of the whole of 
 the Word of God, — as well of those passages which afford 
 a clear, instructive sense in the letter, as of those which do 
 not : for the Word of God, to be truly so, must be like it- 
 self throughout, and must every where be composed upon 
 one uniform principle. Every mind that reflects deeply 
 upon the subject, will, I am persuaded, see, that to deny 
 the Holy Word to possess such contents as we have de- 
 scribed, is equivalent to denying it to have God for its au- 
 thor. It makes it nothing more than the word of men ; — 
 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 49 
 
 of men pious, perhaps, and enlightened, but still finite and 
 fallible. 
 
 Such then are the views to which even reason, fairly- 
 consulted, would lead us, when we inquire, what must be 
 the nature of a composition Avhich is really and truly the 
 Word of God. We must now then proceed to inquire, 
 how far these agree with the views which are presented by 
 the Writings which take that title, on the subject of their 
 own nature. 
 
 III. We continually find the Holy Word itself, in its 
 very letter, directing the reader to elevate his mind above 
 the merely literal expression, — above the natural ideas and 
 images which compose its outward language, — and to ex- 
 plore the deep and truly divine wisdom that is contained 
 within ; thus the very letter repeatedly assures us, that the 
 Word of God contains stores of wisdom in its bosom, in- 
 dependently of any thing that appears on the surface. This 
 testimony it bears to itself in all its parts, — in the books 
 of the Old Testament, in the discourses of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and in the writings of the Apostles. 
 
 Many plain intimations are afforded by the writers of 
 the Old Testament ; but I will just notice one or two in 
 the Psalms alone. 
 
 1. What can be meant by that passage in which the 
 Psalmist prays, u Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold 
 wondrous things out of thy law ?" # Is not this a plain 
 declaration, that the Law or VT ord of God does contain 
 within it wonderful things, which cannot be discerned 
 unless the eyes of the mind, or the intellectual faculties, be 
 opened to discern them ? — thus, things which do not ap- 
 pear immediately on the surface, but lie stored up within? 
 And that these wonderful things, or divine mysteries, are 
 not only contained in those parts which give outward indi- 
 
 * Pe. cxix. IS. 
 
50 
 
 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 cations of it by the obscurity and evidently mystical cha- 
 racter of the language in which they are expressed, but in 
 those parts likewise where the letter is perfectly plain and 
 simple, is openly declared in the 78th Psalm, which begins 
 with these words : " Give ear, my people, to my law, 
 incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open 
 my mouth in a parable, I will utter dark sayings of old." 
 Now nothing can appear more extraordinary, to those who 
 think of nothing further, when they read the Scriptures, 
 than what appears upon the face of them, than to find such 
 a declaration as this prefixed to such a composition as fol- 
 lows. When the writer has declared in so solemn a manner, 
 that he is about to open his mouth in a parable, to utter dark 
 sayings of old, the reader is naturally led to expect, in the 
 continuation of the Psalm, a series of mysterious language, 
 containing an enigma in every word. But what does fol- 
 low ? Nothing, whatever, but a very plain abridgment of 
 the history of the Israelites, from their departure out of 
 Egypt to the reign of David, couched in language that is 
 not even elevated by poetical figures, but appears to be the 
 natural style of sober matter of fact. Can there then be a 
 plainer declaration than this, that the whole of the Israel- 
 itish history has a parabolic meaning, — that the language 
 in which this history is given, plain and simple as it ap- 
 pears, is in reality a series of dark sayings? Every sentence 
 of a composition written in the style of this Psalm, which, 
 making allowance for the metrical arrangement, is similar 
 to that of the historical parts of Scripture in general, is, in 
 fact, more dark, in proportion as it outwardly appears 
 more plain. The hidden, spiritual meaning is, in reality, 
 rendered more recondite, by the plainness of the literal 
 historical meaning, the simplicity of which tends to chain 
 the attention to the narrative of facts, and to prevent it 
 from looking for any thing beyond. Let any person read 
 this Psalm, one of the plainest, in its literal sense, in the 
 whole book, and remember at the same time that the inspir- 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 51 
 
 ed writer is throughout speaking parables, — uttering dark 
 sayings ; — and he must confess that every literal expression 
 here contains a hidden meaning ; and, of course, that it is 
 at least highly probable, that the case is the same through- 
 out the Holy Word. 
 
 We find then from this testimony of David, that such is 
 the character of the law of Moses, and of the historical 
 narratives of the Old Testament ; — it will therefore be 
 more easily admitted, that such must be the character of 
 the prophetical books also. We proceed then to consider 
 the evidence of the New Testament on the subject ; and 
 we will begin with that of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 2. Were we to adduce all the testimony which is afford- 
 ed in the discourses of the Lord Jesus Christ to the spirit- 
 ual nature of the Scriptures, we should find ample matter 
 for a Lecture by itself ; wherefore we must confine our- 
 selves to a few instances. 
 
 One very strong testimony, but the force of which might 
 be overlooked by a reader who does not consider the pur- 
 port of the chief expressions, is given by Him when he 
 says, " Think not that I am come to destroy the law and 
 the prophets : I am not come to destroy but to fufil."* 
 Some have found it difficult to reconcile this declaration 
 with the fact, that the greater part of the Mosaic law actu- 
 ally was abolished by the establishment of Christianity, the 
 observance of it not being enjoined on Christians, and the 
 power of observing it being taken away even from the 
 Jews, by the destruction of their city and temple, where 
 alone the chief of the ceremonies could be performed. It 
 is indeed said, and with truth, that the whole of the cere- 
 monial law was fulfilled by Jesus Christ in his own person : 
 but this does not account for the abolition of it afterwards : 
 otherwise we must suppose the moral law, which he ful- 
 filled likewise, to be abolished also : and this has never 
 
 * Matt. v. 17. 
 
53 
 
 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 been asserted by any but the wildest Antinomian pervert- 
 ers of Divine Truth. It is besides evident, that he is not 
 here speaking of what was done in his own person, but of 
 what would be the effect of his doctrine, or of the illumi- 
 nation of the human mind which he came to impart. 
 When therefore Jesus Christ declares, that he came to ful- 
 fil the law and the prophets, he means that he came to 
 prevent them from being any longer regarded merely as to 
 their surface or shell ; to bring to light the divine things 
 with which they are inwardly filled ; and to establish a 
 church which should be in the exercise of that spiritual 
 worship, of which the carnal worship of the ceremonial 
 law was a figure or type. The word " fulfil," being now 
 no longer used except in its secondary senses, which are, 
 " to answer a prophecy or promise by performance," — 
 u to answer a desire by compliance," — " to answer a law 
 by obedience ;" — the English reader of the New Testa- 
 ment is apt to forget its primitive meaning, which is, to fill 
 full, — ct to fill till there is no room for more ;"* — which 
 also is the primitive and proper meaning of the Greek 
 word [«rX^ow] for which it is used : to fulfil the law, is then 
 to Jill it full ; — and this is, to discover the substance of 
 which the ceremonies were shadows, and the inward prin- 
 ciples from which the outward acts, even of the moral law, 
 must be performed. The Divine Speaker immediately pro- 
 ceeds to illustrate his meaning by examples. After referring 
 to the Mosaic prohibitions of murder and adultery, he pro- 
 ceeds to forbid all uncharitable sentiments and unclean 
 thoughts ; and after referring to the Mosaic law of retalia- 
 tion, he inculcates the most unbounded forbearance and 
 forgiveness : by which he instructs us, that those precepts 
 of the ancient law convey much more than the letter ex- 
 presses : that under the prohibition of murder, every de- 
 gree of hostile feeling is interdicted ; that the prohibition 
 
 Johnson. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 53 
 
 of adultery extends to every species of uncleanness ; and 
 that the law of retaliation is a representative appointment 
 only, exhibiting an immutable arrangement of the Divine 
 Order in the government of the universe, which is such, 
 that no evil can be practised or intended, without falling 
 eventually upon the contriver ; but that this law is reserv- 
 ed, as to its execution, to the Unerring Judge alone ; and 
 is not meant to be that by which man is to regulate his 
 conduct towards his trespassing brother. These then are 
 examples by which Jesus Christ shews, how, in the dis- 
 pensation which he came to institute, the law was to be 
 fulfilled ; in " the newness of the spirit, not in the oldness 
 of the letter :"* by introducing into the outward observ- 
 ance of the moral code the inward spirit and life ; and by 
 substituting for the ceremonial observances those vital 
 graces of which they were the types. It was thus that the 
 righteousness of the disciples of Jesus Christ was to exceed 
 the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, who thought 
 of nothing further than an outward obedience. 
 
 There are however other instances, in which Jesus 
 Christ still more plainly refers to the divine wisdom in- 
 cluded within the veil of the letter of the Holy Word. 
 What a remarkable statement is that, where it is said, after 
 his resurrection, when he discovered himself to his disci- 
 ples, " Then opened he their understandings, that they 
 might understand the Scriptures !"f Is it not plain from 
 this, that the Scriptures contain a hidden meaning, not 
 explicitly discovered in the letter, which cannot be Under- 
 stood unless the understanding be opened to perceive it ? 
 Thus this statement is a counterpart of the prayer of the 
 Psalmist before adverted to ; " Open thou mine eyes, that 
 I may behold wondrous things out of thy law :" and both 
 together illustrate that saying of Jesus Christ, " Verily I 
 say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men have 
 desired to see the things which ye see, and have not seen 
 
 * Rom. vii. 6. t Luko xxiv. 45. 
 
54 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 them, and to hear the things which ye hear, and have not 
 heard them :"* words which imply, that even the sincere 
 lovers of truth, who lived under the Jewish dispensation, 
 in which divine things were either enigmatically expressed 
 in the Sacred Writings, or darkly shadowed out in the 
 symbolic rites, could not have that clear understanding 
 and perception of heavenly mysteries, which were brought 
 to light by the coming of the Lord, and by that new illu- 
 mination of the understanding which he then afforded. 
 
 This plain distinction between the outward language in 
 which divine Truth is conveyed, and the divine wis- 
 dom which is included within it, is what is intended by 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, in that otherwise unintelligible ques- 
 tion and answer, which he proposes and gives, respecting 
 the obstinacy and blindness of the Jews. He says to them, 
 m Why do ye not understand my speech ?" and he answers 
 the question by adding, u Even because ye cannot hear my 
 word."f Here he makes a plain distinction between his 
 speech and his word. To a superficial reader the two ex- 
 pressions may appear synonimous : but to suppose that 
 they are so, is not only to impute the most insipid tautolo- 
 gy to the Divine Speaker, but the most palpable no-mean- 
 ing : for the whole sense of the declaration is concentrat- 
 ed in the difference which is pointed to between his 
 " speech' 1 and his " word." Understand by his " speech" 
 the outward expression and literal sense of his divine com- 
 munications, and by his " word," the pure truth which is 
 concealed within ; and the sense of the declaration at once 
 appears, and is to be found to be most weighty and im- 
 portant ; nor can any other interpretation render it worthy 
 of the Author. Here then we are clearly taught this most 
 momentous truth : that unless the hidden wisdom of the 
 Lord's divine communications be acknowledged and at- 
 tended to, the outward expression of them will never be 
 understood. 
 
 * Matt. xiii. 17. t John viii. 43. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 55 
 
 We will quote only one more testimony from the imme- 
 diate lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the sixth chapter 
 of John he holds a long discourse with the cavilling Jews, 
 couched entirely in those dark sayings which so generally 
 constitute the letter of the Holy Word. He tells them, 
 that He is the living bread which came down from heaven, 
 of which if a man eat he shall live for ever : to which he 
 adds, " And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which 
 I will give for the life of the world."* This puzzled the 
 Jews extremely, and they " strove among themselves, say- 
 ing, How can this man give us his flesh to eat ?" Jesus, 
 however, enforced his assertion, and " said unto them, 
 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of 
 the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in 
 you :" which affirmation he dwelt upon at some length. f 
 This confounded even many of his disciples, and they said, 
 " This is a hard saying : who can hear it ?";£ meaning, 
 Who can understand and receive such a paradox as this ? 
 But it is added, " When Jesus knew in himself that his 
 disciples murmured at it, He said, Doth this offend you ? 
 What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where 
 he was before ?" And he subjoins, as a key to the mys- 
 tery, u It is the spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth 
 nothing : the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, 
 and they are life."§ How is it possible to state more de- 
 cidedly, that it is the spiritual meaning of divine language 
 which is to be looked for, and that we are not to abide in 
 the gross, carnal interpretation ? And how plainly are we 
 hereby instructed, that the difficulties which stagger and 
 offend many, when they look at the mere outward cover- 
 ing, or " flesh" of the Divine Word, would disappear, 
 could they raise their ideas to a perception of its " spirit" 
 and its " life !" 
 
 It is clear enough then, from these declarations, what is 
 the nature of the words of Jesus Christ ; and also what is 
 
 * Ver. 51. t Ver. 52 to 58. } Ver. 60. § Ver. 61, 62, 63. 
 
56 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 the nature of the whole Word of God, if it really is the 
 "Word of God," God-breathed — " given by inspiration of 
 God :" viz. that it every where contains much more than 
 meets the eye or ear. We are now to see how far the 
 Apostles bear a similar testimony. 
 
 3. Not then to dwell upon that passage of Paul, in which 
 he says, that " the letter killeth, the spirit giveth life ;"* 
 although this might be shewn to be strong to our purpose ; 
 we will advert to a few of the numerous instances in which 
 this Apostle directs the attention of his readers to the 
 spiritual signification of the Scriptures of the Old Testa- 
 ment — those of the New being not then written ; or such 
 of them as were written not generally known. 
 
 Speaking of the pilgrimage of the children of Israel in 
 the wilderness, the Apostle states, that " they did all eat 
 of the same spiritual meat, and did all drink of the same 
 spiritual drink : for they drank of the spiritual rock that 
 followed them ; and that rock was Christ. "j Here we 
 are evidently taught, that something more was conveyed 
 by the manna which was given them from heaven, and the 
 water that was produced for them from the rock, than 
 merely natural food and drink for the support of the 
 body ; as also, that the rock itself, out of which the water 
 was obtained, was representative of the Rock of Ages : for 
 that the rock in Horeb was not literally Christ, is suffi- 
 ciently evident : yet the Apostle says, " and that rock was 
 Christ ;" he must mean then, that it was a representation, 
 figure, emblem, or type of Christ, who alone, as being 
 " the Truth,"J and " the Word,"§ can refresh the faint- 
 ing soul with streams of " living water,"|| which is an 
 emblem of pure Truth, communicated by the Word, from 
 Himself ? 
 
 The same Apostle gives a spiritual meaning of so appar- 
 ently plain a history as that of Abraham, his wife and 
 
 * 2 Cor. iii. 6. t 1 Cor. x. 34. * John xiv. 6. § John i. 1. 
 
 || John iv. 10 : vii. 38. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 57 
 
 concubine, and their sons, Isaac and Ishmael. " It is writ- 
 ten," he observes, " that Abraham had two sons, the one 
 by a bond-maid, the other by a free woman : but he who 
 was of the bond-woman was born after the flesh ; but he 
 of the free woman by promise. Which things," he con- 
 tinues, " are an allegory ;" and he accordingly explains 
 them, as being emblematical of the Israelitish and Chris- 
 tian dispensation.* Now if this plain narrative contains 
 an allegorical or inward meaning besides its literal or out- 
 ward sense, what reason can be given for doubting, that 
 the whole of the historical relations of the Divine Word 
 do the same ? If Isaac from his birth, was a type of the 
 Christian Dispensation in general, may we not conclude, 
 that the nation descending from him represented, in their 
 history, all the particulars of the same ? or, what is sub- 
 stantially the same thing, all the spiritual things belonging 
 to the Lord's true Church under every dispensation ? 
 This we have already seen, is taught us by David ; and 
 we shall see in the sequel, that there is abundantly more 
 scriptural evidence of the same great truth. 
 
 But we have not yet done with the testimony of Paul, 
 who inculcates this fact more explicitly still, because more 
 generally, when he says, " He is not a Jew which is one 
 outwardly ; neither is circumcision that which is outward 
 in the flesh : but he is a Jew which is one inwardly ; and 
 circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in 
 the letter, "f In these words we are clearly instructed, that 
 when the Jews are mentioned in Scripture, we are to under- 
 stand, not merely the descendants of the man named Ju- 
 dah, or the inhabitants of the country called Judaea, but 
 the member of the Lord's true church, under whatever 
 dispensation ; and that the initiatory rite of Judaism was 
 representative of the purification of the heart and its 
 affections ; as is also plainly declared by Moses himself.J 
 
 * Galatian? iv. 22. to end. t Rom. ii. 28, 29. t Dent. x. 16. eh. xxx. 6. 
 8 
 
58 
 
 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 Of the nature of the Mosaic writings, the Apostle gives 
 us several more examples in the Epistle to the Hebrews. 
 With What force of argument does he demonstrate, that 
 Melchizedeck was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ I* So, 
 how positively does he assert the typical nature of all the 
 ceremonial institutions ! Thus speaking of the priests, and 
 of the gifts which they offered according to the law, he 
 says, that they " serve unto the example" [y«o8er/iia. — pro- 
 perly, according to Schleusner, that which presents something 
 visible to the sight] u and shadow of heavenly things :" 
 which interpretation he confirms by adding, " as Moses 
 was admonished of God, wl en he was about to make the 
 tabernacle ; for, See, saith he, that thou make all thinsrs 
 according to the pattern [--n^o?] shewed to thee in the 
 mount. "f Soon after, taking up more particularly the 
 subject of the tabernacle constructed by Moses, he affirms, 
 that it " was a figure for the time then present :"f and he 
 presently calls the rituals of the tabernacle worship " the 
 
 * Chs. v. and vii. 
 
 t Heb. viii. 5. It is necessary to remark, that the words tutt^c in this 
 passage, and ayr/i-wToc in that to be noticed immediately, have mean- 
 ings exactly the reverse of those which the words type and antitype have 
 acquired in English. With the Apostle, the type is the pattern, and the anti- 
 type is that which, as a copy, answers to the type : but with us, the type is the 
 copy, and the antitype is the original, or pattern, of the type. This seems to 
 have originated in inaccurate writers confounding the Greek particle anti 
 with the Latin particle ante. To bear the popular meaning, the word should 
 be spelled antetype : though then it is an incongruous compound from two 
 languages. The ambiguity introduced by the translators in the use of the 
 word pattern, should also be noticed. In the passage above, they use it in the 
 sense to which it is now fixed, — as the original from which a copy is made : 
 but in the next quotation they use it in the sense, not of a pattern, but of a 
 copy taken from a pattern. It must further be noticed, that the word 
 avrirvroc, in the passage quoted below from Peter, does not mean an antitype 
 in either of the senses here explained, but something that answers to anotlur 
 thing of the same order as itself ; not as a copy to a pattern, or as a pattern 
 to a copy, but as two similar things of the same kind or degree, that exactly 
 match each other. 
 
 i Heb. ix. 0. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 59 
 
 patterns [yicoSsiyiuvra] of things in the heavens," and speaks 
 of them in contrast with " the heavenly things them- 
 selves ;"* immediately adding, that "the holy places 
 made with hands, are the figures [avnrwra] of the true."f 
 Agreeably to this view of the Mosaic rituals, he speaks 
 of " the law" as M having a shadow of good things to 
 come, and not the very image of the things :";£ where by 
 " the image," as has been judiciously remarked, he means, 
 what is respectively a substance ; — a solid statue being a 
 substance respectively to its own shadow. 
 
 We find then that the testimony of the Apostle Paul is 
 very copious and conclusive : He affirms the representa- 
 tive character of the persons mentioned in the Old Testa- 
 ment ; of all the particulars attending the celebration of 
 the Mosaic worship ; of the history of the Israelites in 
 general ; and, in fact, of every thing connected with that 
 people and church : and he repeatedly calls our attention 
 from the mere " letter" of Scripture, to the " spirit" that 
 resides within. 
 
 The epistolary writings of the other Apostles, and the re- 
 mains of their discourses, being small in extent, and almost 
 entirely occupied with practical exhortations, are less ex- 
 plicit on this subject. Peter, however, plainly discovers, 
 in two or three instances, what his sentiments respecting 
 it were. Thus, in his first sermon, he not only applies to 
 the gift of the spirit, which they had just received, the 
 following part of a prophecy of Joel, — ;c It shall come to 
 pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my spi- 
 rit upon all flesh ; and your sons and your daughters shall 
 prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your 
 old men shall dream dreams ; and on my servants and on 
 my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spi- 
 rit, and they shall prophesy :" — but he cites the remainder 
 of Joel's prediction also, as then receiving its accomplish- 
 ment ; — " And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and 
 
 * Heb. ix. 23. f Ver. 24. t Ch. x. 1. 
 
60 
 
 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 signs in the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and vapour of 
 smoke : the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the 
 moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the 
 Lord come."* Now although the words first quoted may- 
 be considered as bearing, in their literal sense, a relation 
 to the effusion of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, 
 it is only in a sense quite different from that of the letter, 
 that the other part of the prediction was then fulfilled. 
 
 The same Apostle assures us, that there is a symbolic 
 meaning in the history of Noah. Having mentioned the 
 ark, " wherein a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by 
 water ;" he adds, " the like figure [avnrutfov] -w hereunto, 
 even baptism, doth also now save us, (not the putting 
 away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good 
 conscience towards God,) by the resurrection of Jesus 
 Christ."! Here we are expressly told, that the waters of 
 Noah were as truly a figure of something spiritual, as are 
 the waters of baptism, these being the fellow-type to the, 
 other : their import is also briefly stated. 
 
 But not only does Peter mention particular instances in 
 which a spiritual sense is contained within the letter of the 
 Scriptures, but he also declares that this is the case univer- 
 sally, when he says, " We have also a more sure word of 
 prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as un- 
 to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and 
 the day-star arise, in your hearts :" — If he had concluded 
 here, he would have clearly described the fact, as it ex- 
 ists. The prophetic writings are called a light shining in a 
 dark place : how beautifully does this describe the differ- 
 ence between their literal expression and the divine wis- 
 dom within it ! — the light denoting the pure truth of their 
 inward meaning, and the dark place in which it shines the 
 obscurity of the letter, which is such, that, to discover the 
 light, devout contemplation is necessary, until it shines as 
 the day-star in our own minds also. But to make the fact 
 
 * Acts ii. 16 to 21. t 1 Pet. iii. 20, 21. See Note above, p. 83. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 61 
 
 more certain, and to encourage us to the study of the 
 Scriptures under this view of them, the apostle adds, 
 " Knowing this first ; that no prophecy of the Scripture is 
 of any private interpretation."* Now the Scriptures 
 would be of u private interpretation," if their meaning 
 were confined to the natural occurrences to which they 
 usually refer in their letter, — if nothing more were intend- 
 ed beyond the persons and things there commonly men- 
 tioned. I am not unapprized of the other modes in which 
 this statement has been explained ; but I am fully satisfied 
 that this is the only one which comes up to the apostle's 
 meaning. If regard is to be had to the context, both that 
 which precedes and that which follows, as well as to the 
 proper force of the words, the meaning surely must be that 
 which is quoted by Dr. Doddridge from Dr. Clarke and 
 Mr. Baxter, who understood the passage as if the apostle 
 had said, " Scripture is not to be interpreted merely as 
 speaking of the particular person of whom it literally 
 speaks ; but as having a further sense, to which the ex- 
 pressions of the prophets were overruled under the influ- 
 ence of the Spirit," &c. Evidently, if the meaning of the 
 Scriptures is not to be regarded as appropriated merely to 
 the persons and things of which they treat in their letter, 
 — if they thus are not of private but of universal interpre- 
 tation ; then they must contain an interior sense, a hidden 
 wisdom, adapted to the edification of every Christian in 
 every age of the world. 
 
 The evidence, then, to the nature of the Scriptures of the 
 Old Testament, is already very complete : but had all the 
 other writers of the New Testament been silent on the subject, 
 we still should have had sufficient information to guide our 
 judgment, in the book that closes the canon of Scripture. 
 In this book — the Revelation of John, how full is the tes- 
 timony which we find to the hidden wisdom contained in 
 
 * 2 Pet. i. 19, 20. 
 
62 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 all the affairs and writings relating to the Jewish dispensa- 
 tion ! It would, however, engage us too long, were we 
 to examine it in detail : suffice it then to say, that much of 
 the imagery of this book is taken from the state of things 
 which existed under the Mosaic law. Though written, 
 according to the best computations, upwards of twenty 
 years after the destruction of the city and temple of Jeru- 
 salem, it contains repeated mention of both ;* — as also of 
 the ark,f — of the altars of incensej and of burnt offerings§, 
 of the twelve tribes of Israel, || notwithstanding ten of them 
 had long before been entirely dispersed and mixed with 
 other nations ; besides many of the persons** and placesff 
 treated of in the sacred history of the Jews ; all which fur- 
 nish the writer with a copious store of imagery that is evi- 
 dently purely symbolic : how plain then is the inference, 
 that these things belonging to the circumstances of the 
 Jewish dispensation, and which are here incontrovertibly 
 used as mere symbols, bearing a spiritual meaning, were 
 equally symbols, and equally bore a spiritual meaning, 
 when they really existed in, or in the vicinity of, the land 
 of Canaan, and when they are spoken of in the letter of the 
 other books of Scripture. :J:f 
 
 Thus it is perfectly clear, that every thing relating to 
 the Jews as a people, typified something belonging, either 
 to the true Jews spoken of by Paul, who are such inwardly 
 in the spirit and not outwardly in the letter, or else to those 
 mentioned in the Revelation, " who say they are Jews and 
 are not ;"§§ in other words, either to the true or to the 
 merely professing members of the Church universal : and 
 as the whole of the Sacred Scriptures, in the literal sense, 
 refers to such things, it follows, that the whole of the Sa- 
 cred Scriptures contains an inward meaning distinct from 
 
 * Ch. iii. 12, xxi. 2, xi. 1, 19, xv. 5, 8, xvi. 1, 17. t Ch. xi. 19. f Ch. viii. 3. 
 § Ch. xi. 1. || Ch. vii. 4 to 8. ** Ch. ii. 14, 20, ch. iii. 7, v. 5, xi. 3, 4. (see 
 Zech. iv. 11 to 14 ) tt Ch. xi. 8, chs. xvii. and xviii. xxi. 2, <&c. $+ See this 
 argument farther deduced in the Appendix, No. I. § § Ch. ii. 9, iii. 9. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. G3 
 
 that of the the letter, — that they are replete with stores of 
 wisdom in their bosom, independently of what appears 
 upon the surface. And it follows further, that in form- 
 ing a judgment of their pretensions to inspiration, 
 we are to be guided by their inward contents, and not 
 solely by their outward form and appearance. To al- 
 lude again to the image used by the Lord Jesus Christ, we 
 are not to be offended at the u flesh," because we have not 
 discernment to discover "the spirit." 
 
 4. It having thus been so plainly taught by the Lord and 
 his apostles, that the Scriptures are, in their inward bosom, 
 spirit and life, it will be expected that the primitive Chris- 
 tian Church, which derived its ideas of the nature of the 
 Scriptures from the teaching of the apostles, must univer- 
 sally have allowed them to possess this character : and, ac- 
 cordingly, ecclesiastical history, and the writings of those 
 times which are still extant, shew that such was the case. 
 Indeed, no truth in history is more certain than this ; that 
 for at least fourteen or fifteen hundred years, few who re- 
 ceived the Scriptures at all, ever thought of denying that 
 they contained mysteries in their bosom which do not ap- 
 pear upon the surface. It is true that some were dissatis- 
 fied, and even disgusted, with the intepretations which 
 had been given by others, and rather sought to ascertain 
 the true literal sense than to explore what might lie be- 
 yond : but few ever thought of affirming, that nothing 
 beyond the letter was included in them. The accounts 
 which are contained in that well-known work, Mosheim's 
 Ecclesiastical History, abundantly prove this : and as it is 
 not our intention here to inquire what the interpretations 
 were, which, in consequence of their admission of a hid- 
 den sense, were given of Scripture by ancient Christian 
 writers, but only to establish the fact, that they believed 
 it to contain such a sense ; the statements of this author 
 will be sufficient for our purpose. 
 
64 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 (1.) Mosheim was himself one of the modern writers 
 who lay it down as a " golden rule," that the Scripture 
 contains but one sense, which is that of the letter ; on 
 which his translator, Dr. Maclaine, found it necessary to 
 remark, that " this golden rule will often be found defec- 
 tive and false,"* unless many exceptions be made to it. 
 Mosheim, however, was strongly attached to it; and hence 
 the opprobrious language which he uses in regard to all 
 who maintain the opposite opinion, must be received with 
 many grains of allowance. Such being his sentiments, he 
 evidently is much annoyed at being obliged to record, 
 that the belief of a hidden sense was universal in the pri- 
 mitive ages : he, however, does record it, though he de- 
 preciates the writings of those who adopt the principle. 
 Thus, speaking of the mode of interpreting Scripture in 
 the first century, he says, " It must be acknowledged, that 
 even in this century, several Christians adopted that ab- 
 surd and corrupt custom,- used among the Jews, of dark- 
 ening the plain words. of the Holy Scriptures by insipid 
 and forced allegories, and of drawing them violently from 
 their proper and natural signification, in order to extort 
 from them certain hidden and mysterious significations. 
 For a proof of this we need go no farther than the Epistle 
 of Barnabas, which is yet extant. "f It is well he did not 
 say " the epistles of Paul ;" for we have seen that Paul 
 quite as decidedly favoured the practice of drawing from 
 the plain words of Scripture, not, indeed, insipid and 
 forced allegories, but weighty and just ones ; and it must 
 be remembered, that Barnabas was an apostolical man, the 
 friend of Paul and the other Apostles, and sometimes call- 
 ed an Apostle himself ;J although then Barnabas might err 
 in his application of the general principle, — that there is a 
 hidden sense in the Scriptures, — we hardly can suppose 
 that he was mistaken in the principle itself. The intimate 
 
 * Cent. xvi. Sec. 3, Pt. % Ch. 1, § 16, Note (a), \ Cent. 1, Pt. 1. Ch. 3. § 3, 
 1 Acts, xiv. 14. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 65 
 
 friend of the Apostles must have known, whether this 
 principle was acknowledged by them, or not.* 
 
 When he comes to the second century, speaking of the 
 veneration with which the Holy Scriptures were then re- 
 garded, Dr. Mosheim says, that many employed their 
 " useful labours in explaining and interpreting them." As 
 the chief of these expositors he mentions Pantaenus, the 
 head of the Alexandrian school of divinity ; Clement of 
 Alexandria, whom he had before described as "the most 
 illustrious writer of this century, and the most justly re- 
 nowned for his various erudition, and his perfect ac- 
 quaintance with the ancient sages," and whose works, 
 " yet extant, abundantly show the extent of his learning, 
 and the force of his genius ;" Justin, " a man of eminent 
 piety and considerable learning, who from a pagan philo- 
 sopher became a Christian martyr ;" and Theophilus, 
 Bishop of Antioch, whose works are cc remarkable for 
 their erudition," though not for " their order and me- 
 thod :" and of these distinguished lights of the church he 
 says, that " they all attributed a double sense to the words 
 of Scripture, the one obvious and literal, the other hidden 
 and mysterious, which lay concealed, as it were, under the 
 veil of the outward letter."! 
 
 Proceeding to the third century, and commemorating 
 the pains then taken by some to multiply correct copies of 
 the Scriptures, he mentions the celebrated Origen in these 
 words : " But Origen surpassed all others in diligence and 
 assiduity ; and his famous HexaplaJ, though almost de- 
 
 * Mosheim, indeed, with some others, does not allow the author of the epis- 
 tle of Barnabas, to have been the Barnabas who was the companion of Paul ; 
 but upon no other grounds, than because he does not consider the epistle to be 
 worthy of such a man. He allows it, however, to be a production of the first 
 century ; and none of the early Christians seemed to have denied its being 
 genuine. 
 
 t Cent. 2, Pt. 2, Ch. 3, § 4, 5 ; and Ch. 2, § 5. 
 
 t A work in which he exhibited, at one view, six copies or versions of th« 
 Scriptures, after the manner of the modern Polyglottt. 
 
 9 
 
66 
 
 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 stroyed by the waste of time, will remain an eternal mo- 
 nument of the incredible application with which that great 
 man laboured to remove the obstacles which retarded the 
 progress of the gospel."* He had previously! given the 
 character of Origen in stronger terms still. Speaking of 
 the principal writers of the third century, he says, " The 
 most eminent of these, whether we consider the extent of 
 his fame, or the multiplicity of his labours, was Origen, a 
 presbyter and catechist of Alexandria ; a man of vast and 
 uncommon abilities, and the greatest luminary of the 
 Christian world that this age exhibited to view. Had the 
 justness of his judgment been equal to the immensity of 
 his genius, the fervour of his piety, his indefatigable pa- 
 tience, his extensive erudition, and his other eminent and 
 superior talents, all encomiums must have fallen short of 
 his merit. Yet such as he was, his virtues and his labours 
 deserve the admiration of all ages ; and his name will be 
 transmitted with honour through the annals of time, as 
 long as learning and genius shall be esteemed among men." 
 Higher eulogy could not easily be penned : and the re- 
 serve that is made on the score of his judgment, may fair- 
 ly be ascribed to the prejudice of the writer against any 
 but the literal interpretation of Scripture. No literary 
 pursuit requires a more accurate judgment than sacred 
 criticism : and Origen is universally allowed to have been 
 one of the most laborious and judicious critics that ever 
 lived. He was in no respect inferior to the Weststeins and 
 Griesbachs of our days, in that species of erudition and in- 
 dustry to which they devoted all their attention. He dis- 
 played the utmost diligence and acumen in fixing the text, 
 and ascertaining the literal sense of Scripture : but he did 
 not, like many who have followed him, in modern times, 
 in this walk of biblical literature, because he excelled in 
 it, extol it as the whole, or the highest. This great man, 
 
 * Cent. 3, Pt. 2, Ch, 3 ? § 4. t Ibid, Ch. 2, § 7. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C \!vtf : JW O*. 
 
 then, strenuously maintained that the chief wisdom in tl**ii i *^»_^J^ 
 Scriptures lies beyond the letter. " He alleged," to quote 
 again from Mosheim, " that the words of Scripture, were, 
 in many places, absolutely void of sense; and that thougb, 
 in others, there were indeed certain notions contained un- 
 der the outward terms according to their literal force and 
 import, yet it was not in these that the true meaning of 
 the sacred writers was to be sought, but in a mysterious 
 and hidden sense arising from the nature of the things 
 themselves."* Mosheim adds, " A prodigious number of in- 
 terpreters, both in this and the succeeding ages, followed 
 the method of Origen, though with some variation ; nor 
 could the few who explained the sacred writings with 
 judgment, and a true spirit of criticism," [so our author 
 is pleased to give his opinion ; though we have seen that 
 Origen himself was one of the greatest of critics,] u oppose, 
 with any success, the torrent of allegory that was over- 
 flowing the church."! Very strong testimony, this, as to 
 the state of opinion in those ages on the nature of the 
 Scriptures. And it must be kept in mind, that this is all 
 that we are concerned with. I undertake not to vindicate 
 the interpretations themselves, but only the general prin- 
 ciple which all such interpretations assume ; — that there is 
 in the Scriptures more than meets the eye. 
 
 But if I wouLd not vindicate the interpretations of these 
 early times, farther than as regards their general princi- 
 ple, still less would I defend, in any other respect, the ex- 
 positors of the following ages. It will not however be 
 without its interest and its use, if we take, from our au- 
 thor, a rapid sketch of the state of Scripture interpreta- 
 tion, through the succeeding ages, to the period of the 
 Reformation from Popery. 
 
 As after the third century many deviations from the 
 pure Christian doctrine and worship became general, it 
 cannot be deemed surprising if the interpreters of Scrip- 
 
 * Cent. 3, Pt. 2, Ch. 3, § 5. t Ibid. § 6. 
 
68 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 ture should be found to have fallen into serious errors, 
 and grievously to have misapplied the great general truth, 
 that the Scriptures contain a sense beyond that of the letter. 
 We find, however, that all the eminent names in the 
 church continued to adhere to this truth, with very few 
 exceptions, down to the age of Luther. The most learned 
 of the fathers of the fourth century, were Eusebius and Je- 
 rome ; and these Mosheim puts in his list of allegorical 
 interpreters : he claims Augustine as adhering to the let- 
 ter ; but he cannot mean that this father denied there to 
 be any thing beyond the letter ; since his writings contain 
 many beautiful spiritual interpretations. In the fifth cen- 
 tury he only gives the names of one or two who confined 
 themselves to the literal sense, as exceptions to the general 
 practice. In the sixth century the number of interpreters is 
 described as considerable : Among the Greeks, our author 
 states, the principal were Procopius of Gaza, Severus of 
 Antioch, and Julian ; and among the Latins, Gregory the 
 Great, Cassiodorus, Primasius, Isidore of Seville, and Bel- 
 lator. The commentators of this age, he affirms, may be 
 divided into two classes : the first of whom merely collect- 
 ed the interpretations of the ancient doctors of the church, 
 (who, we have already seen, proceeded in their writings 
 upon the admission of a spiritual sense,) which collections 
 afterwards acquired the technical name of. chains; and the 
 other class followed their own ideas, setting up Origen as 
 their great model. The seventh century produced but few 
 expositors : The Grecian doctors all followed the allegori- 
 cal mode : but " the Latins," says Mosheim, in his usual 
 sarcastic style, " were so diffident of their abilities, that 
 they did not dare to enter these allegorical labyrinths, 
 [under their own guidance, he means,] but contented 
 themselves with what flowers they could pluck out of the 
 rich collections of Gregory and Augustine." In the eighth 
 century, both the Greeks and Latins confined themselves 
 almost entirely to the task of compilation : but those who 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 69 
 
 framed any thing of their own, as Alcuin, Authpert, and 
 the venerable Bede, all men of the greatest abilities, always 
 sought for the u hidden and mystical meaning, which they 
 usually divided into allegorical, anagogical, and topolo- 
 gical." The same description applies to the writers of the 
 ninth century, with the partial exception of two, Druth- 
 mar, and Bertharius : Mosheim continues to divide the 
 rest into compilers and original authors ; and he thus de- 
 scribes the form which the system of Scripture-interpreta- 
 tion had now assumed : " The fundamental principle, in 
 which all the writers of this class [those who were not 
 mere compilers] agree, is, that, beside the literal significa- 
 tion of each passage in Scripture, there are hidden and 
 deep senses which escape the vulgar eye ; but they are not 
 agreed about the number of these mysterious significations. 
 Some attribute to every phrase three senses ; others four ; 
 others again five ; nay, their number is carried to seven, 
 by Angelome, a monk of Lisieux, an acute though fantas- 
 tic writer, and who is far from deserving the meanest 
 rank among. the expositors of this century." The tenth 
 century was an age of great darkness, which produced few 
 expositors of Scripture ; and these were chiefly mere com- 
 pilers. There were more writers in the eleventh century, 
 and of the same two classes. In the twelfth century the 
 number of interpreters is described as great, but, unless 
 Rupert of Duytz is to be considered as an exception, the 
 same character is given of them as before. " The Chris- 
 tian interpreters and commentators of the thirteenth century, 
 differ very little," says Mosheim, " from those of the pre- 
 ceding times. The greatest part of them pretended to 
 draw from the depths of truth, what they called the inter- 
 nal juice and marrow of the Scriptures, t. e. their hidden 
 and mysterious sense :" he adds, (and, I doubt not, cor- 
 rectly ; for I repeat, though I conceive their general prin- 
 ciple to be right, I readily concede that their application of 
 it was wrong,) " and this they did with so little dexterity, 
 
70 
 
 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 so little plausibility and invention, that most of their ex- 
 plications must appear insipid and nauseous to such as are 
 not entiiely destitute of judgment and taste." This I 
 quote, because he mentions as examples, beside Anthony 
 of Padua, our Archbishop Langton, and Hugo de St. Cher, 
 or Cardinal Hugh de St. Caro ; whence we see, as in for- 
 mer instances, that although the biblical expositions of 
 those days might be unsound, they often proceeded from 
 the most <olid judgments of the age, and from men who 
 deserved well of posterity. The common reader of the 
 Bible is indebted for the facility of finding and remember- 
 ing its various contents, to Archbishop Langton, who first 
 divided it into chapters, and who moreover is called 
 by Mosheim's translator, " a learned and polite author, 
 for the age in which he lived :" and the more diligent 
 student owes the help he derives from a Concordance, 
 to Cardinal Hugo, who compiled the first that ever was 
 made, and whose work has been the model of all the Con- 
 cordances which have followed, whether in Hebrew or 
 Greek, in Latin or English : he, likewise, had so much of 
 the sober-minded critic in his character, that he compiled 
 a very learned collection of the various readings of the 
 Hebrew, Greek, and Latin manuscripts of the Bible. In 
 the fourteenth century, except Nicholas de Lyra, all the 
 commentators followed the methods already explained : 
 and of those of the fifteenth century the same character is 
 given. This brings us to the era of the reformation ; 
 when the desire of receding as far as possible from the Ro- 
 man Catholics, who continued to adhere to the old system, 
 joined to disgust at the manner in which the doctrine of a 
 spiritual sense had been abused, by being applied to con- 
 firm the errors of the Roman Catholic church, induced 
 some of the Reformers to reject it ; though it has conti- 
 nued to have many eminent advocates among them to the 
 present day. If it could be shewn that the doctrine itself 
 was a corrupt invention of the Romish church, there 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 71 
 
 would be reason for rejecting it : but when it can be prov- 
 ed to have been the belief of the primitive ages, and this 
 because it is taught in the Scriptures themselves, we ought 
 to take the pains to separate the errors that have been 
 attached to it from the truth itself, and not reject both 
 together. As, during many ages, every thing connected 
 with religion suffered the most grievous perversion, it is 
 not to be wondered at that the same fate attended the spi- 
 ritual interpretation of the Scriptures : but to deny the 
 truth of the principle on this acconnt, is just as reasonable 
 as it would be to deny the truth of the declaration — u All 
 power is given to me in heaven and in earth ;"* — made 
 by the Lord Jesus Christ, because to this doctrine has been 
 attached the monstrous appendage, that the Pope is his 
 Vicar. 
 
 I will conclude this statement of the sentiments of the 
 primitive and middle ages on the subject of Scripture-in- 
 terpretation, in the words of two eminent luminaries of 
 the Anglican Church. Archbishop Wake, one of the most 
 learned and pious prelates that ever sate in the English 
 Metropolitan Chair, in the introduction to his translation 
 of " the Genuine Epistles of the Apostolical Fathers," has 
 some remarks in defence of the spiritual exposition of 
 Scripture, and of Barnabas in particular. He says,f U I 
 need not say how general a way this was of interpreting 
 Scripture in the time that St. Barnabas lived. To omit 
 Origen, who has been noted as excessive in it, and for 
 whom, yet, the learned Huetius has lately made a reason- 
 able apology ; who has ever shewn a more diffusive 
 knowledge than Clemens Alsxandrinus has done in all his 
 composures ? and yet in his works we find tiie very same 
 method taken of interpreting the Holy Scriptures, and 
 that without any reproach either to his learning or judg- 
 ment. What author has been more generally applauded 
 
 * Matt, xxviii. 13. t Ch. vii. § 25. 
 
72 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 for his admirable piety than that other Clement, [Clemens 
 Romanus, a disciple and " fellow labourer 1 '* of Paul,] 
 Avhose epistle to the Corinthians I have here inserted ? 
 and yet in that plain piece we meet with more than one 
 instance of the same kind of interpretation ; which was 
 nevertheless admire I by the best and most primitive 
 Christians." So Bishop Home, in the Preface to hi9 
 Commentary on the Psalms, speaking of the testimony of 
 the ancients, has these words : " They are unexception- 
 able witnesses to us of this matter of fact : that such a 
 spiritual method of interpreting the Scriptures, did uni- 
 versally prevail in the c'uirch from the beginning." 
 
 So far then as authority is to be consulted in the deci- 
 sion of such a question, the weight of evidence for the spi- 
 ritual sense of the Scriptures is irresistible. What regard 
 is to be had to the doubts of a few moderns, when opposed 
 to the unanimous decision of all antiquity, — to the unvary- 
 ing acknowledgment of so many ages ? Although, through 
 part of its course, the doctrine of spiritual interpretation 
 may have been rendered less clear by the foulness of the 
 channel through which it flowed ; and although it has, in 
 modern times, been made less distinguishable by a mixture 
 of other waters ; it unquestionably had its rise in the vir- 
 gin days of Christianity : Unless then it is to be contended, 
 that the farther from the fountain, the purer the stream, 
 it must be admitted, that the doctrine of spiritual interpre- 
 tation is the pure doctrine of the Christian church. 
 
 (2.) The Reformation from Popery introduced in the 
 Christian church a great variety of opinions ; and it would 
 be a very extensive task to trace, through the numerous 
 sects which have thus sprung up, the fluctuations of senti- 
 ment in regard to the principles of Scripture-interpreta- 
 tion. And the task would be nearly as unprofitable as it 
 would be tedious : since the opinions of the moderns can 
 
 * Phil. iv. 3. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 73 
 
 have no other weight, than that which they derive from 
 their evident reasonableness and agreement with Scrip- 
 ture : as authority, they have none. I shall confine myself 
 therefore to a few English testimonies ; only observing, 
 once for all, of the modern writers in general, that while 
 the ancients generally believed the spiritual sense to extend 
 throughout the Scriptures, few of the moderns allow it 
 this complete universality ; on the other hand, while many 
 of these deny its existence generally, few of them refuse to 
 admit it in particular instances. This qualification then 
 must be applied to the testimonies I shall adduce from 
 them in favour of a spiritual sense ; but we shall see in the 
 sequel, that, if we make the admission at all, we must, with 
 the ancients, make it universal. 
 
 As the most recent of modern testimonies of importance, 
 I select that of the Rev. T. H. Home, with an older author 
 or two cited by him : we shall also have occasion to refer 
 to other authorities in our subsequent Lectures. In his 
 laborious " Introduction to the Critical Study and Know- 
 ledge of the Holy Scriptures," — a work which has rapid- 
 ly passed through three editions, and has been received 
 with the general applause of biblical students, Mr. Home 
 expresses himself thus : " the spiritual interpretation of 
 Scripture has been as much depreciated by some commen- 
 tators and biblical critics as it has been exaggerated and 
 carried to the extreme by others : but if the argument 
 against a thing from the possibility of its being abused be 
 inadmissible in questions of a secular nature, it is equally 
 inadmissible in the exposition of the Sacred Writings. 
 All our ideas are admitted through the medium of the 
 senses ; and consequently refer, in the first place, to exter- 
 nal objects : but no sooner are we convinced that we pos- 
 sess an immaterial soul or spirit, than we find occasion for 
 other terms, or, for want of these, another application of 
 the same terms to a different class of objects : and hence 
 arises the necessity of resorting to figurative and spiritual 
 10 
 
74 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 interpretation. Now, the object of revelation being to 
 make known things which 'eye hath not seen, nor ear 
 heard, nor have entered into the heart of man to conceive,' 
 it seems hardly possible that the human mind should be 
 capable of apprehending them, but through the medium of 
 figurative language or mystical representations. "* In this 
 passage, as it appears to me, the question is placed upon 
 exactly the right ground ; and a clue is at the same time 
 given to the discovery of the law or rule according to 
 which the Scriptures are written, and by which their 
 spiritual sense is to be decyphered. It is perfectly true 
 that our ideas are received, in the first instance, by the 
 instrumentality of the senses : these, however, can bring 
 us acquainted with none but external and sensible objects ; 
 the images of which, thus obtained, become, nevertheless, 
 the basis of all our future thoughts, and, in numberless in- 
 stances, are transferred from their primary notions, and 
 used as the signs of totally different things. It has been 
 objected by infidels, that as all our ideas have a reference 
 to the objects of outward nature, and we cannot think even 
 of immaterial things without the help of images thence 
 compounded, this is a proof that nothing but nature has a 
 real existence, and that all beyond is purely the creature 
 of the imagination : but this is a most gratuitous assump- 
 tion : the true statement of the case would be, that there 
 is between material and immaterial objects such a sort of 
 regular analogy, that the former present the most appro- 
 priate signs for the expression of the latter. We shall see 
 in the sequel, that it is by this immutable principle that 
 the Word of God is written. Mr. Home has established 
 this truth by a beautiful quotation from Dr. John Clarke, 
 who states it thus : 
 
 " The foundation of religion and virtue being laid in 
 the mind and heart, the secret dispositions and genuine 
 acts of which are invisible, and known only to a man 1 * 
 
 * Vol. 2, Pr.2, Ch. 1, § 5. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 15 
 
 self ; therefore the powers and operations of the mind can 
 only be expressed in figurative terms and external symbols. 
 The motives, also, and inducements to practice, are spirit- 
 ual, such as affect man in a way of moral influence, and 
 not of natural efficiency; the principal of which are drawn 
 from the consideration of a future state ; and, consequent- 
 ly, these, likewise, must be represented by allegories and si- 
 militudes, taken from things most known and familiar 
 here. And thus we find in Scripture the state of religion 
 illustrated by all the beautiful images we can conceive. — 
 In the interpretation of places, in which any of these im- 
 ages are contained, the principal regard is to be had to the 
 figurative or spiritual, and not to the literal sense of the 
 words. — Of this nature are all the rites and ceremonies 
 prescribed to the Jews, with relation to the external form 
 of religious worship ; every one of which was intended to 
 shew the obligation, or recommend the practice, of some 
 moral duty, and was esteemed of no farther use than as it 
 produced that effect. And the same may be applied to 
 the rewards and punishments peculiar to the Christian dis- 
 pensation, which regard a future state. The rewards are 
 set forth by those tilings in which the generality of men 
 take their greatest delight; — and the punishments are such 
 as are inflicted by human laws upon the worst of malefac- 
 tors : but they can neither of them be understood in the 
 strictly literal sense, but only by way of analogy, and corres- 
 ponding in the general nature and intention of the thing, 
 though very different in kind."* 
 
 " But," adds Mr. Home, " independently of the able 
 argument a priori, here cited, in favour of the mediate, 
 mystical, or spiritual interpretation of the Scriptures, un- 
 less such interpretation be admitted" [in conjunction, he 
 means, with the truth of the literal sense,] " we cannot," 
 [in the conclusive words of the late Bishop of Calcutta,] 
 
 * Folio Collection of Boyle's Lectures, vol. iii. p. 229. 
 
76 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 14 avoid one of two great difficulties : for either we must 
 assert, that the multitude of applications made by Christ 
 and his apostles, are fanciful and unauthorized, and whol- 
 ly inadequate to prove the points for which they are quot- 
 ed ; or, on the other hand, we must believe, that the ob- 
 vious and natural sense of such passages was never intend- 
 ed, and that it is a mere illusion. The Christian will ob- 
 ject to the former of these positions ; the Philosopher and 
 the Critic will not readily assent to the latter."* This 
 powerful writer says again, in a passage not quoted by 
 Home, that, without such a two-fold explanation, " it 
 will be impossible to place any of the citations in the New 
 Testament, except, indeed, direct and avowed prophecies, 
 on any better footing than that of being accidentally appo- 
 site to the occasion. A quotation from the Psalms, by St. 
 Paul, will not, in its application, possess any advantage 
 over a quotation from Horace by Addison. "f 
 
 Here then I am contented to rest my case, in regard to 
 the question, of the propriety of claiming for the Scrip- 
 tures a spiritual sense, upon the supposition that they are 
 rightly designated " the Word of God." If philosophy, 
 and the immutable nature of things, are to be consulted, 
 u the Word of God" must contain such a sense within it. 
 If the testimony which the Scriptures bear to themselves 
 is to be regarded, they do contain such a sense. If " the 
 multitude of applications" made of texts " by Christ and 
 his Apostles" was not " fanciful and unauthorized," the 
 double sense of Scripture is irrefragably established. If 
 the concurrent acknowledgment of all who lived in the 
 best days of Christianity is of any authority, we are con- 
 strained to admit this sense. If the preservation of this 
 acknowledgment through so many centuries, even through 
 the ages of the greatest darkness, when the sentiments aris- 
 
 * poet, of Greek Article, p. 580. t Ibid. p. 588. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 77 
 
 ing from it, together with all the doctrines of the Christ- 
 ian religion, suffered gross perversion ; — if this, neverthe- 
 less, is an index that points to the source whence the ac- 
 knowledgment was derived; — then is the doctrine that the 
 Scriptures do contain such a sense, a fundamental doctrine 
 of the true Christian religion. And, finally, if the force 
 of truth has pointed out this conclusion to the most intel- 
 ligent of the moderns ; if these, after throwing off the 
 trammels of authority, and recurring to the original 
 sources, are constrained to confess, that the spiritual sense 
 of the Scriptures cannot he denied, without denying their 
 truth altogether : assuredly we ought to embrace the doc- 
 trine, as we would embrace the palladium of the Christian 
 faith. We shall find in the end, that, when rightly appre- 
 hended, it will prove a palladium indeed, by its power of 
 preserving the Christian faith from the assaults of its op- 
 ponents. 
 
 IV. But, as has already been observed, though the tes- 
 timony to the fact, that the Word of God contains stores 
 of Avisdom in its bosom, independently of what appears on 
 the surface, is so ample, objections, during two or three 
 centuries past, have been made to it, and its credit has 
 gradually diminished. The belief in the spiritual sense of 
 Scripture, has run parallel with that of its plenary inspi- 
 ration : as this has declined, so has the other. Indeed, 
 they are inseparably connected : for, as we have seen, if 
 the Word of God is written by a plenary divine inspira- 
 tion, it must contain interior treasures within its outward 
 shell, necessarily formed there by its descent from the In- 
 most of all things into the world of nature ; whereas if it 
 is not so written, it cannot include such hidden wisdom ; 
 at least, whatever it must thus contain beyond the letter, 
 would be, in the latter case, the result of artificial contriv- 
 ance in the writers, not, as in the former, naturally inhe- 
 rent in writings so imparted : and the looking at the spi- 
 ritual sense thus, as a merely artificial contrivance, has 
 
73 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 greatly helped to bring it into doubt. We have seen, al- 
 so, that the expositions of this sense usually offered, have 
 not been such as were adapted to recommend it. Things 
 of little moment, savouring only of the little minds of 
 men, and quite unworthy of the wisdom of Deity, have 
 too generally been produced as spiritual interpretations : 
 and where more elevated ideas have been presented, satis- 
 factory reasons not being assigned for them, they, also, 
 were liable to be ascribed to the mere fancy of the writers. 
 Among the explications thus offered, there was likewise an 
 endless variety, and generally as much disagreement. 
 When, therefore, so much error was thus mixed up with 
 the practice of spiritual interpretation, it was not extraor- 
 dinary that, however true in itself, discredit should in 
 time be thrown upon the principle also. Thus many be- 
 gan to shut their eyes to the Scripture testimonies in its 
 favour ; to regard it merely as opening a door to uncer- 
 tainty and confusion ; and to insist that the letter of the 
 Holy Word should alone be studied, as the only basis of 
 certainty, and as containing, in fact, all that was intended 
 to be revealed. 
 
 Nothing can be farther from my intention, than to de- 
 preciate, in the slighest degree, the literal sense of the 
 Scriptures, or the importance of studying it with dili- 
 gence : on the contrary, I am fully sensible of the obliga- 
 tions which the Christian world owes to the learned mo- 
 derns, who have endeavoured to revive a knowledge of 
 the original languages of Holy Writ, and to restore the 
 true import of its words and phrases. Their labours have 
 furnished the biblical student of our days with more effi- 
 cient helps to the right understanding of the letter of the 
 sacred pages, than have been before enjoyed since the 
 times when Hebrew and Greek were living languages: and 
 if the partial neglect, or even denial, of the spiritual sense, 
 was necessary to turn men's minds to the study of the lite- 
 ral sense, with the concentration of powers necessary to its 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 79 
 
 complete elucidation ; we may see, in the end for which 
 this was permitted, an object worthy of Divine Provi- 
 dence ; for we see the means hereby provided, by which 
 the study of the spiritual sense may be placed on a safer 
 basis than it ever stood upon before. Most heartily do I 
 concur in the observation of Bishop Lowth, that " the 
 deep and recondite senses" of Scripture " must owe all 
 their weight and solidity to the just and accurate inter- 
 pretation of the words. For whatever senses are supposed 
 to be included in the Prophet's words, Spiritual, Mystical, 
 Allegorical, Analogical, or the like, they must all entirely 
 depend on the literal sense. This is the only foundation 
 upon which such interpretations can be securely raised ; 
 and if this is not firmly and well established, all that is 
 built upon it will fall to the ground."* Every one must 
 also admit the following remark to be equally true and 
 candid : " Strange and absurd deductions of notions and 
 ideas, foreign to the author's drift and design, will often 
 arise from the invention of Commentators, who have no- 
 thing but an inaccurate translation to work upon. This 
 was the case of the generality of the Fathers of the Christ- 
 ian Church, who wrote comments upon the Old Testa- 
 ment : and it is no wonder, that we find them of so little 
 service in leading us into the true meaning and deep sense 
 of the Prophetic Writings." Whoever then assists us bet- 
 ter to understand the letter of the Scriptures, is entitled to 
 our thanks; and to our forgiveness if, while intent on this, 
 he should have undervalued their spirit. 
 
 But the literal sense of Scripture, and the right under- 
 standing of it, have also important uses of their own, in- 
 dependently of that which they furnish in yielding a foun- 
 dation for the higher meaning to rest on. Although there 
 is a great part of the Word of God, which, without the 
 spiritual sense, would be quite useless as to any spiritual 
 
 * Lowth's Tgaiah. Prel. Dis. 
 
80 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 improvement, yet there are other parts in which the most 
 important truths are presented to view in the very letter ; 
 and this in sufficient abundance to establish all the points 
 of faith that ought to be insisted upon in the codes of 
 Christian instruction. Unquestionably, all doctrine should 
 be drawn from the literal sense, and proved by it: by this, 
 likewise, should all controversies be decided: and nothing 
 which cannot thus be shown and established, should be 
 considered as binding upon the conscience of any one : 
 otherwise, there would indeed be reason to complain of 
 uncertainty in regard to the foundations of our faith; since 
 the spiritual sense of any particular text, though capable 
 of being clearly exhibited to the intellectual eye, can never 
 appear so unquestionable to a mind that judges solely on 
 the evidence of the senses, as a statement of the same truth 
 in plain words. The letter of the Holy Word is therefore 
 so constructed, that the doctrines most necessary to salva- 
 tion may therein be openly discerned. Although the di- 
 vine truth and wisdom contained in the Scriptures, only 
 shine with all their glory in the spiritual sense, they do 
 not assume their full power, till they appear in a plain 
 statement in the letter; as the energies of the human mind, 
 assume, as their instrument of action, the human hand. 
 We have compared, in a former part of this Lecture, the 
 letter of the Word of God to the skin that covers the 
 body, and its hidden contents to the interior organs and 
 members ; but, to illustrate the present subject, the Holy 
 Word in general may be compared to a beautiful female, 
 clothed in becoming drapery, but whose face and hands 
 remain uncovered : thus, while the greater part of the let- 
 ter of the Scriptures consists of truths veiled over by natu- 
 ral images, which cannot be decyphered without a key, 
 the things most indispensable to be known are openly dis- 
 played. 
 
 The spiritual sense of Scripture is not however without 
 its use, in the framing of systems of doctrine also : but its 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 81 
 
 use here will be, not to present the truths which are to be 
 believed, independently of the statements of the letter, but 
 to prevent us from mistaking one of the two classes of pas- 
 sages just alluded to for the other, and thus bringing pro- 
 minently forward, and understanding according to their 
 outward expression, some obscure texts, as if (to carry on 
 our comparison) they belonged to an important feature of 
 the face, while they form part, in reality, of the skirt of 
 the garment. Every one knows that there are statements 
 in the Scriptures which appear to be in opposition to each 
 other ; as when it is sometimes said of the Divine Being, 
 that he repenteth,* and at others, that he repenteth not.f 
 It is evident that both these assertions cannot be true in 
 the same sense : and yet, if they equally form part of the 
 Word of God, they must both be true in some sense: what 
 then is the plain inference, but that the one passage delivers 
 the naked truth, the other, the truth covered with the veil of 
 a mere appearance taken from human ideas? In both de- 
 clarations, a spiritual sense is included : but in the one it 
 only exalts and extends, in the other it is required to cor- 
 rect and rectify, the statement of the letter. Deny any 
 sense beyond the letter, and you fix such passages in irre- 
 concilable opposition: you have then no alternative, if you 
 still believe the Scriptures to contain a system of truth, 
 but to fix your attention wholly on the one class of pas- 
 sages, and slur over the other without notice : and you 
 may even select for your preference the class of passages 
 which present the truth under a veil, and may confirm in 
 your mind, as the genuine truth, the outward enigmatical 
 expression, to the neglect of the truth itself, which other 
 passages openly discover. This has been the immediate 
 origin (though not the final cause,) of all the mistakes, 
 which, in various ages, have been obtruded on the world 
 as the doctrines of the Scriptures: — an insight into the in- 
 
 * Gen. vi. 6. t Numb, xxiii. 19. 
 
 11 
 
82 
 
 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 terior meaning of the Sacred Word would have corrected 
 them at once. 
 
 We see then, on the one hand, that the most devoted 
 adherents to the letter of Scripture need not oppose the 
 belief of its containing a farther sense besides, under the 
 apprehension, that this would abolish the former : so far 
 from making void the letter, by viewing it in connexion 
 with the spirit, we thereby establish the letter. On the 
 other hand we see, that a reference to the spiritual sense 
 is highly requisite, to secure us from error in the inter- 
 pretation of the literal. Like soul and body, they are 
 equally necessary to each other. As the soul, without the 
 body, could not make its existence perceptible in the world 
 of nature; so neither could the spiritual sense of the Scrip- 
 tures, without the letter, be communicated to the inhabit- 
 ants of the natural world : and as the body, without the 
 soul, would be void of life; so would be the letter of Scrip- 
 ture, if entirely separate from its spirit. It is the translu- 
 cence of the spirit through the letter which makes this the 
 vehicle of conveying divine truth to the mind, and which 
 presents the truth, in greater or less fulness, even to those 
 who deny its distinct existence ; just as the body of man 
 derives from the soul the life it exhibits, even in the ca*e 
 of the materialist, who will not believe that he has a soul 
 within him. There must be an animating principle some- 
 where ; and the inquiry must be highly important which 
 would teach us what it is. 
 
 But many fear to admit this idea, in regard to the Scrip- 
 tures, under the impression, that any departure from the 
 letter must necessarily introduce uncertainty and confu- 
 sion. The objection would be well founded, if no rule 
 could be laid down of general application, but we were to 
 be left to mere conjecture, every expositor being guided 
 solely by his own fancy ; in which case, although, like 
 Justin Martyr,* he might be persuaded that he had been 
 
 * Dial. Par 2, p. 352, 390. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 83 
 
 endowed with a special gift for understanding the Scrip- 
 tures, others, not seeing any reason for his explanations, 
 must be prone to doubt their truth. But could it be 
 shewn that the Scriptures are written throughout accord- 
 ing to an immutable Law or Rule, a knowledge of which 
 would, in explaining them, substitute certainty for con- 
 jecture and cut off the sources of vague interpretation : — 
 then this objection, which is the only plausible one, against 
 their containing a spiritual sense, falls immediately to the 
 ground. That they must be written upon one uniform 
 principle, follows as a necessary consequence, upon the 
 supposition that they proceeded from a plenary divine in- 
 spiration : that they are thus written, and what the Law or 
 Rule is according to which they are written, we shall en- 
 deavour to evince in our subsequent Lectures. 
 
 Here then we pause for the present. The questions 
 which have been considered in this Lecture are highly im- 
 portant : we have reviewed them at some length : and I 
 hope sufficient reason has been shewn, to incline every se- 
 rious and candid mind to determine them in the affirma- 
 tive. At least, I cannot think I am myself deceived so far, 
 as to be following an error which has nothing to give it 
 the air of truth : I cannot but believe, that reasons which 
 appear to me to establish beyond all doubt the spiritual 
 sense of the Scriptures, must at least appear to others of 
 sufficient weight to entitle the subject to a full and fair 
 examination. This is all that I solicit. I trust that every 
 Christian will be ready, on sufficient evidence, to accept 
 views which tend so immensely to exalt in his estimation 
 the Word of God ; and that the Deist also will listen at- 
 tentively to considerations, which, if true, prove it to be 
 the Word of God indeed. 
 
LECTURE IIL 
 
 THE LAW OR RULE EXPLAINED ACCORDING TO WHICH THE 
 SCRIPTURES ARE WRITTEN. 
 
 Preliminary remark, on the Reasons why the Scriptures are not 
 written in plainer language — Short Recapitulation. I. Jl 
 Universal Rule of Interpretation afforded in the Mutual Rela- 
 tion, ivhich exists by creation, between things natural or mate- 
 rial, spiritual or moral, and divine. II. The nature of this 
 Relation considered : — 1. The whole Universe an out-birth 
 from the Deity whence it bears, in all its parts, an immutable 
 relation to the attributes ivhich belong to the Divine Essence. 
 — 2. That on all things belonging to the moral, intellectual, 
 and spiritual worlds, the Divine Creator has thus first stamped 
 a certain image of himself: — 3. And that he has done the 
 same, though under a totally different form, en all the objects 
 of outward and material nature : — 4. Whence all things in 
 Nature, being outward productions from inward essences, are 
 natural, sensible, and material types of moral, intellectual, and 
 spiritual antitypes, and finally of their prototypes in God. III. 
 That, were the Relation between these different orders of exist- 
 ences fully understood, a style of writing might be constructed, 
 in which, while none but natural images were used, purely in- 
 tellectual ideas should be most fully expressed. — 1 . That this 
 is in a great measure intuitively perceived by all mankind, and 
 is the origin of many forms of speech in common use. — 2. 
 Palpable instances of the occurrence of such forms of speech in 
 the Holy Word. — IV. That in ancient times this constant Re- 
 lation between things natural, moral or spiritual, and divine, 
 
PLENARY INSPIRATION, &C. 85 
 
 was extensively understood ; — 1 . Proved from intimations 
 in the historical parts of Scripture. 2. Confirmatory re- 
 marks, drawn from the mythological fables of the Greeks and 
 Asiatics, and the Hieroglyphics oj Egypt. — V. That in this 
 Relation, then, is to be found the Law or Rule according to 
 which the Scriptures are written, and that a knowledge of it 
 will afford the key by which their " dark sayings'^ must be 
 decyphered. 
 
 We now approach a part of our inquiry of the very- 
 greatest importance ; for we are now to investigate what 
 the Law or Rule is, by which the Holy Sen] tures or 
 Word of God are written ; and this, being a subject of 
 deep investigation, will require to be gone into with very 
 close and serious attention., It is not indeed, in itself, ex- 
 tremely difficult of co i prehension : on the contrary, 1 am 
 satisfied that it is capable of being made very plain and 
 easy ; and even, if sufficient attention be given, that the 
 arguments and instances by which it may be supported, 
 will be found as interesting, as the subject itself is great 
 and important : but it is usual with many, in this superfi- 
 cial age, to be indisposed to any inquiry that requires the 
 exercise of fixed attention. Especially on the subject of 
 religion, it is common, with great numbers, to be unwill- 
 ing to regard any thing which is not obvious at first sight. 
 Indeed, this forms one of the objections of Deists against 
 the Christian Revelation in general ; and will perhaps be 
 still more positively urged against the view of it, which 
 we are endeavouring to establish : we will therefore here 
 meet it with a few remarks. 
 
 The Scriptures contain many things, the Deists allege, 
 which, it is allowed on all hands, are hard to be under- 
 stood ; if then the belief of them is so important to man's 
 welfare, why, they demand, is not some standing miracle 
 
86 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 wrought to assure us of their truth ? And one of the most 
 determined infidels has insolently suggested, as a suitable 
 expedient,* that God ought to cause a permanent inscrip- 
 tion to appear on the face of the sun, assuring mankind, 
 through all countries and all ages, that the Scriptures are 
 true. But they who propose such expedients as these, 
 only shew how utterly ignorant they are, both of the na- 
 ture of God, and of the nature of man ; and how destitute 
 they are of any idea of the laws of infinite wisdom, by 
 which God regulates his dealings with man. A conviction 
 forced upon man against his will, would not be permanent, 
 nor really beneficial to him ; but, on the contrary, it 
 would expose him to the danger of incurring far greater 
 guilt than he can possibly rush into while he is left to the 
 uncontrolled exercise of his own freedom, and while the 
 light of Divine Truth is not poured on his mind with such 
 lustre, as absolutely to compel his assent. It is for this 
 reason, among others, that divine revelation is always 
 couched in language that is in a great measure parabolic 
 and obscure. Though capable of being easily understood, 
 at least as to every thing essential, by those who are in- 
 fluenced by a sincere desire to know the will of God in 
 order that they may do it, — according to the divine de- 
 claration of Jesus Christ — u If any man will do his will, 
 he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God ;"f — 
 it yet is not made so plain throughout, as to aggravate the 
 condemnation of those, who, being indisposed to do his 
 will, and only anxious to find pretences to free themselves 
 from the obligation of doing it, would be, in fact, the 
 more offended at any revelation, just in proportion as 
 they found it more difficult to devise plausible reasons for 
 denying its authority. The former class of persons — the 
 humble inquirers, — are meant by the disciples, and the 
 latter — the pertinacious cavillers, — by the " others,'' or 
 
 * Paine, Age of Reason, Part 3. f John vii. 17. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 87 
 
 " them that are without," in that saying of Jesus Christ in 
 which he developes the law of Divine Mercy and Wisdom 
 on this subject : " To you," he says, addressing the disci- 
 ples, " it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom 
 of heaven ; but to others, in parables ; that seeing they 
 might see and not perceive, and hearing they might hear 
 and not understand :"* by which words is not meant that 
 an arbitrary distinction is made between one portion of 
 mankind and the rest, but that divine revelation is so 
 framed, as not to force conviction on the understanding, 
 where there is a determined resistance in the will ; be- 
 cause, if such persons should be made to assent for a time, 
 their evil propensities would afterwards break out and 
 carry them away : they would then deny the clearest de- 
 monstrations of divine truth ; and even had miracles been 
 wrought for their conviction, they would deny these also, 
 resolving them into some unaccountable operations of na- 
 ture. The guilt thus incurred would be that of profana- 
 tion. This state is described by Jesus Christ in the mys- 
 terious parable of the man out of whom the evil spirit 
 went, but who, finding no rest in his new state, returned 
 to his former house, taking with him seven other spirits 
 more wicked than the other ; of whom the Lord says, 
 " And the last state of that man is worse than the first. "f 
 The first state of this man, is the state of unreformed man 
 in general : the going out of the evil spirit, is his com- 
 mencement of a new order of life, in consequence of open- 
 ing his mind to a conviction of the truth of divine revela- 
 tion and its doctrines, which banishes for a timo his spirit 
 of incredulity : his walking through dry places, seeking 
 rest and finding none, implies, that he finds his new state 
 to be without enjoyment, because in contrariety to the 
 lusts which were delightful to him, and which he is still 
 unwilling to relinquish : his returning to the house from 
 
 * Luke viii. 10. Mark iv. 11. t Matt. xii. 45. 
 
88 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 which lie came out, is a relapse into his former state of 
 mind ; but that this state is now attended with profana- 
 tion, and is incomparably worse than before, because, to 
 return to it. he is obliged to extinguish the convictions he 
 had received, is expressed by its being said, that he took 
 with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, 
 and that the last state of that man is worse than the first. 
 It is, then, because Divine Providence is ever watchful to 
 prevent man from falling into so deplorable a state as this, 
 that difficulties are allowed to appear on the surface of the 
 Word of God ; and it is for this, among other reasons, 
 that it is so generally written in the language of parable. 
 
 I expect, however, that the infidel (by which term I 
 mean the confirmed denier of revelation, — one whose denial 
 is grounded in a wish to justify himself in the gratification 
 of his corrupt passions,) will call this, preaching. Be it 
 so. I would however entreat him seriously to look at the 
 doctrine so preached. He must, I am sure, find it agree- 
 able to the purest reason, though such as reason, unen- 
 lightened by revelation, might not have been able to dis- 
 cover. He must also admit, that the economy of Divine 
 Providence which the doctrine unfolds, is equally wise 
 and beneficent, — such as might be expected to direct the 
 conduct of a Being of infinite wisdom and goodness, in his 
 dealings with a frail creature, like man. Whether then 
 this be preaching or philosophizing, there is assuredly a 
 strong presumption that it is pure truth : and this should 
 recommend it to the favourable attention of those, who 
 affect to hold pure truth in so much veneration. Would 
 mankind but view the Scriptures according to their real 
 nature, as faintly described in our last Lecture, and un- 
 derstand them by the Rule which we are next to endeav- 
 our to explain, they would find them philosophizing 
 according to the purest truth in every part — svery 
 where preaching the most soul-exalting lessons of heavenly 
 wisdom ! 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 89 
 
 I have been led to make these remarks, that we might 
 not appear to leave too long out of sight one of the objects 
 of these Lectures, — the refutation of infidel objections to 
 divine revelation, — while we are chiefly intent upon the 
 other, — the proof of the plenary inspiration of the Word 
 of God : — though this, indeed, carries with it the former : 
 for when once it is seen that the Word of God is actually 
 written by a plenary divine inspiration, all objections 
 against its being received as such, fall to the ground of 
 course. In our last Lecture, then, we endeavoured to pre- 
 pare the way for the establishment of this point. We 
 shewed, first, that the Scriptures do claim for themselves 
 the title, " the Word of God," and do affirm of themselves, 
 that they are written by the fullest inspiration of God. 
 We then considered, from rational and philosophical 
 grounds, what must be the nature of a composition which 
 has God for its Author ; when we found that the Word of 
 God must be exactly like his works, — that as these contain 
 within them wonderful parts which do not appear on their 
 surface, so must the Word of God include in its bosom 
 boundless stores of wisdom beyond what appears on a 
 superficial inspection. In the third place, we examined 
 whether this conclusion of reason is supported by any 
 plain declarations of Scripture ; of which many instances 
 were presented : indeed we found the Lord Jesus Christ 
 directing his hearers to regard the inward spirit and life of 
 his words, and not to suppose his meaning confined to the 
 outward expression : we ascertained, also, that the Apos- 
 tles, in their writings, continually testify to the existence 
 of an inward or spiritual sense throughout the Word of 
 God ; and we demonstrated, in addition, that hence this 
 belief, in the days of primitive Christianity, was universal ; 
 that, for many ages, it was never doubted ; and that it has 
 continued to be the opinion, to a greater or less extent, of 
 many intelligent theological writers down to the present 
 day. We take this testimony then, joined with the inher- 
 it 
 
90 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 ent reason of the thing itself, to be conclusive as to the 
 reality of the fact — that the Word of God does, in every 
 part, contain a spiritual sense, treating of things in which 
 man is interested as a spiritual being and an heir of im- 
 mortality. 
 
 We are not obliged, however, be it again remembered, 
 nor do we by any means undertake, because we conceive 
 the fact, — that the Scriptures contain a meaning beyond 
 the letter, — to be a matter of absolute certainty, to defend 
 all the interpretations which at various times have been 
 offered to the world, as resulting from, or as being, this 
 spiritual sense : we are even ready to allow, that very 
 idle and unfounded explications have sometimes been ob- 
 truded on the public, under the pretended sanction of this 
 great general truth ; and we are not surprised that some 
 of the critics, disgusted with the uncertainty which pre- 
 vailed in the efforts to decypher the spiritual sense, by 
 persons who possessed no certain rule to guide them in 
 the attempt, have relinquished the principle altogether, 
 and have begun to teach, that the Scriptures are to be un- 
 derstood in their literal sense alone. But we contend most 
 decidedly, that the abuse of a good principle is no argu- 
 ment against its legitimate use. In all other cases this 
 maxim is accepted as an axiom : if we deny it, we must 
 deny every thing ; at least we must involve ourselves in 
 the cheerless gloom of universal scepticism. Indeed, to 
 argue from the abuse of any sentiment against its use, will 
 plunge us continually into the most palpable absurdities. 
 It is a truth, for instance, which all men of reason admit, 
 that there is a God. We find this belief universal through- 
 out the world. Now because it is unquestionably true 
 that there is a God, it certainly by no means follows, that 
 all the notions which all nations and religions have taught 
 respecting him, are true likewise : but most assuredly it 
 does not follow, because most nations and religions have 
 erred in their notions of God, that, therefore, there is no 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &.C. 91 
 
 God at all : on the contrary, the general belief, in some 
 shape or other, in the existence of a God, however super- 
 stition and ignorance may have clouded the pure truth 
 respecting his nature and the mode of his existence, has 
 always been regarded as an insuperable argument in favour 
 of the sentiment, that the existence of a Divine Being is 
 certain, beyond dispute. Equally strong is the argument, 
 from the general belief of there being a spiritual sense in 
 the Scriptures, that there really is such a sense ; and in- 
 consistent or unfounded notions respecting the nature of 
 that sense, no more prove that there is no such sense at all, 
 than similar errors attending the belief in the existence of 
 a God, can prove that there is no God. 
 
 I. Now what has been wanting to recommend the spi- 
 ritual sense of the Word of God to the acceptance of the 
 calm, reasoning mind, has been, a certain rule by which 
 it may be decyphered. Could such a rule be shewn to 
 exist, the objections drawn from the tendency of the ad- 
 mission of a spiritual sense to introduce uncertainty and 
 confusion into the explanation of Scripture, would, as 
 stated in our last, fall at once to the ground : and the ex- 
 istence of such a sense, which multitudes have acknow- 
 ledged by a kind of intuitive perception, would then be 
 bottomed upon the clearest rational induction ; — would 
 indeed admit of demonstration not less convincing;, though 
 of a somewhat different kind, than that which evinces the 
 truth of any problem in mathematics. 
 
 Such a rule, then, it is conceived, is afforded, in the 
 Mutual Relation which exists bv creation between things 
 natural or material, spiritual or moral, and divine ; which 
 is such that the lower order of objects answers to the 
 higher, as certainly and immutably, as the reflection in a 
 mirror answers to the substance producing it. 
 
 But, alas ! though this was a subject well understood in 
 the times of remote antiquity, it now is not only generally 
 
92 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 unknown that the Holy Scriptures are written according 
 to this Revelation, from which, therefore, we may obtain 
 a Universal Rule for their interpretation ; but it is even 
 far from being generally known that any such relation ex- 
 ists. Approximations have indeed been recently made to- 
 wards its re-discovery, as will be noticed in the sequel ; 
 and there is reason to expect that, ere long, it will serious- 
 ly occupy the attention of the scientific and religious pub- 
 lic. In the hope of promoting this desirable event ; and 
 because all that is to follow in these Lectures will refer to 
 it as a first principle ; a slight attempt shall here be made 
 to give a general idea of its Nature. 
 
 II. That there exists, by the laws of creation, a Mutual 
 Relation between things natural or material, spiritual or 
 moral, and divine, may be concluded from the indisput- 
 able fact, that everything in a lower sphere of existence is 
 produced for the sake of something in a higher ; and if so, 
 every higher thing, for the sake of which any object of a 
 lower kind is produced, is the proximate cause, by deriva- 
 tion from the First Cause, of the existence of the latter : 
 and there must be an uninterrupted series of such causes 
 and effects, each intermediate effect becoming, in succes- 
 sion, a proximate cause of existence to something beneath 
 it, from the First Cause itself, to the lowest effects of all. 
 Every proximate cause, also, by the urgency, and for the 
 sake of which, something beneath it was produced, is, 
 likewise, the real essence, or ground of being, of such 
 lower production, which, on its part, is thus an outward 
 form, manifesting the existence of such distinct essence. 
 This will lead us to see, that the lower orders of objects 
 must answer to the higher, as certainly and immutably, 
 as the reflection in a mirror answers to the substance pro- 
 ducing it. Thus, for example, every lower thing that ex 
 ists is produced to serve, either more nearly or remotely, 
 to the use of man : this being the second cause of its exist- 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 93 
 
 ence, the thing itself is actually an image, under a different 
 form, of something that is in man : and man himself was 
 produced to satisfy the divine love of God — thus for the 
 sake of God, that there might be a being in the world 
 capable of receiving, in a conscious manner, gifts from God, 
 and of returning them to Him in love and adoration : and 
 God himself thus being toman both the proximate and 
 First Cause of his existence, man must be, in a certain man- 
 ner, an image of God ; and the most immediately so of any- 
 thing that the world contains. We accordingly are assur- 
 ed by divine Revelation, that man was created in the im- 
 age and likeness of God. And if man, altogether, is in a 
 certain manner, an image of God, it follows evidently, that 
 every particular thing which exists in man, (so far as he 
 stands in the order of his creation,) is an image of some- 
 thing that exists in God : and, indeed, every thing in him 
 which is not in the order of his creation, but which he has 
 introduced by the abuse of his faculties, still has reference 
 to something that exists in God, though not as an image, 
 but as an opposite. In short, as God is the Origin and 
 First Cause of all things, it is evident, that nothing what- 
 ever can exist which has not some sort of reference to 
 something that is in Him ; which reference is nearer or 
 more remote, in proportion as the sphere in which it 
 stands is nearer to the divine centre or to the extreme cir- 
 cumference of the universe. Thus things natural and 
 material bear a secret relation to things moral and spirit- 
 ual, and these again to things divine. 
 
 1 . This will be seen yet more evidently when it is con- 
 sidered, that the proper mode of viewing the creation, is, 
 to regard it as an Outbirth from the Deity ; — as a pro- 
 duction essentially distinct from the Producing Cause, but 
 necessarily bearing, through all its parts, to that Infinite 
 Cause, and to the infinite essential properties and attributes 
 existing in that Cause, a constant and immutable relation. 
 
94 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 Among the objects of the visible creation, man, the ac- 
 knowledged image of his Maker, stands in the highest de- 
 gree of this relation, and the inert substances of the mine- 
 ral kingdom in the lowest. This truth is not invalidated 
 by the fact, that the latter came first into existence. It 
 must unquestionably be true, that, in the creation of the 
 world, the globe of earth and water, or the unorganised 
 parts of its composition, though lowest in rank, must have 
 been the first that were formed : but why ? because their 
 uses were indispensable to the higher orders of existence, 
 to afford them nutriment and a basis. Then, doubtless, 
 the vegetable kingdom succeeded, because, without both 
 these, animals could not exist. Thus the higher orders of 
 creatures must have appeared by degrees, and last of all 
 man himself ; as he could not begin to exist till everything 
 necessary for his use was provided. Still it was for the 
 sake of man that all inferior things were produced : man 
 was in the divine mind through the whole process : thus 
 everything produced was an image of something that was 
 to exist in him, and the spiritual and moral essences of all 
 inferior things were concentrated in him ; as he himself 
 was to be an image of the Creator, in whom alone exist, 
 in their first principles and divine essences, all the powers, 
 faculties, and virtues, which were to exist derivatively in 
 man. In fact, the Deity, in the work of creation, cannot 
 be considered as operating at random, producing things 
 which have not in himself their divine prototypes or 
 grounds of being. To produce such things, the Creator 
 must step out of Himself, which is impossible. As the 
 tabernacle with everything in it, which Moses was instruct- 
 ed to make, w r as to be made after the pattern or antitype 
 shewn to him in the mount,* or was to be an outward 
 type of such things as exist in heaven ; so, no doubt, when 
 God created heaven and earth with their inhabitants, he 
 formed every thing after the image of divine prototypes 
 
 * Exod. xxv. 40, xxvi. 30. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 95 
 
 existing in liimself ; — after the pattern of the ineffable at- 
 tributes and perfections which exist only in his own divine 
 essence. Thus the whole universe, instead of being, as it 
 is sometimes inconsiderately regarded, a production of 
 mere caprice, little better than the offspring of blind chance, 
 was unquestionably, what may most expressively be called, 
 an Outbirth of the Deity : and if so, it must bear, in all its 
 parts, an immutable relation to the attributes or essential 
 properties, which belong to the nature of that Omnipo- 
 tent Being. 
 
 2^ If then the whole Universe is thus an Outbirth from 
 the Deity, and hence bears, in all its parts, an immutable 
 relation to Him who gave it birth ; this relation must be 
 more immediately perceptible in the spiritual part of the 
 creation. If, on all things that exist, the Divine Creator 
 has stamped, in some mode or other, a certain image of 
 himself, more especially must all things belonging to the 
 moral, intellectual, and spiritual worlds, be marked with 
 that image. We will endeavour to make this plain, by 
 considering the two most important particulars in which 
 the divine image is stamped on man — the head of the visi- 
 ble creation : for extensive as this subject is in itself, it 
 happily can be reduced to a few general principles ; and 
 when these are distinctly seen, the immense multitude of 
 particulars into which it diverges will create no confusion. 
 
 That there are two general principles to which all the 
 infinities which compose the divine nature have reference, 
 and to which, in like manner, all that man possesses by de- 
 rivation and gift from his Maker have some relation, would 
 be evident to any one who should deeply examine the sub- 
 ject : this, also, is pointed out by numerous passages of 
 Scripture. Thus in the account of the origin of the hu- 
 man race, in the first chapter of Genesis, it is observable, 
 that two terms are employed to describe the relation which 
 man bears to God. It is not only said that man was pro- 
 
yo PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 tence : in other words, Infinite Power is nothing but the 
 capacity of irresistible exertion, inherently belonging to 
 Infinite Love and Wisdom. We should find all the other 
 divine attributes as closely connected with, and equally de- 
 pendent upon, these two. 
 
 Now the first being in the scale of the visible creation, 
 — the most exalted of the visible works of the Creator, is 
 man : and he is such, because he was created in the image 
 and likeness of God. That he might be capable of being 
 such an image, he was endowed with two faculties design- 
 ed for the reception of love and wisdom from his Maker. 
 These are known by the names of the will and the under- 
 standing ; the will being designed for the reception of the 
 Divine Love or Good, and the understanding for the re- 
 ception of the Divine Wisdom or Truth. I am aware, 
 that although the ancient metaphysicians universally adopt- 
 ed this most general division of the human faculties, some 
 of the moderns have doubted its correctness, and have been 
 disposed to resolve the whole into intellectual powers 
 alone : none however could deny that man was possessed 
 of passions : and all the passions belong to the general 
 faculty called the will : at least, however some may ex- 
 plain them, it is as the seat of the passions, all of which 
 belong to some species or other of love, that we here speak 
 of the will. I have also been somewhat surprised, on ob- 
 serving that the new philosophic sect who take the name 
 of Phrenologists, though continually at war with the me- 
 taphysicians, and rejecting with contempt the idea that all 
 the faculties of the mind are to be resolved into intellect, 
 still disapprove the division into understanding and will ; 
 though nothing can be plainer than that all the faculties of 
 which the Phrenologists make the mind to consist, are 
 only specific divisions of these two general ones : thus all 
 those faculties which they designate as " propensities" and 
 " sentiments," and which, they justly affirm, have nothing 
 to do with pure intellect, belong to the province of the 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 99 
 
 will ; and those which they designate as " knowing" and 
 " reflecting faculties," as clearly belong to the province of 
 the understanding. Respecting the latter, there can be no 
 dispute ; nor yet, I should think, respecting the former, 
 if it be considered, that all the faculties to which they give 
 the name of propensities and sentiments, may be resolved 
 into some species of love. Now a man assuredly ivills 
 whatever he loves : and thus every species of love that can 
 have an abode in his mind, may with philosophical truth 
 be considered as belonging to a certain general faculty, 
 which is most correctly denominated the Will. The mis- 
 take seems to have arisen, from confounding this general 
 faculty, by which we are only inclined to certain actions, 
 with the determination to action, which is the result of the 
 operations of the will and understanding together ; and 
 which takes place, when man, by his understanding, sees a 
 fit opportunity of doing the acts, to which his will per- 
 petually inclines him. Undoubtedly, then, the old general 
 division of the mental powers into understanding and will, 
 so long established by the consent of all the reflecting part 
 of mankind, is destined to resume its authority in the 
 schools of philosophy, because it owed its long reign 
 there, not to the caprice of human fancy, but to its firm 
 foundation in the unalterable nature of things. 
 
 Now the will and understanding of man are a certain 
 image, however faint and feeble, of the Will and Intellect 
 Divine ; and the more perfectly so, in proportion. as man 
 receives in hiswill the love and goodness of the Lord, and, 
 in his understanding, the divine wisdom and truth. When 
 man wills what the Lord wills, and when the perceptions 
 and thoughts of his understanding flow in agreement with 
 the divine trutfc ; — thus when he receives the affections of 
 his will, and the perceptions of his understanding, without 
 perversion, from the infinite fountain of all goodness and 
 wisdom in God ; — then he is an image and likeness of God 
 
98 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 tence : in other words, Infinite Power is nothing but the 
 capacity of irresistible exertion, inherently belonging to 
 Infinite Love and Wisdom. We should find all the other 
 divine attributes as closely connected with, and equally de- 
 pendent upon, these two. 
 
 Now the first being in the scale of the visible creation, 
 — the most exalted of the visible works of the Creator, is 
 man : and he is such, because he was created in the image 
 and likeness of God. That he might be capable of being 
 such an image, he was endowed with two faculties design- 
 ed for the reception of love and wisdom from his Maker. 
 These are known by the names of the will and the under- 
 standing ; the will being designed for the reception of the 
 Divine Love or Good, and the understanding for the re- 
 ception of the Divine Wisdom or Truth. I am aware, 
 that although the ancient metaphysicians universally adopt- 
 ed this most general division of the human faculties, some 
 of the moderns have doubted its correctness, and have been 
 disposed to resolve the whole into intellectual powers 
 alone : none however could deny that man was possessed 
 of passions : and all the passions belong to the general 
 faculty called the will : at least, however some may ex- 
 plain them, it is as the seat of the passions, all of which 
 belong to some species or other of love, that we here speak 
 of the will. I have also been somewhat surprised, on ob- 
 serving that the new philosophic sect who take the name 
 of Phrenologists, though continually at war with the me- 
 taphysicians, and rejecting with contempt the idea that all 
 the faculties of the mind are to be resolved into intellect, 
 still disapprove the division into understanding and will ; 
 though nothing can be plainer than that all the faculties of 
 which the Phrenologists make the mind to consist, are 
 only specific divisions of these two general ones : thus all 
 those faculties which they designate as " propensities" and 
 " sentiments," and which, they justly affirm, have nothing 
 to do with pure intellect, belong to the province of the 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 99 
 
 will ; and those which they designate as " knowing" and 
 " reflecting faculties," as clearly belong to the province of 
 the understanding. Respecting the latter, there can be no 
 dispute ; nor yet, I should think, respecting the former, 
 if it be considered, that all the faculties to which they give 
 the name of propensities and sentiments, may be resolved 
 into some species of love. Now a man assuredly ioills 
 whatever he loves ; and thus every species of love that can 
 have an abode in his mind, may with philosophical truth 
 be considered as belonging to a certain general faculty, 
 which is most correctly denominated the Will. The mis- 
 take seems to have arisen, from confounding this general 
 faculty, by which we are only inclined to certain actions, 
 with the determination to action, which is the result of the 
 operations of the will and understanding together ; and 
 which takes place, when man, by his understanding, sees a 
 fit opportunity of doing the acts, to which his will per- 
 petually inclines him. Undoubtedly, then, the old general 
 division of the mental powers into understanding and will, 
 so long established by the consent of all the reflecting part 
 of mankind, is destined to resume its authority in the 
 schools of philosophy, because it owed its long reign 
 there, not to the caprice of human fancy, but to its firm 
 foundation in the unalten ble nature of things. 
 
 Now the will and understanding of man are a certain 
 image, however faint and feeble, of the Will and Intellect 
 Divine ; and the more perfectly so, in proportion. as man 
 receives in his will the love and goodness of the Lord, and, 
 in his understanding, the divine wisdom and truth. When 
 man wills what the Lord wills, and when the perceptions 
 and thoughts of his understanding flow in agreement with 
 the divine trut]i ; — thus when he receives the affections of 
 his will, and the perceptions of his understanding, without 
 perversion, from the infinite fountain of all goodness and 
 wisdom in God ; — then he is an image and likeness of God 
 
100 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 indeed. And even when he entirely perverts his noble en- 
 dowments ; when he makes the ruling affections of his will 
 such as are entirely opposite to the divine love and good- 
 ness, and when he adopts in his understanding a tissue of 
 false notions quite contrary to the divine wisdom and truth ; 
 he still, in the faculties of will and understanding them- 
 selves, retains an image, though an inverted one, of his Di- 
 vine Original : and the relation is farther preserved in this 
 respect, that the will still remains the seat of love, though 
 it is the love of evil, which he accounts his good, and his 
 understanding still continues the seat of his ideas, though 
 these are ideas of error, which he accounts his truth. In 
 the way of opposition, he still bears a relation to his Maker : 
 his faculties of will and understanding, and the subjects of 
 each respectively, still are to him, what pure love and 
 wisdom are to God : a general image remains, however in- 
 verted and distorted. 
 
 As then it is evident, that, in the leading features of the 
 moral, intellectual, and spiritual part of the head of the 
 visible creation, man, the Divine Creator has thus stamped 
 a certain image of Himself; there can be no reasonable 
 doubt that the same is true in regard to all the particulars 
 of the moral, intellectual, and spiritual worlds. The end- 
 less varieties of such things that exist, can only be images, 
 either in direct or in inverted order, of the infinite divine 
 perfections that are in God. In Him, all have their essence 
 or inward ground of being : To Him, they all have an im- 
 mutable Relation : So far as they are in order, they are 
 transcripts of something that is in Him ; and even when in 
 disorder, they point to something in Him, of which they 
 are the perversion : In all the phenomena, then, of the 
 moral, intellectual, and spiritual worlds which come under 
 our inspection, we might, had we capacities for such dis- 
 cernment, read, as in an image, the divine things to which 
 they owe their first birth. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 101 
 
 3. But the images of divine things that are presented to 
 our observation, are not confined to the phenomena of the 
 moral, intellectual, and spiritual worlds ; they descend 
 much lower, and display themselves, though under a to- 
 tally different form, on all the objects of outward and 
 material nature ; first, on the corporeal part of man himself ; 
 next, on all the inferior animals ; then on the vegetable 
 creation ; and lastly, on the inert mass of earth and water 
 which forms the lowest plane of all ; not to mention the 
 sublime exhibitions of the same which are presented in the 
 phenomena of the starry heavens. It is not then, merely 
 bv a poetical figure that David calls upon all such things 
 to praise the Lord, but in reference to the wisdom concern- 
 ing him, of which they are the silent teachers : " Praise ye 
 him sun and moon, praise him, all ye stars of light : Praise 
 him ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above 
 the heavens : — Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons 
 and all deeps ; fire and hail, snow and vapours, stormy 
 wind fulfilling his word ; mountains and all hills, fruitful 
 trees and all cedars ; beasts and all cattle, creeping things 
 and flying fowl."* And I have little doubt that Paul 
 meant to refer to the same fact when he said, u The invi- 
 sible things of God, from the creation of the world are 
 clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; 
 even his eternal power and Godhead ;"f though I do not 
 quote this as a proof, because the words maybe understood 
 in the merely common and popular sense. 
 
 (1.) We will again illustrate the subject by an example 
 taken from man. As man has two faculties in his mind 
 which image forth, in an eminent manner, the two great- 
 est essential properties of his Creator ; so has he also two 
 organs in his body, which, more remotely, have the same 
 relation : answering, however, more immediately, to the 
 two great faculties of his mind. These two bodily organs 
 
 * Ps. cxlviii. 3, 4, 7 to 10. i Rom. i. 20. 
 
102 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 are the heart and lungs. As it is on his will and under- 
 standing that the life of his spiritual part depends ; so is it 
 on the heart and lungs that the life of his corporeal frame 
 depends. What the will and understanding are to the 
 mind, the heart and lungs are to the body: they answer to 
 them in a lower sphere : they are exact images of them. 
 It is on this account that so frequent mention is made, in 
 Sacred Writ, of the heart and soul. It is well known that 
 the word u soul," in the Scriptures, especially in those of 
 the Old Testament, where it most frequently occurs, does 
 not, as in English, mean the spirit Avhich lives after death, 
 but merely the animating principle or life, and this be- 
 cause its primary meaning is breath : and of breathing, the 
 lungs are the organ. When the soul then is mentioned in 
 conjunction with the heart, it strictly refers to the breath 
 respired by the lungs ; and the combined phrase refers, 
 in the language of analogy, to those faculties of the 
 mind, of which the heart and lungs are images in the 
 body. 
 
 But not only are there two general organs in the body, 
 answering to the two leading faculties of the mind, but the 
 whole body itself is made up of two principal constituent 
 materials ; which are, the flesh and blood. These again, 
 then, bear a relation, though still more remote, to the two 
 great constituents of the Divine Nature: it is primarily be- 
 cause there are two of these, that there are two of those : 
 hence also so much mention is made of flesh and blood in 
 the Divine Word, which, we shall eventually find, con- 
 stantly speaks in terms borrowed from the Relation which 
 we are endeavouring to establish. 
 
 As, again, the human body is composed of solids and 
 fluids, or of flesh and blood, it is necessary, for its sup- 
 port, that it be nourished by aliment of both kinds, or by 
 meat and drink. All meats and drinks, then, have the 
 same general relation to the great attributes of Deity, as is 
 borne by the constituent substances of the human body, by 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. ^W /* 103 
 
 its two vital organs, and, in the mind, by the will an 
 derstanding : but their specific reference is to the love and 
 wisdom, or goodness and truth, which are imparted by 
 the Divine Author of all good to support man's spiritual 
 life : for the human mind is nourished by the reception of 
 goodness and truth from their origin in Him, as the body 
 is by its appropriate food and drink : thus natural food 
 and drink are proper images of the spiritual. 
 
 The same analogy is continued, even till we come to the 
 most shapeless masses of inanimate matter. Thus the ter- 
 raqueous globe in general consists, in like manner, of two 
 general parts, which are earth and water. Indeed, it 
 would be difficult to find any thing, through the whole 
 circuit of creation, both in general and in particular, 
 which is not composed of two principal constituent part^ 
 In man, for instance, and all animals, there are two sexes: 
 and not only are they thus, in general, arranged in pairs, 
 but all the parts of each sheAV an extraordinary tendency 
 to run in pairs also. Thus, in the face, there are two eyes, 
 two ears, two nostrils; in the body, two breasts, two arms 
 and hands, two legs and feet. So likewise the internal or- 
 gans exhibit the same two-fold bias. There are two great 
 divisions of the brain, so distinct, that anatomists describe 
 them by separate names : the heart is divided into its ven- 
 tricles and auricles, of each of which, again, there are two: 
 the sanguineous system dependent upon the heart has also 
 its two marked distinctions of arteries and veins. So there 
 are two lobes of the lungs, two kidneys, &c. And the 
 parts which appear as single, nevertheless, in general, con- 
 sist of two portions, united by a common covering : and 
 many, whose form does not admit of this, are composed of 
 two halves, answering to each other : thus, though the 
 mouth, altogether, is a single organ, the teeth on each side 
 form a series of pairs; and even its outward opening is not 
 only formed by two lips, but if these be considered as di- 
 vided in the middle by a perpendicular line, they each 
 
 sfeniftK. 
 
104 
 
 PLENARY INSPIRATION, OF 
 
 present two parts symmetrically answering to each other : 
 and the same may be observed in the tongue. 
 
 Now since this tendency to a twofold arrangement acts 
 so powerfully throughout creation, that we cannot turn 
 our eyes in any direction without seeing it every where 
 presented before them; does not true philosophy lead us to 
 refer the phenomenon to some universally acting cause ? 
 and what cause can be adequate to the production of such 
 continually uniform effects, but a marked duality of essen- 
 tial properties in the First Cause of all ? Admit, what 
 cannot be easily denied, that Goodness and Truth, in their 
 very essence, are Deity Itself, and we cannot be surprised 
 to find circumstances pointing to that fact through all the 
 fields of creation; — to behold them exhibited more direct- 
 ly in the moral and spiritual productions of the divine 
 plastic hand, as in the will and understanding of man, and 
 imaged not less truly, though more remotely, in the ob- 
 jects of material and even inanimate nature. And if these 
 leading traits in all existing things bear a secret Relation 
 to the leading characteristics of the Divine Nature, it 
 would be unphilosophical to doubt that a similar Relation 
 prevails in all other respects whatever. Most true it must 
 be, that the Creator has stamped a certain image of Him- 
 self on his creation, both on the whole, and on every, even 
 the minutest part. Although this shines most plainly in 
 man, it must be visible, to the attentive observer, in all 
 the inferior orders of existence. All must be types, of 
 which the archetype is in God. 
 
 (2.) But that all the inferior parts of creation present a 
 more remote but not less real image of the Divine Creator, 
 will still more indisputably appear from another consider- 
 ation. That man himself presents such an image, is un- 
 questionably agreeable to the purest dictates of reason ; 
 and to the believers in Revelation, it is placed beyond 
 doubt by the authoritative declarations of Scripture. But 
 if man is an image of God, most evident also, it is, that 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 105 
 
 the lower orders of creation, in their respective degrees, 
 bear the same image ; for the most cursory inspection will 
 shew, that they all present, in a certain manner, an image 
 of man. How strong is the tendency to the human form, 
 for example, which is observable among all the subjects of 
 the animal kingdom ; and even though more remotely, 
 among all the subjects of the vegetable kingdom likewise! 
 The animals which differ most in their external shape from 
 man, have, nevertheless, most of the organs which are 
 found in the human body, — especially those which are 
 most essential to life ; though all display them under end- 
 less varieties. All have heads, bodies, feet: in their heads 
 are eyes, noses, mouths, ears ; and in their bodies, hearts, 
 lungs, and the other viscera. As the animal descends in 
 the scale of existence, the resemblance becomes less per- 
 fect ; yet most of the species retain the principal organs ; 
 and where these cease, their place is supplied by something 
 analogous, which performs their office in a manner suit- 
 ed to the animal's nature. 
 
 So, again, the similitude between the animal and vege- 
 table kingdoms, — the Mutual Relation which they bear to 
 each other, — is in many respects very conspicuous. They 
 melt into each other by such imperceptible degrees, that 
 there are animals whose sensitive powers are not much 
 greater than those of vegetables, and there are vegetables 
 which exhibit such an approximation to sensation, as ren- 
 ders the propriety of assigning them to the vegetable king- 
 dom almost a matter of doubt. But even those which 
 most decidedly belong to this province of nature, exhibit 
 in a remarkable manner their affinity to the animal king- 
 dom : they display, under another form, some of the most 
 important attributes of the latter. Not only are they, in 
 common with animals, animated by a decided principle of 
 life,— are propagated from parents, grow from an obscure 
 germ to maturity, flourish in vigour, provide for the con- 
 tinuance of their species, decline, and die, — sometimes 
 11 
 
106 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 from disease, and sometimes by the mere agency of time ; 
 but their life is maintained in an exactly analogous manner. 
 Trees, and indeed all vegetables, circulate sap, which is 
 their blood, through vessels answering to arteries and 
 veins, from their root, which answers to the heart : and 
 they inhale and respire air through pores in their leaves, 
 which perform for them the office of lungs. And the de- 
 velopement of their sexual system, by Linnaeus, has brought 
 to light other wonderful analogies. The discoveries of 
 modern science have even gone farther, not only establish- 
 ing general analogies between all animals and all vegeta- 
 bles taken respectively together, but between particular 
 classes of animals and particular classes of vegetables ;* 
 and thus leading to the conclusion, that every individual 
 species in the vegetable kingdom has a species answering 
 to it in the animal kingdom ; or, that certain vegetables 
 are, in their kingdom, what certain animals are in theirs, 
 discharging like functions in regard to the whole. 
 
 Similar observations may be made in regard to the mi- 
 neral kingdom. Here, also, extraordinary analogies may 
 be traced, and a tendency to offer an image of the higher 
 orders of creation may be observed ; although, owing to 
 the inert nature of the substances of this kingdom, it is not 
 exhibited in so palpable a manner. It is well known, 
 however, how many mineral productions there are, which, 
 when left to assume, without constraint, the forms most 
 agreeable to their nature, seem to extricate themselves from 
 their originally unplastic state, and aspire towards the 
 kingdom immediately above them, emulating so exactly 
 the vegetable shape, that, judging by this test alone, it 
 would be difficult to determine to which province of na- 
 ture they belong. But look again at the image of the cir- 
 
 * See " Reniarks on the Identity of certain general Laws, which have been 
 lately observed to regulate the natural distribution of Insects and Fungi j" by 
 W. S. Mac Leay, Esq. M. A. F. L. S. Linnosan Transactions, Vol. xiv. Pt. 1, 
 p. 46. 
 
/ THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 107 
 
 culation of the blood, and thus of the animal creation, 
 which is exhibited in the globe we inhabit. No one can 
 inspect the map of an extensive country, and the plates 
 representing the venous system of the human body in 
 works on Anatomy, without being struck by the similarity 
 of form between the rivers in the one, and the veins in the 
 other : both rise from innumerable minute origins, wander 
 through an infinity of small channels, which diminish in 
 number and increase in size as they successively coalesce, 
 till they unite in a common trunk which carries them to 
 their final goal. Nor is this an analogy that is only such 
 to the eye. We have before observed, that the water is to 
 the terraqueous globe what the blood is to the body : so, 
 they both are circulated throughout the whole in an ana- 
 logous manner, though by very different means. While 
 the heart, by its extraordinary vicissitudes of contraction 
 and expansion, performs this work for the animated frame 
 of man and animals, distributing the blood by the arteries 
 to nourish every part of the body, and recalling it by the 
 veins ; the mysterious economy of alternate evaporation 
 and condensation accomplishes the same task for the insen- 
 sible frame of the world : By this are the waters raised 
 from their great storehouse, the ocean, transported by the 
 clouds, which execute the office of the arterial system, to 
 the parts where their fertilizing agency is required, dis- 
 charged in showers to irrigate the soil, collected again by 
 the rivers as an immense system of veins, and so carried 
 back to their common reservoir, to be thrown again and 
 again, as long as time shall endure, through the same cir- 
 culation. Now, to borrow the phraseology of an eminent 
 scientific writer,* there is no proper affinity between man 
 and animals, and still less between man and vegetables, 
 minerals, and inert globes of earth and water : but who 
 can observe these and a thousand other wonderful coinci- 
 
 * Mr. Mac Leay, in the Paper above referred to, and in his work entitled, 
 Horm Entomologiccc. 
 
108 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 dences, without being satisfied that a regular and certain 
 analogy reigns between them all ? Who cannot see, that 
 all the inferior objects that exist present an image of man, 
 or of something that is in man, and thus remotely and de- 
 rivatively, an image of God, or of something in him ? 
 
 (3.) We have now, however, been considering the ana- 
 logy between the lower objects of the creation and man, 
 chiefly in regard to their physical organization or consti- 
 tution, and have only pointed to their relation to spiritual 
 and divine things through the analogy observable between 
 the general constitution of the body of man, and that of 
 his mind. But, doubtless, there is a more immediate ana- 
 logy also : Not only may a relation be traced between the 
 physical powers and forms of man, animals, vegetables, 
 and minerals, which is such that the lower seems constant- 
 ly to emulate the higher ; but between the mind of man, 
 what may be called the moral qualities of animals, and the 
 essential properties of vegetables and minerals, a not less 
 decided analogy may be observed. Thus, all animals uni- 
 versally are guided by certain general appetites and in- 
 stincts, not dissimilar to those which belong to the inferior 
 part of the human constitution. And not only are the 
 propensities which lead them to provide for their own 
 support by food, and for the continuation of their species, 
 similar, in a general way, to the same propensities in man, 
 but, in regard to tr 6 latter, some of them even recede from 
 the grossness of brutes, and shame the brutal part of the 
 human race, by forming conjugal engagements approach- 
 ing to the tenderness and purity of married love : whilst, 
 with respect to attachment for their offspring, and the care 
 with which they provide for its welfare, even the most fe- 
 rocious species emulate the maternal affection of the most 
 exemplary human parent. In other respects, also, there 
 are animals which exhibit feelings so nearly approximating 
 to moral qualities, and instincts which so accurately imi- 
 tate reason, that some who would be deemed philosophers 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 109 
 
 have denied there to be any essential difference, and have 
 asserted that nothing but speech is wanting to identify 
 their nature with that of man. 
 
 In these particulars, then, between man and animals ge- 
 nerally, there is evidently a common analogy ; and it is 
 equally certain, that there is a similar analogy between 
 every species of animal, in particular, and something that 
 is in man. For while all animals have certain common 
 appetites and instincts in which they agree, they all have 
 particular ones in which they differ. How great is the 
 contrariety of character between the wolf and the lamb, 
 the lion and the ox ! Yet how easy is it to see, that the 
 character of each is thus distinct, because it is formed by 
 some specific affection, taken, as it were, out of the human 
 mind, and made the single governing propensity of the 
 animal, without being modified by the innumerable varie- 
 ty of other affections, with which, in that wonderful ag- 
 gregate of affections, the human mind, it is combined ! 
 That in the human mind are accumulated all the various 
 affections, which, when separated, give a distinct nature to 
 so many species of animals, is evident from the cases some- 
 times observed, in which one such affection is, in man, so 
 much more powerfully developed than others, as strongly 
 to mark his character. Thus, where pure benevolence 
 and harmlessness pre-eminently reign, how readily do we 
 recognize the moral features of the lamb ! where general 
 meekness and unsuspecting honesty, not so devoid of iras- 
 cibility, prevail, we discover the temper of the ox; where 
 a tendency to rapine and cruelty continually bursts forth, 
 we note the characteristic of the wolf; and in the nature 
 still prone to deeds of destruction, but exalted by courage 
 and pre-eminent power, we trace a resemblance of the 
 lion. Similitudes of this kind are familiar to every ob- 
 server of nature. Were not their truth generally perceiv- 
 ed, poetry would want many of its most striking beauties: 
 and the use in poetry of images borrowed hence, could ex- 
 
110 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 cite no sympathies in the mind of the reader, were they 
 not founded in the fixed laws of nature. We see clearly, 
 that, on some animals, in regard to what may be called 
 their moral qualities, is stamped a decided image of cer- 
 tain moral qualities existing in the human mind; and were 
 we fully acquainted with the leading moral quality of eve- 
 ry species of animal, we should see that every species of 
 animal derives its proximate origin from that to which it 
 thus answers in the human mind, and bears of it the mark. 
 Hence, also, animals are images, though more remotely, 
 of those principles in the Divine Mind from which every 
 thing that exists in the human mind is a faint transcript ; 
 only we must here recollect, what has before been remark- 
 ed, that there is a relation of opposites, as well as of direct 
 resemblances. Certainly, nothing evil and mischievous 
 can bear a relation or analogy to any thing in the Divine 
 Mind, any otherwise, than as it is the perversion of some- 
 thing intrinsically good. There are many such perver- 
 sions in the corrupt mind of man ; and all things noxious 
 in nature are directly images of these, and only inversely of 
 the opposite perfections in the Divine Nature. 
 
 (4.) But perhaps it may be asked, If the whole Universe, 
 as advanced above, is an outbirth from the Deity ; and if 
 every thing so produced has in Him its divine prototype 
 and ground of being ; how came any thing to be created 
 whose relation to Him is merely that of an opposite ? It 
 may be answered, Because, though every inferior creature 
 has its divine prototype in God, it has, as is also stated 
 above, its immediate antitype in man : if then man, by the 
 abuse of the freedom of will with which he was endowed, 
 perverted the divine gifts which he had received, and in- 
 troduced evil into himself, images of such perversion and 
 evil, by the continued action of the Divine Creative Power, 
 would speedily appear in the lower objects of creation. 
 There can be no doubt, as declared in the beginning of 
 Genesis, that all things, as they first came from the Divine 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. Ill 
 
 Hand, were good : and perhaps it may be questioned, 
 whether any thing that now exists is so purely evil, as not 
 to be capable of being divested of its malignant properties. 
 The letter of Scripture seems to affirm that it may, when 
 it says, in reference to a future glorious state of the Church 
 and its members, " The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, 
 and the leopard shall lie down with the kid ; and the calf, 
 and the young lion, and the fatling together ; and a little 
 child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall 
 feed, their young ones shall lie down together ; and the 
 lion shall eat straw, like the ox. And the sucking child 
 shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child 
 shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den."* If we suppose 
 that by the harmless animals and the infants here mention- 
 ed, are typified the good, benevolent, and innocent affec- 
 tions of the human mind, and by the noxious animals, such 
 appetites and propensities, as, when not controlled by the 
 former, are of a destructive nature ; and, if, by their all 
 dwelling together, we conceive to be meant, the depriving 
 of the latter of their pernicious tendencies by the complete 
 preponderance of the former ; we have a spiritual sense 
 which certainly teaches a most important moral lesson, 
 conveyed in language most striking and impressive. To 
 dwell, however, upon this, now, would be to anticipate 
 the argument to which we are to proceed by and by : I 
 here mention the circumstance to shew, that if there is an 
 evident analogy between the noxious animals, in the state 
 in which they at present exist, and the evil propensities 
 and passions of human nature, the Scripture, when point- 
 ing to a state in which the lower appetites and propensi- 
 ties of man shall be divested of their injurious nature by 
 the preponderance of the higher sentiments, preserves the 
 analogy between them and the same animals, by describ- 
 ing the latter as laying aside their destructive tendencies. 
 
 . * Is. xi. 6, 7, 8. 
 
112 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 If the present species of animals all existed from the be- 
 ginning, it is certain that some of them must have been 
 greatly altered when evil established itself in the human 
 mind. As all evil is nothing but the perversion of the 
 lower propensities of our nature, which by creation were 
 good, the animals which were created as representative 
 forms of those affections could not at first have been nox- 
 ious ; but they might begin to be so when those affections 
 in man suffered perversion. Hence it may be true, as the 
 poet sings, that 
 
 " Thus began 
 Outrage from lifeless things : but Discord first, 
 Daughter of Sin, among th' irrational, 
 Death introduced, thro' fierce antipathy. 
 Beast now with beast 'gan war, and fowl with fowl, 
 And fish with fish : to graze the herb, all, leaving, 
 Devour'd each other ; nor stood much in awe 
 Of man, but fled him, or, with count'nance grim, 
 Glared on him passing." 
 
 And if this was the origin of the noxious nature in beasts, 
 it cannot be doubted, were mankind to return to a state 
 such as is spiritually described in the passage just quoted 
 from the prophet, in which all the lower appetites and 
 propensities were strictly subordinated to the higher, that 
 the words of the prophet would have a literal-fulfilment 
 likewise, and all animals would again become innocuous. 
 But in any case it is certain, that could evil be removed 
 from the moral world, it would cease in the natural world 
 also, and destructive creatures would no longer exist. If 
 it should be deemed unphilosophical to suppose that those 
 now in being would change their nature, to which their 
 physical organization is so accurately adapted, it is perfect- 
 ly agreeable to the discoveries of science to conclude, that 
 they would cease to exist altogether ; since it is well ascer- 
 tained, from the organic remains found in the bowels of the 
 earth, that many species, and even whole genera, of animals 
 and plants once common, are now no longer known ; and, 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C, 113 
 
 conversely, that many of those now common were stran- 
 gers to the primeval ages : thus, having commenced their 
 existence since the beginning of the world, they may re- 
 linquish it again before the end. It may then be safely 
 concluded, since nothing noxious can have its direct pro- 
 totype in God, that all such things either first acquired 
 their noxious nature, or first began to exist, when evil es- 
 tablished itself in the human mind ; that they are proper- 
 ly the images of the depraved propensities which there 
 have their seat ; and that if moral evil could be banished 
 from the world, these expressive images of it would either 
 lose those qualities which make them such, or would dis- 
 appear altogether. 
 
 (5.) But to return from this digression ; which however 
 was necessary to meet a seeming difficulty. It surely must 
 be readily admitted, when fairly contemplated, that the 
 analogy between what may be called, in a qualified sense, 
 the moral qualities of animals and the affections of the 
 human mind, is very obvious and striking ; and it cannot 
 be difficult to discover a similar analogy between both of 
 these and the properties of the objects belonging to the 
 vegetable and mineral kingdoms. How closely are the 
 common appetites and instincts, which in animals are sub- 
 servient to the preservation of the individuals and of ths 
 species, emulated in the vegetable creation ! In the.e, as 
 in those, the life of the individuals is sustained by supplies 
 of nourishment from without. They are provided with sets 
 of veisels, which draw from the soil in which they grow, 
 and from the air which surrounds them, those juices and 
 gases which are congenial with their nature ; and theeo 
 they select, while they reject such as would be pernicioue, 
 with a discrimination which, though void of all conscious- 
 ness, answers to, and exactly pictures, under another form, 
 the instinct in regard to these objects so wonderful in ani- 
 mals. So, in the mode by which the continuation of the 
 species is provided for, there is so much that seems to rival 
 15 
 
I 
 
 114 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 the attachments of animals, that Poetry, with one of her 
 usual exaggerations, has attempted to abolish the difference, 
 by selecting as a theme, a the Loves of the Plants,"* and 
 Painting has carried on the thought, by representing the 
 fabled Deity of the tender passion subduing the vegetable 
 kingdom also to his sway, and levelling his arrows at the 
 susceptible breasts of flowers. f And how exact an analogy 
 of the same universal impulses is displayed through the 
 mineral kingdom also ! By how marvellous a power, re- 
 sembling the animal appetite for food, do many minerals 
 draw from surrounding substances the materials of their 
 accumulation ! How completely magical ; how similar to 
 the exercise of affection and choice, is the action of chemi- 
 cal affinities ! How striking an image of conscious at- 
 tachment is presented, when, under the influence of the 
 mysterious principle just mentioned, we behold inanimate 
 matters, — substances not possessed even of vegetative life, 
 rush into union, as if actuated by the most ardent mutual 
 affection ! 
 
 But not to dwell on these common resemblances, which 
 assuredly tend very conclusively to establish the continual 
 Mutual Relation, or Relation of Analogy, between all the 
 various orders of creation ; who cannot see a similar ana- 
 logy between specific moral qualities, the animals in which 
 such qualities are imaged, and the properties of specific 
 vegetables and minerals ? Between all the productions of 
 the vegetable kingdom that afford pleasant and wholesome 
 nutriment, for example, — the mild races of animals which 
 are of similar use to man, and the good moral qualities of 
 which these are the pictures, how plainly does this rela- 
 tion exist ! and, on the other hand, how close is the analogy 
 between noxious plants, noxious animals, and the malig- 
 nant moral qualities which these so aptly typify ! To de- 
 scend to particulars would carry us into too wide a field ; 
 
 * By Dr. Darwin. 
 
 t See a print in Dr. Thornton's Illustrations of Linnaeus's Sexual System. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 11'5 
 
 otherwise, numerous confirmatory instances might easily 
 be pointed out. The substances of the mineral kingdom 
 not affording food to man, their particular relation to the 
 objects of the vegetable and animal kingdoms, and finally 
 to moral qualities, cannot so evidently be shewn ; but that 
 every specific substance of unorganized nature has also 
 properties peculiar to it, which, though quite different from 
 those of vegetables and animals, and especially from the 
 feelings and sentiments of the human mind, are yet exactly 
 analogous to them ; is a truth which a little research would 
 easily establish. But Nature herself, by bringing together 
 the analogous objects of her different kingdoms, often 
 calls upon us to note their mutual relation, — to observe 
 how, in their respective spheres, they answer to each other. 
 Read, for instance, the description of the Great Western 
 Desart of North America, that occupies hundreds of miles, 
 both in length and breadth, of the territory that lies be- 
 tween the great rivers Mississippi and Missouri and the 
 Rocky Mountains, and which has lately been explored by 
 a mission despatched for the purpose by the government of 
 the United States.* Of this frightful district it is related, 
 (I quote from the Quarterly Review,) that " In patches 
 where vegetation shews itself, it is mostly confined to tufts 
 of withered grass, prickly pears, and those succulent and 
 saline plants which can derive subsistence out of the most 
 arid, sandy, and sterile soils. Two species of cactus are 
 described as most formidable plants, the cactus fcrox and 
 the cactus cylindricus. The former is stated to reign sole 
 monarch over myriads of acres of these desolate plains, in 
 patches, which neither a horse nor any other animal will 
 venture to pass. — The latter grows singly, and forms a 
 cluster by itself, increasing to such a size, that, seen from 
 a distance, it is frequently mistaken for a bison. The 
 whole plant is so thickly beset with spines that it forbids 
 
 * Detailed in the " Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky 
 Mountains, &c." bv E. James. 
 
» 
 
 118 PLENARY INSPIRATION, OP 
 
 all approach to it, either by man or beast."* Respecting 
 the animated tenants of the more southern part of this 
 horrid desart, it is stated, that u Clouds of locusts filled the 
 air, uttering shrill and deafening cries ; while the Missis- 
 sippi-hawk, wheeling through their ranks, seemed to enjoy 
 his favourite prey ; rattlesnakes of various kinds, and sco- 
 lopendras of enormous size, were crawling on the naked 
 surface ; and immense black, hairy spiders, like the bird 
 catching animal of South America (mygale avicularia), 
 watching for prey at the mouth of their subterranean habi- 
 tations."! Who can read this frightful account, without 
 being struck by the homogeneity of character, so appar- 
 ent between the unkindly soil and its pernicious products, 
 both vegetable and animal ? Who is not led unconsciously 
 to feel, that there is a decided analogy between the charac- 
 teristic nature of each and those of its accompaniments ? 
 Who does not spontaneously infer, that the barren ground, 
 the horrid thorns, and the venomous reptiles, mutually 
 answer to each other ? And who does not see in them all, 
 striking emblems, and even exact images, of the malignant 
 passions, such as prompt to shoot the poisoned darts of 
 calumny, and to stab with unjust reproaches ? — of a dispo- 
 sition, such as would pervert even the sunshine and rain of 
 heaven into food for those passions ? 
 
 But we must not dwell any longer on these illustrations. 
 As we have before plainly seen, that on all things belonging 
 to the moral, intellectual, and spiritual worlds the Divine 
 Creator has first stamped a certain image of Himself; so 
 enough may now have been stated to evince, that all ob- 
 jects of outward, and even material nature, bear an image 
 of the moral, intellectual, and spiritual world of the hu- 
 man mind, representing its bad as well as its excellent en- 
 dowments : and thus we plainly see that on these also the 
 
 • Quarterly Review, No. lvii. p. If5.   lb. p. 23. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 117 
 
 divine image is impressed, though sometimes in an invert- 
 ed and distorted rather than in a direct and beautiful order. 
 Through all the links of creation, lower things continually 
 answer to higher ; and the contemplation of them in this 
 light is indeed calculated to " lead from nature up to na- 
 ture's God." Whilst, through all their varieties, minerals 
 are seen to answer to vegetables, vegetables to animals, 
 and animals to man ; and whilst man is recognized as hav- 
 ing been created in the image and likeness of God ; we see 
 how the attributes of the highest natures, may be viewed, 
 as in a mirror, in the lowest ; we discern how close is the 
 tie which binds together the whole universe of being : we 
 behold how things invisible may be read in the things 
 which are seen. The Relation of Analogy thus every 
 where existing, makes the volume of nature an instructive 
 book indeed. In a stricter sense than the poet ever dream- 
 ed of, he who thus views the fields of creation, 
 
 " Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
 Sermons in stones, and good in every thing." 
 
 4. Concluding that it must now be pretty evident, that 
 all things in Nature, being, as we have seen, outward pro- 
 ductions from inward essences, are natural, sensible, and 
 material types, of moral, intellectual, and spiritual antitypes, 
 and, finally, of their prototypes in God ; we draw a step 
 nearer to the important object before us, which is, to shew 
 that a Law or Rule of universal application is hereby af- 
 forded for the interpretation of the Word of God. We 
 will here only remark further, that if such an analogy as 
 we have pointed out exists at all, it must be regular and 
 constant ; that the mutual relation between natural types 
 and spiritual antitypes must be immutable ; if therefore 
 the Scriptures are written in agreement with this analogy 
 or mutual relation, the interpretations drawn from an ade- 
 quate knowledge of it cannot be irregular or uncertain. 
 The doctrine of spiritual interpretation will thus be freed 
 
 
113 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 from the only objection by which it could be reasonably 
 impugned. 
 
 III. Seeing then that a Relation of Analogy so decided- 
 ly prevails among the various orders of existence in the 
 universe, insomuch that inferior things are, universally? 
 images of superior, and that all material things are types 
 of immaterial ; it will follow, that were this Relation well 
 understood, a style of writing might be constructed, in 
 which, while none but natural images were used, purely 
 intellectual ideas should be fully expressed : indeed it will 
 be evident, that even a narrative in appearance the most 
 simple, treating, in its literal expression, merely of the ob- 
 jects of nature, if framed by that Infinite Knowledge to 
 which the proper qualities of natural objects all lie dis- 
 played, and which sees infallibly of what spiritual anti- 
 types these are the types, might include lessons of wisdom 
 far beyond all that philosophy ever reached. 
 
 1. Now that such a Relation exists, and that such a 
 truly expressive style of writing might be framed by its 
 means, are, in a great measure, intuitively perceived by 
 all mankind. To be satisfied of this, we need only advert 
 to a few instances which are familiar to us all ; which 
 prove, that although the existence of an analogy immuta- 
 bly established by the laws of nature between natural im- 
 ages and spiritual essences, may seem new to us when first 
 we hear it distinctly affirmed, this is only for want of hav- 
 ing made it a subject of reflection ; whilst we have at the 
 same time, a natural consciousness of it, which gives birth 
 to many of our conclusions, and is the origin of many 
 forms of speech in common use. 
 
 (1.) In regard to the conclusions we draw from it : 
 What is better known, for example, to every human being, 
 than that the face is, in a very great degree, an index of 
 the mind, and that it would be most completely such, did 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 119 
 
 not man often endeavour to conceal what is passing within, 
 and thus to give an expression to his countenance which is 
 foreign to the sentiments of his heart ? What is more 
 common, when we first see a stranger, than to form an 
 opinion in regard to the dispositions of his mind from cer- 
 tain marks of character which we see written in his face ? 
 And though, for the reason just mentioned, we are here 
 liable to be mistaken, this experience does not prevent us 
 from deducing such conclusions altogether, but only from 
 depending on them too much : a person's looks invariably 
 make some impression upon us, and we continually find 
 ourselves apt to draw from them some prejudice or pre- 
 possession. 
 
 But although we are liable to mistake in the opinion we 
 thus form of the general character, we can scarcely err in 
 deciding what are the affections which at any time reign in 
 a person's mind, when he is under circumstances that af- 
 fect him very strongly. None but the most accomplished 
 hypocrite can prevent us from discovering what are the 
 feelings which agitate his breast, when they are under any 
 very powerful excitement. Who cannot tell whether a 
 person is angry or pleased, buoyed up by hope or weighed 
 down by despair, melted by pity or inflamed with rage, 
 merely by observing the lineaments of his countenance ? 
 But these discoveries of the interior emotions of the mind 
 from the exterior form of the face, would be utterly im- 
 possible, did there not exist a certain relation between 
 things spiritual and things natural, — between the spiritual 
 things which exist in the mind and the natural appearances 
 which the face assumes. It is from this origin alone that 
 the invisible things of the mind become visible in the 
 countenance : the higher flows into the lower, and moulds 
 it in an instant into a form, which, Nature teaches us all, is 
 the image of itself. Yet what two things can be more dis- 
 tinct than the mind and the face ? Great disputes have 
 divided the schools respecting the part of the system in 
 
120 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 which the mind holds her court ; but none have dreamed 
 of placing her seal in the face: yet in the face, unquestion- 
 ably, much of the mind is to be seen ; and all who there 
 read her emotions, view a branch of the analogy between 
 things material and immaterial, and testify to the fact, that 
 of this, in many respects, man has an intuitive perception. 
 
 (2.) But to state a few of the instances in which this 
 perception is the origin of forms of speech in common use. 
 
 What is more common with mankind, than to use such 
 forms of expression as these : " I see what you mean: what 
 you have observed throws a great light on the subject ; it 
 must convince all who will take a candid view of the ques- 
 tion, and look at it in all its bearings." And whenever we 
 thus express ourselves, we acknowledge the existence of a 
 fixed relation between natural things and spiritual ; other- 
 wise we should never talk of seeing, taking a view, and look- 
 ing at, which are the actions of a bodily sense, and of light, 
 which is a natural object, in reference to the operations of 
 the mind : but we speak in this manner, because we are in- 
 wardly sensible, that the sight of the bodily eye answers to 
 the sight of the mental eye, which is the perception of the 
 understanding ; and that the light of the natural world an- 
 swers to the light of the moral world, which is truth: thus 
 when we say we see that a thing is so, we mean that we 
 understand it; and when we add that a light is thrown upon 
 a subject, we mean that the truth respecting it is rendered 
 evident. Again : What is more common than to speak of 
 a warm affection, a burning desire ; or, when we behold a 
 person eager in any pursuit, to say, that he is all on fire 9 
 Yet such forms of speech would be quite destitute of mean- 
 ing, unless there does actually exist a regular relation of 
 analogy between things spiritual and things natural, — be- 
 tween natural heat, which is that of fire, and spiritual heat, 
 which is that of love: thus intensity of love is what we always 
 mean when we thus speak, metaphorically, of heat, and of 
 fire ; and whenever we thus express ourselves, we betray 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 121 
 
 an involuntary consciousness of the reality of the above 
 relation. Again : How continually do we hear and use 
 such forms of speech as these! — When readily assenting to 
 a request, we frequently say, " I will do it with all my 
 heart:" when speaking in commendation of a person whom 
 we esteem, we often say, " He has a good heart :" and 
 when we see a man extremely intent upon any object, we 
 say, " His whole heart is in it." But how absurd it would 
 be to use such expressions, if, by the heart, we meant no- 
 thing more than the organ by which the blood is impelled 
 through the body ! It is certain that when we thus men- 
 tion the hearty we mean the will and affections : and the rea- 
 son why we thus speak of one thing instead of another, is, 
 because there is a mutual relation between them ; since, as 
 has been shewn above, the heart discharges a function in re- 
 spect to the body similar to that which the will discharges 
 in respect to the mind: and our exchanging the terms arises 
 from a secret perception of the truth of this analogy. So, 
 in all ages and among all nations, it has been usual to con- 
 sider the hand as an emblem of power , and to introduce the 
 name of this important member into various phrases, when 
 we mean, either to speak simply of power, or to express 
 some kindred sentiment which has the idea of power as its 
 root : thus, how common it is, among politicians, to talk 
 of strengthening the hands of government, meaning there- 
 by, so to support the government, that it may have power 
 to execute its designs ! — and here, again, we refer to the 
 sense we all have, of the fixed relation between things ma- 
 terial and moral, natural and spiritual. 
 
 These instances are chiefly drawn from the organs of 
 the human body ; and whoever is disposed to carry his 
 observation of this class of analogies farther, will find, 
 that we in like manner frequently transfer all the terms, 
 which, in their primary signification, describe the action 
 of the bodily senses, to express certain operations of the 
 mind, of which the senses are appropriate images. 
 16 
 
122 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 But we by no means take all our helps to expressive 
 speech of this kind from ourselves ; we as frequently bor- 
 row them from the animal creation, mentioning the names 
 of animals when we mean to express the moral and intel- 
 lectual qualities to which we perceive they answer. Thus 
 we often call children lambs, on account of their innocence: 
 and to describe a pure affection between the sexes we take 
 the suitable image of doves, calling by that name those 
 whose mutual attachment is distinguished by its tenderness 
 and constancy, and by the innocence which it seems to 
 breathe. An eminent warrior we call a lion, on account 
 of his prowess. The eagle is taken as an emblem of a tower- 
 ing intellect, on account of his mounting to such a height in 
 his aerial excursions, and the steadiness with which he can 
 fix his gaze on the sun; as is & hawk of acute discernment, for 
 his extraordinary keenness of sight. And when we behold a 
 person indulging in flights of a soaring imagination, we bor- 
 row the appropriate figure of a winged horse, invented by 
 the ancients, and say, " He has mounted his Pegasus." 
 
 Were we however to turn our attention to a still lower 
 class of analogies, and endeavour to recollect the multitude 
 of terms and phrases, borrowed from the physical proper- 
 ties of various common and inanimate objects, to express 
 the qualities of the faculties, operations, and products of 
 the mind ; we should find ourselves in a spacious field in- 
 deed. How familiarly do we speak, and how frequently 
 do we hear, of stabbing with reproaches, or of using cutting 
 words ; of corrosive thoughts ; of bitter pangs, both of body 
 and mind; of sharp afflictions, and acute sufferings, likewise 
 of both kinds ; of lacerated feelings ; of biting sarcasms ; of 
 grinding oppression ; of upright dealings; of crooked policy; 
 of straight-forward proceeding ; of melting tenderness ; of 
 hardened wickedness ; of soft compassion ; with a thousand 
 other such combinations ! which are all absolutely hetero- 
 geneous, if the essentially different nature of the ideas 
 combined be alone regarded, but which, nevertheless, 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 123 
 
 strike no one as absurd, as they would do, if not in some 
 way founded in the very nature of things. They have 
 such a foundation, and therefore they do not offend us : 
 the reason is, because, though heterogeneous in one respect, 
 they are homogeneous in another ; though physical pro- 
 perties are applied to moral objects, and are entirely dif- 
 ferent from the properties of such objects, they answer to 
 them by an exact analogy, and are, in a lower sphere, 
 what the others are in a higher. Of this, all men have a 
 perception ; we therefore readily translate the idea of the 
 physical property into that of the moral one; and this, of- 
 ten, so instantaneously, that we do not advert to the phy- 
 sical idea at all ; all which would be impossible, did not 
 Nature herself dictate the interpretation, and thus assure 
 us that the language is her own. Men, also, more parti- 
 cularly have recourse to such language, when they most 
 strongly feel what they say ; when they speak, as it were, 
 more immediately under the inspiration of Nature, and 
 when their thoughts flow more regularly in agreement with 
 her laws. Then it is that they have a more clear intuition 
 of the analogy that reigns between the various provinces of 
 her empire, and thus are better enabled to give force to a 
 purely intellectual idea, by calling its counterpart material 
 one to its aid : as the hero, when rising to the defence of 
 his country, fortifies the vital parts of his frame by a cloth- 
 ing of armour fitted over Nature's investment of ribs and 
 flesh, and adds the power of his sword to that of his hand. 
 (3.) Now, what all see to hold good in some cases, must 
 also be admitted to hold good universally ; and thus we 
 shall find that the common perceptions of mankind irre- 
 sistibly confirm the existence, through all the kingdoms 
 or spheres of being, of that constant analogy, which we 
 have before endeavoured to establish from the very nature 
 of things. If there be a great number of instances in 
 which the Mutual Relation between things moral, intel- 
 lectual, and spiritual, and things material, sensible, and 
 
124 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 natural, is so evident, that every human being intuitively 
 perceives it ; must we not necessarily conclude, that there 
 are innumerable other instances in which a similar relation 
 exists, although it is not so immediately obvious to our 
 dark apprehensions ? Must it not, indeed, be absolutely 
 certain, that such a relation prevails, not only in many 
 other instances, but in all cases whatsoever ? This is a fact 
 that appears to be capable of demonstration. For we 
 know that all things which exist in this natural world, 
 how much soever they may differ from each other, have, 
 nevertheless, one common nature, and are derived from 
 one common origin : they all are forms compacted of ma- 
 terial substances, or are modifications of such forms, and 
 they all have the first cause of their existence in God : If 
 then we see, incontrovertibly, that some of the objects 
 which lie obvious to our senses in the natural world, have 
 a Relation of Analogy with certain moral and spiritual 
 things, it follows, by inevitable consequence, that all the 
 other objects of this natural world, by virtue of their pos- 
 sessing the same common nature and the same common 
 origin, must also possess the same kind of Relation to cer- 
 tain other moral or spiritual things. In fact, as has in 
 part been shewn above, the causes of all natural objects im- 
 mediately lie in the world of spiritual existences, so that, 
 in reality, spiritual things are, instrumentality, the produc- 
 ing causes, by derivation from the First Cause, of natural 
 things : and hence the spiritual cause and the natural 
 effect, must, universally, answer to each other. 
 
 This is most plainly the case with man's soul and body ; 
 in regard to which we will make this further observation. 
 Man's body, we know, cannot exist a moment alone, any 
 otherwise than as a corpse ; whereas, according to the 
 Scriptures, and the truest philosophy, his soul is capable 
 of subsisting in a separate state. It is evident, then, that 
 the soul is the higher subsistence of the two ; and it hence 
 becomes certain, that the soul is the immediate producing 
 cause of the body. Even if we suppose, with the mate- 
 
* *** -v 
 
 Us if 
 
 rialist, the soul to be nothing but a certain mental life and^A^ *** \ 
 activity, incapable of existing separately from the bocfy^JT; 
 this will not affect our argument ; since it is undeniably 
 true, that it was in order that such mental life and activity 
 might come into existence, that the body is produced. 
 Be the soul what it may, it is certain that the body is 
 formed merely for its sake, and for its use. Now as we 
 have before seen that there is a Relation of Analogy be- 
 tween the face, with certain other organs of the body, and 
 certain faculties of the mind, which is nearly identical 
 with the soul ; so also must it be true, that the whole of 
 the body, taken together, answers to the whole of the 
 soul, and every distinct organ or member of the body to 
 some distinct faculty or principle of the soul ; and this 
 because it is derived from it, or is formed for its sake, to 
 be its seat and instrument of action in the world of nature. 
 
 Now what is true of the human body and soul, is true 
 likewise of all the objects in nature and of certain spiritual 
 principles which are the proximate causes of their exist- 
 ence ; these, again, being emanations, as it were, from 
 their inmost essences in the perfections of Deity. There 
 is a Mutual Relation or Analogy between them. It is evi- 
 dent then, that the instances in which mankind are in the 
 habit of speaking in phrases drawn from this Analogy, 
 are but as a few gems taken from the entrance to an ex- 
 haustless mine ; for that every object in nature, were its 
 properties as well understood as those of the objects from 
 whence our illustrations have been taken, would furnish 
 other such phrases, and the whole together, varieties un- 
 bounded. *■ 
 
 Here we find ourselves repeating in other words, (but 
 now as a conclusion from the premises advanced,) the pro- 
 position stated above : That, were the Relation of Analogy 
 between the different orders of existences in the Universe 
 well understood, a style of writing might be constructed, 
 in which, while none but natural images were used, purely 
 
126 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 intellectual ideas should be most fully expressed. Such a 
 style of language, also, would, as in the instances before 
 noticed wherein this kind of interchange is still in use, be 
 incomparably more forcible than that composed of ab- 
 stract terms, and would, when applied to exalted subjects, 
 embrace an infinity more of meaning, than can possibly be 
 infused into the best selected arrangement of metaphysical 
 expressions. But then, to employ this language with all 
 its power, we must suppose a perfect knowledge of both 
 sides of the analogies ; — not only of the prope:ties and in- 
 trinsic nature of all the natural objects whence images are 
 to be taken, but of all the moral, intellectual, and spiritual 
 things to express which the former are to be applied : and 
 this is the wisdom of Omniscience. While then man, 
 from this treasury, can only borrow a few scattered jewels 
 to set off his intellectual dress, the arrangement of them, 
 through all their series, into glorious forms of suns and 
 stars, to adorn a robe of imperial splendour, demands the 
 skill of the Owner and Author of the whole ; and they 
 who catch a glimpse of such a production, must study with 
 devotional feelings and a teachable spirit, together with 
 just ideas of its nature, the Word of God. 
 
 %. For it is in language of such construction, that the 
 Holy Word is written throughout ; as we hope will clearly 
 appear in the sequel : at present we will only mention a 
 few palpable instances of the occurrence in that book of 
 such forms of speech as we have already noticed. 
 
 We have seen above, that the face or countenance of man 
 is an index of his mind, insomuch that the interior emo- 
 tions and thoughts of his mind are therein expressed : 
 hence, whenever the face is spoken of in the Word of God, 
 the interior affections and ideas or thoughts of the mind 
 are uniformly to be understood. Thus, mention is very 
 frequently made of the face of the Lord ; as in the form 
 of blessing the people prescribed to Moses and Aaron : 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 127 
 
 " The Lord bless thee and keep thee ; the Lord make his 
 face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee ; the Lord 
 lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace."* 
 Here, by the face and countenance of the Lord are meant 
 the interior attributes or properties of the Lord, or those 
 which constitute his essence ; and these are, generally 
 speaking, divine love and divine wisdom, or divine good- 
 ness and divine truth ; and by the Lord's making his face 
 to shine, and lifting up his countenance, upon the objects of 
 his blessing, is signified the communication to them of all 
 the graces, with their accompanying felicities, of which 
 those divine principles are the source. It may also be 
 observed that the attribute of the sun, which is, to 
 shine, is here ascribed to the Lord's face : so we some- 
 times read, more explicitly, of the Lord's face being as the 
 sun ;f and as from the sun flow heat and light to recreate 
 the natural objects on which it shines, so from the Divine 
 Sun flow love and wisdom to bless intelligent creatures. 
 We have seen, also, that the sight of the bodily eye an- 
 swers to the sight of the mental eye, or the understanding, 
 and that natural light bears an exact analogy to spiritual 
 light, which is truth : hence it is written, " The people 
 that walked in darkness have seen a great light ;'*J by 
 which is meant, that they who before were in ignorance, 
 which is spiritual darkness, were brought to a knowledge 
 of the truth : and hence also it is said, in a passage cited 
 for another purpose in our last Lecture, " Open thou mine 
 eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law ;"§ 
 for it is certain that the interior glories of the law or 
 Word of God are not to be beheld by our bodily eyes, but 
 by our mental, — that is, they are to be perceived by the un- 
 derstanding. We have seen, likewise, that natural heat, 
 which is that of fire, bears a recognized relation to spirit- 
 
 * Numb. vi. 24, 25, 26. t Matt. xvii. 2, Rev. i. 16. t Isa. ix. 2, 
 
 § Ps. cxix. 18. 
 
128 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 ual heat, which is that of love. Hence it is that the abode 
 of the lost hereafter is compared to u a furnace of fire"* 
 and is said to be a place " where the worm dieth not, and 
 the fire is not quenched :"f for by the never-dying worm 
 is aptly expressed the perpetual gnawing of corrosive 
 thoughts, and by the unquenched fire the insatiate raging 
 of evil lusts. In this instance, fire is mentioned to express 
 love of a wicked and infernal character ; but it is frequent- 
 ly used to express such as is heavenly and divine : thus it 
 is said of the Lord Jesus Christ, that " He shall baptize 
 with the Holy Spirit and with fire ;"J by which is meant, 
 that he will regenerate his disciples by his Spirit of Truth 
 and his Divine Love. We have seen, further, that the 
 heart of man is intuitively perceived to bear a relation of 
 analogy to his loill. Hence it is said in the Holy Word, 
 that "the heart of man is deceitful above all things and 
 desperately wicked ;"§ by which we are taught that the 
 will of man is, through sin, of such a quality ; whence the 
 Lord says by the prophet, " 1 will take away the stony 
 heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh :"|| 
 by which is signified, that the loill of evil shall be remov- 
 ed, and the will of good implanted, with those who submit 
 themselves to be guided by the Lord : and it is not said 
 that this new heart shall be a heart of flesh, merely to con- 
 trast the softness of this material w r ith the hardness of 
 stone, — though this affords a poetical figure, likewise 
 founded in a real analogy, and equally beautiful and ex- 
 pressive, — but on account, also, of the less remote analogy, 
 which, as we have seen above, flesh itself bears to the prin- 
 ciple of goodness. Finally we have noticed, how prolific 
 a source of metaphorical phrases has been afforded by the 
 plain analogy between the human hand and the principle 
 of power : and of applications of this image the Scriptures 
 are full. Thus how often it is said that the Lord brought 
 
 * Matt. v. 42. t Mark ix. 44, 46, 48. Isa. Ixvi. 24. . t Matt. iii. H, 
 4 Jer. xvii. 9. II Ezek. xi. 19. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 129 
 
 the Israelites out of Egpyt by u a mighty hand," or " by 
 a mighty hand and a stretched out arm !"* No one sup- 
 poses that this was done by the visible putting forth of a 
 hand and arm from the person of God ; but all who be- 
 lieve the history allow, that it was effected by a wonder- 
 ful exertion of Divine Omnipotence. Sc^ when it is said 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ, that u he was received up into 
 heaven, and sat on the right hand of God,"f few minds can 
 be so gross as to dare to picture to their imagination two 
 personal divine forms sitting side by side on the throne of 
 heaven ; but all must see that the phrase is introduced to 
 teach the same truth respecting the Lord Jesus Christ, as, 
 in another evangelist, he declares respecting himself in 
 plain terms : u All power is given unto me in heaven and 
 in earth :":f All power is omnipotence : to be received up 
 and sit on the right hand of God, evidently, then, can mean 
 nothing else, than the exaltation of that which was so re- 
 ceived up, which was the glorified Human Nature of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, to the full possession and exercise of 
 Divine Omnipotence, — to be the instrument by which, 
 thenceforth, the Divine Omnipotence was to be exerted. 
 
 It would be highly interesting, and would materially 
 help to confirm the important result to which all the facts 
 and examples which we have here noticed tend, could we 
 stop to examine some instances in the Scriptures, similar to 
 those adduced above from common discourse, of the for- 
 mation of expressive phrases by applying the names of ani- 
 mals, and of the qualities of inanimate objects, to describe 
 mental powers and properties : but we must not anticipate 
 too far the subject of our two next Lectures. The exam- 
 ples above adduced from common speech, and these few 
 from Scripture, must be sufficient to establish the fact 
 which we have had in view in this branch of our argument ; 
 
 * Dent. iv. 34, v. 15, vi. 21. vii. R, 19, ix. 26, xi. 2. xxvi. 6, xxxiv. 12. 
 t Mark xvi. 11). t Matt, ixviii. 18. 
 
 17 
 
130 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 — That were the Relation of Analogy between natural and 
 spiritual existences well understood, a style of writing 
 might be constructed, in which, while none but natural 
 images were used, purely intellectual ideas should be most 
 fully conveyed : and the examples from Scripture in par- 
 ticular, must surely be felt to render highly probable the 
 further conclusion, that this is actually the style in which 
 the Word of God is written. On the application of the 
 Rule of Analogy, we see how clear and beautiful a sense 
 results from passages otherwise extremely mysterious ; and 
 though a general idea of the meaning of such passages as 
 we have now considered, might present itself to almost 
 every reader, we see that what could otherwise be only 
 an obscure, shadowy, undefined idea, becomes, on the ap- 
 plication of the Rule, clear, distinct, and definite. There 
 arc, however, multitudes of analogies which have quite 
 dropped out of use in common speech, but which are re- 
 tained in Scripture ; and in the interpretation of such pas- 
 sages, without a knowledge of the principle, nothing could 
 be offered but mere conjecture. This, however, will be 
 seen more clearly in the sequel ; what we are here chiefly 
 aiming at is, to establish, beyond question, the universal 
 existence of such a Mutual Relation between things natu- 
 ral, spiritual, and divine, as we have endeavoured to ex- 
 plain. This is testified, we have seen, by everything that 
 we know respecting all these different orders of being: 
 the conviction comes more closely home to us, when we 
 notice that we intuitively perceive it, and draw from it 
 many of our every-day phrases : and it is further confirm- 
 ed still, if, while we only look at the Scriptures as a col- 
 lection of very ancient writings, composed in an idiom 
 generally in use in the early ages of the world, we find 
 them f»H of forms of speech evidently constructed on the 
 same universal principle. In fact, the doctrine of Analo- 
 gy, and the Sacred Scriptures, mutually illustrate each 
 other. In the Scriptures, more than any where else, are 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 131 
 
 afforded the means of recovering the knowledge of this 
 Analogy ; and, without arguing in a circle, we shall find 
 in the end, that the doctrine of spiritual Analogy will 
 afford the only key for arriving at a satisfactory interpre- 
 tation of the Scriptures. 
 
 IV. Among those, however, who think that nothing 
 which is new can possibly be true, there may be some who 
 will be unwilling to contemplate those clear proofs of the 
 existence of a Mutual Relation between things natural and 
 spiritual which Nature every where exhibits, unless to the 
 testimony of Nature, confirmed by Reason, be added that 
 of human authority. This then may be produced in 
 abundance, provided great antiquity should not be deem- 
 ed as objectionable as absolute novelty : for certain it is, 
 that, in the remote ages, the Relation in question was very 
 extensively understood. The passages already quoted 
 from the Scriptures evince, that, when they were written, 
 the Relation of Analogy between natural and spiritual sub- 
 jects, if not necessarily known to the writers of the books, 
 was present to the Divine Mind by whose inspiration they 
 wrote them ; and being thus recognized by him whose 
 existence is from everlasting, it has the sanction of an anti- 
 quity coeval with the origin of all creation ; of which fact 
 we shall find abundantly more confirmations in the sequel. 
 But if there be any who can fear to give themselves up to 
 this evidence ; — who will even distrust the voice of God, 
 added to the dictates of Nature, till it is authenticated by 
 the testimony of man : they need not reject it, in this 
 instance, for the want of such credentials. 
 
 I. It is even unnecessary to travel out of the Word of 
 God itself, for testimony of this kind : for if we only take 
 its relations as authentic history, whether dictated by di- 
 vine inspiration or not, we shall find that some of them 
 give full proof of the fact, that the knowledge of the Rela- 
 
132 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 tion between things spiritual and natural, whereby they 
 mutually answer to each other, and whereby the natural 
 afford proper images for the expression of the spiritual, 
 was in ancient times widely diffused. We might instance 
 the case of Balaam, a native of Mesopotamia, who thrice 
 directed Balak to build seven altars, and to offer a bullock 
 and a ram on every altar,* when he was desirous to 
 obtain an " enchantment against Jacob, and a divination 
 against Israel ;"f and who actually did, in consequence of 
 these emblematic preparations, obtain communications 
 from heaven, though of a contrary nature to those which 
 he and his employer wished for : — circumstances which 
 evince, that there really was a connexion between the 
 communications obtained and the ceremonies performed, 
 and which establish the really typical character of the lat- 
 ter, and the knowledge of this possessed by Balaam. 
 
 But we have a still more remarkable instance of the 
 preservation of this knowledge, in' the account of the 
 events which befel the Philistines after they had taken in 
 battle the ark, which was the most holy symbol in the 
 representative worship of the Jews. The chief circum- 
 stances were as follows.! 
 
 On capturing the ark, they placed it in the house of their 
 idol Dagon ; and the consequence was, that the next morning 
 they found the idol fallen with his face to the ground be- 
 fore it. They however regarded this as an accident, and 
 set the idol up again : when, the following morning, beside 
 finding the idol thrown down afresh, they found his head 
 and both his hands cut off, and lying upon the threshold. 
 Andnot only did judgments thus fall upon the idol, but upon 
 his infatuated worshippers, who died in great numbers, 
 and those who died not were smitten with emerods : the 
 land, also, was overrun with mice. They then determin- 
 ed to send the ark away, as the only means of obtaining 
 
 * Numb, xxiii. 1, 14 3 29. 1 Ver. 23. J See 1 Sam. Chs. v. and vj. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 133 
 
 deliverance from the miseries which they suffered ; but on 
 consulting their priests and diviners, these said, ic If ye 
 send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty, 
 but in any wise return him a trespass offering." Then 
 they said, " What shall be the trespass offering ?" The 
 others answered, " Five golden emerods and five golden 
 mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philis- 
 tines." They also directed them to make a new cart, and 
 to take two milch kine on which there had come no yoke, 
 and tie them to the cart, and bring their calves home from 
 them, and send away the ark : and they said, " See, if it 
 goeth up by the way of his own coast, to Bethshemesh," 
 (which was the nearest Israelitish city,) " then he (the 
 Lord) hath done us this great evil : but if not, then we 
 shall know that it is not his hand that smote us ; it was a 
 chance that happened to us." All this was accordingly 
 done : u And the kine," the history relates, " which drew 
 the cart, took the straight way to Bethshemesh, lowing as 
 they went, without turning either to the right hand or to 
 the left :" and when the people of Bethshemesh saw it, 
 they offered up the kine for a burnt offering, cutting to 
 pieces the cart, and making the fire with the wood. Now 
 to what purpose could be all these ceremonies, if some- 
 thing were not specifically and correctly symbolized by 
 every particular related ? Without this, what would the 
 whole proceedings amount to, but a piece of idle mummery ? 
 That they were not such, is evident from the effect being 
 such as was expected : the unguided kine, of their own 
 accord, took the way to Bethshemesh, and the Philistines 
 were relieved from their sufferings. The whole then must 
 have been a series of representative images, founded in the 
 Relation of Analogy which exists by the constitution of 
 nature between natural things and spiritual : and a know- 
 ledge of this Relation must have been possessed, to some 
 extent, by the Philistine priests and diviners ; otherwise, 
 how could they have directed such rites to be performed, 
 
134 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 as, though seemingly trifling, had the effect of turning 
 away the plagues with which the people were afflicted ? 
 The reason why such effects followed the use of such 
 means, is, because, prior to the alteration made in the state 
 and nature of the church by the coming of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, all worship was carried on by representative rites 
 significant of spiritual and' heavenly things, and it was by 
 such worship, founded in that Relation between things 
 spiritual and natural, whereby the latter are images of the 
 former, that, under the Economy which then prevailed, 
 the communication was maintained between heaven and 
 earth, between God and man ; and unless this communi- 
 cation be maintained by some means, neither man nor the 
 earth could continue in existence. Ceremonies then, 
 which, under such an Economy, were solemnly performed 
 according to this Relation of Analogy, sometimes pro- 
 duced natural effects, answering to those spiritual ones 
 which real worship, with its accompanying graces, pro- 
 duces in the mind : as was often the case with the rites 
 prescribed by divine authority to the Israelitish Church ; 
 of which we shall give an example or two in a subsequent 
 Lecture. 
 
 We will briefly state what appears to be implied by the 
 circumstances of the present history. The ark, under the 
 Israelitish Dispensation, was a symbol of the Divine Pre- 
 sence, which none but the truly good can endure, and they 
 not too near ; and which causes the lusts cherished by the 
 wicked more openly to become their tormentors. The 
 Philistines represent those who exalt faith above charity, 
 making the former every thing, and the latter of no ac- 
 count ; which was the reason of their continual wars with 
 the Israelites, who represent the true church, or those who 
 cherish faith in union with charity. The idol Dagon is 
 the religion of those who are represented by the Philis- 
 tines. The einerods with which- they were smitten, are 
 symbols of the appetites of the natural man, which, when 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 135 
 
 separated from spiritual affections, as is done by those 
 who do not apply their faith to the purification of their 
 lives, are unclean. The mice, by which the land was de- 
 vastated, are images of the lust of destroying by false in- 
 terpretation the spiritual nourishment which the church 
 derives from the Word of God, as is done by those who 
 separate faith from charity. The emerods of gold exhibit 
 the natural appetites as purified and made good. The 
 golden mice symbolize the healing of the tendency to false 
 interpretation effected by admitting a regard to goodness ; 
 for of this, as we shall see in the next example, gold is an 
 emblem. The cows are types of the natural man, in re- 
 gard to such good qualities as he possesses. Their lowing 
 by the way expresses the repugnance of the natural man to 
 the process of conversion. And the offering of them up 
 for a burnt offering, typifies that restoration of order 
 which takes place in the mind, when the natural affections 
 are submitted to the Lord. It would detain ustoo long 
 were we to stay to offer proof of the truth of these expla- 
 nations: every one may verify them for himself, by trying 
 what sense will be drawn from other passages of Scrip- 
 ture, where the same emblems are used, on giving them the 
 same interpretation ; for if the signification thus obtained 
 be every where coherent and satisfactory, the meaning as- 
 signed to the symbols must be the true one. But whether 
 our explanation be the true one or not, it will not affect 
 the position for which the history is here cited : It will 
 still be certain, that the ceremonies directed by the Philis- 
 tine priests and diviners must have been intended to have 
 some meaning : As the expected events followed, it must 
 be true that the operations they prescribed must have had 
 a real analogy to certain things of a spiritual nature : and 
 of this, they must have possessed a knowledge. 
 
 But further. That an acquaintance with the Relation 
 which natural things bear to spiritual was in ancient times 
 w r idely extended, and that it was not altogether lost sight 
 
136 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 of among the eastern nations at the period of the com- 
 mencement of the Christian era, is evident from the ac- 
 count of the wise men of the east, who, under the guid- 
 ance of a star, came and " presented unto" the infant Sa- 
 viour " gifts ; gold, frankincense, and myrrh."* Without 
 entering into the inquiry respecting the nature of the star 
 that appeared, the spiritual thing represented by it is ob- 
 vious. Stars, as being luminous bodies, and thus belong- 
 ing to the general analogy of light, which, we have seen, 
 answers to truth, are apt images of knowledge or informa- 
 tion upon spiritual subjects : hence this star, which con- 
 ducted the wise men to Jesus, was an appropriate type of 
 that knowledge respecting the promised advent of the 
 Lord, which was retained, from ancient tradition, among 
 the eastern people. The gifts which they offered were em- 
 blematical of the worship which the truly wise will ever 
 be foremost in yielding to " Him that was born King of 
 the Jews :"f on which subject we will offer a little expla- 
 nation. 
 
 By the gifts which the wise men presented, is pointed 
 out, what the nature of all divine worship must be, if he 
 who engages in it wishes it to be acceptable to the Lord or 
 beneficial to himself. An offering of gold, on account of 
 the density, ductility, indestructibility, beautiful colour, 
 and other superior qualities of that metal, was seen in an- 
 cient times, when the perception of such analogies was 
 more extensive than at present, to be expressive of worship 
 from a principle of pure love or goodness in the will, 
 which is the deepest ground from which we can present an 
 offering to the Lord. It was on account of this significa- 
 tion of gold that so much use was made of it in the repre- 
 sentative service of the Jewish tabernacle; most of the holy 
 furniture of which was overlaid or otherwise ornamented 
 with gold, if not made of it entirely: for this use of it was 
 
 * Matt. ii. II. t Matt. ii. 2. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 137 
 
 designed to express, that there can be no worship of the 
 Lord, and no religion, unless there be in the heart of the 
 worshipper a principle of sterling goodness, — a love to- 
 wards the Lord and his neighbour. The second offering 
 was of frankincense, which represents worship from a 
 principle of truth in the understanding ; that is, not from 
 truth merely known and comprehended, for this, never- 
 theless, may not form the spontaneous sentiment of a man's 
 own mind ; but from truth loved, and of course obeyed, 
 as well as comprehended and known. This signification 
 of frankincense may be gathered from its being the chief 
 ingredient in the holy perfume or incense, which was 
 burnt upon the golden altar in the holy place ;* and from 
 its being added as a kind of seasoning to the meat-offer- 
 ings,! and spread upon the shew-bread :J for the smoke of 
 incense is a striking symbol of the aspirations to the Lord 
 of the heaven-directed mind, and of the thoughts of a 
 heart that continually turns to him. So the offering of 
 myrrh represented worship from a suitable life and con- 
 versation: and although this cannot so directly be proved, 
 it is evident from this fact ; that whatever is really in the 
 will, and thence in the understanding, never stops there 
 inactive, but descends, on every suitable occasion, into life 
 and action. This is the reason why, in the Scriptures, so 
 many instances occur, as in this passage, of a three-fold ar- 
 rangement. The particulars so enumerated are sometimes 
 in an ascending series, but more frequently, as here, in a 
 descending one ; and then the last in order, as the myrrh 
 is in this instance, denotes the ultimate effect of the union 
 and activity of the prior two. Myrrh, also, was one of 
 the ingredients of the holy oil with which all the persons 
 and vessels employed in the tabernacle-service were to be 
 anointed :§ by which oil was signified good of all orders 
 and degrees, beginning from the most common or lowest, 
 
 • Exod. xxx. 34. f Lev. ii. %, 2, 15. Ki. J Cli. xxiv. 7. 
 
 § Exod. xxx. 23,24,2'.. 
 
 18 
 
138 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 represented by the myrrh, which is therefore mentioned 
 in the first place, (the ascending series being that which is 
 here adopted,) and rising to the purest and most exalted, 
 represented by the pure olive oil, which is mentioned the 
 last. That the ointment thus compounded was intended 
 to be a type of love and charity, with their uniting ten- 
 dency and all their beneficial operations, may be gathered 
 from the manner in which it is mentioned by David : 
 " Behold, how good and pleasant a thing it is, for brethren 
 to dwell together in unity ! It is like the precious ointment upon 
 the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's 
 beard ; that went down to the skirts of his garments."* 
 The introduction here, by the inspired writer, of the 
 u precious ointment," would only make a simile without 
 resemblance, if there were not an analogy between its na- 
 ture and that of the virtue whose praise he celebrates. 
 
 Now it may fairly be inferred, that the wise men would 
 not have " worshipped" " the young child" by these natu- 
 ral emblems, so exactly typifying the spiritual worship 
 due to that Divine Nature which was assuming this mode 
 of manifesting itself to the world, had they not been ap- 
 prized, to some extent, of the analogy between things natu- 
 ral and things spiritual. Nothing but this could have dic- 
 tated the performance of acts so significant and appropri- 
 ate. Without such a guide, they might, certainly, have 
 brought presents, in token of respect : but it must have 
 been by a rare chance indeed that they could have fixed 
 upon articles so exactly symbolic of the sentiments proper 
 to the occasion. 
 
 2. But if we were to turn to the writings and other mo- 
 numents yet extant of profane antiquity, we should find 
 proofs multiplying all round us, to evince, that in very 
 ancient times the knowledge of the Relation between 
 things spiritual and things natural was very much culti- 
 
 * Ps. cxxxiii 1, 2. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 139 
 
 vated indeed : in fact, we should see reason to conclude, 
 that the ancients knew of no other way of expressing their 
 conceptions respecting spiritual and heavenly subjects, but 
 by clothing them with images drawn from natural objects. 
 Who, for instance, can doubt, that the fables of their My- 
 thology were all originally framed upon this principle ? 
 These fables have been handed down to us with many mu- 
 tilations, additions, and other depravations, being now on- 
 ly found in the writings of authors who did not understand 
 them, and who had received them from traditionary relat- 
 ers, of whom, likewise, many were ignorant of their mean- 
 ing, and frequently confounded different things together : 
 yet many of these fables still exhibit marks which evince, 
 that their first authors composed them by the aid of a cor- 
 rect knowledge of the spiritual and moral analogy of natu- 
 ral things, and designed them to convey lessons of interior 
 wisdom. Thus, though some of the heathen deities might 
 be no more than deified men, — persons who, while they 
 lived, had been benefactors to their species ; (in which 
 light some of the later ancients, and many of the moderns, 
 have chosen to consider them all ;) yet how much more 
 reasonable is the opinion of the wiser ancients, followed 
 likewise by many of the moderns, that the personifications 
 of the Grecian mythology were only designed to represent 
 the distinct attributes of the One Infinite God, and were 
 not intended to be considered as existing in separate per- 
 sonal forms, but had such forms assigned them merely to 
 render the contemplation of the various divine perfections 
 more easy to the human understanding; whilst the regard- 
 ing of them as so many separate gods, and the worshipping 
 of them as such, were innovations of the ignorant vulgar, — 
 exactly of the same nature as that which has been intro- 
 duced by some of the moderns, in making a complete se- 
 paration of the persons of the Christian Trinity. We will 
 endeavour to sketch an idea of some of the leading charac- 
 
140 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 ters of this mythology, and of the design of a few of its 
 principal fables. 
 
 It is a fact which will readily be admitted, that the Di- 
 vine Being is regarded and worshipped, by all mankind, 
 through the medium of the conceptions which they have 
 formed of him in their own minds, and that none are able 
 to conceive an idea of him that is at all adequate to what he 
 is in Himself, since it is impossible for a finite being to com- 
 prehend the Infinite: hence the idea of God cannot be exact- 
 ly the same in any two minds; and in persons of very dissi- 
 milar religious sentiments it must be very different indeed. 
 Now it appears to have been the custom among the ancients, 
 when a very great change took place in men's modes of con- 
 ceiving of the Deity, to assign to him a different name: the 
 propriety of which practice seems to be recognized in the 
 Scriptures, where we find the Lord saying to Moses, when 
 about to communicate a new revelation different from that 
 which had existed before, " I appeared unto Abraham, un- 
 to Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, 
 but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them."* Thus 
 we are not to conclude that the wiser ancients regarded 
 their supreme god, Jupiter, as a different divine being from 
 the older supreme god, Saturn ; but that under those dis- 
 tinct names, to each of which they assigned distinct attri- 
 butes, they personified the different ideas of the Supreme 
 Being entertained by two very different generations of 
 mankind, — by men of such essentially distinct genius and 
 character as those may well be conceived to have been, 
 who lived before, and who lived after, the Scriptural ca- 
 tastrophe of the flood. And as the latter race of men were 
 descended from the former, and their idea of God sprung 
 out of that which had been conceived by the previous ge- 
 neration, — was, in fact, the offspring of it, — they transfer- 
 red this idea to the deities themselves, and described Jupi- 
 
 * Exod. vi. 3. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 141 
 
 ter as the son of Saturn : for which also there was a fur- 
 ther reason, to which we shall presently advert. 
 
 But the occasion on which Jupiter is fabled to have suc- 
 ceeded to the throne of heaven, was this: a war was waged 
 against Saturn by the first race of giants, called the Ti- 
 tans, — evidently the U Nephilim" of the Scriptures,* — 
 who, it is pretended, would have succeeded in their enter- 
 prise, had not Jupiter flown to the assistance of his father, 
 and discomfited the enemy with his thunderbolts ; after 
 which, like many other auxiliaries of distressed sovereigns, 
 he seized the reigns of government for himself. Now if 
 we conceive Saturn to be a personified idea of the Divine 
 Being more in regard to that pure goodness, which, the 
 poets assure us, prevailed under his dominion among man- 
 kind, when 
 
 Sine militis usu 
 Mollia securce peragebant otia gentes, 
 
 and which procured for the Saturnia regna, in the language 
 of analogy, the expressive synonyme of u the golden age," 
 (though the use of that metal was then unknown ; — ac- 
 cording to the poet, not yet itum est in viscera terrce, nor yet 
 ferro nocentius aurum Prodierat ;) — if we regard the Titans 
 as the direful perversions of such a state — the lust of em- 
 pire and pride of self-exaltation most opposite to inoffen- 
 sive benevolence ; — if we see in Jupiter a personification 
 of the Divine Being more in regard to that other great es- 
 sential property of Deity, pure Truth, which is the agent 
 in every divine work of judgment and of restoration, and 
 of the manifestation or revelation of which, thunder, often 
 deemed by the vulgar the voice of God, and lightning, the 
 sudden irradiations of which have such an awakening ef- 
 fect, are natural images; — and if we conceive further, what 
 was clearly the fact, that the character of the people who 
 lived after the flood was less affectionate and more intel- 
 
 * In the original of Gen. vi. 4. The later races of giants are called Rejihaun. 
 
142 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 lectual than before, — that sciences, distinct from the intui- 
 tive perceptions inherent in the love of exalted goodness, 
 then first began to be cultivated, — thus, that the altered 
 genius of mankind led them to view the Divine Being 
 more in his character of pure but benignant Truth, than 
 of simple unmixed Goodness, — or as a Jupiter rather than 
 a Saturn ; — whence, also, with the reign of Jupiter com- 
 menced the silver age, — silver being, among metals, the 
 symbol of pure, interior truth, as gold is that of pure, ex- 
 alted goodness : — If, I say, we accept these views, we at 
 least shall have a theory which well agrees with the facts, 
 as established by high authority, and which affords, — may 
 I be allowed to say ? — a beautiful solution of the circum- 
 stances of the fable. 
 
 Nor does the fiction, that it was the practice of Saturn 
 always to devour his offspring, detract from the character 
 here given him, as the personification of unmixed good- 
 ness : for children, in the language of analogy, viewed in 
 relation to their father, are as the perceptions and thoughts 
 of the intellect in relation to the love, affection, or desire, 
 which gives them birth. Every one who reflects on the ope- 
 rations of his own mind, must see, that thought, the object 
 of which is truth, or what is esteemed to be truth, is entirely 
 the offspring of affection. Take away all affection, — reduce 
 the mind to a state of perfect apathy, — and you will imme- 
 diately cease to think : on the contrary, when any affection 
 is in high excitement, how active are the thoughts ! what 
 a tumult of ideas. — what multitudes of reasonings, crowd 
 into the intellect, when violent passions agitate the will ! 
 It is in agreement, then, with true philosophy, to regard 
 Truth as the offspring of Goodness, this being essentially 
 Love, to some species of which all the affections belong : 
 whence we see the further reason, alluded to above, for 
 considering Jupiter, who was the personification of the 
 Divine Being in respect more to his essential attribute of 
 Truth than of Goodness, as the son of Saturn, who was 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 143 
 
 the personification of the Divine Being in respect more to 
 his essential attribute of Goodness than of Truth. We are 
 not however to suppose that the people of the golden age 
 regarded by the Divine Being as Goodness or Love alone, 
 without Truth or Wisdom, nor that the silver age regarded 
 him as Truth or Wisdom alone without Goodness or 
 Love : the former worshipped him as Divine Goodness 
 from which proceeds Divine Truth, and the latter as Di- 
 vine Truth within which is Divine Goodness. Now it 
 was contrary to the peculiar genius of the people of those 
 primeval times, to be willing to contemplate any thing of 
 mere intellect separate from its parent affection : to do so 
 they would have considered as an awful lapse from the 
 perfection of the human character : they viewed all truth 
 as inherent in its parent affection, and, though continually 
 produced by it, continually resolving itself into it. In 
 agreement with this sentiment, the preservation of Jupiter 
 and his brothers is fabled to^have been effected by the ar- 
 tifice of his mother Rhea — the earth, — which is a term used 
 in the language of analogy, for that which, in the language 
 of theology, is called the external man : it is by inclining 
 to the external that intermediate spiritual births are pro- 
 duced by the internal, and it is by the suggestions of the 
 external, or by acceding to its inclinations, that they are 
 viewed as altogether separate. The artifice, too, by 
 which Saturn was deceived by Rhea, was, her giving him 
 a stone to swallow instead of his son ; — a monstrous ab- 
 surdity, if any thing like a literal history be supposed to 
 be intended, but a beautiful combination of the analogies 
 of different orders of existences, if the involved mystery 
 be regarded. For a stone, among inanimate things of the 
 lowest order, belongs to the same general analogies as a son 
 does among the highest : both are types of the objects of 
 intellect ; a stone being a symbol of truth in its lowest 
 sphere, when clothed with appearances taken from the 
 world of nature, and a son being a symbol of truth when 
 
144 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 living in the perceptions of the human mind. Now that, 
 in tills sense, strange as it may sound, stones were swallow- 
 ed by the primeval inhabitants of the world, cannot be 
 doubted, if we believe, as is highly reasonable, first, that 
 there is such a mutual relation between natural things and 
 spiritual, that the latter are reflected by all the objects of 
 creation ; secondly, that this analogy was intuitively ap- 
 prehended by those ancients, so that, to them, every thing 
 in nature conveyed a spiritual idea, and, by them, " the 
 invisible things of God were clearly seen in the things that 
 are made ;" and, lastly, that the exalted affection for good- 
 ness in which they were principled, beholding in terres- 
 trial objects nothing but images of heavenly ones, eagerly 
 seized the ideas thus presented, and incorporated them 
 with itself. Hence, as they viewed God through the me- 
 dium of the conceptions of their own minds, so that their 
 Supreme Deity may be considered, as noticed above in the 
 case of the idol Dagon, as the personified abstraction of 
 their leading religious sentiments, they depicted Saturn as 
 the devourer of his children, or of stones in their stead. 
 
 And here be it observed, that such a mode of represent- 
 ing spiritual subjects, so long as it was understood, must 
 have been equally delightful and instructive : but in the 
 degenerate times that succeeded ; — to speak in their own 
 language, — in the copper age, when men regarded only 
 external goodness, cultivating merely natural affections, — and 
 still more in the iron age, when they took their character 
 from a merely external understanding, and no longer had 
 spiritual, but only natural conceptions of truth ; — such re- 
 presentations became liable to great abuse. Then, under- 
 standing literally this, so understood, flagitious practice 
 of Saturn, and the similar deeds of their other divinities, 
 they changed the whole into a system of abomination and 
 impurity, never dreamed of by its inventors ; and villainy 
 pretended to perpetrate its crimes under the express sanc- 
 tion of the gods. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 145 
 
 But to return. We have selected the above fables for 
 illustration, as being fundamental ones, on which the 
 whole of the Greek mythology turns : otherwise, some of 
 the others would perhaps admit of a more familiar expla- 
 nation. When, for instance, a second race of giants is 
 fabled to have made a second insurrection, and to have 
 heaped mountain upon mountain to scale the walls of 
 heaven, (an occurrence which is described in Scripture by 
 the parallel scheme of building " a tower whose top should 
 reach unto heaven ;"*) and when the gods are said, in 
 fear, to have fled for refuge to Egypt, and there to have 
 disguised themselves by taking the forms of various ani- 
 mals, Jupiter assuming the figure of a ram, Juno that of a 
 white cow, and the like ; — how aptly may we see describ- 
 ed the desolation, through the prevalence of extravagant 
 lusts and wild phantasies, of all that constitutes real reli- 
 gion, until all true knowledge of the divine nature and 
 attributes is banished, the graces of the truly spiritual man 
 are no more, and nothing of them is left but some good 
 affections (represented by the animals in which the deities 
 lurked,) in the natural man, which in this fable, as in the 
 Scriptures, is typified by Egypt ! On this occasion, also, 
 it was oracularly pronounced, that the gods must finally 
 be vanquished, unless they called a mortal to their aid : 
 where again we see a proof, that by their gods they did 
 not strictly understand the Deity as he is in Himself, but 
 as he is received, and as ideas are formed of him, in the 
 human mind : for none could imagine that any insurrec- 
 tion from hell could injure the Deity Himself, though it 
 might abolish the graces of which he is the author from 
 the mind of man. The fable adds, that in compliance with 
 the oracle, the gods availed themselves of the assistance 
 of Hercules, the son of Jupiter by a human mother, by 
 whose help they regained Olympus : in which, I think, 
 
 * Gen. xi, 4. 
 
 19 
 
146 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 the serious Christian must discover, whatever the infidel 
 may think of it, a knowledge among the gentiles of that 
 genuine oracular declaration which said, that the seed of 
 the woman should bruise the serpent's head. Indeed, the 
 whole history of Hercules and his labours evinces, that 
 they who constructed it, had a knowledge of the Redeem- 
 er who was to come, and of the redemption which was to 
 be wrought by the Incarnate God, who, " having spoiled 
 principalities and powers, " # and " destroyed him that had 
 the power of death"! was to be made " perfect through 
 sufferings, "J " crowned with glory and honour :"§ which 
 truths they involved in their customary style of fable, fill- 
 ed with circumstances drawn from the language of spirit- 
 ual analogy. 
 
 Once more. If we were apprized that, in its spiritual 
 reference, that common Scripture emblem, the horse, ex- 
 presses the understanding or apprehension of Truth, — whence 
 four horses appeared, in the Revelation, to proceed out oj a 
 book,\\ rncl on another was seen riding in heaven He 
 whose u name is called The Word of 6rod,"1T — we should 
 perceive the reason why horses were assigned to Neptune, 
 the god of the ocean, or of the waters, though they seem so 
 little adapted to that element :— why a chariot and horses 
 of fire were attributed to the sun, the source of light, or 
 to Phoebus, the god of day : — why the fountain of Hippo- 
 crene, in Mount Parnassus, the haunt of the nine Muses, 
 or the sciences, who were the daughters of Jupiter and 
 Memory, was said to have been opened by a blow from the 
 hoof of the winged horse, Pegasus : — why all the principal 
 heroes and demi-gods were represented to have received 
 their institution in learning from the Centaurs, an imaginary 
 race compounded of the man and the horse ; who also 
 were famous for their skill in medicine, and instructed in 
 
 * Col. ii. 15. t Heb. ii. 14. * Ver. 10. § Ver. 9. || Ch. vi. 1, 4, 5, 8. 
 % Ch. xix. 11, 13. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 147 
 
 that art the god of medicine, ^sculapius himself : — why 
 the device, whatever it was, by which the Grecian com- 
 manders introduced a body of troops within the walls of 
 Troy, was symbolized by a wooden horse : — and why, on 
 the founding of Athens, that celebrated seat of science and 
 philosophy, when Minerva and Neptune were contending 
 for the honour of giving it a name, Neptune, to display 
 his power, is said to have struck the ground with his tri- 
 dent, when there instantly darted forth a horse ; yet the 
 disputed honour was awarded to Minerva, at whose bid- 
 ding there sprung up an olive-tree ; — a faMe which beau- 
 tifully represents th? superiority of that wisdom figured 
 by the goddess, which regards the conduct of life, and 
 leads to the feeling of benevolence terminating in works of 
 utility, — of which sentiment the olive-tree is the symbol, — 
 over those mere accumulations of knowledge typified 
 by the waters of the ocean, and having a personified ab- 
 stract in Neptune ; these only enabling their possessor to 
 dazzle by intellectual display, or to overwhelm by ratiocination ; 
 — of which exercises the war-horse is so expressive an 
 e.i blem. 
 
 The brevity to which these explanations have been 
 necessarily confined, may perhaps have been such as to 
 prevent their truth from being fully perceived : — there is 
 als3 much difficulty in conveying by abstract expressions 
 the exact ideas intended ; in which respect, as intimated 
 above, the language of analogy, when once understood, 
 has an immense superiority : — but surely no one can 
 doubt, that these fables were all intended by their authors 
 to have a specific meaning. There is an evident uniformi- 
 ty in their construction. They are all compounded of 
 personified abstractions, and of material images taken from 
 actually existing objects ; and it is plain that, by the ma- 
 terial Images applied, material things are not intended, 
 but that they are used as symbols, according to some regu- 
 lar principle, founded in a similitude observed by the 
 
148 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 composers between the images employed and certain mo- 
 ral or spiritual things intended to be expressed : And what 
 can this regular principle be, and what the similitude ob- 
 served, but such a Mutual Relation, or Relation of Analo- 
 gy, between natural things and spiritual, as renders the 
 former expressive mediums for conveying to the mind 
 ideas of the latter ? Altogether, I think it certain, that 
 no one can examine the fables of the Greek mythology, 
 with a view to this inquiry, without being satisfied, that 
 such an immutable Relation between the different orders 
 of existences does prevail, and that when those fables were 
 composed it must have been well understood. 
 
 The same observation may be extended to the Asiatic 
 mythologies, since the affinity between these and the Gre- 
 cian is well known, and modern researches have even dis- 
 covered, on the banks of the Ganges, some of the imagi- 
 nary deities so long since banished from the rest of the 
 world. Since the acquisition, by this country, of such 
 extensive possessions in India, the attention of the learned 
 has been much directed to the sacred books and traditions 
 of that very ancient nation ; and here, still more than in 
 the mythological tales of the ancient Greeks, astonishment 
 has been excited by the marvellous character of the rela- 
 tions which compose their records. But little certain 
 knowledge has yet been developed by the illustrious scho- 
 lars who have endeavoured to open this rich mine of sci- 
 ence : the reason is, because they have chiefly sought, in 
 the extraordinary narratives which they have studied, for 
 information on questions of ancient history, geography, 
 and chronology ; whereas, when the traditions of the 
 highest antiquity appear to treat of such matters, it is only 
 for the sake of making them the vehicles of information 
 respecting higher subjects. To decypher such composi- 
 tions, the science of Analogies will be found to be the mas- 
 ter-key. As nothing but this will satisfactorily explain the 
 mythological fables of the Greeks ; so likewise must our 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 149 
 
 Orientalists avail themselves of this, before they will be 
 able to unfold the kindred theogonies of the Hindoos ; for 
 it evidently was by persons skilled in this science, that 
 these, also, were composed. 
 
 Nor is the once famous country of Egypt to be by any 
 means excluded from this enumeration of the ancient cul- 
 tivators of this study : on the contrary, could all written 
 and traditionary learning be extirpated from the earth, 
 Egypt would still present her imperishable monuments, 
 silently but irrefutably proclaiming, that there, indeed, 
 the Relation of Analogy between the various kingdoms of 
 nature, with their individual objects, and each other ; and 
 between all of these, again, and things moral, spiritual, 
 and divine ; was once — yea, for ages, — well understood ; 
 that there it stamped a character upon all elevated science, 
 and that it regulated there even the first elements of know- 
 ledge. What can be more evident than that her celebrat- 
 ed Hieroglyphics, which have so long confounded the 
 skill of the learned, are built on this Analogy, and are ex- 
 pressions of it, and that, if ever they are decyphered, it 
 must be by its means ? Who could inspect that extraordi- 
 nary exhibition, a year or two since open in London, re- 
 presenting the tomb of an Egyptian king, explored by Mr. 
 Belzoni, and behold the multitude of representations of 
 natural objects, evidently designed to convey a mystical 
 meaning, without feeling satisfied that the arrangement of 
 them must be governed by some Rule, and that it assumed 
 for its basis a known Analogy ? Who can escape the tame 
 impressions on viewing the Egyptian antiquities in the 
 British Museum ? To particularize only one palpable em- 
 blem, the meaning of which requires no discussion to 
 establish it : Who can behold those monstrous ^-ste, carved 
 out of the hardest of rocks, without being convinced that 
 they were designed to symbolize that irresistible power that 
 could crush opposers into annihilation ? that their mean- 
 ing is similar to that of the stone mentioned in the gospel, 
 
150 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 of which it is said, that u on whomsoever it shall fall, it 
 will grind him to powder V* So it is evident that in the 
 wonderful scheme of symbolic writing contrived by this 
 singular people, the natural objects depicted were put to 
 convey ideas quite distinct from any thing immediately 
 belonging to the objects themselves : they delineated one 
 thing to express another : they evidently were guided by 
 some Analogy which they saw between the two : and it is 
 much more reasonable to conclude that they followed a 
 principle known by them to exist in the nature of things, 
 than that the whole of so complicated a system was merely 
 founded in arbitrary assumption. 
 
 From the whole of this branch of our investigation, 
 then, these conclusions appear to be certain : That among 
 all the celebrated nations of antiquity, the knowledge of a 
 Mutual Relation, regarded as real, between the different 
 orders of existences in the universe, once was general : 
 that it formed the peculiar learning of the priests, and was 
 studied by all who aspired to the distinction of erudition. 
 
 V. The final conclusion intended to be deduced by the 
 help of what has been advanced in this Lecture, is, that 
 in the Relation of Analogy between things natural and 
 things spiritual, (which we may now, it is hoped, consider 
 as established,) is to be found the Law or Rule according 
 to which the Scriptures are written, and that a knowledge 
 of it will afford the key by which their " dark sayings" 
 must be decyphered. At least, sufficient reason has per- 
 haps been shewn, to make it highly probable that such is 
 the fact, and to entitle the application of the system of in- 
 terpretation proposed, to a very attentive examination ; 
 and this probability, and claim to examination, are greatly 
 strengthened, when it is considered, that the early part of 
 the Scriptures was written, whilst this Relation was culti- 
 
 * Matt. xxi. 44. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 151 
 
 vated among many nations as a science, and the latter part 
 before the knowledge of it was every where quite extinct ; 
 which alone affords some presumption, conjointly with 
 the extraordinary character of their style, that they are 
 composed according to it. But to establish this conclu- 
 sion by a wider induction will be the object of the two 
 next Lectures. 
 
 Now as it has, I trust, been solidly evinced, that the 
 Relation of Analogy between the different orders of exist- 
 ences is irreversibly founded in the very nature of things, 
 and may even be considered as one of the most funda- 
 mental laws of Nature ; and not only so, but that there is 
 a tendency to express ourselves according to it in common 
 speech ; this must shield the idea of applying it as a Rule 
 for the interpretation of the Scriptures from the imputa- 
 tion of fancifulness: and as it has, I trust, appeared equally 
 certain, from the latter part of this Lecture, that this Ana- 
 logy was in ancient times well understood, and that many 
 compositions were then framed by its laws; this must vin- 
 dicate the principle from the charge of novelty. It is true 
 that this science, (for such it may justly be called,) has 
 been lost sight of for many ages ; that though mankind 
 have continued to behold its phenomena, they have neg- 
 lected to reflect on their cause : but it is equally true that 
 for a still longer course of ages, prior to this interval of 
 oblivion, — from Adam himself through Noah and his de- 
 scendants, — it was generally understood. Sciences of a 
 more external kind, having natural things alone for their 
 objects, have since been cultivated in its place : but now, 
 when these seem to have arrived almost at their perfec- 
 tion, — when all the mysteries that Nature conceals in her 
 bosom appear nearly to have been opened to our view ; 
 (as to their general branches, we mean, — for new particu- 
 lars will be discoverable to eternity ;) it surely is time to 
 turn our attention to a science which connects natural 
 
152 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 knowledge with spiritual, and sheds superior light on 
 both. In the first ages, interior wisdom was cultivated, 
 to the neglect of exterior knowledge : in later ages, exte- 
 rior knowledge has been pursued, to the neglect of interi- 
 or wisdom : in future ages, doubtless, they will be united. 
 The advantages of this union will be great. As the doc- 
 trine of Analogy is cultivated, it will no longer be the re- 
 proach, as heretofore, of Science, that she has a tendency 
 to lead her votaries to scepticism in regard to religion: for 
 natural things will then all be viewed as the outbirths of 
 spiritual essences, and so to be connected by an indissolu- 
 ble tie with the Great Author of both, the Creator and 
 Preserver of all things. As, at the same time, religion 
 will be cleared of its corruptions, and the Bible, under- 
 stood by the aid of this science, will no longer be repre- 
 sented as sanctioning doctrines which reason condemns ; 
 that enlargement of mind which knowledge produces will 
 cease to become an obstacle in the way of the most cordial 
 faith. The Science of Analogies, by unfolding the interi- 
 or contents of the Sacred Volume, and explaining, as we 
 shall see in the sequel, all those appearances that seem ei- 
 ther trifling or contradictory, will reconcile the jarrings, 
 so long thought irreconcilable, between Reason and Reve- 
 lation; just as, by shewing the origin and spiritual relation 
 of all Objects in nature, it will conciliate knowledge with 
 piety. Every friend, then, to Revelation and to Piety, — 
 yea, every admirer of Reason and of Knowledge, is deeply 
 interested in the restoration of this Science ; and both 
 should unite to bring on the time, when, as among the an- 
 cients, the highest wisdom shall be that which is conver- 
 sant with spiritual subjects, and the first of sciences that 
 which teaches the Relation between spiritual subjects and 
 the appearances in nature. 
 
LECTURE IV. 
 
 TURES ARE WRITTEN ACCORDING TO THE LAW OR RULE 
 DEVELOPED IN THE LAST LECTURE. 
 
 I. Of the Style proper to a Divine Composition. Such a Style 
 afforded by the Relation of Analogy between natural things 
 and spiritual, as explained in the last Lecture. II. That if 
 the Scriptures are written by a Plenary Divine Inspiration, 
 they must be composed in this Style. 1 . That when the Di- 
 vine Speech, or the Divine Word, which is the same thing as 
 the Divine Truth, emanates from the bosom of Deity into the 
 circumference of creation, or into the world of nature, it there 
 clothes itself with images taken from that world, and that it 
 cannot otherwise be presented to mankind. 2. Variety of 
 Phraseology in the different Inspired Penmen consistent with 
 Verbal Inspiration. 3. Plenary Inspiration necessarily occa- 
 sional, and not permanently attendant on certain Persons. 
 III. That the Holy Scriptures are the Divine Truth thus 
 brought into a natural form ; and that therefore their interior 
 meaning can only be understood by an application to them of 
 the Law which governs the Relation between natural objects and 
 spiritual and divine essences. IV. Applicability of the Rule 
 to the Prophecies of the Divine Word. 1 . Sentiments of Bib- 
 lical Critics on the Double Sense of Prophecy. 2. Rule of 
 Analogical Interpretation adopted by Sir Isaac Newton and 
 Bishop Warburton. 3. Defects of their Rule, and the neces- 
 sity of extending it further. V. Examples of the light which 
 results from the application of the Rule of Analogy between na- 
 20 
 
154 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 tural things and spiritual to the Prophetic Writings. — In- 
 stances selected ; 1 . EzekieVs prophecy of a great sacrifice up- 
 on the mountains of Israel, (Ezek. xxxix. 17 to 20 ;) 2. 
 The Lord 's prophecy of his Second Coming in the clouds of 
 heaven, (Matt. xxiv. 29, 30 ;) 3. John's vision of spiritual 
 Babylon, (Rev. xvii. 3 to 6.) 
 
 I. 1 here cannot, certainly, be a more interesting and 
 momentous exercise proposed to the reflecting mind, than 
 to investigate the nature of that speech or language which 
 God uses, or might be expected to use, in communicating 
 a divinely inspired code of knowledge on heavenly sub- 
 jects. Nothing can be more agreeable to reason than to 
 pre-suppose, that the style of language in which God 
 speaks to man, must be very different from that in which 
 men generally speak to each other ; and that its beauties 
 and excellences, though necessarily of the most transcend- 
 ant description, must, nevertheless, be quite different in 
 their kind, from those which adorn the best human com- 
 positions. That is a dictate of reason as well as of revela- 
 tion which declares, that God's thoughts are not as our 
 thoughts, nor his ways as our ways ;* and also, that the 
 things most highly esteemed among men, — the wisdom of 
 this world, — may be mere foolishness in the sight of God.f 
 Some have been disgusted with the Scriptures of Divine 
 Truth, and have thought it an argument against their di- 
 vine origin, because they are not written in the style of 
 the orations of Demosthenes, — or of the philosophical dis- 
 quisitions of Plato and Aristotle, — or of the legal pandects 
 of Justinian ; — because they do not display the tinsel rhe- 
 toric of the orator, the artificial subtlety of the dialecti- 
 cian, or the systematic arrangement of the digester of a 
 code of laws, or of a body of divinity. Had the Scrip- 
 
 * lsa. lv. 8. t 1 Cor. iii. 19. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 155 
 
 tures, however, been composed in any of these styles, I 
 suspect that they would not have been deemed, even by 
 the same parties, a whit more worthy of reception. We 
 should then have been told, (and with more reason than 
 accompanies any of the objections made to them as they 
 are,) that they savoured too much of art and contrivance ; 
 — that it were unworthy of the Divine Majesty to compete 
 with man the palm of elegance or ornament of style, or to 
 be bound to that kind of order which is necessary to the 
 feebleness of human intellect ; — that a divine composition 
 might naturally be expected to disregard these trifles, and 
 to possess a style peculiar to itself. And this would be a 
 just statement of the case. If the thoughts and ways of 
 God differ from ours, it undoubtedly must be. by their in- 
 finite superiority. " For as the heavens are higher than 
 the earth, so are his ways higher than our ways, and his 
 thoughts than our thoughts."* 
 
 Now it is the chief object of these Lectures to shew, that 
 this is the character of the books called the Holy Scrip- 
 tures or Word of God ; that they are distinguished from 
 all other compositions by the profoundness of their mat- 
 ter, and by the depth of wisdom with which they are in- 
 wardly replete ; but that the divine style of writing con- 
 sists in conveying this wisdom with the utmost fulness, 
 and in the most uninterruptedly coherent series, under the 
 veil of a continued chain of natural images, — in an out- 
 wardly simple style of language, borrowed entirely from 
 the appearances that exist in nature. This we have al- 
 ready repeatedly advanced : we have stated, also, that the 
 genuine import of the Holy Scriptures might be clearly 
 ascertained, and the whole seen to be worthy of a Divine 
 Origin, were it generally known that there is a constant 
 Relation established from creation between moral, intel- 
 lectual, and spiritual essences, and physical, sensible, and 
 
 * Isa. Iv. 9. 
 
156 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 material forms; were the Law which governs this Relation 
 distinctly understood ; and were it applied to the decy- 
 phering of the symbolic language, of which the letter of 
 the Word of God is every where composed. This appli- 
 cation then we are to make in this Lecture and our next, 
 and to offer Proofs and Illustrations, to evince, that the 
 Scriptures are written, throughout, according to this Law 
 or Rule. 
 
 The nature of this Analogy, and of the Law which go- 
 verns it, we endeavoured to investigate in our last Lecture: 
 when we found that man is affirmed by the Scriptures, 
 (and reason cannot dissent from the discovery,) to be cre- 
 ated in the image and likeness of God : — which, upon the 
 most general interpretation, can mean no less, than that he 
 is provided with faculties and powers for receiving, in a 
 finite degree, those attributes and qualities which exist in 
 their infinite fulness in the divine nature. Thus the high 
 endowments of the human mind, as enjoyed in their pri- 
 mitive and proper state, without the perversions which 
 evil has introduced, must be derivative resemblances, im- 
 ages, and types, of underived, original, real, archetypes in 
 God. But we have seen, likewise, that all things in the 
 human body are images and types of certain essences and 
 antitypes which exist in the mind ; of which man has so 
 clear an intuitive perception, that he often uses, in com- 
 mon discourse, images taken from the organs of his body, 
 to express the affections and other properties of his mind. 
 And we have seen further, that as man is, in a certain 
 manner, an image of God, so all the inferior parts of the 
 creation are, in a certain manner, images of man, and thus 
 are, each in its respective station, lower types of certain 
 antitypes in him. Thus we have found by various exam- 
 ples, (and the evidences of the fact might be multiplied to 
 such an extent, as to render negation extremely difficult,) 
 that all things in nature, being outward productions from 
 inward essences, are natural, sensible, and material types, 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 157 
 
 of moral, intellectual, and spiritual antitypes, and finally 
 of their prototypes in God. We have seen also, that were 
 the relation between natural types and their spiritual anti- 
 types in all cases fully known, a style of writing might be 
 constructed, in which, while none but natural images were 
 used, purely intellectual ideas should be most fully ex- 
 pressed. That such a style of composition has been con- 
 structed,-— that numerous traces of it still exist, and that in 
 ancient times it was extensively understood, — are proposi- 
 tions which have also, I trust, been satisfactorily demon- 
 strated. 
 
 II. The existence of such a Relation of Analogy being 
 thus, it is hoped, clearly established, with the possibility 
 of a style of writing being constructed by its aid, which 
 would be singularly adapted for giving full expression to 
 spiritual and divine ideas ; the question now before us is, 
 Are the Scriptures written in this style ? The answer 
 must be in the affirmative, if, on applying this principle to 
 the decyphering of their language, we find that we every 
 where obtain a clear interpretation, consistent with itself, 
 and worthy of a Divine Author. But, in agreement with 
 the plan which we have pursued in our former Lectures, we 
 will first offer some remarks to shew, that if the Scriptures 
 really are the productions of a Divine Author, and thus 
 are written by a plenary divine inspiration, they must be 
 composed in this style, and could be composed in no other. 
 
 1. In our first Lecture we endeavoured to evince, that a 
 Composition which has in reality God for its author, must, 
 as to its contents, be infinite and divine, exhibiting, in eve- 
 ry page, the glories of eternal wisdom : and in our second 
 Lecture we offered arguments to prove, that this must 
 chiefly be treasured in an internal sense distinct from that 
 of the letter, — that a composition which is really the Word 
 of God, as the Scriptures assume to be, must contain stores 
 
158 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 of wisdom in its bosom independently of any thing that 
 appears upon the surface. In our last, whilst we endea- 
 voured to establish the certainty of there being a fixed Re- 
 lation of Analogy between tilings natural, spiritual, and 
 divine, we shewed, that the ground of this is, because the 
 whole Universe is actually an Outbirth from the Deity, 
 and thence must bear, in all its parts, an immutable Rela- 
 tion to the attributes and essential properties of the Divine 
 Nature. Now, I think, it will, upon a little reflection, 
 appear, that the communication of a Revelation from God 
 to man, must follow the same general law as that which 
 regulated the production of the creation ; that as, in the 
 works of God, spiritual essences gave birth, in nature, to 
 material objects, so, in the Word of God, spiritual ideas, 
 to become perceptible in the natural world, must invest 
 themselves with natural expressions composed of images 
 taken from that world : and thus, as material and natural 
 things answer to moral, spiritual, and divine ones, so do 
 the literal and natural expressions of Scripture answer to 
 spiritual and divine ideas. As, again, the objects of nature 
 could not have been produced by the Divine Hand inde- 
 pendently of any connexion witli spiritual and divine es- 
 sences; so neither could a composition in natural language 
 be produced by the Divine Mind, except by the interven- 
 tion of spiritual and divine ideas. And both the works 
 and Word of God having such an origin, must be connect- 
 ed with that origin by a determinate Relation of Analogy; 
 and thus, no Composition, really communicated by a Ple- 
 nary Divine Inspiration, can be written in any style 
 but that which follows the Law of this Relation. We 
 will consider this a little further. 
 
 (1.) When the Divine Truth proceeds from God to ir- 
 radiate the minds of all intelligent created beings, it evi- 
 dently must proceed according to the same order as that 
 by which all creation itself proceeded from Him. What 
 can the Divine Truth be conceived essentially to be, but a 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 159 
 
 certain spiritual light, which communicates perceptions to 
 the minds of all intelligent creatures, according to their 
 respective natures and capacities, whether they be adapted 
 for the apprehension of much truth or little ? just as natu- 
 ral light, to which we have seen it answers by analogy, 
 communicates sensations to the eye, and this also with 
 much variety, according to the structure of the organ ; 
 thns the eagle is recreated by the full blaze of day, whilst 
 the owl is reduced by it to a state of torpor, and can only 
 enjoy its existence in the obscure gloom of night. Neither 
 the spiritual light nor the natural light is inherent in the 
 objects which receive it, but is in both cases imparted from 
 a source extraneous to them. As the natural light is not 
 inherent in the eye, and no sensation of it is present but 
 when it flows into the eye from a luminous body, either 
 immediately or by reflection ; so neither is spiritual light 
 inherent in the understanding, and no perception of truth 
 can be enjoyed, but by a communication from the Source 
 of Truth, either immediately or by derivation. 
 
 If we admit there to be angels and arch-angels about the 
 throne of God, they doubtless must be purely spiritual 
 beings, all whose perceptions must be of the most purely 
 spiritual and exalted nature ; still, even such beings as 
 these must be merely receptive subjects, destitute of the 
 power of possessing wisdom absolutely as their own, with- 
 out a continual communication from the Only Fountain of 
 Wisdom in God : — for had they such a power, they would 
 actually be Gods themselves : — consequently, their per- 
 ceptions of wisdom must be the emanation of Divine 
 Truth, which ever flows from God, like spiritual light 
 from a spiritual sun, as received in their minds. This is a 
 distinction necessary to be regarded. While it is certain, 
 that no created being, not even the highest and most dis- 
 tinguished, can enjoy a single ray of Truth which is not 
 conveyed to him from its Infinite Fountain, it is equally 
 certain, that the perceptions of truth thus existing in a 
 
160 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 finite mind, must differ immensely from the Truth itself, 
 as existing in its Infinite Original. It is modified by the 
 limited capacities of the receptive mind, and by its descent 
 into a lower sphere. Its form is no longer the same, 
 though one that answers to it by an exact analogy. The 
 pure Divine Truth has already clothed itself with a veil, 
 though a very transparent one, taken from the angelic na- 
 ture by which it is received : and if it be made the subject 
 of oral enunciation, the language for expressing it must be 
 borrowed from the ideas of the angels, and from the ob- 
 jects of the angelic world ; still, the purely divine ideas 
 will not cease to exist within. So it is with natural light. 
 This exists in its purity only in the sun ; and even in the 
 objects which reflect it best it loses much of its brightness ; 
 and it assumes a boundless variety of tints of colour and 
 degrees of shade, all borrowed from the bodies on which 
 it falls or through which it shines : yet in all these modi- 
 fications the light itself exists. 
 
 But we know well that the divine creative operations 
 have not been confined to the production of the spiritual 
 and heavenly worlds : natural and material worlds were 
 formed also : and all the objects that exist according to 
 order in the natural worlds, are, as we have already seen, 
 still outbirths from God Himself; deriving their being 
 from the perfections that exist in the divine nature ; form- 
 ing, in the lowest sphere, types of those perfections ; and 
 presenting, in fact, a divinely constructed mirror, in which 
 spiritual and divine things may be seen and read. Sup- 
 pose then a sphere or emanation of Divine Truth to flow 
 forth from God, and not to stop till it reach the lowest 
 base of creation, and there to present itself in natural lan- 
 guage ; Of what might that language be expected to con- 
 sist, but of images taken from the objects that appear in 
 nature, and from the common modes of thinking and act- 
 ing of the beings whom it there found ? As Divine Truth, 
 if enunciated in the angelic world, must take its expression 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 161 
 
 from the ideas of the angels and from the objects of their 
 world ; so must it, in the natural world, take its expression 
 from the ideas of men, and from the objects of their 
 world ; that is, from such ideas as the objects of the natu- 
 ral world would suggest to its inhabitants. We have seen 
 in our second Lecture, that natural language, or language 
 such as is spoken by the inhabitants of a natural world, 
 can be conceived and uttered no where but in the natural 
 world ; — just as, according to the Apostle Paul, the lan- 
 guage of angels is such as is ineffable to man, — unspeaka- 
 ble by natural organs ; and it was this language, not natu- 
 ral speech, which he heard, when he was transported as 
 to his spirit into angelic society : Of course, should the 
 Divine Being give a revelation of his Divine Truth to men 
 on earth, the ideas of pure divine truth could not present 
 themselves in natural language till they had descended into 
 the natural world : and then they would clothe themselves 
 in language drawn from the appearances that exist in the 
 natural world ; which they might conveniently do, be- 
 cause all natural objects, answering by an immutable rela- 
 tion to spiritual and divine essences, afford suitable images 
 for giving them expression. Thus, and no otherwise, 
 could a book, written by a Plenary Divine Inspiration, be 
 given to man : if then the Scriptures are such a book, 
 they must be composed in a style of writing constructed 
 in agreement with the Relation of Analogy established by 
 the laws of creation between natural things and spiritual. 
 
 (2.) We have seen also, when speaking of this style of 
 writing in our last Lecture, that it is capable of conveying 
 spiritual and divine ideas with a fulness that no other 
 kind of language could afford. This is a reason why the 
 Word of God would be expressed in the symbolic language 
 which we find it clothed with, and not in the abstract, meta- 
 physical language of philosophers, even had it been possi- 
 ble to give it in the latter style ; which it was not. Such 
 abstract, metaphvsical language is adapted to the use of 
 21 
 
162 PLENARr INSPIRATION OF 
 
 men rendered intelligent by the advantages of Revelation, 
 and of men highly illuminated by mediate Revelation ; 
 but not of those who are the subjects of immediate Reve- 
 ation, or who are inspired to write the Word of God it- 
 self. Besides, in the times of remote antiquity, this artifi- 
 cial language w s entirely unknown ; and there was no 
 occasion for it, so long as the more forcible and expressive 
 language of analogy continued to be understood. Revela- 
 tion regards man as a spiritual being, the destined inhabi- 
 tant of an eternal world : and its object is, to communi- 
 cate such knowledge as is necessary to raise man to a 
 capacity of filling, in that eternal world, a station of hap- 
 piness and honour : and this knowledge is such as regards 
 the existence and attributes of God, man's immortal desti- 
 ny, and the means of acquiring the qualifications for en- 
 joying i The knowledge necessary to man's existence in 
 the natural world, — whatever belongs to that which is. 
 called the light of nature, — though also imparted contin- 
 ually, together with life, from God ; and though, as was 
 shewn in our first Lecture, incapable of existing, in any 
 high perfection, separately from the light of Revelation ; 
 is, nevertheless, not that which Revelation, in the custom- 
 ary sense of the word, is given to afford. Revelation 
 assumes the other as something already known, and takes 
 its sentiments and expressions as vehicles for the convey* 
 ance of its own ideas ; — there being a perfect analogy be- 
 tween all that belongs to man as an inhabitant of a natural 
 world, and what belongs to or concerns him as the heir of 
 a spiritual one ; of course, between the light of nature and 
 the light of heaven. Thus the analogical language of the 
 Word of God, though it never uses abstract, metaphysical 
 expressions, is not confined to the mention of the irrational 
 and inanimate parts of nature, but embraces all that arises 
 out of man's inclinations and feelings as an animal and 
 naturally rational being, and as a member of civil society ; 
 Lecause all this answers, by a decided mutual relation, ta 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 163 
 
 that which belongs to his spiritual affections and feelings, 
 as an immortal and spiritually rational being, designed to 
 become a member of angelic society. The Divine Truth 
 then, when descending into the world of nature, clothes 
 itself, in part, with language taken from man's ideas as a 
 naturally rational and social being, and in part, from his 
 ideas as an animal being, or from the ideas of things ne- 
 cessary to his merely animal existence ; the whole being 
 bottomed on the images presented to his thoughts by out- 
 ward and material nature. Between all these and things 
 purely spiritual and divine, there is a constant Relation of 
 Analogy : and the application of them, by Infinite Wisdom 
 and Knowledge, to the expression of spiritual and divine 
 subjects, forms the truly Divine Style of Writing, and 
 marks the book in which it is found as a truly Divine 
 Composition. 
 
 2. An observation of considerable importance is here 
 necessary to be made. The argument urged with the 
 greatest air of triumph by those who deny the verbal in- 
 spiration of the Scriptures, is, that if the very words were 
 dictated to the writers, the same phraseology and style of 
 language would every where prevail, and we should not, 
 in these respects, find, in the different books, so much 
 variety. All the strength of this argument lies in the sup- 
 position, that the words and phrases themselves, if of di- 
 vine inspiration, must have proceeded immediately, just 
 as we read them, out of the mouth of God : but the view 
 above developed shews that this could not have been the 
 case, and yet that the human penman had nothing to do 
 with selecting the expressions. The very words of scrip- 
 ture did not, we have seen, proceed, as we have them in 
 natural language, from the mouth of God himself : but the 
 emanation of Divine Truth from Him clothed itself with 
 natural words in the natural world. Where could it thus 
 clothe itself? Where, in the world of nature, could the 
 
164 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 Divine Speech find the words required for its natural ex- 
 pression ? Where, but in the minds of the human agents, 
 who, as passive instruments under the divine operations, 
 were made the mediums of writing and delivering it to the 
 world ? The emanation of Divine Truth proceeding from 
 the Lord, entering into and filling the minds of the writ- 
 ers, so as to take entire possession of all their faculties, 
 clothed itself there with such words as it found their 
 memories stored with : these it adapted to itself, so as to 
 express the divine things intended with the utmost fulness ; 
 but it did not infuse new words and phrases, such as the 
 writers had not heard before. And as similar divine 
 things may be expressed in a variety of ways, therefore the 
 Holy Spirit, or emanation of Divine Truth, could find 
 adequate, though varying modes of expression, in the 
 minds of all the different instruments it employed. Be- 
 sides, though the divine things which various penmen were 
 commissioned to write, had frequently a general similari- 
 ty, there cannot be any absolute sameness ; and it is highly 
 reasonable to suppose, that the Divine Omniscience select- 
 ed to compose the several books, particular individuals, 
 whose peculiar acquirements and style of language were 
 precisely those, which were best adapted to give the pro- 
 per expression to the peculiar divine subjects which they 
 were to be the organs of revealing ; and there surely can 
 be no doubt, that these always were persons who from 
 their youth had been especially prepared by the Divine 
 Providence, and directed to such pursuits and acquirements 
 as were best calculated to adapt them for the holy office 
 to which it was intended to call them. Although then 
 every separate penman had, and must have had, according 
 to the view here offered, his own peculiarity of style, this 
 does not prevent his writings from being divinely inspired, 
 even as to the very words ; since the Holy Spirit assumed 
 the words in his mind, and thence dictated them to his 
 pen. But whilst each writer had his peculiar style, the 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 165 
 
 truly Divine Style is common to them all. This consists, 
 we have seen, in conveying spiritual ideas by natural 
 images, with undeviating regularity, such as can only be 
 adhered to by that Omniscience to which the analogies 
 that unite them are perfectly known : and this is done by 
 all the writers of the Divine Word, though living in very 
 distant ages, — though they had no means of settling the 
 plan in concert, — and though many of them, certainly, 
 did not understand the writings of each other, or even 
 their own. The Divine Spirit which possessed them, — 
 and which possessed them just while they spoke or wrote, 
 and no longer, — was every thing, and they, respectively, 
 were nothing. 
 
 3. Another remark of moment, here, also, demands in- 
 sertion. It is customary with biblical critics, to consider 
 inspiration as something inseparably attached to the per- 
 sons inspired, so that whatever they might write, from the 
 time of their receiving the endowment to their life's end, 
 would be an inspired composition : and some even appear 
 to consider the exercise of the gift as left entirely to the 
 discretion of the party possessing it. That there is such a 
 species of inspiration as this, w r e readily admit ; and also, 
 that it was possessed by the writers of some of the books 
 contained in the collection called the Bible, — perhaps by 
 them all : but without an inspiration very different from 
 this, imparted either in addition to it or quite independ- 
 ently of it, no composition that can be called, in a strict 
 and proper sense, " the Word of God," could ever have 
 been written. This, we have seen, must be given by a 
 plenary divine inspiration ; and such an inspiration, it is 
 evident, instead of being a constant attendant on any one, 
 could last no longer than while he was delivering the mes- 
 sage, or was writing the book, for which it was afforded. 
 It might return to the same person again, as it commonly 
 did to the old prophets, or it might not : and whatever 
 
166 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 they might say or write during the intervals, could only 
 partake of that inferior inspiration capable of being attach- 
 ed to a person ; and not necessarily of this. We have 
 seen that this inferior inspiration is the only one now gen- 
 erally acknowledged to belong to any of the books con- 
 tained in the Bible : we admit that some of these books 
 may be composed from this kind of inspiration, and thence 
 have no sense beside that of the letter : but we contend 
 that the far greater quantity, both in bulk and number are 
 certainly written by the higher inspiration, and have a 
 spiritual sense throughout.* To construct such writings, 
 or to impart such inspiration, the Divine Speech, or the 
 Divine Word, which is the same thing as the Divine 
 Truth, must have emanated, as a sphere of spiritual light, 
 from the bosom of Deity into the circumference or lowest 
 base of creation, which is the world of nature, and, filling 
 the prepared minds of the human penmen, must there 
 lave clothed itself with natural ideas, or with images taken 
 from the natural world, before it could be presented, in 
 natural language, to mankind at large. 
 
 This, it is presumed, must at least be allowed to be a 
 probable and a philosophical view of the nature of divine 
 inspiration : it will also, 1 am satisfied, be found to ex- 
 plain, better than any other theory, the phenomena with 
 which plenary inspiration must necessarily be attended : 
 and I trust that whoever candidly and deeply examines the 
 subject, will find, that this is absolutely the only way in 
 which a revelation of Divine Truth — or a plenarily inspir- 
 ed composition, — can be given, in natural language, from 
 God to man. 
 
 III. It will now be readily seen, that if the order above 
 described must necessarily govern every real communica- 
 tion, in the shape of a written revelation, from God to 
 
 ( 
 
 & c% h: 
 
 Bee Appendix, No. II. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 167 
 
 man ; if the Divine Truth must thus clothe itself with 
 ideas and images taken from the world of nature, by the 
 instrumentality of human minds, before it could be 
 brought into a natural form, and be presented to the inha- 
 bitants of a natural world ; and if the Divine Style of 
 writing must thus follow the Law of that Analogy which 
 indissolubly connects natural objects and ideas with such 
 as are spiritual and divine ; — then the spiritual and divine 
 wisdom which su h a revelation must contain within it, 
 could only be understood, by an application to it of this 
 Law. And if, on an application of this Law to the books 
 called the Holy Scriptures, it shall be found that they ex- 
 hibit a coherent series of spiritual and divine instruction, 
 it will then follow, that the Scriptures are such a revela- 
 tion of Divine Truth presented to man in natural lan- 
 guage ; that they are indeed the Divine Speech or Divine 
 Word whch has emanated from the bosom of Deity into 
 the circumference or lowest sphere of creation. 
 
 Some short specimens of the light which results from 
 the application of the Rule above stated to the language of 
 Scripture were given in our last Lecture : but it is intend- 
 ed, in the sequel of this and in the next, to adduce a few 
 sets of examples from each of the various kinds of compo- 
 sition that are found in the Holy Word, — the prophetical, 
 the historical, and the preceptive. 
 
 IV. * Mankind in general are more inclined to accept a 
 spiritual signification in the prophecies than in the other 
 parts of the Divine Writings, on account of the mysterious 
 character which they so palpably exhibit ; wherefore it 
 will be proper, in the first instance, to shew the Applica- 
 bility of the Science of Analogies, (for by this name, to 
 
 * It would be more proper to mark this, and all the Sections which follow 
 to the end of the next Lecture, as Subdivisions under the last General Head ; 
 but to avoid the inconvenience of beginning a Lecture with a Subordinate 
 Section, the principal of them are marked as Leading Divisions. 
 
168 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 avoid circuitous modes of expression, it may be expedient 
 to denominate the system we have endeavoured to explain,) 
 as a Rule for interpreting the prophetical parts of Holy 
 Writ. 
 
 In our second Lecture, after having offered various 
 arguments to shew, that a composition which is rightly 
 denominated " the Word of God," must contain, and that 
 the Holy Scriptures profess to contain, treasures of wis- 
 dom beyond what is extant on the surface, we adduced 
 some general testimonies from modern writers to the cer- 
 tainty of this fact, and we intimated that we should men- 
 tion others in the sequel. We will here then notice the 
 sentiments of Biblical Critics on what is called the Double 
 Sense of Prophecy ; as we propose to do hereafter on the 
 typical nature of the Scripture History ; and we shall find 
 that we still have great names to countenance (if Truth 
 requires countenance,) the views we wish to establish. In 
 the days of man's integrity, doubtless, truth was seen, by 
 intuition, as soon as it was heard : they then had no need 
 to " teach every man his neighbour and every man his 
 brother ;"* they could decide at once with an infallible 
 " Yea, yea, or Nay, nay ;" and it is unquestionably true, 
 as the Divine Instructer affirms, that " whatsoever is more 
 than these cometh of evil,"f or is a consequence of that 
 obscurity of intellect which evil has introduced. But the 
 axioms are few indeed on which we can now thus unhesi- 
 tatingly pronounce. Beyond the most common principles, 
 we now require reasoning to assist our judgment ; and 
 where the subject is new to us, we often fear to yield even 
 to the clearest train of induction, unless it comes recom- 
 mended to us by the judgment of others. Now when any 
 system that is presented to us is entirely new, or has not 
 before been adopted by any whose authority we respect, 
 it evidently cannot have this direct recommendation : but 
 
 * Jer. xxxi. 34. t Matt. v. 37. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 169 
 
 it may have such an indirect one, as is, perhaps, still 
 stronger. For if we find that others, though they have 
 not hit upon the same principle, have yet evidently felt 
 the want of it ; — if they have seen the necessity of admit- 
 ting some general sentiment of which that proposed is 
 only a more exact modification ; — if their ideas, though 
 evidently true in the main, are attended with some defi- 
 ciency which the principle suggested supplies ; — if what 
 in them was vague, unsatisfactory, incoherent, becomes, 
 by the proposed addition, determinate, conclusive, and 
 compact : then have we, in their partial dissent, a strong- 
 er recommendation of the correction offered, than could 
 have attended the fullest acquiescence. They start a pro- 
 blem ; if the proposed theory affords precisely that which 
 was felt to be wanting to its complete solution, then both 
 support each other. Now this appears to me to be the 
 true state of the case, between the Science of Analogies, as 
 a universal Rule for the interpretation of the Scriptures, 
 and the doctrine of eminent writers respecting the double 
 sense of prophecy, and the typical import of the scripture 
 history. They advance a general principle, which none 
 can deny, without maintaining a system of interpretation, 
 or rather of mangling, truly Procrustean : and the Science 
 of Analogies, though not recurred to by them, — at least 
 not in a form sufficiently extensive and definite, affords 
 the only means of satisfactorily demonstrating their gene- 
 ral principle. 
 
 1 . As some theologians of modern times have attempted 
 to deny any but a literal sense to the Word of God in gen- 
 eral, they have also, to preserve consistency, been obliged 
 to deny any more than a single meaning to the propheti- 
 cal writings ; although this denial cannot be maintained 
 without charging the evangelists with gross ignorance, and 
 with mis-application of the prophecies which they have 
 quoted. However, the great violence which must be done 
 22 
 
170 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 to the Scriptures if this be asserted, has hitherto prevent- 
 ed this opinion from becoming very general : and the 
 weight of most of our great authorities, in this country at 
 least, is decidedly in favour of the opinion, that the pro- 
 phetical writings in general have a double sense. Thus 
 Home lays it down as a Canon of interpretation, in his 
 Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy 
 Scriptures, that u the same prophecies frequently have a 
 double meaning, and refer to different events, the one near, 
 the other remote ; the one temporal, the other spiritual, 
 or perhaps eternal :"* and this rule he supports by very 
 convincing quotations from Dr. Woodhouse, Bishop 
 Home, Dr. Randolph, the distinguished German critic, 
 Rambach, and the celebrated Latin commentator on Isaiah, 
 Professor Vitringa. As, however, in the first Lecture, I 
 spoke of Bishop Lowth, as being one of those who have 
 assisted to introduce degrading ideas of the inspiration cf 
 the Scriptures, I will here avail myself of his testimony in 
 an instance, in which I think he has well employed his 
 elegant pen in vindicating the spiritual nature of the Sa- 
 cred Writings : — though this drawback adheres to his re- 
 marks ; that he treats the prophetic gift as something in- 
 herent in the prophets themselves, regardi g their inspira- 
 tion as a permanent and personal endowment ; which, we 
 have seen above, is incompatible with the idea of plenary 
 inspiration, such as that of the prophets must necessarily 
 have been. 
 
 In the notes to his version of Isaiah, Dr. Lowth con- 
 tends, that the whole of the writings of that prophet, from 
 the 40th chapter to the end of the book, refer, in their 
 ulterior and more important meaning, to the coming of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, and the spiritual kingdom to be 
 established by him ; while he maintains, that, in their 
 more immediate sense, they relate to the return of the 
 
 » Vol. IT. Pt. II. Ch. vii. Canon 1. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &.C. 171 
 
 Jews from their captivity in Babylon. These are his 
 words : " As the subject of his [Isaiah's] subsequent pro- 
 phecies was to be chiefly of the consolatory kind, he opens 
 them with giving a promise of the restoration of the king- 
 dom [of David], and the return of the people from cap- 
 tivity, by the merciful interposition of God in their favour. 
 But the views of the prophet are not confined to this 
 event : as the restoration of the royal family, and of 
 the tribe of Judah, which would otherwise have soon be- 
 come undistinguished, and have been irrecoverably lost, 
 was necessary, in the design and order of providence, for 
 the fulfilling of God's promise of establishing a more glo- 
 rious and an everlasting kingdom, under the Messiah, to 
 be born of the tribe of Judah, and of the family of David ; 
 the prophet connects the?e two events together, and hardly 
 ever treats of the former without throwing in some intima- 
 tions of the latter ; and sometimes is so fully possessed 
 with the glories of the future more remote kingdom, that 
 he seems to leave the more immediate subject of his com- 
 mission almost out of the question. Indeed," the Bishop 
 adds, " this evangelical sense of the prophecy is so appar- 
 ent, and stands forth in so strong a light, that some inter- 
 preters cannot see that it has any other ; and will not 
 allow the prophecy to have any relation at all to the re- 
 turn from the captivity of Babylon." As, however. Dr. 
 Lowth was of opinion, that, in its primary sense, the pro- 
 phecy relates to the return from Babylon, he here enters 
 into a view of it in that reference : and he sums up his 
 remarks on the subject thus : " These things considered, I 
 have not the least doubt, that the return of the Jews from 
 Babylon is the firs^ though not the principal, thing in the 
 prophet's view. The Redemption from Babylon is clearly 
 foretold ; and at the same time is employed as an image to 
 shadow out a redemption of an infinitely higher and more 
 important nature." He makes some other strong remarks 
 upon the necessity of admitting the farther signification of 
 
172 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 the prophecy ; and concludes with these words : "If the 
 literal sense of this prophecy, as above explained, cannot be 
 questioned, much less, surely, can the spiritual ; which I think 
 is allowed on all hands, even by Grotius himself. If both 
 are to be admitted, here is a plain example of the Mystical 
 Allegory, or double sense, as it is commonly called, of 
 prophecy ; which the sacred writers of the JVeic Testament 
 clearly suppose, and according to which they frequently frame 
 their interpretations of the Old Testament."* 
 
 Here then the learned Bishop strongly contends for 
 allowing, in some instances, the existence in prophecy of the 
 mystical allegory or double sense. Indeed, the fact is so 
 plain to a student of the prophets, that it almost forces 
 itself upon the most sceptical. But I apprehend that eve- 
 ry mind not previously aware of the state of opinion on 
 this subject, must be somewhat surprised at the saving 
 clause, " in some instances," which I have here introduced, 
 that I might not seem to stretch the authority of the Bi- 
 shop farther than he intended : and because, as observed in 
 the second Lecture, though most modern writers on Scrip- 
 ture Interpretation admit the necessity of having recourse 
 to a spiritual sense in some instances, few of them accept it 
 in all. Will not, however, every person who comes to 
 the question Unbiassed, on finding even the most cautious 
 critics compelled to adopt a spiritual sense in some instances, 
 be ready to exclaim, " Why not allow the prophets, and 
 the Scriptures in general, to be written according to a re- 
 gular system ? If there is a double sense in some places, 
 why not in all ? It surely would be a far more consistent 
 mode of interpretation to admit this than otherwise. You 
 then make the Scriptures uniform throughout, and take 
 away that uncertainty which must attend all attempts to 
 explain them, when it is supposed that one part must be 
 understood literally, but that another may be understood 
 
 * Lowth's Isaiah, Notes on Ch. xl. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 173 
 
 spiritually, and we are left to jump, as caprice may dic- 
 tate, from the letter to the spirit and from the spirit to the 
 letter, without knowing, with any certainty, where we 
 are to abide by the one, or where we are to look for the 
 other." — We shall touch again, in our next Lecture, upon 
 the inconsistencies into which expositors fall, by following 
 so vague and unsettled a mode of interpretation : yet by 
 admitting a spiritual sense in any case whatever, they es- 
 tablish the general principle, which, when extended and 
 rendered uniform, in the manner we propose, completely 
 solves all the phenomena of the case : and thus their 
 maimed and limping system bears testimony to that by 
 which its defects are supplied. Though itself but a mis- 
 shapen shadow, it proves the existence of the symmetrical 
 reality, by an imperfect apprehension of which it was pro- 
 duced. On this subject we will only add, here, that if it 
 were seen that the prophecies, and indeed the other parts 
 of the Scriptures, every where have a literal sense, in 
 which natural events, connected with the fate of Israel and 
 the surrounding nations, are referred to, but that all these 
 natural events are themselves types and representations of 
 things of spiritual, yea, of eternal moment ; then, at any 
 rate, we should regard the Scriptures as being every where 
 consistent with themselves, — every where written upon 
 one uniform system : and we should only want the know- 
 ledge of the Relation which all natural things bear to spi- 
 ritual, to possess a Rule of certain interpretation. 
 
 2. Even an approach to this has been made by that 
 great genius, Sir Isaac Newton ; who, though his expla- 
 nations of prophecy have not been generally accepted, yet 
 laid down a Rule of Analogy, or Mutual Relation, between 
 the things mentioned and the things meant, which succeed- 
 ing commentators have eagerly adopted. But alas ! his 
 rule does not extend far enough ; it not pointing out an 
 analogy between natural things and spiritual things, but 
 
174 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 only between natural things of a lower order and those 
 of a higher : however, as being an approximation to 
 the true rule of interpretation, and thus tending, as far 
 as it goes, to point to the true rule and confirm it, we will 
 state his system as explained by himself. He delivers it 
 in these words : " The figurative language of the Proph- 
 ets is taken from the analogy between the world natural, 
 and an empire or kingdom considered as a world politic. 
 Accordingly, the whole world natural, consisting of 
 heaven and earth, signifies the whole world politic, con- 
 sisting of thrones and people, or so much of it as is con- 
 sidered in prophecy : and the things in that world signify 
 the analogous things in this. For the heavens and the 
 things therein signify thrones and dignities, and those who 
 enjoy them ; and the earth, with the things thereon, the 
 inferior people ; and the lowest parts of the earth, called 
 Hades or Hell, the lowest or most miserable part of them. 
 — Great earthquakes, and the shaking of heaven and earth, 
 are put for the shaking of kingdoms, so as to distract and 
 overthrow them ; the creating a new heaven and earth, 
 and the passing of an old one, or the beginning and end 
 of a world, for the rise and ruin of a body politic, signified 
 thereby. The sun, for the whole species and race of kings, 
 in the kingdoms of the world politic ; the moon, for the 
 body of the common people, considered as the king's 
 wife ; the stars, for subordinate princes and great men ; 
 or for bishops and rulers of the people of God, when the 
 sun is Christ : — the setting of the sun, moon, and stars, 
 darkening of the sun, turning the moon into blood, and 
 falling of the stars, for the ceasing of a kingdom."* 
 
 This idea is certainly very striking : accordingly, it is 
 taken up and carried on by Bishop Warburton, in these 
 words : " The old Asiatic style, so highly figurative, 
 seems, by what we find of its remains in the prophetic 
 
 Observations on Prophecy, Ft. i. eh. 2. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C Vv /\> lit* *** <tl S ? * 
 
 language of the Sacred Writings, to have been evidently 
 fashioned to the mode of ancient hieroglyphics, both curt^*-""*^ — **f 
 ologic and tropical. — Of the second kind, which answers 
 to the tropical hieroglyphic, is the calling empires, kings, 
 and nobles, by the names of the heavenly luminaries, the 
 sun, moon, and stars ; their temporary disasters, or entire 
 overthrow^ by eclipses and extinctions : the destruction of 
 the nobility, by stars falling from the firmament ; hostile . 
 invasions, by thunder and tempestuous winds ; and lead- 
 ers of armies, conquerors, and founders of empires, by 
 lions, bears, leopards, goats, or high trees. In a word, 
 the prophetic style seems to be a speaking Hierogly- 
 phic."* 
 
 Here, certainly, the existence in Scripture of a Style of 
 Writing formed upon the principle of Mutual Relation, 
 by putting some lower thing to stand as the type of a 
 higher to which it is perceived to answer, is clearly re- 
 cognized, and the necessity of admitting it is strongly en- 
 forced. In the theory, then, of these eminent writers, in 
 which, as stated above, they have been generally followed 
 by later expositors, we certainly have an approximation 
 to the revival of the Science of Analogies : Dr. Warbur- 
 ton also explicitly affirms the opinion advocated in the 
 latter part of our last Lecture, — that this Science, in an- 
 cient times, was extensively understood ; — so extensively, 
 according to him, as to give a peculiar character to the 
 compositions of the countries where it was chiefly culti- 
 vated, the language of which he thence denominates " the 
 old Asiatic Style." 
 
 3. But, is the principle of Analogy, as broached by these 
 authors, to form a key to the interpretation of the " speak- 
 ing Hieroglyphics" of the prophetic style of writing, suffi- 
 ciently definite, and sufficiently extended ? Will it lead us to 
 
 * Div. Legation, Book iv. Sect. 4. 
 
17G PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 the knowledge of that which may properly be called, the 
 spiritual sense of Scripture ? — any otherwise, that is, than as 
 pointing to the right path which will conduct us to this ob- 
 ject ; — as suggesting the principle, which, when rectified and 
 carried on, will attain this end. They interpret, we see, 
 one natural thing, as the sun or moon, to mean another 
 natural thing of a different order, as the king or people ; 
 and it is evident that the sense thus obtained is but a 
 natural sense, and not a spiritual one, after all. The gene- 
 ral truth of the natural interpretation thus established, is, 
 indeed, in many instances, very evident. We have seen 
 that Dr. Lowth affirms that the return of the Jews from 
 Babylon is treated of by Isaiah, from the fortieth chapter 
 to the end of his prophecies, though in language, even in 
 this application, far from admitting a literal signification : 
 so in the thirteenth chapter, the destruction of Babylon is 
 described in the symbolic terms which form the chief sub- 
 ject of the observations on the prophetic style above ad- 
 duced from Sir Isaac Newton : " The stars of heaven and 
 the constellations thereof shall not give their light : the 
 sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon 
 shall not cause her light to shine :"* — and certain it is that 
 the Babylonian empire was entirely overthrown, and that 
 the Jews were restored by its conqueror to their country. 
 These events, then, were " the first though not the principal 
 things in the prophet's view." Still it must be most cer- 
 tain, that accounts, though delivered prophetically and in 
 symbolic language, of the revolutions of kingdoms, can 
 never be things intended to occupy a place in the Word of 
 God, any otherwise than as types of things of far greater 
 moment. Accordingly, Bishop Lowth assures us, that 
 " the redemption from Babylon is employed as an image, 
 to shadow out a redemption of an infinitely higher and 
 more important nature :" if so, it is the height of inconsist- 
 
 * Isaiah, xiii. 10. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 177 
 
 ency to imagine, that any of the numerous other predic- 
 tions which have natural and temporal catastrophes and 
 deliverances as the first things in view, have not also such 
 as are spiritual and eternal as the principal. Could it then 
 be proved that all the prophecies of Scripture have thus 
 had a fulfilment in external events ; and could all their 
 mysterious language be clearly appropriated to corres- 
 ponding historical circumstances ; it would still be true, 
 that the spiritual things described in the ulterior sense of 
 the prophetic language, were typically pictured by such 
 external events ; — that a spiritual fulfilment was at the 
 same time primarily regarded, and that of this was given, 
 in the corresponding historical circumstances, a symbolic 
 scenical representation. In agreement, then, with the 
 learned authors to whom we have referred, it is to be as- 
 sumed as an unquestionable fact, that the language of pro- 
 phecy is composed of series of analogies and mutual rela- 
 tions : but, in agreement with the character and necessary 
 design of a divinely inspired composition, the analogies 
 and relations properly intended, are not those which may 
 be traced between certain natural things and certain other 
 natural things, but between natural things and spiritual. — 
 The general spiritual objects regarded are, the Lord, the 
 soul of man, his state hereafter, and the church, as the 
 medium of ministering spiritual things to man. 
 
 We will here repeat the quotation on the science of ana- 
 logies, above adduced from Sir Isaac Newton, so altered 
 as to apply to the analogy between the natural things men- 
 tioned in Scripture, and the spiritual things to which they 
 properly answer, instead of the other natural things to 
 which that author referred them.* " The figurative lan- 
 guage of the prophets is taken from the analogy between 
 the world natural and a church or congregation of people 
 considered as a world spiritual. Accordingly the whole 
 
 * The alterations are printed in Italics, 
 
 23 
 
178 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 world natural, consisting of heaven and earth, signifies the 
 whole world spiritual, consisting of an internal and an exter- 
 nal principle, answering to what is called, in individuals, the in- 
 ternal and external man; and the things in that world signify 
 the analogous things in this. For the heavens and the 
 things therein signify the internal principles, and all the hea- 
 venly graces, constituent of a church, — or, all that belongs to the 
 internal man ; and the earth, with the things thereon, the 
 outward form and order, profession and practice, of the same, — 
 or, all that belongs to the external man : and the lowest parts 
 of the earth, called Hades or Hell, the external man when en- 
 tirely separated from the internal, so as to be the mere abode of in- 
 fernal lusts and insane follies, with the state of misery consequent 
 thereupon hereafter ; — it also sometimes means a state of tempta- 
 tion, because in this, man appears to be in, or in danger of, such 
 a condition. Great earthquakes, and the shaking of heaven 
 and earth, are put for the shaking of churches, so as to dis- 
 tract and overthrow them, or at least to occasion a remarkable 
 change in their state : the new heaven and earth, and the 
 passing of an old one, or the beginning and end of a world, 
 for the rise and ruin of a society of men as constituting a 
 church. The sun is put for the first of heavenly graces consti- 
 tuent of a true church, which is love to the Lord and our neigh- 
 bour ; the moon, for that true faith which is the proper consort 
 of such love or charity ; the stars, for subordinate particulars 
 of divine knowledge, — or for eminent lights of the church, when 
 the sun is Christ: the setting of the sun, moon, and stars, — 
 darkening of the sun, turning the moon into blood, and 
 falling of the stars, for the ceasing of a church, or of a socie- 
 ty from constituting a church, in consequence of a pure love to the 
 Lord, faith in Him, and a knowledge of spiritual subjects, being 
 no longer left among them, or being perverted into their opposites." 
 Now, though the dry statement that such is the spiritual 
 
 meaning of certain natural emblems,* may not carry the 
 
 — * - • — - 
 
 * See the several particulars taken up, and more fully explained, in the 
 Appendix, No. III. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 179 
 
 conviction of its truth to every mind ; yet I think the sig- 
 nifications here assigned to the great objects of M the world 
 natural" will at once be seen to have more to recommend 
 them, than Sir Isaac's application of them to the objects of 
 " the world politic :" for the analogies we have suggested 
 are founded in the very nature and constitution of things, 
 and do not depend, as do some of his, upon the arbitrary 
 institutions of society. His testimony, however, in favour 
 of the principle, is highly valuable. And as many learned 
 and intelligent writers have thus seen the necessity of re- 
 sorting to analogies between different orders of existences, 
 to obtain a key for decyphering the " speaking hierogly- 
 phics" of divine prophecy ; so, I trust, it must readily be 
 admitted, by all who may think that our former Lecture 
 succeeded in establishing the existence of a real Analogy 
 between Natural things and Spiritual, that this affords the 
 true Rule for interpreting the language of prophetic inspi- 
 ration. If, also, the Scriptures are the Word of God, they 
 must be designed to convey, not natural, but spiritual in- 
 struction: But the Scriptures, we find, consist in their let- 
 ter, as is remarkably obvious in the prophets, of continued 
 series of natural images : How then can they convey spi- 
 ritual instruction, unless there be such a fixed relation be- 
 tween spiritual ideas and natural ones, that the latter will 
 admit of being regularly translated into the former ? Ad- 
 mitting these premises, the applicability of the Science of 
 Spiritual Analogies, as a Rule for the interpretation of 
 prophecy, and as an improvement on the natural analogies 
 proposed by Newton and Warburton, cannot be doubted. 
 And this will convert the material images of the letter, in- 
 to a mirror resplendent with heavenly glories; as the gross 
 substances composing the disk of the moon reflect to us 
 the light of the sun. 
 
 V. Since then we find, altogether, so great a concur- 
 rence of circumstances, leading us to expect, first, that a 
 
180 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 real Revelation from God, in natural language, must con- 
 tain a spiritual sense beyond that of the letter, and must be 
 composed according to the law of the Analogy necessarily 
 subsisting between spiritual things and natural ; and, se- 
 condly, that the books commonly received as the Word of 
 God, do, in general, contain such a spiritual sense, and are 
 written according to this Law : we proceed to ascertain 
 the fact, in regard to the prophetical writings in particu- 
 lar, by trying, in two or three instances, what sort of sense 
 is obtained by applying the Science of Analogies to their 
 interpretation. We will select an example from each of 
 the three prophetic authorities of the Divine Word ; — the 
 Prophets of the Old Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ 
 when on earth, and the Apocalyptic Divine. 
 
 1. In the book of Ezekiel we have this very extraordi- 
 nary prophetic declaration : " And thou, son of man, thus 
 saith the Lord God : Speak unto every feathered fowl, 
 and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and 
 come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that 
 I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the 
 mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh and drink blood. 
 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood 
 of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, 
 of bullocks, all of them fatlings, of Bashan. And ye shall 
 eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, 
 of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. Thus 
 shall ye be filled at my table with horses and chariots, 
 with mighty men and with all men of war, saith the Lord 
 God."* 
 
 These words form part of a prophecy, occupying the 
 whole of two chapters, against Gog and Magog, who are 
 described as about to invade the land of Israel, there to 
 meet with total destruction : and I have selected them as 
 our first example of the application of the Science of Ana- 
 
 # Ezek. xxxix. 17 to 20. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 181 
 
 logies to the interpretation of the language of prophecy, 
 because they form one of the passages in the prophetic 
 writings that appear most deeply wrapped in mystery, and 
 of which the literal sense is involved in the greatest ob- 
 scurity. The mere sense of the words, is, indeed, suffi- 
 ciently obvious; but what the events are, in the history of 
 the Jews and other nations, to which the prophecy may be 
 supposed to point ; or, in the language of Bishop Lowth, 
 what was " the first thing in the prophet's view" when he 
 delivered it; has never been satisfactorily shewn. In such 
 passages as this, then, the certainty that the Divine Word 
 must contain a spiritual sense, and the need of a key for 
 the decyphering of it, are more peculiarly evident. And 
 as the existence of such passages is calculated to throw 
 much light upon the nature of divine prophecy in gene- 
 ral, some remarks upon them may not be out of place. 
 
 (1.) Although it appears that prophecy sometimes as- 
 sumes the form of anticipated history, and receives its first 
 fulfilment in events affecting the fates of different nations, 
 yet in some instances it will be found no otherwise to par- 
 take of the nature of anticipated history, than as parable 
 approaches to that of past history ; that is, it is similar in 
 form, but is to be understood as pure allegory, in which, 
 though the ideas conveyed by the letter are perfectly dis- 
 tinct, they do not announce any corresponding natural 
 events, but are to be spiritually understood- altogether. 
 Another very remarkable instance of this kind of prophe- 
 cy, in which the spiritual sense alone is intended for fulfil- 
 ment, occurs in Isaiah, who opens his sixty-third chapter 
 with a sublime dialogue between the prophet and a glori- 
 ous Personage who is presented to the rapt eye of the seer; 
 11 Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed gar- 
 ments from Bozrah ? this that is glorious in his apparel, 
 travelling in the greatness of his strength ?" " I that speak 
 in righteousness, mighty to save." " Wherefore art thou 
 red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that tread- 
 
182 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 etb in the wine-vat ?" " I have trodden the wine-press 
 alone, and of the people there was none with me : for I 
 will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my 
 fury ; and their blood shall be sprinkled on my garments, 
 and I will stain all my raiment : for the day of vengeance 
 is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. 
 And I looked, and there was none to help, and I wondered 
 that there was none to uphold : therefore mine own arm 
 brought salvation to me, and my fury it upheld me,"* &c. 
 The impossibility of applying this prediction to any histo- 
 rical events, must be evident to all whose minds are not 
 pre-occupied with a system : but I will here deliver my 
 sentiments in the words of Bishop Lowth. Speaking of 
 this passage, he observes, "It is by many learned inter- 
 preters supposed, that Judas Maccabaeus and his victories 
 made the subject of it [the above passage.] What claim 
 Judas can have to so great an honour, will, I think, be 
 very difficult to make out ; or how the attributes of the 
 great Person introduced can possibly suit him. Could 
 Judas call himself the Announcer of Righteousness, mighty 
 io save ? Could he talk of the day of vengeance being in 
 his heart, and the year of his redeemed being come ? or 
 that his own arm wrought salvation for him ? Besides, 
 what were the exploits of Judas in regard to the Idumaeans? 
 he overcame them in battle, and slew twenty thousand of 
 them. And John Hyrcanus, his brother Simon's son and 
 successor, who is called in to help out the accomplishment 
 of the prophecy, gave them another defeat some time af- 
 terward, and compelled them by foree to become prose- 
 lytes to the Jewish religion. — Are these events adequate to 
 the prophet's lofty prediction ?" The weakness of such a 
 supposition is further exposed by our learned author : and 
 then he adds, " I conclude, therefore, that this prophecy 
 lias not the least relation to Judas Maccabaeus. It may be 
 asked, To whom, and to what event, does it relate? I can 
 
 * Ver. 1 to 5. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 183 
 
 only answer that / know of no event in history to which, from 
 its importance and circumstances, it can be applied: unless, per- 
 haps, to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish Poli- 
 ty : which in the gospel is called the coming of Christ,* 
 and the days of vengeance. But though this prophecy 
 must have its accomplishment, there is no necessity for 
 supposing that it has been already accomplished. There 
 are prophecies, which intimate a great slaughter of the 
 enemies of God and his people, which remain to be fulfil- 
 led : these, in Ezekiel, ch. xxxviii. and in the Revelation 
 of St. John, ch. xx., are called Gog and Magog. This 
 prophecy of Isaiah may possibly refer to the same or the 
 like event. We need not be at a loss to determine the 
 Person who is here introduced as stained with treading the 
 wine-press, if we consider how St. John, in the Revelation, 
 has applied this image of the prophet. Rev. xix. 13, 15, 
 16. "f 
 
 Dr. Lowth here explicitly gives his opinion, that neither 
 Ezekiel's prophecy of Gog and Magog, nor Isaiah's vision 
 of the Lord's coming from Edom, have yet received any 
 outward accomplishment ; but he evidently is at a loss to 
 reconcile this conveniently with his system, which led him 
 to suppose that all the predictions of Scripture must have 
 such an accomplishment ; wherefore he suggests, that 
 though this must be the fact, it may be postponed sine die. 
 It is evident, however, that if no historical events answer- 
 ing to these two prophetic declarations occurred previous- 
 ly to the gospel era, nor even up to the present times ; so 
 great is the change which has taken place in the situation 
 of the world and its nations, that no such events can take 
 place hereafter. There are no longer a country of Edom, 
 and its metropolis, Bozrah, from whence an Announcer of 
 Righteousness and Redeemer of his people can come : and 
 though it may be true that the Gog and Magog of the 
 
 * But it is not called a coming from Edom and Bozrah. 
 t Lowth's Tsaiah, Notes on ch. Lull 
 
184 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 Scriptures, in their literal sense, are the ancient Scythians; 
 yet, should we recognize these again in the modern Tar- 
 tars ; or, with one of the multitude of expositors who ap- 
 plied the dark prophecies of Scripture to the events of the 
 last great w T ar, could we even discover the Gog and Magog 
 of Ezekiel and John in the Autocrat of Russia and his sub- 
 jects ; it would be idle to expect that these will at any pe- 
 riod be gathered together in the land of Israel, to be there 
 whelmed in utter destruction ; since the land of Israel can 
 never again be put in the situation which the prophecy 
 supposes, — inhabited by Jews returned from the captivity 
 in Babylon. It really then is impossible that these prophe- 
 cies should ever obtain an external fulfilment : they must 
 have a spiritual one, or none. 
 
 Now the embarrassment which such passages occasion to 
 those who hold the common sentiments respecting the de- 
 sign of the prophetic writings, arises hence: that although, 
 with Dr. Lowth, expositors affirm certain outward events 
 to be " the first, but not the principal, things in the pro- 
 phet's view," they at the same time make this subordinate 
 accomplishment more indispensable than the other : for 
 while they look every where for an outward reference of 
 prophecy, they only allow it to have a spiritual sense in 
 some instances, — in those places, where it is too plain to be 
 overlooked. But if the converse of this idea be the true 
 one ; if " the principal thing in the prophet's view," (or 
 rather, in the view of the Inspirer of the prophets,) is the 
 principal thing inched ; if to impart instruction on spiritual 
 subjects is, in fact, the only thing regarded by the Divine 
 Mind in giving a revelation ; and if this is equally impart- 
 ed, by the language of prophecy, when it speaks, in the 
 letter, of natural events, whether such events were ever 
 acted, or intended to be acted, on the outward theatre of 
 the world, or not : — then we have a view of the nature of 
 divine prophecy which can occasion no embarrassment, 
 and we shall not be compelled to torture the facts, to make 
 them agree with the hypothesis. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 185 
 
 Although, therefore, as admitted above, the Scriptures 
 have every where a literal sense, in which natural events, 
 connected with the fate of Israel and the surrounding na- 
 tions, are referred to ; it is by no means essential to the 
 truth of prophecy, that the natural events spoken of should 
 actually be performed. In general, it may be so : if any 
 man can prove it to be so always, we can have no objec- 
 tion ; since, wherever an outward fulfilment takes place, 
 the actual occurrences become, themselves, types of the 
 same spiritual things as are principally referred to in the 
 words of the prophecy. But if the divine origin of pro- 
 phecy can still be maintained, even where no outward ac- 
 complishment of it can be satisfactorily shewn, the author- 
 ity of Revelation is certainly made more secure. And it 
 is well known, that though many of the predictions of 
 Scripture have had a clear outward fulfilment in some of 
 their leading points, yet this can seldom be distinctly traced 
 through the subordinate particulars : which throws over 
 them so much obscurity, that the Infidel finds a pretence 
 for rejecting the application altogether. Such rejection is 
 certainly unjust. Many Scripture prophecies have had so 
 plain an outward fulfilment in their leading points, that, 
 while these alone are regarded, there is no room for dis- 
 pute : the conclusion then should be, that the particulars 
 which cannot so well be applied to outward events, are at 
 the same time thrown in, not to invalidate the former, but 
 to lead to the inference, that spiritual things, of far higher 
 moment, are referred to by the whole. For the same pur- 
 pose, important prophecies, like that before us, occasional- 
 ly occur, to which, unless we allow them a spiritual sense, 
 we cannot assign any consistent sense at all. Thus, the 
 whole is arranged with admirable wisdom. Many predic- 
 tions are given, which have had, in their main points, so 
 striking an outward accomplishment, as is calculated to 
 awaken the attention even of those who will believe no- 
 24 
 
186 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 thing which they cannot verify by their outward senses ; 
 and upon a closer inspection other parts will be found cal- 
 culated to raise the mind to more elevated contemplations, 
 and to satisfy the understanding, that Divine Prophecy 
 has higher objects than to announce the fate of nations, or 
 even than, by such marks of Omniscience, to evince the 
 divine origin of Revelation. 
 
 (2.) That the prophecy of Ezekiel before us, of the in- 
 vasion of the Land of Israel by Gog and his consequent 
 destruction, has no connexion with the affairs of the Israel- 
 ites or any other nations in particular, thus was not intend- 
 ed to have any outward accomplishment, is evident from 
 the parallel passage in the Revelation, referred to in the 
 extract above given from Bishop Lowth. In Ezekiel, the 
 irruption of Gog is described as taking place, when the 
 people of Israel, having returned from captivity, are en- 
 joying their country in peace ; — u It is brought forth out 
 of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them ;"* 
 — M Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say unto Gog, 
 Thus saith the Lord God ; In that day, when my people 
 of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it ? And 
 thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, 
 thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon 
 horses, a great company and a mighty army ; and thou 
 shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to 
 cover the land ;"f &c. Very similar are the circumstances 
 referred to in the parallel passage of the Revelation, 
 though they are there described under very different 
 images. An interval of security is promised, and repre- 
 sented as a period in which the martyrs u lived and reign- 
 ed with Christ a thousand years ;"J after which the despe- 
 rate enemy is to invade Judaea and besiege Jerusalem : 
 " And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall 
 be loosed out of prison, and shall go out to deceive the 
 
 * Ezek. xxxviii. 8. 1 Vcr. 14, 15, 16. t Rev. xx. 4. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 187 
 
 nations which are in the four quarters [corners] of the 
 earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle ; 
 the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they 
 went up on the breadth of the earth [the land of Israel,] 
 and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the be- 
 loved city : and fire* came down from God out of heaven, 
 and devoured them."f Now it is perfectly evident, that 
 the latter of these two predictions is not given as detailing 
 occurrences which were to take place according to the 
 letter. Since the church of the Lord, instead of being 
 confined, as under the Jewish dispensation, to the territory 
 of Palestine, is spread over a great portion of the globe, it 
 is impossible for its members to be surrounded by hordes of 
 barbarians collected from " the four corners," or remotest 
 extremities, of the earth, and to be shut up in any " belov- 
 ed city," in the land of Judaea or any where else. The 
 prophecy, doubtless, must be fulfilled ; but only in its 
 spiritual sense can it be fulfilled : of course, the spiritual 
 sense only is that which is intended. And what other 
 conclusion can be drawn respecting the parallel prophecy 
 of Ezekiel, the main circumstances of which are similar, 
 though more particulars are detailed ? No outward fulfil- 
 ment of it took place, between the period in which it was 
 delivered by Ezekiel and that in which the Revelation was 
 given to John ; and after this time, no other fulfilment of 
 it was practicable than such as was alone applicable, to 
 the parallel prediction of the New Testament prophet : if, 
 then, the one was never intended to have any but a spirit- 
 ual fulfilment, so, neither, was the other. (I deem it 
 needless to notice the attempts that have been made to 
 find a solution of Ezekiel's prediction in the troubles 
 which the Jews experienced from the Macedonian kings 
 of Syria. Gog and Magog, who inhabited, according to 
 the Revelation, " the four corners" of the earth, and, ac- 
 
 * Compare Ezek. xxxriii. 22. and xxxix. 6. t Rev. xx. 7, 8, 9. 
 
188 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 cording to Ezekiel, " the sides of the north,"* both which 
 phrases are evidently designed to express extreme remote- 
 ness, cannot possibly be names for Syria, the immediate 
 neighbour of Judaea : nor was any attack upon Judaea by 
 the Antiochi attended with the total destruction of the in- 
 vading nation. All judicious critics, therefore, with Dr. 
 Lowth. reject such an application of the prophecy, as 
 totally unworthy of its majesty and importance.) 
 
 (3.) If then in this prophecy, we are constrained to look 
 for a spiritual interpretation, let us see how this will be 
 developed by the Science of Analogies. The Israelites, as 
 being anciently the people who alone possessed a know- 
 ledge of the true God, were, as was shewn in our second 
 Lecture by the testimony of the Apostle Paul, types of 
 the true Church of the Lord, and of its true members, 
 under every dispensation ; and the land they inhabited 
 evidently had a similar representation : the land itself 
 represented the church with all that properly belongs to it, 
 in regard especially to the graces by the presence of which 
 the church exists, either in individuals or societies ; and 
 its metropolis, Jerusalem, also represented the church, 
 but as to the more interior and immediate abode of it in 
 the humftn mind ; whilst the temple with its worship were 
 expressive of the Lord's presence, and communion with 
 him, in the inmost of all. Now if the land of Judaea thus 
 symbolizes the true Church and all the graces which pro- 
 perly constitute it, Analogy must lead us to conclude, that 
 the countries around it represent the exterior relations of 
 the church, — which are such general principles in the 
 mind of man as have a greater or less degree of affinity 
 with those which are constituent of the church, — accord- 
 ing as they are nearer to the land of Israel or farther off 
 from it : and those which were most remote of all, must 
 be symbolic of such principles in regard to religion as are 
 
 * Ch. xxxix. 2. marginal translation. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 189 
 
 most gross and external, — most distant from every thing 
 that belongs to a true internal church. But the applica- 
 tion of Analogy to the formation of a system of Spiritual 
 Geography, demands a more exact consideration. 
 
 (4.) The mind of man evidently consists of a great num- 
 ber of affectuous and intellectual faculties and tendencies, 
 very distinct from each other. The love of God and our 
 neighbour, for instance, are very different principles from 
 the love of worldly power and worldly possessions ; and 
 those intellectual exercises which are conversant with di- 
 vine and heavenly subjects, no less vary from those which 
 are confined to matters of a corporeal and earthly nature : 
 and it is evidently congenial to our natural feelings and 
 perceptions, to assign to the former of each of these classes 
 of sentiments, a higher and more interior seat in the mind, 
 than to the latter ; we acknowledge, in common discourse, 
 the one to be sublime and exalted feelings and contempla- 
 tions, the other to be such as are low and grovelling. 
 Nor will our conceptions on this subject be much altered, 
 whatever may be the theoretical views which Ave are in- 
 clined to entertain of the nature of the mind. If, with one 
 class of metaphysicians, we believe the mind to be one 
 simple principle, the whole of which is concerned in eve- 
 ry one of its exercises, though under a distinct modifica- 
 tion in each ; then we must consider the whole mind, 
 when under the influence of heavenly love and wisdom, 
 to be in a sublime and exalted state, or to be under a 
 modification of that description : or if, with others, we 
 conceive the mind, like the body, to consist of a great 
 variety of organs, each having its proper function ; then 
 we must consider those which are the seats of disinterested 
 benevolence and of the perceptions of divine and heavenly 
 subjects, to be placed in an elevated and interior region, 
 and those which are appropriated to grosser tendencies 
 and mean conceptions, to be respectively low and external. 
 Our observations here proceed upon the supposition, that 
 
190 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 the latter view of the nature of the mind is the true one ; 
 but we have mentioned the other to shew, that, should the 
 opinion that the mind is one simple principle be correct, 
 the views we assume of the higher and lower nature of its 
 various emotions and contemplations would still be appli- 
 cable to it, and would only require a little alteration in 
 the mode of stating them. However, let us suppose the 
 mind itself to be composed of distinct organs, appropriat- 
 ed to distinct affections and distinct classes of thought : 
 It is true that to immaterial principles we cannot assign 
 any of the relations of space or place ; and yet it is certain 
 that we are so sensible of the existence of a determinate 
 analogy between these and the immaterial mind and its 
 properties, as continually to apply to the latter, terms 
 which properly denote the relations of place ; thus we 
 talk of a great mind and a little mind, a lofty mind and a loio 
 mind ; of elevated desires and of grovelling ones, of high 
 thoughts and of creeping ones ; of an internal and deep con- 
 ception of things, or of an external and superficial one ; we 
 apeak also of provinces of mind, and realms of thought : and 
 use a multitude of other like phrases. 
 
 Suppose then that we possessed a knowledge of the 
 general principles, both voluntary and intellectual, of 
 which the mind consists, and were desirous to present 
 them more distinctly to our view, by describing them by 
 some of the ideas borrowed from the analogy, which we 
 intuitively perceive to subsist, between the relations of 
 mind and the relations of place : suppose, as mathemati- 
 cians resort to diagrams to assist their conceptions of the 
 relations of quantity, we even wished to assist our concep- 
 tions of the mind by some sensible delineation, and were 
 £0 conceive the thought of mapping out the various pro- 
 vinces of intellect and affection which we perceive to exist 
 in it : — how should we commence the execution of the 
 plan, but by laying down, in the centre of our scheme, a 
 region, to be considered as representing that part of the 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 191 
 
 mind which is the seat of the most exalted affections and 
 sentiments, being those which have for their objects the 
 topics of true religion, or those which embrace the love 
 and vital knowledge of God ? Should we not, around this 
 central region, allot various districts, to represent those 
 parts of the mind, whose functions consist of attachments 
 to subordinate objects and of intellectual exercises of an 
 inferior character ? And should we not place in the cir- 
 cumference of our map of that " little world," or micro- 
 cosm, the mind of man, those faculties, both affectuous and 
 intellectual, which, though still belonging to the mind, 
 have the closest affinity with the body, and partake the 
 least of any thing of a purely spiritual nature, — being such 
 as belong to the province of merely corporeal sensations, 
 and of ideas of such things as either afford no room, or 
 are too grossly apprehended to give occasion, for the exer- 
 cise of the higher intellectual powers ? Such, certainly, 
 would be our mode of proceeding, were we to attempt 
 to draw a map of the mind, by following out the analogy 
 which every one perceives to exist between the relations 
 of mind and the relations of place. 
 
 Such a map, then, is ready drawn to our hands by the 
 Spirit of God, — to whom alone the analogies between 
 natural and spiritual things of all kinds are fully known, 
 — in the geography of the Scriptures. In this map, the 
 land of Israel is considered as the central region which is 
 the seat of all the truly spiritual affections and perceptions 
 of the human mind : (and hence was derived the notion of 
 the Jews, that their country constituted the middle of the 
 earth's surface ; — an opinion which was true in spiritual 
 though not in physical geography : — and a similar trans- 
 ferring, by them, of ideas which are true in a spiritual 
 sense, to a natural application in which they are false, has 
 given rise to many of that people's absurd, superstitious 
 opinions and practices, the origin of which would be oth- 
 erwise unaccountable.) So, following the law of Analogy > 
 
192 
 
 PLENVRY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 the countries situated around the land of Canaan, will 
 represent the subordinate mental powers and faculties. 
 We will illustrate this by one or two examples. 
 
 The great neighbour of Israel — the type of the spiritual 
 part of the mind, — on one side, was Egypt ; which repre- 
 sents what belongs entirely to the natural man, but, specifi- 
 cally, the Science or Knowledge of the natural man, with 
 the faculty for acquiring it : and the powerful state which 
 bordered upon Israel on the other side, was Assyria ; 
 which represents the Rational Faculty, and the Reasoning 
 Powers, in general. Now as Science and Reasoning, when 
 separated from all regard to religion, or to true religion, 
 and placed in opposition to it, are two of its most dange- 
 rous enemies ; therefore we read so much of the troubles 
 which these two nations brought upon the Israelites : but 
 as, nevertheless, they are capable of being rendered ex- 
 tremely serviceable to true religion, and are themselves 
 exalted by being submitted to its influence ; therefore we 
 meet with predictions of a state in which this union should 
 be effected. Thus it is said in Isaiah, " In that day there 
 shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of 
 Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord ;"* 
 words which plainly indicate the complete submission to a 
 divine influence, of the principle, power, or faculty, re- 
 presented by Egypt, from its inmost essence — " the midst" 
 — to its last extremity — " the border thereof." And that 
 this shall be closely connected with the principle, power, 
 or faculty, represented by Assyria, which shall be submit- 
 ted, with it, to the divine government, is presently taught 
 in these words : " In that day there shall be a highway 
 out of Egypt to Assyria ; and the Assyrian shall come into 
 Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria : and the Egyptians 
 shall serve with the Assyrians."* And again, that both 
 shall be united with the principle represented by Israel, is 
 
 " Isaiah xix. 19. t Ver. 23. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 193 
 
 beautifully expressed when it is immediately added, " In 
 that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with 
 Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land :"* where the 
 third means that which completes and adds perfection, — 
 the number three, so generally considered to involve a 
 mystery, denoting that which is complete and perfect ; 
 for which reason it is also said, that Israel shall be a bless- 
 ing in the midst of the land ; implying, that the principle 
 represented by Israel should become a centre, — a sort of 
 life-giving essence, — to the other two ; as is the case with 
 the principle of true religion, when the mind is in its pro- 
 per order throughout. This also is one of the predictions 
 of Scripture, of which no outward fulfilment, at all ade- 
 quate to the terms of it, can be pointed out ; for to refer 
 it, as is done by Bishop Newton and others, to the propa- 
 gation of Judaism in Egypt and Assyria, in consequence of 
 the dispersion and captivities of the Jews in those coun- 
 tries, is merely to trifle with words so august and solemn. 
 And if this prophecy has received no outward fulfilment 
 heretofore, the altered state of the world certainly renders 
 it impossible that it should receive such an accomplish- 
 ment hereafter. But we shall have a view which well 
 harmonizes with the expressions, and rises out of them by 
 a just analogy, if we understand them spiritually, as 
 pointing to the union, in a glorious state of the church, of 
 the three great orders or degrees of the intellectual pow- 
 ers. In this view, Egypt is the lowest of these powers, — 
 the Science or Knowledge of the natural man, — or such as 
 chiefly arises from the exercise of the faculty which the 
 metaphysicians call simple perception : — Assyria is a high- 
 er intellectual power, — that which reflects and reasons, — 
 or the Intelligence which results from the exercise of the 
 faculties of analysis and comparison ; — whilst Israel is the 
 supreme intellectual power of all, — the Wisdom which 
 
   Ver. 24. 
 
 25 
 
194 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 connects all with God, and contemplates, with interior 
 discernment, spiritual and divine subjects, which it ap- 
 plies, causing the lower attainments also to be applied, to 
 the glory of God and the benefit of mankind. And if we 
 consider these three orders of intellectual powers to have 
 three distinct provinces of the mind appropriated to them 
 as their seats, we shall see why they are represented by 
 the three countries of Egypt, Assyria, and Israel ; — such 
 representation following accurately the Law of that Analo- 
 gy, which, we have before seen, we all intuitively recog- 
 nise, between the relations of mind and the relations of 
 place. 
 
 To prove that such is the signification in the Scriptures 
 of these three countries, would require a consideration of 
 the numerous occasions on which they are mentioned : it 
 would then appear with clearness from the significant at- 
 tributes and actions ascribed to them respectively : But 
 this would detain us too long, and is also not necessary for 
 our present object, which is merely to shew, that certain 
 faculties or provinces of the mind are meant by the coun- 
 tries mentioned in the Holy Word,without determining that 
 which is specifically intended by each: and this, I trust, must 
 be pretty evident, in regard to the countries of Egypt, Assy- 
 ria, and Israel, whether the explanations which have been 
 attempted be altogether accepted or not. But I think that 
 not much doubt will remain, even here, with any inquirer, 
 who will take the pains to make an extensive examination 
 of the passages where they are mentioned. Let him un- 
 derstand by Egypt, when spoken of unfavourably, those 
 fallacies and appearances, with which Science, when not 
 cultivated from pure motives, opposes the doctrines of 
 true religion; (but under the name of Science is here to be 
 understood, not only the knowledge of natural things, but 
 an acquaintance also with the literal sense of the Word of 
 God, from which, when separated from all connexion with 
 its spirit, confirmations, as is well known, may and have 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 195 
 
 been drawn, in favour of the most erroneous religious sen- 
 timents, and in opposition to the most evident truths:) so, 
 by Egypt, when not unfavourably mentioned, are to be 
 understood the views of true Science, — natural truths in 
 general, both those drawn from the appearances of nature 
 and those from the literal sense of the Word : — Let our 
 inquirer, also, understand by Assyria, when spoken of with 
 censure, that intellectual principle which appears like in- 
 telligence, but is mere adroitness in reasoning, or dexterity 
 in managing a debate, independently of the truth or false- 
 hood of the premises assumed ; — or, when it is mentioned 
 with approbation, that intelligence which results from the 
 right exercise of the rational faculty: — And let him regard 
 both the principle of Science and the Rational principle, 
 as occupying distinct provinces of the mind, and consider 
 these provinces to be what are specifically meant by the 
 realms of Egypt and Assyria. Whoever does this, will 
 find a coherent and beautiful spiritual sense arise, in every 
 instance where those countries are mentioned ; provided 
 he has some idea of the spiritual reference of the other na- 
 tural images with which they are accompanied, which will 
 always be found exactly to harmonize with this significa- 
 tion of the countries.* 
 
 * I am not sufficiently acquainted with the science, as it is called, of Phre- 
 nology, to form any decided opinion of the solidity of its pretensions: Even 
 should its general principles be true, I should apprehend that many mistakes 
 must for a long time be expected to accompany the attempts to follow them 
 out into their various ramifications : But I cannot dismiss the subject before us 
 without observing, that I was lately much struck, on looking into the transac- 
 tions of the Phrenological Society of Edinburgh, with the extraordinary coin- 
 cidence of their description of the organs which they consider to be seated in 
 the fore part of the brain, with the idea which I had formed of the signification, 
 in Scripture, of the countries of Egypt, Assyria, and Israel. Their account of 
 the functions of the organ which they denominate " Individuality," and of their 
 " Knowing Faculties" in general, is exactly that which appears to belong to 
 the t: land of Egypt," considered as the symbol of a certain province of the 
 mind : their organs of " Comparison" and " Causality," or their * Reflecting 
 Faculties" in general, answer, with equal accuracy, to the Scriptural ** land of 
 Assyria ;" and their u Veneration" and " Benevolence" as certainly belong to 
 
196 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 (5.) I have dwelt at some length on this part of our sub- 
 ject, because, perhaps, nothing connected with the spiritu- 
 al interpretation of the Scriptures appears more questiona- 
 ble at first, than the assertion, that all the countries men- 
 tioned in the Word of God, designate certain faculties or 
 principles in the human mind ; when yet, on the idea be- 
 ing examined, it must be seen, that the analogy which it 
 supposes, — that between the relations of mind and the re- 
 lations of place, — is one of those, of which we have the 
 clearest intuitive perception, and from which Ave draw se- 
 veral phrases in common discourse. All the difficulties then 
 that can afterwards arise, in determining what mental fa- 
 culties are represented by the various countries spoken of 
 in the Scriptures, will be owing to our imperfect know- 
 ledge of what the faculties of the mind really are, and 
 what are their distinguishing characteristics, and relative 
 dignity. But these difficulties can only attach to the coun- 
 tries intermediate in their situation between Judaea and the 
 most remote realms that are mentioned: of these latter, the 
 signification will be obvious. These, then, we have al- 
 ready seen, are those which are called, in the prophecy of 
 Ezekiel before us, and in the corresponding prediction of 
 the Revelation, the land of Gog and Magog, — a region si- 
 tuated in V the corners of the earth," in " the sides of the 
 north :" — which are emphatic descriptions of extreme re- 
 moteness. Apply this description to the mind ; and what 
 
 the " land of Israel." I am therefore thoroughly convinced, that, in their ac- 
 counts of these " organs," they exhibit a correct conception of certain decided 
 faculties or provinces of the mind, whether the parts of the brain in which they 
 suppose these to be located during their connexion with the body, be accurate- 
 ly determined, or capable of being determined, or* not. Should, then, future 
 observations confirm their discoveries in the main, only correcting what may 
 at present be erroneous ; instead of apprehending from the establishment of 
 their science consequences injurious to the belief of the Scriptures, we may 
 hope to find in it additional means of confirming their plenary inspiration. 
 Assuredly, a strong confirmation of this is afforded, when the same truths are 
 brought to light by Science, as had long before been assumed by Revelation, 
 as the basis of its instructions. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 197 
 
 province of it can be intended, but that which is the most 
 external, and which borders most closely upon the corpo- 
 real sensations, — that, whose feelings are the most gross, 
 and whose perceptions are the most obscure ? — When we 
 say obscure, we mean, compared with those which partake 
 of the light of true wisdom : To itself they may appear 
 very lucid: as, doubtless, appears the obscurity of night to 
 the owl, whose organs of vision cannot bear the brightness 
 of day. 
 
 Now suppose the degree of intellect hence resulting to 
 exercise itself upon the subject of religion, and, with a ge- 
 neral acknowledgment of its reality, to undertake the defi- 
 nition of its nature : What sort of a theological system 
 would be the result ? Would it not, while it accepted the 
 most general truths of religion, understand them in the 
 most superficial manner, and, while it adhered to the form, 
 neglect the substance, — while it was occupied about the 
 body, disregard the soul ? We will take two or three ex- 
 amples. 
 
 It is a most general truth of religion, that God is to be 
 worshipped : would not Gog, (allow, if you please, this 
 term to stand as the expression, like an algebraic sign, of 
 the principle which we have defined ; and let us designate 
 by this name the man whose leading character is formed 
 by that principle: — would not Gog) reduce his worship to 
 mere external observances, regardless of the inward feel- 
 ings which alone render external worship acceptable to the 
 Divine Nature ? It is, again, a still more general truth of 
 religion that there is a God : would not Gog regard his 
 Deity as a being of like passions with himself ; good hu- 
 moured when pleased, revengeful when offended ; a com- 
 pound of good and bad passions, and capricious in the in- 
 dulgence of both ? If Gog were a Jew, and expected the 
 coming of a Messiah, as the Redeemer of Israel; would he 
 not look for a mighty conqueror, who should deliver the 
 nation from a foreign yoke, and restore in greater splen- 
 
198 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 dour than ever the kingdom of David ; without admitting 
 the thought of a spiritual redemption by him, or being 
 willing to believe that his kingdom is not of this world ? 
 If Gog were a Christian, and believed that the Messiah had 
 come to institute a new religion; would he not be disposed 
 to entertain the idea, that the Saviour is nothing more 
 than a man, not differing from other men in nature, though 
 appointed to a high office by God ? Whether Jew or 
 Christian, would he not, at the idea of a miraculous con- 
 ception, exclaim, with Mary, before she was fully instruct- 
 ed by the angel, " How shall this be ?"* — without credit- 
 ing the statement of the fact, as she did, and so acquiring 
 an interest in the divinely inspired declaration, " Blessed 
 is she that believed?"! And would he not, with the Jews, 
 on hearing the assertion from the lips of Jesus, " I and my 
 Father are One,":): " take up stones to stone him;"§ as far, 
 at least, as that can be done by hard, contradicting speech- 
 es, — by contending that such words are not to be under- 
 stood in a strict and proper sense, or in any sense which 
 will not include in the affirmation all good men? To put 
 a final case : If Gog were a believer in the Scriptures ge- 
 nerally, and lived in a philosophic age ; would he not re- 
 duce the scale of their inspiration to as low a standard as 
 is consistent with any belief that they contain, in any man- 
 ner a revelation from God ? Would he not regard them, 
 chiefly as merely human compositions, and confine the 
 subjects of them, as far as possible, to natural concurrences? 
 from which, also, he would gladly exclude any divine in- 
 terposition, resolving even the miracles, wherever he could 
 find a pretence, into the operation of natural causes. 
 Thus, would he not adhere, mainly, to " the letter which 
 killeth," and shut out altogether " the spirit which giveth 
 life ?" In short, in every thing connected with religious 
 faith and worship, would not Gog choose that which is 
 low and grovelling, external and superficial, and reject 
 
 T.ukc i. 34. i Ver. 45. J J*bn *. 30. § V*r. 3J. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 199 
 
 that which is elevated and soaring, internal and profound? 
 Would he not " fill his belly with the husks that the swine 
 do eat,"* and, with the swine, " trample the pearls under 
 his feet ?"f Nor would any part of this character be in- 
 compatible with great attainments in erudition ; since it is 
 well known that the finer powers of the mind are not un- 
 frequently buried under the dust of learning ; and that 
 there is, in the efforts of literature, the bathos as well as the 
 sublime. The poet did not go out of nature when he de- 
 scribed his king of the dunces as 
 
 " Sinking from thought to thought : a vast profound /" 
 
 Such then being the character of mind represented by 
 Gog and Magog, and such the influence which its prepon- 
 derance would have upon religion, how easy is it to see 
 that the predictions by Ezekiel and the Revelator, of inva- 
 sions by them of the land of Israel, must refer to the efforts 
 of such a principle, and of those who are in it, to degrade 
 religion, in faith and worship, into a conformity with the 
 above ideas ! Yea, is it not also intimated, from the par- 
 tial and temporary success spoken of as attending the en- 
 terprise of the invaders, that, for a time, such ideas of re- 
 ligion would be extremely prevalent, and would be urged 
 with a confidence by which many would be seduced ? 
 This is clearly the spiritual sense of the predictions : in 
 this sense, then, have they ever been accomplished ? 
 
 Most evidently, the prophecy of Ezekiel was accom- 
 plished among the Jews about the time of the Lord's ap- 
 pearance in the flesh. In the doctrine and practice of the 
 Pharisees, we behold that complete separation of every 
 thing that is external in religion from all that is internal, 
 and that destruction of the latter by the former, of which 
 Gog, when he appears in the character of an invader of 
 Israel, is the appropriate type. The church among the 
 Jews, was, indeed, always of an external character, con- 
 
 * Luke xv. 16. t Matt. vii. 6. 
 
200 PLENART INSPIRATION OF 
 
 sisting chiefly in outward rites of which the true import 
 was not discerned : yet, doubtless, while that church re- 
 mained unperverted, the internal things of which their ri- 
 tuals were types, were obscurely felt among them, though 
 not clearly perceived : though unknown, they were not 
 denied : but when elaborate systems of doctrines and pre- 
 cepts were invented, as was done by the Pharisees, the ob- 
 ject of which was to persuade the people that they became 
 holy by an attention to external observances alone, then 
 was the internal essence of religion entirely destroyed by 
 its outward appearances, and Gog indeed a came up against 
 Israel, as a cloud, to cover the land."* Accordingly, we 
 find, that the reproofs which the Lord Jesus Christ ad- 
 dressed to the Jews, chiefly ran upon this separation of 
 the forms of religion from its vital principles, and upon 
 the suffocation by the former of the latter. " He answer- 
 ed and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of 
 you, hypocrites ; as it is written, This people honoureth 
 me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. — Full 
 well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep 
 your own tradition : for Moses said, Honour thy father 
 and thy mother ; — but ye say, If a man shall say to his 
 father or his mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift 
 [consecrated to God] by whatsoever thou mightest be pro- 
 fited by me, he shall be free ; and ye suffer him no more 
 to do ought for his father or his mother ; making the 
 word of God of none effect through your tradition which 
 ye have delivered : and many such like things ye do."f 
 So the awful denunciations against the scribes and Phari- 
 sees in the twenty-third chapter of Matthew, all turn upon 
 the same point, — the destruction of the internal essence of 
 religion by substituting its externals in its place : " Woe 
 unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye de- 
 vour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long pray- 
 
 * Ezek. xxxviii. 16. t Mark vii. 6 to 13. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 201 
 
 ers :" cc Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, who- 
 soever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing ; but who- 
 soever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debt- 
 or :" " Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 
 for ye pay tythes of mint, and anise, and cummin, and have 
 omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy 
 and faith :" " Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypo- 
 crites ! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the 
 platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess."* 
 So, all the other marks of the character which we have 
 above denned as that of Gog, as connected Avith religion, 
 were exemplified in these perverters of religion. Nor did 
 their notion that the Scriptures were replete with mys- 
 teries, at all contradict the gross ideas of the Word of God 
 which they who are represented by Gog would entertain. 
 They took this general belief from those who had a tradi- 
 tionary knowledge of the fact : but the mysteries they pre- 
 tended to find in the law, were of any but a spiritual na- 
 ture : they consisted of the most idle puerilities, all calcu- 
 lated to flatter their own pride ; such as, instead of fulfil- 
 ling the Zmc, in the sense which, in our second Lecture, we 
 shewed to belong to that phrase, — that is, filling it with 
 heavenly ideas relating to the love of God and man, — emp- 
 tied it of every thing of such a character, and made even 
 the most express injunctions of its letter compatible with 
 habits the most selfish and profane. 
 
 If then Gog, or Gog and Magog, represent a character 
 and state of mind of the most gross and external descrip- 
 tion ; if the invasion by them of the land of Israel typifies 
 the introduction of persuasions originating in such a state 
 of mind into every thing connected with religion, till the 
 church is entirely overrun, and all its doctrines, with all its 
 worship, acquire an external character, entirely separated 
 from, and in opposition to, the internal qualities without 
 which they are nothing ; and if the Lord Jesus Christ de- 
 
 * Ver. 14, 16, 23. 25. 
 26 
 
202 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 clares that such was the state of the church among the 
 Jews when he was on earth : — then had the prophecy of 
 Ezekiel upon the subject at that time received its fulfil- 
 ment. But the instruction which it conveys is not thereby 
 rendered obsolete, as would be the case if it related to 
 merely natural events, and had been fulfilled by an invasion 
 of hostile armies : but it will for ever continue to teach 
 mankind, what is the proper character of the gross con- 
 ceptions of the natural man, when not rectified by the 
 influence of the spiritual ; and what are the deplorable 
 consequences, when man yields to the suggestions of the 
 most external part of his mental constitution alone, and 
 draws thence his conclusions on the subject of religion. 
 Of this, in the case of individuals, there is danger at all 
 times. We all must be sensible, that there is in our consti- 
 tution the principle of which Gog and Magog are the sym- 
 bols, — a principle by which we first become conscious of 
 impressions that come from without, and which, if not sub- 
 mitted to the control of an enlightened intellectual facul- 
 ty, might even lead to the persuasion that nothing is real 
 but sense and nature ; it would therefore be well if we 
 would profit by the warning which this prophecy affords, 
 and take care how we suffer such a principle to lift itself 
 out of its place. There is in it a tendency to usurpation. 
 Sense is ever disposed to exalt herself above Reason, and 
 falsely to arrogate her name : and then Religion is either 
 banished altogether, or compelled to assume a disguise 
 that hides her beauty, and destroys her benefits. In the 
 last extreme, atheism is the result. 
 
 But if the prophecy by Ezekiel of the invasion of Gog 
 and Magog received its general fulfilment in the state of 
 the Jewish Church at the time of the Lord's appearing in 
 the world, we see that the parallel prediction of John must 
 refer to a different event in the spiritual history of man- 
 kind, and cannot as Bishop Lowth supposes, mean exactly 
 the same : which supposition degrades, besides, the Divine 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 203 
 
 Word, with the imputation of repetition and tautology. 
 The general signification of Gog and Magog, and of their 
 invasion of the land of the saints, must be, indeed, the same 
 as before ; but two distinct irruptions of the principle are 
 certainly intended : if then the first of them took place in 
 the last perversion of the Israelitish dispensation, when are 
 we to look for the second ? Are corruptions of this de- 
 plorable kind, ever to overtake the profession of Chris- 
 tianity ? Alarming as is the thought, it seems impossible 
 to doubt that this is pointed to in the prediction of the 
 Revelation. If we admit the communication to proceed 
 from the Divine Prescience, we must expect such an event. 
 Again will men look at religion under the influence of the 
 most external province of the mind : again will they sepa- 
 rate the conclusions which this suggests, from the more 
 enlightened sentiments which would be dictated by the in- 
 ternal man : and the consequence again will be, that, while 
 some will glory in the avowal of the most audacious infi- 
 delity, extended even to the self-worship of atheism, a 
 greater number, not venturing to deny religion altogether, 
 will lower down its duties and its doctrines to an agree- 
 ment with the suggestions of the lowest part of their nature ; 
 that, deeming the vividness with which they conceive their 
 sentiments to be a certain mark of their truth, (though it 
 is only a consequence of the proximity of the province of 
 the mind in which such persons think, to the senses of the 
 body,) and shutting out the admission of any light from 
 above, even till they doubt the reality of every thing of a 
 spiritual nature, they will rush eagerly to battle against 
 those who affirm that reality, strong in the conceit that 
 their arguments are invincible. But when will this de- 
 plorable visitation take place ? Have any symptoms of its 
 commencement yet appeared ? These are questions of 
 deep concernment to every christian ; but to attempt their 
 solution would carry us too far. The consideration of 
 them must be left to those who feel sufficiently interested 
 
204 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 in the subject to pursue it farther : and the way to decide 
 them will be, to reflect maturely on the nature of the prin- 
 ciple of which Gog and Magog are types, and of its natu- 
 ral influence, when made the arbiter of religious sentiment ; 
 and then to examine what marks of this influence are dis- 
 cernible in the opinions and controversies which make a 
 noise in the Christian world, and which divide the minds 
 of men on the subject of religion. 
 
 (6.) We have pursued to some extent the ideas suggest- 
 ed by the prophecies respecting Gog and Magog, because, 
 as observed above respecting all such prophecies as do not 
 admit of an outward accomplishment, they are so well 
 adapted to lead to a just conception of the nature of the 
 Prophetic Word in general ; and because these predic- 
 tions, in particular, eminently tend to illustrate that great 
 portion of the Prophetic Word, which seems to treat, in 
 its letter, of particular countries and nations. If some of 
 the predictions of this kind are such as never could have 
 been intended to receive a literal fulfilment ; it is evident 
 that they must contain a spiritual sense, and that, when 
 they were given, a spiritual fulfilment was the only one 
 contemplated by their Divine Author : and if the Scrip- 
 tures are written upon a uniform and orderly plan, — as 
 they must be, if they are inspired by a God of order, — 
 then must a spiritual fulfilment of divine prophecy have 
 been that which was chiefly intended, in every part of it ; 
 although some parts of it were such as admitted, and re- 
 ceived, a general outward accomplishment likewise. If 
 there are any parts of it, which, though they all contain a 
 double sense, were not designed to have a double fulfil- 
 ment ; — in which sense, be it asked, is their fulfilment na- 
 turally to be looked for, — in that which is primary, or in 
 that which is secondary ? If the spiritual accomplishment, 
 " though not the first, [as to time,] was the principal, thing 
 in the prophet's view ;" and yet the prediction was of such 
 a nature, that, whatever the prophet might have understood 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 205 
 
 by it, it only admitted of a fulfilment in one sense ; — 
 which must have been the fulfilment regarded by the In- 
 spirer of the prophet ? The question admits of but one an- 
 swer. And it is equally evident, that if the prophecies 
 have a spiritual sense any where, and this is the principal 
 sense, they must have it every where. But the literal sense 
 being thus a mere vehicle for the conveyance of the spirit- 
 ual, may either be outwardly fulfilled or not, as the plans 
 of Providence may render expedient. To communicate 
 the spiritual sense, the literal sense is indispensable : but 
 to the spiritual fulfilment, the literal fulfilment is entirely 
 unnecessary. When, also, an outward accomplishment of 
 prophecy, affecting the affairs of nations, takes place, it is 
 never, as was noticed above, so exact, as not to leave room 
 for much variety of opinion regarding the application of 
 many particulars of the prediction ; thus pointing to a 
 spiritual fulfilment, as that to which alone the terms of the 
 prophecy can be unobjectionably applied. 
 
 But these prophecies respecting Gog and Magog, are 
 eminently calculated to illustrate the nature of that great 
 portion of the Prophetic Word, which seems to treat, in 
 its letter, of particular countries and nations. Gog and 
 Magog, according to the literal idea, evidently denote very 
 remote countries and nations : the prophecies relating to 
 them are such as never have been outwardly accomplished, 
 and never can be : and if so, then a spiritual fulfilment 
 must alone have been intended. But how are we to dis- 
 cover the nature of this spiritual fulfilment ? All ideas 
 respecting it must be merely conjectural and arbitrary, 
 unless we have a certain Rule to guide our conclusions : 
 and what principle in the nature of things can be disco- 
 vered, capable of affording such a Rule, but the Analogy 
 immutably established between natural things and spiritual, 
 whereby they mutually answer to each other ? An obvious 
 analogy, we have seen, exists, between the relations of 
 Mind and the relations of Place : each has its provinces : 
 
206 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 and it is not at all difficult to conceive, how the one may 
 be represented by the other. We have seen also, that 
 whatever may be the difficulty of determining what pro- 
 vinces or characters of mind are implied by some of the 
 countries and nations mentioned in the Scriptures, this 
 does not extend to the signification of Gog and Magog. 
 These, as the countries and nations most remote from the 
 land of Israel, must denote the most external province and 
 character that can belong to the human mind. This, then, 
 may be assumed as certain. But if it is evident that a cer- 
 tain province or character of mind is meant by Gog and 
 Magog, it cannot be doubted, that some certain province 
 or character of mind is equally symbolized by every other 
 country and nation mentioned in the sacred pages. If we 
 admit the premises, the conclusion is unavoidable ; unless 
 we would treat the Word of God as a chaos of confusion, 
 — a mass of isolated discordances, in which no conclusion 
 can be drawn from one fact to another, let the parallelism 
 between them be ever so complete. 
 
 (7.) Now if it be true that the invasion of Israel by 
 Gog, is a prophetic description of the state of religion 
 ainono; the Jews at the time of the appearance of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, it will not seem strange to infer, that the ex- 
 traordinary passage quoted at the beginning of this section, 
 in which the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field are 
 invited to a great feast or sacrifice prepared for them by 
 the Lord, refers to the abundant mercies consequent upon 
 the Lord's coming in the flesh, and dispensed to all who 
 were willing to accept them ; and which were calculated 
 to nourish, and restore to its right order, every faculty 
 and power of the human mind. By his coming, the Lord 
 put an end to the Israelitish dispensation, which at best 
 was of a very external character, only a having a shadow 
 of good things to come ;"* and, in its stead, U brought life 
 
 * Hcb. x . 1. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 207 
 
 and immortality to light through the gospel :"* " for the 
 law was given by Moses ; but grace and truth came by 
 Jesus Christ."! The spiritual graces which he came to 
 dispense are frequently compared by him to food and 
 drink, on account of the analogy noticed in our last Lec- 
 ture between natural food and spiritual. When the pro- 
 digal returned repentant, his father killed for him the fat- 
 ted calf.J And when the Lord proposes the parable of 
 " a certain man who made a great supper ;"§ or of a din- 
 ner given by a certain king on account of the marriage of 
 his son, and who says on the occasion, " My oxen and my 
 fatlings are killed ;"|| he evidently describes the heavenly 
 gifts which were offered to man, for the nourishment of 
 his soul, in consequence of his coming into the world. 
 (It is needless to say, that the guests who were invited, 
 and who refused to come, were the Jews, who possessed 
 the invitations of the Lord in his Word ; and that they 
 who were brought in from the highways and hedges, with- 
 out previous invitation, were the Gentiles, to whom the 
 true God was previously unknown.) If then the Lord 
 Jesus Christ himself, thus describes the blessings presented 
 to man by his gospel under the appropriate emblem of a 
 feast ; how natural is the conclusion, that the same bless- 
 ings are indicated by Ezekiel, in the stronger figures be- 
 longing to the prophetic style, when, in the conclusion of 
 his prophecy respecting Gog, which refers to the state of 
 the Jewish church at the time of the Lord's advent, he 
 speaks of a great feast prepared for the fowls of the air and 
 the beasts of the field ! Let us then briefly notice, how the 
 particulars of this general explanation may be developed 
 by the Science of Analogies. 
 
 We have seen in our last Lecture, that the human mind 
 is composed, in general, of two great faculties, called the 
 will and the understanding ; and that the will is the seat 
 
 * 2 Tim. i. 10. + John i. 17. \ Luke xv. 23. § Ch. xiv. 16. || Matt. xxii. 4. 
 
203 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 of every thing belonging to love or affection, and the un- 
 derstanding of every thing belonging to perception and 
 thought : so that the will may in fact be considered as a 
 congeries of innumerable affections, and the understanding 
 as a congeries of innumerable thoughts. Now the Holy 
 Scriptures, being dictated by Him " who knoweth our 
 frame,"* continually regard man as composed of these two 
 general principles, and address him in reference to them 
 both. Thus nothing is more common in Scripture than 
 to speak of " the fowls of the air and the beasts of the 
 field :" the reason is, because there is an analogy between 
 the winged part of the animal creation, and the intellectual 
 powers of the mind ; and between the part of the animal 
 creation constituted by the mammalia, and the affectuous 
 powers of the mind. That beasts in general are apt sym- 
 bols of the affections, is very evident, and was in some 
 measure shewn in our last Lecture : and birds in general, 
 not less aptly, are types of the thoughts ; as will appear 
 to him who contemplates their peculiar properties ; such 
 as their capacity of soaring in the air, and the remarkable 
 manner in which they are affected by the light, being ren- 
 dered lively by its presence, dull by its partial absence, 
 and going to sleep on the approach of darkness, even when 
 the darkness comes on at an unusual time, — as when it has 
 been caused by an eclipse not long after sunrise. When 
 therefore the Lord says to the prophet, in the passage we 
 are considering, " Speak unto every feathered fowl, [or, 
 to the fowl of every wing,] and to every beast of the 
 field ;" — it is not the fowls and beasts who are addressed, 
 (for who could suppose that Jehovah would literally ad- 
 dress these ? less absurd would be the story of St. Antho- 
 ny's sermon to the fishes :) but it is man in general who 
 is appealed to, considered as to the general faculties of his 
 mental constitution, — as to all the powers of his mind 
 
 * Ps. ciii. 14. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 209 
 
 which are capable of being benefited by divine gifts. As, 
 also, there is an immense variety in the human race, every 
 man being distinguished from others, not less by his pecu- 
 liar mode of thinking and feeling than by the peculiar 
 lineaments of his countenance ; and as, in some, the under- 
 standing is more active than the affections, and, in others, 
 the affections are more active than the intellect : there- 
 fore those whose peculiar character belongs to the 
 former description, under any possible modification of 
 it, are addressed as the birds of every wing, and those 
 whose character belongs to the latter description, with 
 the same variety, are included in the address to every beast 
 of the field. 
 
 Now as the human mind in the aggregate consists of two 
 general faculties, which are the will and the understand- 
 ing ; so are there two general divine gifts by which these 
 are to be nourished ; which are, goodness and truth. 
 These then are what are meant, when, on the birds and 
 beasts being commanded to assemble themselves together 
 to a great sacrifice which should be sacrificed for them by 
 the Lord, it is said, " that ye may eat flesh and drink 
 blood ;" there being, as noticed in our last Lecture, an 
 exact analogy between flesh and blood, as the chief consti- 
 tuents of animal bodies, and goodness and truth, or love 
 and wisdom, these being, in their origin, the prime essen- 
 tials of the Divine Nature. But as the mind of man, both 
 as to will and intellect, consists of faculties of various or- 
 ders and degrees ; so also are there various orders and 
 degrees of the goodness and truth imparted for their nour- 
 ishment ; and nothing can be conceived, which becomes 
 an object of feeling and perception, which does not refer, 
 in some way, to the general principle of goodness, or to 
 the general principle of truth. The various orders and 
 degrees, then, of goodness and truth, which would be 
 bestowed in abundance, under the dispensation of the 
 gospel for the spiritual nourishment of man, and for his 
 21 
 
210 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 edification in all heavenly graces, are represented by the 
 various kinds of beings whose flesh and blood should be 
 presented for food, as related in the following verses. 
 " Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood 
 of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of 
 goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan." The 
 mighty, here, are they who prevail in spiritual combats, 
 which are such as are carried on internally against the 
 corruptions of the heart and mind ; or, more abstractedly, 
 they are those principles of heavenly confidence which 
 give power in those combats ; and to eat the flesh of the 
 mighty, is to enjoy the good which is procured by victory 
 in such conflicts. The princes of the earth are the lead- 
 ing and primary truths of the church, on which the subor- 
 dinate ones depend ; and to drink their blood is to have 
 these fixed in the mind. Rams and lambs are emblems of 
 such good affections as belong to the internal man, relat- 
 ing, chiefly, to love to God and our neighbour ; and goats 
 and bullocks are corresponding principles in the external 
 man : the bullocks are said to be fatlings of Bashan, to 
 express the excellence of the animals, and, by analogy, of 
 the principle which they represent. To imply the profu- 
 sion with which these blessings should be imparted, it is 
 added, " And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink 
 blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice, which I have 
 sacrificed for you :" fat is here mentioned instead of flesh, 
 as being a symbol of goodness still more genuine and ex- 
 cellent. The conclusion of the promise is the most extra- 
 ordinary part of all : " Thus ye shall be filled at my table 
 with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all 
 men of war, saith the Lord God." If there be any, who 
 are so disposed to adhere to the literal sense of the pro- 
 phecy, as to conclude that " Gog and all his multitude" 
 really mean an immense invading army, and to infer that 
 the convocation of the fowls and beasts to " eat flesh and 
 drink blood," is a figurative mode of describing the excess 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 211 
 
 of the slaughter, by adverting to the numbers of birds and 
 beasts which would be drawn together by the scent of the 
 carcases ; and who can bring themselves to thirk it not 
 unworthy of " the Lord Jehovah" to make such an address 
 to mere animals of prey ; these words must destroy the 
 illusion : for though some animals of prey would eagerly 
 devour dead horses, they would not devour the chariots 
 which they drew ; and yet, according to the terms of the 
 prediction, the chariots, also, are to form part of the feast. 
 Thus it is, that, throughout the Scriptures, expressions are 
 frequently thrown in, which cannot at all be applied to 
 the subjects which appear to be treated of in the letter ; as 
 if Divine Wisdom introduced them on purpose to prevent 
 the attention from resting in the letter, and to awaken it 
 to the spirit which dwells within. All the expressions 
 used in Scripture relating to ways and to journeys, and to 
 the methods by which man assists his progress in his jour- 
 neys, refer to the exercise of the thoughts. In meditation, 
 every one is conscious of something passing in his mind, 
 analogous to locomotion. On account of the use of the 
 horse in assisting man in his progress from place to place, 
 he was regarded in ancient times, as noticed in our last 
 Lecture, as a symbol of man's understanding, or appre- 
 hension, of truth, or of what he regards as truth ; and to 
 ride on horseback, in the symbolic style of writing, was 
 understood to mean, to acquire intelligence, or to commu- 
 nicate instruction, by the exercise of the faculty. Nearly 
 related in signification to the horse, on which a man rides, 
 must be a chariot, drawn by horses, in which he rides : 
 thus, as the one expresses, in the language of analogy, the 
 understanding or apprehension of truth, so does the other 
 the doctrine of truth, or those sentiments respecting truth 
 which the mind assumes as certain, and employs to assist 
 its further progress. Now as birds and beasts may feed on 
 horses, so is the human mind nurtured in spiritual graces 
 by the right understanding of truth : and though no bird 
 
212 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 or beast can feed on chariots, yet may the human mind be 
 fed with the doctrine of truth : and this is what is meant 
 when the Lord says by the prophet, " Ye shall be filled at 
 my table with horses and chariots." a Mighty men, and 
 all men of war," are added, to express such firm convic- 
 tions of the truth, grounded in love, in regard to divine 
 subjects, as give a man power over the corruptions of his 
 own heart and mind, as well as over all suggestions in 
 favour of evil and error that may come from without, 
 and which enable him, in every trial, to come off a con- 
 queror. 
 
 Now, though it would require a very extensive discus- 
 sion, fully to prove that the several particulars of this 
 remarkable prophecy bear the exact signification which we 
 have offered ; yet that they must bear some such significa- 
 tion^ is, I think, abundantly evident. The spiritual analo- 
 gy of some of the principal symbols, is obvious : that of 
 the others will also appear on reflection : and if the 
 ground, in analogy, of the signification assigned to any of 
 the natural images, should not be discerned by every one, 
 yet every one who will carefully examine the other pas- 
 sages in the Word of God where they are mentioned, may 
 ascertain that they always bear some such meaning. It 
 would require a work on a different plan from that of 
 these Lectures, fully to demonstrate, by the Science of 
 Analogies, and by the manner in which natural images are 
 used in the Scriptures, the meaning of each specific sym- 
 bol : all that we undertake to prove, is, that the general 
 principle exists ; that there is in reality a definite analogy 
 between natural things and spiritual, whereby the former 
 answer to, and form expressive symbols of, the latter ; 
 and that this analogy is observed in the Holy Word. In 
 applying the general rule to particular cases, we shall be 
 satisfied if our interpretations are accepted as probable. 
 In the more important and more general analogies, we 
 hope that this probability will be found very strong : in 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 213 
 
 subordinate and respectively unimportant particulars, a 
 lower degree of probability will be sufficient for our pur- 
 pose. A multitude of probabilities is admitted to consti- 
 stute a moral certainty : and if it shall appear, in nume- 
 rous instances, that the spiritual signification which we 
 assign to various natural symbols is probably the true one, 
 every impartial mind will allow it to be morally certain, 
 that some spiritual signification does belong to those sym- 
 bols. Thus the general principle will be established, 
 whether our explanations of particulars be all concurred 
 in, or not. 
 
 In the passage at present before us, it is impossible to 
 conceive of Jehovah himself as calling the birds and beasts 
 to a sacrifice prepared for them by him, that they might 
 eat flesh and drink blood, without revolting from the 
 ideas suggested by the letter, and concluding instinctively, 
 that matters very different, and more worthy of Infinite 
 Love and Wisdom, and of the active interference of Deity, 
 must be veiled beneath the expressions. To regard them 
 as merely forming an emphatic mode of describing a great 
 slaughter by one of its consequences, is still to impute un- 
 worthy sentiments to the Divine Being. If the prophets 
 are to be considered merely as poets, and it should be 
 deemed allowable for the poet Ezekiel thus to exult over 
 the destruction of the enemies of his country ; it would 
 be in the highest degree profane for him to introduce on 
 the occasion the most sacred of the names of God, and to 
 deliver his invitation to birds and beasts to feed on his 
 slaughtered foes, in the name of " the Lord Jehovah." 
 But if, as has already been shewn, no invasion by natural 
 enemies can have been intended by any part of the pro- 
 phecy, then no devouring of their carcasses can be refer- 
 red to by the invitation to the birds and beasts. Besides, 
 the total destruction of " Gog and all his multitude" is 
 more explicitly detailed in the former part of the chapter : 
 they are not only described as being all dead, but, like- 
 
214 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 wise, as being all buried :* after which to invite the birds 
 and beasts to eat their flesh and drink their blood, would 
 look like an after thought indeed, not easily compatible 
 with the previous statements. Every thing then leads us 
 to regard this part of the prophecy, as well as the rest, as 
 a prophetic allegory, designed to have a purely spiritual 
 accomplishment, and no other. 
 
 But perhaps it may be objected, " Admitting something 
 of a spiritual nature to be intended by this invitation to 
 the fowls of every wing and to every beast of the field, 
 still it does not appear how their eating the flesh and 
 drinking the blood of Gog and his army, who evidently 
 are the enemies of the church, or injurious principles in 
 regard to religion, can represent the imparting to men of 
 heavenly gifts and graces." But it is to be observed, that 
 the idea of Gog and his army is dismissed with their bu- 
 rial, already recorded, and they are not mentioned any 
 more. According to the literal sense, indeed, it must be 
 inferred to be their flesh and blood that the fowls and 
 beasts are to eat and drink ; but this is not affirmed. The 
 feast is merely represented as consequent upon the destruc- 
 tion of Gog : and thus it suggests the important truth, ex- 
 plicitly affirmed in many parts of Scripture, that all in- 
 crease of good is in consequence of, and in proportion to, 
 the removal of evil. Both cannot exist together, either in 
 the church at large or in the mind of man : the one must 
 be put away, to make room for the other to enter. The 
 removal then of the evils that destroyed and perverted all 
 true religion, is described by the destruction of Gog and 
 his multitude : the reception of the good which can then 
 be imparted, is meant by the feast given in consequence to 
 the fowls and beasts. That the flesh and blood which 
 they should eat and drink are not considered as belonging 
 to Gog and his army, or to any thing that has a bad signi- 
 
 # Vor. 11 to 15. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 215 
 
 fication, is evident from their being called the flesh and 
 blood u of rams, of lambs, of goats, and of bullocks." 
 Goats and bullocks, indeed, as denoting principles which 
 belong to the external man, which may either be in right 
 order or the contrary, are sometimes mentioned in a bad 
 sense, as well as in a good one : but rams and lambs, as 
 denoting principles which belong to the internal man, — 
 the apostle's inward man which delights in the law of 
 God,* — are not subject to this ambiguity of interpretation: 
 they are invariably used as symbols of the purest affections 
 that can adorn the human mind. 
 
 Altogether, then, whether the explanation which has 
 been offered be seen, in all the particulars, to be true or 
 not; I trust that the general meaning assigned to the whole 
 will be admitted to be highly probable : — that the flesh 
 and blood of the various orders of beings mentioned, as 
 forming a sacrifice or feast prepared by Jehovah for the 
 birds of every wing and every beast of the field, are the 
 goodness and truth of various orders and degrees, offered 
 by the Lord to all who had any capacities for receiving 
 them, when, at his coming into the world, he put an end 
 to the perversion of religion then prevalent among the 
 Jews, in consequence of their looking at divine things un- 
 der the influence of the most external part of their nature; 
 or, more briefly, that this prophetic feast denotes the 
 profusion of heavenly gifts, resulting from the introduction 
 of the spiritual and pure dispensation of the Gospel, in lieu 
 of the carnal and corrupted dispensation of the Law. 
 
 2. The next prophecy that we select for consideration, 
 is that of the Lord Jesus Christ, comprised in the twenty- 
 fourth and twenty-fifth chapters of Matthew ; more parti- 
 cularly that part of it which is contained in these words : 
 " Immediately after the tribulation of* those days, shall the 
 sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, 
 
 * Rom. vii. 22. 
 
216 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the 
 heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign 
 of the Son of man in heaven : and then shall all the tribes 
 of the earth mourn ; and they shall see the Son of man 
 coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great 
 glory."* 
 
 (1.) As the passage which we have considered from Eze- 
 kiel affords a remarkable instance of that species of divine 
 prediction which admits of no outward fulfilment; so does 
 this whole discourse of the Lord Jesus Christ supply a re- 
 markable instance of that species of prophecy which does 
 admit of such a fulfilment, it being, in fact, of all the pre- 
 dictions of Holy Writ, the most distinguished for the great 
 exactness with which many of its announcements have been 
 palpably accomplished. It has been justly observed, of 
 that part of it which extends from the beginning to the 
 twenty-eighth verse of the twenty-fourth chapter, that 
 many of the particulars which it states, so precisely de- 
 scribe the calamities which befel the Jewish nation at and 
 prior to the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, that it more re- 
 sembles a history than a prophecy: and as, nevertheless, it 
 is certain that the prediction was delivered, and the ac- 
 count of it published, before those calamities occurred, an 
 irresistible argument thence arises for the divine inspiration 
 of prophecy, and for the truth of the Christian religion, 
 which has been ably handled by many of the Christian 
 apologists. 
 
 Nevertheless, clearly as some parts of this prophecy 
 have coincided with historical events, it is impossible to 
 adapt it all to circumstances of that kind. A great part of 
 it certainly admits of none but a spiritual fulfilment : 
 hence, as the whole of it flows in an uninterrupted and 
 most closely connected series, it seems undeniable that a 
 spiritual fulfilment is that which is chiefly designed 
 
 * Ch.xxiv.29, 30. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. & 1 T 
 
 throughout, and that, in the words of Bishop Lowth so 
 often cited, the destruction of Jerusalem, though " the first, 
 was not the principal thing in the [Divine] Prophet's view." 
 Still it is certain, that part of the prophecy had an exter- 
 nal accomplishment in the events attending the destruction 
 of Jerusalem: we here then have a striking exemplification 
 of the principle advanced above, — that the spiritual things 
 described in the ulterior sense of the prophetic language, 
 were typically pictured by such external events ; — that a 
 spiritual fulfilment was at the same time primarily regard- 
 ed, and that of this was given, in the corresponding histo- 
 rical circumstances, a symbolic scenical representation. "* 
 On no other principle can those particulars of the prophe- 
 cy which may be applied to the destruction of Jerusalem, 
 be taken as part of the same series as the other particulars, 
 which do not admit of such an application. And the ar- 
 gument for the divine inspiration of prophecy, and for the 
 truth of the Christian religion, arising from the outward 
 fulfilment, is hereby carried much farther; since, while we 
 obtain a solution, by the Science of Analogies, of those 
 parts of the prophecy which are inexplicable on the prin- 
 ciple of literal interpretation, we obtain, at the same time, 
 for the passages in which a literal interpretation is admissi- 
 ble, a meaning more worthy of a Divine Author, than 
 could be afforded by the most exact description of the fu- 
 ture fates of nations ; — a meaning which, while it rests up- 
 on the letter as its basis, rises and points towards heaven. 
 Let us see how this will appear from a general view of the 
 whole prophecy ; exhibiting, first, the inconsistencies of 
 the common interpretations. 
 
 (2.) It is related, in the first verse, that " Jesus went 
 out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came 
 to him to shew him the buildings of the temple ;" and it 
 is added, in the second verse, that "Jesus said unto them, 
 
 * P. 177. 
 28 
 
218 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 See ye not all these things ? verily I say unto you, There 
 shall not be left here one stone upon another which shall not 
 be thrown down." First, then, let it be admitted, that 
 these words apply, in their immediate reference, to the 
 temple at Jerusalem and its destruction, which, as is known 
 from the history of Josephus, was as total as is here im- 
 plied. Let, also, the detailed prediction that follows, 
 through the whole of this and the next chapters, be under- 
 stood of the events connected with the destruction of Jeru- 
 salem and its temple, as far as they can possibly be adapt- 
 ed to those occurrences. It is allowed, however, on all 
 hands, that the whole cannot be so adapted : let then the 
 place be pointed out where the new subject commences. 
 But let this be done in such a manner, as to be consistent 
 with the fact, that a space of not much less than two thou- 
 sand years at the least, was to intervene, between the ac- 
 complishment of the latter part of the prophecy and that 
 of the former : for the first part of it is considered Jo have 
 been fully accomplished about A. D. 70 ; and the remain- 
 der not to be accomplished yet: it is also to be recollected, 
 that no events belonging to this intervening period are 
 supposed to be treated of in the prophecy, but that, in 
 whatever place the transition is made, it skips at once from 
 the destruction of Jerusalem to the end of the world. Of 
 course, with these premises assumed, every reader will ex- 
 pect to perceive some well defined mark of so great an 
 hiatus. How will this expectation be answered ? So far 
 from discovering any thing like it, no person can read the 
 two chapters, and draw his inference from their contents 
 alone, without concluding, that the events announced are 
 to follow each other in succession, unbroken by any wide 
 interruption whatever. Accordingly, though commenta- 
 tors are now generally agreed that the hiatus must exist, 
 they are by no means unanimous in fixing its situation. 
 
 As before observed, the circumstances foretold as far as 
 the twenty-eighth verse of the twenty-fourth chapter, may, 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 219 
 
 by having recourse, here and there, to figure, be applied to 
 the calamities which befel the Jewish nation : what follows, 
 respecting the coining of the Son of man in the clouds of 
 heaven, and his sending his angels with a great sound of a 
 trumpet to gather together his elect from the four winds, 
 from one end of heaven to the other, does not, with equal 
 convenience, admit this application : wherefore many emi- 
 nent writers consider the prophecies relating to the Jews 
 to terminate with the twenty-eighth verse, and all that fol- 
 lows to belong to the greater events commonly designated 
 as the second coming of the Lord, and the general judg- 
 ment on the world. Unfortunately, however, let both 
 parts of the chapter denote what they may, they are con- 
 nected together by the binding word M immediately :" — 
 H Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the 
 sun be darkened," &c. — " and then shall appear the sign of 
 the Son of man in heaven." Extreme violence, therefore, 
 is done to the words, by those who thrust in, between the 
 tribulation previously described, and this immediate appear- 
 ing of the Son of man, an interval of two thousand years ! 
 On this account, other eminent writers understand the ap- 
 pearing of the Son of man, and all the rest of the chapter, 
 to be merely added in amplification of the previous subject; 
 affirming, however, that " Jesus Christ intended that his 
 disciples should consider the judgment he was going to in- 
 flict on the Jewish nation, as a. forerunner and emblem of that 
 universal judgment he is to exercise at the last day ;" 
 wherefore, they add, " he gives in the twenty-fifth chapter 
 a description of the last judgment :"* for which reason?, 
 they place the grand hiatus between the two chapters. But, 
 unhappily, a particle, the nature of which is to draw things 
 into such close connexion as admits of nothing being in- 
 terposed between them, here also occurs. The Divine 
 Prophet concludes the twenty-fourth chapter with describ- 
 
 * Beausobre and L'Enfant's Note on Matt. xxv. 1. 
 
220 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 ing the reward which the faithful servant, and the punish- 
 ment which the unfaithful, shall receive at his coming : 
 and he commences the twenty-fifth chapter thus : " Then 
 shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins." 
 Who cannot see that the parable of the ten virgins, " five 
 of whom were wise, and five were foolish," is a continua- 
 tion and further illustration of the subject introduced by 
 the parable of the faithful and wicked servant ; — that both 
 relate to the same series of events, and leave no room for 
 supposing an interval of two thousand years between the 
 one and the other ? And even if the subjects were not so 
 obviously connected, what propriety would there be in 
 passing from one event to another so distant, by such a 
 copulative as then, — a word that always denotes either 
 identity of time, or immediate succession ? 
 
 A third modification of the same general plan of inter- 
 pretation has therefore been proposed by Dr. Doddridge. 
 He adheres to the system of the hiatus, but he seems to 
 have felt more strongly than some, the difficulties with 
 which it is attended : wherefore, in hopes to avoid them, 
 he steers a middle course between the two theories already 
 noticed. Let us see, then, what degree of probability he 
 has been able to give to the scheme. 
 
 He paraphrases the twenty-ninth and thirtieth verses 
 thus : u Immediately after the affliction of those days which I 
 have now been describing, the sun shall as it were be darken- 
 ed, and the moon shall not seem to give her usual light ; and 
 the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens, all 
 the mighty machines and strong movements above, shall be 
 shaken and broken to pieces ; that is, according to the sub- 
 limity of that prophetic language to which you have been 
 accustomed, the whole civil and ecclesiastical constitution 
 of the nation shall not only be shocked, but totally dis- 
 solved. And then shall there evidently appear such a re- 
 markable hand of providence in avenging my quarrel upon 
 this sinful people, that it shall be like the sign of the Son of 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 221 
 
 man in heaven at the last day ; and all the tribes of the land 
 shall then mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming as it 
 were in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory ; for 
 that celestial army which shall appear in the air marshal- 
 led round the city, shall be a sure token to them that the 
 angels of God, and the great Lord of those heavenly Hosts, 
 are set as it were in array against them." Upon this para- 
 phrase I shall only observe, that if the fiery appearances in 
 the sky mentioned by Josephus, and which seem to have 
 been similar to those observed during the civil wars in 
 England, and at various other places and times, are really 
 alluded to in the prophecy, it must be in the former part 
 of it. Where Matthew merely says, that there should be 
 " famines and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers 
 places ;"* Luke amplifies thus : u And great earthquakes 
 shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences ; and 
 fearful sights and great wonders shall there be from heaven."] 
 This will agree with Josephus : for that historian describes 
 the celestial phaenomena as having been seen before the siege 
 and capture of Jerusalem, and as portending those events ;f 
 wherefore it is violating the facts to represent these as be- 
 ing what are foretold as the appearing of the Son of man 
 and his coming in the clouds of heaven, " after the tribula- 
 tion of those days :" beside being a mean application of a 
 most majestic prediction. However, we have only intro- 
 duced this popular writer's paraphrase, for the sake of his 
 note upon it. On the words, Immediately after the tribula- 
 tion of those days, he remarks thus : " Archbishop Tillotson, 
 and Brennius, with many other learned interpreters, im- 
 agine, that our Lord here makes the transition from the 
 destruction of Jerusalem, which had been the subject of his 
 discourse thus far, to the general judgment : but I think, as 
 it would be very harsh to suppose all the sufferings of the 
 Jewish nation, in all ages, to be called the tribulation of 
 
 * Ch. xxiv. 7. t Ch. xxi. 11. J Jewish War, B. vi. Ch. 5, § 3. 
 
222 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 those days ;" [what occasion, by the by, for supposing the 
 sufferings of the Jewish nation in all ages to be treated of 
 at all ?] " so it would, on the other hand, be equally so to 
 say, that the general judgment, which probably will not 
 commence till at least a thousand years after their restora- 
 tion, will happen immediately after their sufferings ; nor can 
 I find any one instance in which ev&sus [immediately] is used in 
 such a strange latitude. What is said below (in Matt. xxiv. 
 31, Mark xiii. 30, and Luke xxi. 32,) seems also an insu- 
 perable objection against such an interpretation. I am 
 obliged therefore to explain this section as in the para- 
 phrase ; though I acknowledge many of the figures used 
 may with more literal propriety be applied to the last day, 
 to which there may be a remote though not an immediate 
 reference." Moved by these considerations, this worthy 
 .divine, though he sees some difficulties in the way, deter- 
 mines to apply the prophecy, thus far, to the destruction 
 ,of Jerusalem. But when he comes to the thirty-sixth 
 verse, though the series continues to flow without the least 
 sign of interruption, he paraphrases the words, " But of 
 that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of 
 heaven, but my Father only," in reference to the "final 
 sentence" of all mankind ; and adds this note : " I cannot 
 agree with Dr. Clarke in referring this verse to the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem, the particular day of which was not a 
 matter of great importance ; and as for the season of it, I 
 see not how it could properly be said to be entirely un- 
 known, after such an express declaration that it should be 
 in that generation. — It seems therefore much fitter, with Dr. 
 Whitby (after Grotius,) to explain it of the last day, when 
 heaven and earth shall pass away." Well then, the Doctor 
 has now taken the leap. The simple connective u but" 
 has carried him over an interval, of not less, according to 
 his computation, than three thousand years. No sooner 
 however has he taken this leap, than he deems it necessary 
 to jump back again. He seems to apply the very next 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 223 
 
 verses to the subject just dismissed : but in a note on the 
 fortieth and forty-first verses, u Then shall two be in the 
 field," &c. he explicitly says, that though these words 
 " may allusively be accommodated to the day of judgment, 
 yet he doubts not they originally refer to the destruct n of 
 Jerusalem, to which alone they are properly applicable." 
 He now, however, determines to fly for the last time 
 across the gulf : so, he adds, u I humbly conceive that the 
 grand transition, about which commentators are so much 
 divided, and so generally mistaken, is made precisely after 
 these two verses." Let the reader then examine whether he 
 can here find the marks of " the grand transition," so 
 conspicuous to Dr. Doddridge : or whether he will not 
 rather find that the discourse proceeds in the same unbroken 
 series, making no transition but from the announcement of 
 awful facts, to the deducing from them of weighty admo- 
 nitions. Thus Dr. Doddridge's well-meant attempt to re- 
 lieve the hiatus scheme of its difficulties, only issues in a de- 
 monstration that the difficulties are insuperable. 
 
 Now what unprejudiced mind can resolve to maintain 
 an hypothesis thus incumbered ? When it is so evident that 
 the whole prophecy is so connected, that the events really 
 contemplated by its Divine Author must flow in uninter- 
 rupted succession ; who can perse veringly determine to 
 break that succession, by supposing a chasm in it, of two, 
 three, or, perhaps, ten thousand years ? How much more 
 natural and easy a solution of the whole is obtained, when 
 a series of occurrences relating to the spiritual state of man, 
 is regarded as the principle subject in the mind of the 
 Divine Speaker ; when the whole prophecy is considered 
 as describing the vicissitudes of religion in the world, and 
 the states of mankind in regard to religion, from the time 
 when the predictions were uttered till the completion of 
 all prophecy ; and when the circumstances attending the 
 destruction of Jerusalem, and of the Jews as a nation, so 
 far as thev are referred to in the external sense of the 
 
224 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 words, are viewed as types of that part of the series which 
 extends to the consummation of " the mystery of iniqui- 
 ty,"* and which is antecedent to the u bringing in of ev- 
 erlasting righteousness !"f 
 
 If it should here be asked, Why was not the sequel of 
 the prophecy also given in terms that would have admit- 
 ted of an accommodation to historical events ? it may be 
 answered, Because this was impossible, consistently with 
 the plans of Providence, and the state of mankind, to which 
 the plans of Providence are always adapted. If the con- 
 summation of " the mystery of iniquity" might be appro- 
 priately prefigured by the destruction of Jerusalem, the 
 " bringing in of everlasting righteousness" must, if the 
 same style of prophecy were continued, be imaged by the 
 restoration and eternal nrosperity of Jerusalem : but as 
 such restoration was inconsistent with the plans of Provi- 
 dence, to have seemed to predict it in connexion with an- 
 nouncements actually referring in their lowest sense to his- 
 torical events, would have led to unfounded expectations. 
 Although, then, in the spiritual sense, the whole of the 
 prophecy flows on in one unbroken series, and the events, 
 as they regard the spiritual state of mankind, proceed in 
 uninterrupted succession, that part of them which did not 
 admit of being typically acted on the external theatre of 
 human affairs, is described by images of a totally different 
 character from the former. In the Revelation, however, 
 all the symbols of which are such as do not admit of a li- 
 teral interpretation, the concluding imagery forms a pro- 
 per sequel to that used in the former part of the prophecy 
 before us ; for while the Lord Jesus Christ describes the 
 corruptions of his religion under the type of the calamities 
 ending in the destruction of Jerusalem, the Apocalyptic 
 divine depicts its perfect restoration, by the symbol of a 
 " new Jerusalem, coining down from God out of heaven. "J 
 
 * 2 Thess. ii. 7. t Dan. ix. 24. J Rev. xxi. 2. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 225 
 
 This divine book, the Revelation of John, furnishes, al- 
 so, other decisive evidence, that no part of the prophecies 
 that proceeded from the immediate lips of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ terminated in the destruction of Jerusalem; but that 
 the circumstances connected with that event are merely 
 noticed, as symbolizing events of far higher importance. 
 The Revelation was not written, as is admitted by most of 
 the critics, till at least twenty years after Jerusalem had 
 been overthrown; and yet, in that book, many of the same 
 prophetic symbols are employed, in describing the latter 
 fortunes of the Christian Church, as are used by the Lord 
 Jesus Christ in the prophecy under consideration. We 
 there read of " the temple of God, and the altar ;" of " the 
 court which is without the temple," and " the holy city;" 
 as being then to be trodden under foot by the gentiles,* 
 just as if the overturning of Jerusalem by the Romans was 
 yet to be performed. We read also of the sun becoming 
 black, and the moon being turned into blood, and the stars 
 of heaven falling to the earth, f just as in the passage al- 
 ready cited from Matthew. It is likewise said of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, as in the Gospels, " Behold, he cometh with 
 clouds !"J and again, John says, " I looked, and behold a 
 white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son 
 of man."§ And at the conclusion of the book we read, 
 " He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come 
 quickly, Amen :" to which the church answers, u Even 
 so, come Lord Jesus. "j| Not to mention numerous other 
 coincidences. All which plainly evince, that when the 
 same things are stated in this prophecy of Jesus Christ, 
 they had a spiritual meaning, and did not receive a final 
 fulfilment in the destruction of Jerusalem. 
 
 The inference from all this is too obvious not to have 
 been seen by some intelligent writers : and we shall not, I 
 apprehend, much err, if we conclude this branch of our in- 
 
 * Ch. xi. 1,2. t Ch. vi. 12 r 13. i Ch. i. 7. § Ch. xiv. 14. j| Ch. vxii. 20. 
 
 29 
 
226 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 quiry in the words of the candid and learned Jortin: " The 
 destruction of Jerusalem, and that second coining of the 
 Son of man to take vengeance on his foes, may perhaps 
 prefigure the destruction of Antichristian tyranny, and 
 the manifestation of Christ, that is, of his power and spi- 
 rit; and then may commence a hetter and happier era, and 
 such a renovation as may be called l new heavens and a 
 new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.' "* 
 
 (3.) What then must be the specific nature of that u re- 
 novation," which this intelligent author saw must be sig- 
 nified by the coming of the Son of man, in the clouds of 
 heaven, with power and great glory ? and what light do 
 the terms of the prediction afford, respecting the means by 
 which it is to be brought about ? 
 
 We need not stop to explain the words by which this 
 prediction is introduced : u Immediately after the tribula- 
 tion of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon 
 shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from hea- 
 ven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:" for 
 these have been sufficiently explained in the remarks we 
 made above, when noticing Sir Isaac Newton's manner of 
 interpreting these phrases. f But the circumstances, that 
 he who is to come is called the Son of man, and that the 
 mode of his coming is announced to be in the clouds of hea- 
 ven ; are so remarkable, and so significant, as to demand a 
 particular consideration. 
 
 (4.) Whatever may be meant by the Lord's prophecies 
 respecting his second advent, and whatever the time at 
 which it was to take place ; it is now generally acknow- 
 ledged, that a personal coming in the ethereal clouds can- 
 not be intended. We have seen how Dr. Doddridge, With 
 some of the other writers who apply this part of the pro- 
 phecy to the destruction of Jerusalem, understands it: and 
 
 * Jortin's Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, vol i. p. 151, Ed. 1805. 
 t P. 177, 173. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 227 
 
 we have noticed what violence is done to the facts of his- 
 tory by such an application. The time and manner of the 
 meteoric appearance mentioned by Josephus, to which 
 they refer this prediction, were the following. After re- 
 lating some remarkable circumstances which occurred at 
 the feast of unleavened bread, not only prior to the de- 
 struction of the city, but u before the Jews 1 rebellion, and be- 
 fore those commotions that preceded the tear;" that author states, 
 that " a few days after that feast, — before sun-setting, chariots 
 and troops of soldiers in their armour were seen running 
 about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities."* Now, 
 whether this was the same sort of electric phenomenon as 
 has been frequently seen elsewhere, and has suggested to 
 many observers the idea of armed men combating in the 
 clouds ; or whether, as some wish to understand it, it was 
 a real miracle ; having taken place several years before the 
 capture of Jerusalem, it cannot, as noticed above, have 
 been what was meant by the sign of the Son of man in 
 heaven, which w T as not to appear till after that event : and 
 to apply so weighty a prediction to such an occurrence, is 
 really little better than trifling with the prophecies of 
 Scripture, and again making the Word of God of none ef- 
 fect. Other writers therefore are of opinion, that these 
 words, with much of what follows, have no specific mean- 
 ing at all, but are only intended to denounce divine judg- 
 ments in general. f However it is most certain, as every 
 person of plain common sense will conclude, that the 
 words of Infinite Wisdom, — the declarations of Omnis- 
 cience, — are not thus to be emptied of their meaning, and 
 treated as if they were idle bombast of human composition, 
 — to be put almost on a level with the 
 
 * Jewish War, B. vi. ch. 5, § 3. (Whiston's translation.) 
 i " Then shall the sign, 4'C. Then shall the supreme power and authority 
 of the Messiah so conspicuously appear, that all the nations of the earth shall 
 acknowledge him in this dreadful judgment." Beausobre and L'Enfant's Note. 
 
228 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 " words 
 
 Spoke by an idiot ; full of sound and fury, 
 Signifying nothing." 
 
 It is degrading enough to divinely inspired writers, such 
 as were the prophets of the Old Testament, to judge of 
 their effusions by the rules of ordinary poetry, (as is done 
 even by critics who profess to esteem them most highly,) 
 and to suppose that the expressive symbols with which 
 they every where abound, are introduced like the artificial 
 figures of uninspired authors, — merely to elevate the sub- 
 ject in a general manner, but without any specific and ap- 
 propriated meaning : but to imagine that he who spake as 
 never man spake,* — all whose words are spirit and are life,\ — 
 should not be above the tinsel arts of rhetoric, or should 
 be capable of using a single expression without a specific 
 meaning, and that a meaning worthy of a speaker who was 
 the Truth Itself ; is indeed to form derogatory notions of 
 his sacred character, and of the nature of divine language: 
 it is plucking down heavenly wisdom from above the stars, 
 to seat her in the dust. Most assuredly, every syllable 
 that ever proceeded from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 or that was dictated to inspired writers by his spirit, must 
 have had a specific, determinate, divine meaning. Thus, 
 when he informs us of so important a fact as that the Son 
 of man will come again in the clouds of heaven, he must 
 intend to apprise us of some distinct, definite, great event: 
 and every word of the prediction must have a distinct, 
 definite, spiritual signification. 
 
 It is remarkable, that all the passages in which the se- 
 cond coming of the Lord is foretold, speak of it as an ap- 
 pearing of him in heaven or the sky, and, generally, in the 
 clouds : It is remarkable also, that, whenever his second 
 coming is treated of, it is always called the coming of the 
 Son of man ; or, if other words are used, they are such as 
 bear, spiritually, the same meaning. The peculiar appli- 
 
 * John vii. 46. t Ch. vi. 63. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 229 
 
 cability of this phrase to this event, is exemplified in an 
 extraordinary manner in the answer of Jesns Christ to the 
 adjuration of the high-priest : " The high-priest said unto 
 him, I adjure thee, by the living God, that thou tell us 
 whether thou be the Son of God." He answered in the 
 form of assent customary in the language in which he 
 spoke, M Thou hast said :" but immediately proceeding to 
 announce his second coming, he drops the title which he 
 had just claimed of Son of God, and takes instead of it 
 that of Son of man; saying, u Nevertheless I say unto you, 
 that hereafter ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right 
 hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven."* 
 There is in fact but one regular prophetic announcement 
 of the second coming of the Lord, in which the Divine 
 Being who is to come is not, in so many w r ords, stated to 
 be the Son of man, and in which the mode of his coming 
 is not affirmed to be in the clouds of heaven: and in that one 
 passage, as we shall see presently, such other words are 
 vised, as mean, in their genuine sense, precisely the same 
 things. f 
 
 We proceed then, first, to investigate the meaning of the 
 Lord's title of the Son of man. We will begin with exa- 
 mining the manner in which it is used in Scripture ; and 
 having first discovered its signification in practice, we will 
 state the grounds of it in Analogy. 
 
 (5.) A very remarkable circumstance connected with 
 the use of the phrase " Son of man," in application to the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, is this; that, except in a passage of Dan- 
 iel and two in the Revelation, it is never applied to him 
 except by his own mouth: and in those instances is not ad- 
 dressed to him, but is used of him, by prophets speaking 
 
 * Matt. xxvi. 63. 64. See also Dan. vii. 13, 14 ; Matt. xxiv. 30, 31 ; Mark 
 xiii. 26 ; Luke xxi. 27 ; Rev. i. 7, compared with ver. 14 ; Ch. xiv. 14. 
 
 t We do not here include the notices of this event contained in the Apos- 
 tolic Epistles, those notices only being applications of the prophecies delivered 
 by Jesus Christ in person, not original predictions. 
 
230 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 under inspiration from him. The phrases a Son of God," 
 and a Son of man," occur, in reference to him, with near- 
 ly equal frequency, and are each mentioned about eighty 
 times. The title a Son of God," though sometimes used 
 by himself, is much oftener applied to him by others ; 
 whereas the title " Son of man" is never given to him, ex- 
 cept in the above three instances, by any but himself. The 
 reason, no doubt, is, because the phrase, " Son of man," 
 in common apprehension, bears a different meaning from 
 that which it carries when used by the Lord Jesus Christ 
 in reference to himself; — because, if applied to him with 
 the ideas men in general attach to it, it would be unsuitable 
 and derogatory: and therefore, though there are some who 
 prefer to speak of the divine Saviour by his title of Son of 
 man, meaning by it just what the words in their ordinary 
 acceptation convey, Paul and the other apostles, who knew 
 that in this acceptation they are wholly inapplicable to 
 their glorified Lord, never presumed to speak of him by 
 that epithet.* 
 
 It is commonly supposed, that the Lord calls himself the 
 Son of man in reference to his birth of a human mother : 
 but in this sense it would be entirely unsuited to him after 
 his resurrection ; because, while he never was the Son of 
 man in respect to what men in general receive from their 
 fathers, his person, as most divines acknowledge, under- 
 went such a change at his resurrection, that he could no 
 longer be considered, with any propriety, as the Son of 
 Mary. It is remarkable, also, that even while he was in 
 the world, though he continually adverted to his relation- 
 ship to his divine Father, he never acknowledged any to 
 his human mother: she never was called his mother by his 
 own mouth : on some occasions he even refused to own 
 her in that character ; and although, in his childhood, it 
 is said of her and Joseph, that he u was subject unto them;" 
 
 * Evidences l't. ii. Chap. iv. § :?. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 231 
 
 tills arose from the necessity of the case, and because he 
 was willing in all things to observe the laws of order and 
 " to fulfil all righteousness ;" yet even then he expressly 
 disallowed her claims to parental authority.* So also he 
 corrected the gross conceptions of the Jews respecting the 
 Messiah, as being the Son of David, in a manner which 
 plainly shewed, that, as to his person, he owned no affinity 
 with that prince, but only with that representative charac- 
 ter which David is generally admitted to have borne: for, 
 after quoting the passage of the Psalms, in which David 
 says, " The Lord said unto my lord, Sit thou on my right 
 hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool," he says, " If 
 David, in spirit, [or by the spirit, — by inspiration,] call 
 him Lord, how is he then his son ?"f This question the 
 Jews were unable to answer : no more can they answer it, 
 who believe that Jesus Christ is called, in a merely literal 
 sense, the Son of man. If he owns no proper relationship 
 with David as a man, most certainly he can own none with 
 any other human being. As it is only in a representative 
 sense that he is the Son of David, so is it only in a repre- 
 sentative sense that he is the Son of man. It is not, how- 
 ever, here intended to investigate, generally, what is the 
 true character and nature of the Lord Jesus Christ, or to 
 establish any doctrine upon that subject ; but only to en- 
 deavour to ascertain what is the Scriptural sense of the ti- 
 tle " Son of man :" and if any doubt should yet remain 
 whether it is taken by the Lord in reference to his birth 
 of a human mother, the following declaration, which af- 
 firms the omnipresence of the divine principle so named, 
 should remove all uncertainty: Jesus said, "No man hath 
 ascended up to heaven, but he that came downfrcm heaven, 
 even the Son of man which is in heaven."^ Now certainly, 
 if we understand by " the Son of man" that personal form 
 
 * See John ii. 4. Matt. xii. 46 to 49. Luke ii. 49. t Matt. xxii. 41 to 46. 
 t John iii. 13. 
 
232 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 which the Lord took from Mary, this was not previously in 
 heaven, and, of course did not " come down from heaven;" 
 nor was this Son of man, when speaking these words, in 
 heaven. The phrase " Son of man," must then mean some 
 divine principle which is not controlled by the limitations 
 of space, but is capable of being, at the same moment of 
 time, in heaven, and upon earth. 
 
 What then is there, among the peculiar characters of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, to which this description is appropriate? 
 His most peculiar character is, that he is the the Word : 
 " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with 
 God, and the Word was God. — And the Word was made 
 flesh."* What is the Divine Word, but the Divine Truth? 
 and Jesus Christ declares that he is " the Truth. "f He 
 is also the Word of the Father : and, addressing the Father, 
 he says, u thy Word is Truth. "J Suppose, then, it should 
 be in reference to his character as the Word, or the Truth, 
 that Jesus Christ calls himself the Son of man. Let us as- 
 sume this to be the case ; and let us see how this idea will 
 a^ree with the occasions on which he designates himself by 
 this title. 
 
 For it is to be observed, that the Divine Being assumes, 
 in the Scriptures, a great variety of names and titles ; and 
 it cannot be imagined, if the Scriptures are really dictated 
 by Infinite Wisdom, that these are applied in an irregular, 
 capricious manner. In the Old Testament the Lord takes 
 the names of Jehovah, the Lord, God, the Lord Jehovah 
 or Lord God, Jehovah Sabaoth or Lord of Hosts, the 
 Holy One of Israel, the Mighty One of Jacob, the Almighty, 
 and several others : In the New Testament we find applied 
 to him the names of Jesus, Christ, the Lord, God, the Son 
 of God, the Son of man, the Prophet, the Lamb, &c. 
 There can be no doubt that there is some distinction of 
 meaning in them all ; as also, that that name is always em- 
 
 f John i. 1,14. tCh. xiv.6. \ Ch. xvii. 17. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 233 
 
 ployed which best suits the specific occasion. And we will 
 venture to affirm that it would be found, on an examina- 
 tion of the Gospels, that when the divine power of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, his divinity, his unity with the 
 Father, faith in him, and life from him, are the subjects 
 treated of, he calls himself " the Son," and " the Son of 
 God ;" but that where the subjects of discourse are his 
 passion, judgment, and, in general, redemption, salvation, 
 and reformation, as also his second coming, he always calls 
 himself the Son of man. Now if he applies this title to 
 himself in reference to his character of the Divine Truth, 
 or Word, we shall easily see the reason why he employs it 
 on these occasions. We will adduce a few instances by 
 way of illustration. 
 
 Several examples might be given of the Lord's using this 
 name when his passion is treated of ; as in this passage : 
 Jesus said to his disciples, " Behold, we go up to Jerusa- 
 lem ; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief 
 priests, and unto the scribes ; and they shall condemn him 
 to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles ; and they 
 shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon 
 him, and shall kill him : and the third day he shall rise 
 again. "* Were it not for the distinct meaning of the 
 phrase. u Son of man," would not Jesus, who begins the 
 speech in the first person, " ice go up to Jerusalem," have 
 continued it in the same person, and have said, " / shall be 
 delivered to the chief priests," &c. ? The reason why he 
 changed the person, and said " the Son of man shall be de- 
 livered," &c. ; was, because He suffered the Jews to treat 
 his natural body in a manner answering to that in which 
 they had spiritually treated his Word ; and because the 
 sufferings to which he submitted, represented, by an exact 
 analogy, the manner in which the Jews had perverted the 
 Word, or the Divine Truth contained in it, and had de- 
 
 * Mark x. 33, 34. 
 
 30 
 
234 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 prived it, as to themselves, of all life, having " made it of 
 none effect by their traditions." We see then a good rea- 
 son why, when foretelling his passion, he called himself 
 the Son of man, if this title belongs to him in his character 
 as the Word. 
 
 The same reason will account for his always calling him- 
 self the Son of man when judgment is treated of. Thus he 
 says, in the sequel of the prophecy before us, " When the 
 Son of man shall come in his glory, — then shall he sit upon 
 the throne of his glory : and before him shall be gathered 
 all nations ; and he shall separate them one from another, 
 as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats :"* where 
 judgment is evidently the subject, and the Judge is called 
 the Son of man. The reason is explicitly stated in the fol- 
 lowing passage : " The Father judgeth no man, but hath 
 committed all judgment to the Son ;"f — u and," as is add- 
 ed, a little below, " hath given him authority to execute 
 judgment also :" — Why ? — " because he is the Son of man :"J 
 — a reason which could be no reason at all, were it not that 
 this title designates the Lord as to his character of Divine 
 Truth, or the Word, which, all know, is what must judge 
 every one : Accordingly, the Lord says on the same sub- 
 ject, " If any man hear my words and believe not, /judge 
 him not : for I came not to judge the world, but to save 
 the world : he that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my 
 words, hath one that judgeth him : the word that I have 
 spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day."§ This 
 proof seems demonstrative. We are repeatedly assured 
 that the world will be judged by the Son of man : yet Jesus 
 declares that he does not come to judge in person, but that 
 his word is what judges : consequently, when he takes the 
 title of Son of man, it must be in reference to his character 
 as the Divine Truth or Word. 
 
 We have also stated, that, for the same reason, the Lord 
 
 * Matt. xxv. 31, 32 : see also Ch. xix. 28. t John v. 22. f Vor. 27. 
 § John xii. 47, 48. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 235 
 
 is called the Son of man when redemption, salvation, and 
 reformation, are the subjects of discourse. Thus we read, 
 u The Son of man came to give his life a ransom [or redemp- 
 tion] for many :"* " The Son of man came to seek and to 
 save that which was lost :"f " He that sowethgood seed is the 
 Son of man :"J with many similar statements. Now as the 
 Lord effects these works in and for man by means of his 
 Truth or Word ; and as the title, u Son of man," means 
 the Lord as to the Truth or the Word ; therefore he as- 
 sumes this title when treating of these his divine opera- 
 tions. Admitting this idea, in all the instances which have 
 been adduced, and in every other that can be found, the 
 use of the title, " Son of man, 1 ' is singularly beautiful and 
 appropriate : upon any other supposition, it is impossible 
 to account for its selection, in preference to any other of 
 the Lord's divine names. . 
 
 The instances then in which the Lord speaks of himself 
 as the Son of man, appear amply to evince, that he always 
 assumes this name in reference to his character as the Divine 
 Truth or Word : but a passage remains to be mentioned 
 which alone is sufficient to make it certain. We have seen 
 above, that he who is to come again, is constantly, one in- 
 stance alone excepted, called the Son of man : that instance 
 is in the nineteenth chapter of the Revelation, where the 
 second coming of the Lord is described in these words : 
 u I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse ; and he 
 that sat on him is called Faithful and True ; and in right- 
 eousness doth he judge and make war. His eyes were as 
 a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns : and he 
 had a name written which no man knew but he himself : 
 and he was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood. And his 
 name is called the Word of GW."§ Here is an open decla- 
 
 * Matt. 20. 28. f Ch. xix. 10. \ Matt. xiii. 37. 
 
 § Ver. 11, 12, 13. Observe how this statement, that the Word of God was 
 seen in heaven riding on a white horse, corroborates the signification of horses 
 and of riding on them, as given above, p 211. If a horse denotes the under- 
 
236 PLENARY INSPIRATION Or 
 
 ration, that it is in his character as the Word of God, that 
 the Lord is to make his second advent : but in every other 
 instance it is said that he is to come as the Son of man : the 
 inference is unavoidable, that, in Scripture-language the 
 Son of man means the Word of God. 
 
 (6.) The meaning of the phrase, " Son of man," is now, 
 it is hoped, pretty clearly established by its use in Scrip- 
 ture : it is necessary however to add a word respecting its 
 ground in Analogy. 
 
 It was briefly shown in our last Lecture, that the natural 
 relation between a son and his father exactly answers to 
 that which exists between the thoughts of the understand- 
 ing and the affections of the will. Reduce a man, if that 
 were possible, to a state of entire apathy, so that he should 
 not be animated by any affection or desire whatever ; and 
 his torpor would be so complete, that he would not be 
 conscious of a single thought ; he would, in fact, be de- 
 prived of the power of thinking. Wherever thought is in 
 exercise, affection is in exercise ; and the former is in all 
 cases generated by the latter. No one, indeed, while life 
 remains, can be so deprived of affection of every kind, and 
 for every object, as to become void of thought altogether : 
 yet most people experience seasons in which their thoughts 
 are less active than at others ; and if they examine the 
 state of their affections at such times, they will invariably 
 find them to be listless and unexcited : u on the contrary," 
 as observed above,* " when any affection is in high excite- 
 ment, how active are the thoughts ! What a tumult of 
 ideas ; what multitudes of reasonings, crowd into the in- 
 tellect, when violent passions agitate the will." These are 
 facts which every one must have observed ; and they af- 
 ford a proof which is demonstrative, that thought is the 
 offspring of affection. 
 
 standing of truth, and to ride on a horse to communicate instruction, we see a 
 beautiful reason why the Word of God personified was seen in that action. 
 
 * P. 142. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 237 
 
 But what is the object of all man's affections, but good- 
 ness ? not indeed, in all cases, goodness which is really 
 such, but what he chooses to consider as such. Evil is too 
 often substituted for goodness in man's affections : but 
 then, it is never evil, as evil, which he makes the object of 
 his attachment ; but evil appearing to him as good : what- 
 ever he loves, he loves for the sake of something in it which 
 he finds delightful to him, and which he deems a good. 
 Good then, either really or mistakenly such, is always the 
 object of man's love or affections. In like manner, truth, 
 or something that may be referred to truth, is always the 
 material of his thoughts. His opinions may be false ; but 
 they are true to him ; and he dwells on and maintains 
 them as truth. A man's thoughts, likewise, or the opinions 
 which in his heart he accounts to be true, always take a 
 character from his affections, and from the objects which 
 he accounts to be good. Whatever he loves, he also loves 
 to think of. If it is an object in prospect, his thoughts 
 run upon the means of obtaining it ; if in possession, his 
 thoughts dwell upon the satisfaction which he finds in it. 
 There are, then, various considerations which may con- 
 vince us, that there is the same relation between Good and 
 Truth, as there is between Affection and Thought : the 
 one may be considered as an outbirth, which discovers the 
 existence and the quality of the other : and as Thought 
 is manifestly the offspring of Affection, so is Truth the 
 progeny of Good. In the language then of analogy, 
 Truth would be called the son, and Good the father. 
 
 According to this view, it will easily be seen, why " the 
 Word" mentioned in the Scriptures, which we have al- 
 ready seen is another name for " the Truth," is called, in 
 the language of Analogy, " the Son of God ;" and thus it 
 will also be seen, that the phrase, " the Son of God," de- 
 cyphered by the laws of Analogy, means "the Divine 
 Truth." This explanation will not resolve " the Son of 
 God" into a mere attribute, and nothing more, if all that 
 
238 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 is said on the subject in the Scriptures be taken into con- 
 sideration ; nor, indeed, if reason alone be consulted. For 
 though we can form an idea of Truth, or of Divine Truth, 
 abstractedly, as a property or attribute, yet we readily 
 perceive that a mere property or attribute is nothing, 
 separate from a personal being whose property or attribute 
 it is. The Son of God, then, of the Scriptures, is the 
 Divine Truth personified ; as is evident from its being a 
 name peculiarly given to " the Word made flesh," and 
 never used till the Word was made fle?h, otherwise than in 
 reference to that event. 
 
 But although it must easily be seen, that, in the lan- 
 guage of Analogy, the Divine Truth may be properly call- 
 ed the Son of God ; it may not so immediately be dis- 
 covered, why, as stated above, the Divine Truth is also 
 called the Son of man. Here then it is necessary to ob- 
 serve, that though the Divine Truth is described by both 
 the^e names, they respectively refer to it under a different 
 form ; so that the appearance of the Divine Truth which 
 is designated by the title u Son of man," is lower and 
 more external than that which is designated by the title 
 " Son of God," which is respectively higher and more 
 internal. The one is the pure Divine Truth as proceeding 
 from the bosom of Divine Love, and not yet intelligible 
 to created beings, but in its first preparation for becoming 
 so : the other is the Divine Truth under an accommodated 
 form, adapted to the capacities of apprehension and recep- 
 tion in finite and human creatures. This will account for 
 its being called the Son of man. In no state whatever 
 does the Divine Truth proceed from man : man can never 
 be the author of it : yet it is on account of man that it is 
 presented in the form of which we are here speaking : and 
 being so accommodated for his sake, and by bringing it 
 within the sphere of the human intellect as that exists both 
 in this world and in the worlds beyond the grave, it is 
 

 THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. vSjMS^ 
 
 agreeable to analogy to denominate it, thus manifested, 
 Son of man. 
 
 The Son of God, then, in the symbolic language of Ana- 
 logy and of the Scriptures, is the pure Divine Truth itself ; 
 the Son of man is the same Divine Truth so modified as to 
 be accommodated to human reception. Both titles, beside 
 this abstract meaning, also refer to the Divine Truth per- 
 sonified in the form of the Lord Jesus Christ.* 
 
 (7.) If then the title Son of man, in the language of 
 Scripture, founded in that of Analogy, is appropriated to 
 the Lord in his character as the Word ; it is easy to see 
 that the " renovation" of pure Christianity which is in ge- 
 
 * It will corroborate what is advanced above, here to observe, how natural- 
 ly the idiom of the language in which the Scriptures of the Old Testament are 
 written, coincides, frequently, with the language of Analogy. In the language 
 of Analogy, we have seen that the term Son denotes a relationship different 
 from that of natural generation ; and in the Hebrew idiom it is ofsen applied to 
 things which are not literally connected by any such relationship. Thus in 
 the original of Job v. 7, sparks are called " the sons of the burning coal ;" an 
 arrow, again, is " the son of the bow," [ch. xli. 28,] or arrows are " the sons 
 of the quiver," [Lam. iii. 13.] So, a fruitful hill is " a horn the son of oil" 
 [Isa. v. 1,] a valiant man is " the son of strength," [1 Sam. xiv. 52.] and a per- 
 son in danger of dying, — fitted for it, as it were, by circumstances, — is " a son 
 of death." [1 Sam. xxvi. 16, 2 Sam. xii. 5.] Gussetius (in his Comment. Ling. 
 Heb. sub voce Jf^D) reckons ten classes of the figurative application, in the 
 Old Testament, of the term son; and as the New Testament, though written 
 in Greek, follows, in its language, the Hebrew idiom, he shews that all these 
 uses of the word have their parallels in the writings of the Evangelists and 
 Apostles. If then a spark is termed " the son of the coal," and an arrow " the 
 son of the bow," or of" the quiver" as proceeding thence ; most properly is the 
 Divine Truth, as proceeding from the Divine Essence, or Divine Good, deno- 
 minated " the Son of God" — " the Only-begotten of the Father:" and if a per- 
 son in the prospect of certain or imminent death, is called " a son of death," 
 because fitted for it, and as it were appointed to it, as the phrase is sometimes 
 rendered in the English version; [Ps. Ixxix. 11. cii. 20;] most properly is the 
 Divine Truth named " the Son of man," when adapted to human apprehension. 
 
 Another instance, connected with the present subject, of the agreement of 
 the Hebrew tongue with the language of Analogy, may also be worth remark- 
 ing ; it is, that as. in the language of Analogy, the term father has reference to 
 the principle of love or good, or to will in general ; so the word by which it is 
 expressed in Hebrew, is derived from a root which signifies to will or desire. 
 
 &RSU 
 
240 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 neral indicated by the predictions respecting the second 
 coming of the Lord as the Son of man, must be brought 
 about by a renewed and more extensive discovery of the 
 divine truth of his Word. But how does this agree with 
 the announcement, that " they should see the Son of man 
 coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glo- 
 ry ?" What can those clouds be, in which the Son of 
 man, or the Lord as to his Divine Truth, will make his 
 advent ? 
 
 It will go a good way towards putting our conceptions 
 in a right train upon this question, to notice, (what seems 
 generally to have been much overlooked,) that the cir- 
 cumstance of the Lord's having an abode in the clouds, is 
 by no means discovered for the first time in the predictions 
 relating to his second coming. All that is at all new in 
 this respect, in these predictions, is, that the Lord will 
 then be seen coming in the clouds; which is never stated in 
 reference to his first coming in the flesh: but that he at all 
 times shelters his glory in the clouds, or has his residence 
 behind or within them, and uses them as a vehicle, was 
 known in the time of David, and of Moses. The latter 
 says, M There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who 
 rideth upon the heavens in thy help, and in his excellency 
 upon the sky ;"* where the word translated the sky, is one 
 which in many other places is rendered the clouds. But 
 the book of Psalms abounds, more than any other book of 
 the Holy Word, with magnificent descriptions of the Lord, 
 and of the modes of his appearance; and there we find him 
 continually spoken of as attended with clouds. We will 
 here only notice one sublime passage, which alone is suffi- 
 cient to instruct us in the meaning of this important sym- 
 bol. 
 
 The hundred-and-fourth Psalm commences thus: " Bless 
 the Lord, my soul ! Lord my God, thou art very 
 great, thou art clothed with honour and majesty : who 
 
 * Deut. xxxiii. 26. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 241 
 
 coverest thyself with light as with a garment; who stretch- 
 est out the heavens like a curtain : who layeth the beams 
 of his chambers in the waters ; who maketh the clouds his 
 chariot; who walketh upon the wings of the wind." Who- 
 ever will consult, with this, the other passages in which 
 clouds are mentioned in the same book,* must be satisfied, 
 that some spiritual thing of which clouds are the proper 
 emblems is continually ascribed in the Holy Word to Je- 
 hovah, as a regular appendage of his ineffable majesty, and 
 must be convinced, that though they are called the clouds 
 of heaven and the clouds of the sky, the vapoury clouds that 
 surround the earth, and the visible heavens or sky in which 
 they float, are not the things really intended. 
 
 It is first to be observed, as a general remark, that the 
 phaenomena of nature, when adverted to in the Word of 
 God, are not regarded in the manner in which they are 
 understood by philosophers, when this differs from their 
 appearance to the senses, but are always spoken of in the 
 popular way in which they strike an ordinary observer : 
 for the design of Scripture is, not to give lessons in natu- 
 ral philosophy, but of spiritual wisdom, only using the 
 images taken from nature for that purpose. Thus the 
 Scriptures, when they allude to the motion of the sun, al- 
 ways seem to assume it to be real, speaking of it as rejoic- 
 ing to run its course, and the like ; without saying any 
 thing of the real fact, so different from the appearance, 
 that it is not the sun which moves, but the earth. Thus 
 again the truth of philosophy informs us, that the clouds 
 do not so properly belong to the heavens or sky, as to the 
 earth, being nothing but a collection of watery particles 
 exhaled from the earth and sea, and forming a sort of hol- 
 low sphere at a small distance from the terraqueous globe: 
 whe v as, to the eye alone, they appear as the lowest basis 
 of the ethereal regions, — as a sort of floor spread under 
 
 t See particularly Ps. xviii. 10, 11, xxxvi. 5, lxviii. 32, 33, 34, xcvii. 1, 2, 
 eviii. 3. 4. 
 
 31 
 
242 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 the starry heavens. So do the starry heavens themselves 
 appear to be very different from what they are ascertained 
 to be by science, wearing the appearance of a bine arch of 
 some positive substance, with the heavenly bodies, as they 
 are called, stuck on it : whereas the heavenly bodies are 
 known to be other suns and worlds suspended by some in- 
 conceivable power in the immensity of space : whilst the 
 blueness of the seeming vault of the sky is merely the con- 
 sequence of our looking into a dark void through the 
 denser atmosphere which surrounds the earth, and which 
 is illuminated with the light of the sun or moon. Now it 
 is according to these appearances, that the heavens and 
 ethereal regions, from the highest part of them, which ap- 
 pears studded with stars, to the lowest which is bounded 
 by clouds, are considered in the Holy Word ; and this for 
 the sake of the exactly suitable emblems which they thus 
 afford for the conveyance of instruction in divine subjects. 
 With this sort of picture, then, of the visible heavens in our 
 thoughts, let us see how the Science of Analogies will help us 
 to understand the passage we have quoted from the Psalms. 
 " Lord my God, thou art very great, thou art clothed 
 with honour and majesty." Here we have a description 
 of the Lord, as he is in himself, and in the first emanation 
 of his divine energies, as they proceed to impart spiritual 
 life to his creatures. When he is said to be a very great," 
 the reference is to his infinity, his unfathomable greatness, 
 his inconceivable love, as it exists in himself, beyond the 
 remotest comprehension of any finite creature : and when 
 it is said, u thou art clothed with honour and majesty," 
 the reference is to the first putting forth of his divine ex- 
 cellencies of love and wisdom, in a sphere of intense ar- 
 dour without him, and forming as it were u a sun of right- 
 eousness with healing in its rays," — that beneficent foun- 
 tain of life to all creatures, of which it is said in the gospel 
 that the Lord " maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on 
 the good." This is considered, in reference to the images 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 243 
 
 drawn from the visible heavens, presently made use of, as 
 beyond any thing that the eye can reach, — as exceeding 
 the highest limits of the firmament. Then it follows, 
 u Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment ;" 
 which is an image taken from the lucidity that fills the 
 visible heavens, and which might naturally be regarded as 
 the first covering of that still higher region, supposed to 
 be the seat of God's immediate presence. As he no where 
 in nature presents himself to the sight, a mind acknowledg- 
 ing his existence, yet drawing its ideas from the appear- 
 ances of the heavens uncorrected by science, would readily 
 conceive the immediate abode of Deity to be above all that 
 the eye can reach, and concealed from its view by the lu- 
 cid mantle of the starry heaven. We well know, however, 
 that this cannot be the case. We know that the starry 
 heaven is in fact below us as well as above us, so that all 
 height therein is merely relative to the situation of our 
 globe at any given moment ; wherefore it is in vain to 
 think, by soaring in imagination beyond the limits of the 
 visible heavens, to find the immediate throne of God. 
 Consequently, the light which we behold in the firmament 
 is not the garment with which the Lord covereth himself: 
 yet it is here spoken of as if it were : and why ? because 
 it is the proper symbol and representative of something 
 which really is so. We have noticed, in our last Lecture, 
 what the spiritual thing is of which light is the appropri- 
 ate emblem. It is indeed so obvious, that every one sees 
 it at the first glance: and common language retains the use 
 of the symbol, as an elegant way of designating the thing 
 to which it answers in spirit aal analogy. What is more 
 usual than to talk of the light of truth and the darkness of ig- 
 norance, — to speak of writings or sentiments as containing 
 light in them, or the contrary, when we mean that they 
 are irradiated or otherwise with the beams of truth ? The 
 light then with which the Lord covereth himself as with 
 a garment, is the Divine Truth proceeding from, and in- 
 
244 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 vesting, his Divine Good, — containing also the Divine 
 Good, which is spiritual heat, in its bosom, and thus re- 
 creating with its rays all the angelic hosts. 
 
 We pass over a few words, the explanation of which is 
 not essential to the inquiry before us, to notice those which 
 say of the Lord, that " he maketh the clouds his chariot. " 
 The clouds, as observed above, are usually considered in 
 Scripture merely as the lowest base of the visible heavens, 
 and as forming a covering or shade to the resplendent 
 light that glows above them : hence as the light signifies 
 the divine Truth in all the glory of its essentially divine 
 and spiritual nature, the clouds signify the Divine Truth 
 in comparative obscurity, or when shaded over by appear- 
 ances suited to, and, in some respects, taken from, the ideas 
 of the merely natural man. Here the truth of natural phi- 
 losophy will help to illustrate the subject. Although the 
 clouds appear to belong to the heavens, they in reality are 
 composed of exhalations from the earth : yet they are al- 
 ways irradiated, more or less, by light from the""ethereal 
 regions, which they transmit to the earth. Thus they apt- 
 ly represent the Divine Truth that proceeds from the Lord, 
 when enveloped in a covering of natural images and natu- 
 ral ideas, taken from the perceptions of man in a natural 
 state of existence. As light, which is previously mention- 
 ed, represents, and is the appropriate symbol of, the Divine 
 Truth as it is perceived in heaven, and by illuminated spi- 
 ritual minds, so the clouds represent, and are the equally 
 appropriate images, of, the Divine Truth as it exists on 
 earth, conveyed in natural language, and clothed with 
 ideas and images taken from the world of nature. Thus 
 they exactly typify the Holy Word, as we possess it, writ- 
 ten in a book; that is, they represent and signify the Word 
 in its literal sense, in which it is Divine Truth in its shade, 
 or in its lowest or ultimate form, adapted and modified to 
 the conceptions of man considered even as a natural and 
 carnal being; but within which, or in its spiritual sense, is 
 Divine Truth in its clearness and glory, adapted to illumi- 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 245 
 
 nate with heavenly wisdom the most refined intellect of 
 man considered as a spiritual being, and of pure spirits 
 themselves. 
 
 But to point out more distinctly what we mean when 
 we speak of Divine Truth in its clearness and Divine 
 Truth in its shade ; or between Divine Truth as represent- 
 ed by the light of the firmament and Divine Truth as im- 
 aged by the clouds of heaven; it may be expedient to give 
 an example. Ev%ry sentence of the Divine Word will af- 
 ford us one; though the difference between these two kinds 
 of Divine Truth will appear more striking in some exam- 
 ples than in others. Let us take the prophecy which we 
 are considering: " They shall see the Son of man coming in 
 the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Here, 
 all the expressions made use of, are images taken from the 
 world of nature : such are the terms Son of man, clouds, 
 power, and glory. It is obvious that the sense which re- 
 sults from the mere combination of the words, or the lite- 
 ral sense, cannot be that intended by the Divine Speaker ; 
 still, if the words were spoken by the Lord himself, they 
 must be Divine Truth : of course they must be Divine 
 Truth in its lowest form, or in its shade, in which the ge- 
 nuine meaning is veiled over in such a manner as not im- 
 mediately to be seen, although it nevertheless is actually 
 contained within them. The genuine meaning is, that the 
 Lord, who is the Divine Truth itself, will discover him- 
 self, or impart a just knowledge concerning himself and 
 the things of his kingdom, by opening the literal sense of 
 the Holy Word, and disclosing its spiritual contents. 
 This, then, is that Divine Truth contained in these words, 
 which is represented by the emblem of light or glory; but 
 the words themselves, and the literal sense of them, are 
 the clouds by which the light is shaded and veiled over, — 
 the " covering upon the glory."* 
 
246 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 To draw a general remark from this example, it may be 
 observed, that it illustrates the manner in which the Holy- 
 Word is written throughout ; only there is a great variety 
 in the density of the veil which the cloud of the literal 
 expression throws over the glory of its spiritual contents. 
 In nature there are clouds of very different kinds, varying 
 from a degree of density that almost excludes entirely the 
 light of heaven, to a thinness which presents scarcely any 
 impediment to the illuminating rays : ai*il just such is the 
 varying character of the letter of the Scriptures, consider- 
 ed as a covering to the genuine Divine Truth contained 
 within. In many passages, as in that before us, the cloud 
 of the letter is so thick, that nothing more of the genuine 
 truth shines through than this ; — that some extraordinary 
 divine interference will at some period take place : but of 
 the nature of this interference, the letter alone gives us no 
 information. In some parts of the Divine Word, the 
 clouds of the letter are thicker still ; as is the case in all 
 those passages from which, if taken alone, sentiments re- 
 ally contrary to the genuine truth might be deduced: such 
 are the passages which seem to ascribe malignant feelings 
 to the Divine Being, and which represent him as changing 
 his mind, or as being in any way subject to human infir- 
 mities. But in other parts the clouds of which the letter 
 is composed are of «o thin a texture, that the light of the 
 genuine truth within is translucent through it ; as is the 
 case in the law of the decalogue, and in many of the Lord's 
 precepts in the Gospel. In fact, all that is absolutely ne- 
 cessary to salvation, is, in various part of the Word, plain- 
 ly revealed; and all such passages, though forming part of 
 what the Scripture calls clouds, are, nevertheless, bright 
 and transparent clouds, such as suffer the rays of heavenly 
 light freely to pass through them. Still, clear and bright 
 though the clouds of the letter in many places are, they do 
 not cease to be clouds, and are not that undiluted light 
 with which the Lord covers his immediate majesty as with 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 247 
 
 a garment. Though a great portion of the literal sense of 
 the Word of God presents us with genuine truth, yet every 
 part of it contains stores of light still more resplendent 
 within. Every part of the letter is a cloud, though often 
 a beautiful and bright cloud; and every part of it contains 
 a more brilliant glory in its bosom. 
 
 Surely it were much to be wished, that mankind in gen- 
 eral could be brought to view the Scriptures in this exalt- 
 ing light. ! How entirely would the mists of infidelity be 
 dispersed before it ! How completely would the whole of 
 Sacred Writ be seen to be in harmony with the purest at- 
 tributes of God, and with the highest reason of man ! And, 
 surely, it is easy to see, that there may exist a distinction, 
 in the Scriptures, between Divine Truth in its clearness 
 and Divine Truth in its shade, and that the former is con- 
 tained in their truly spiritual meaning, and the latter in 
 their literal sense ; and also, how aptly they are represent- 
 ed by the light of the firmament, or the glory which is al- 
 ways spoken of as surrounding the Divine Presence, and 
 the clouds which veil it ! Surely, the prophecy before us 
 clearly proves the existence of this distinction, and of these 
 senses. When, indeed, we first hear it advanced, that 
 clouds, in Holy Writ, when mentioned in respect to the 
 Lord, signify Divine Truth clothed with natural ideas and 
 images, or the Divine Word in its literal sense, the asser- 
 tion may seem arbitrary and foreign to the subject : yet 
 how natural does it appear on reflection ! If, as is unde- 
 niable, the light of the firmament is an appropriate symbol 
 of Divine Truth in its purity ; if it thus is seen that there 
 is between pure light and pure truth a certain and unaltera- 
 ble analogy or mutual relation, so that to mention the one 
 when we mean the other is a highly expressive form of 
 speaking, grounded in the very nature and constitution of 
 things ; then, when the relation between the light of the 
 firmament and the clouds is examined, it will be found to 
 
248 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 be exactly similar to that between pure spiritual truth, seen 
 in its unclouded, abstract nature, and the same truth veil- 
 ed over with symbolic language, or invested with a cover- 
 ing of images taken from the world of nature and the ideas 
 of man in his natural state of existence ; or between the 
 interior contents of the Holy Word and its literal form : 
 and thus it will be seen, that to speak of clouds when there- 
 by is meant the literal sense of the Holy Word, is a mode 
 of expression which is also founded in the very nature and 
 immutable relations of things. 
 
 (S.) The meaning then of this prophecy, and the means 
 by which the " renovation," which Dr. Jortin saw must 
 be intended by it, will be brought about, may now, it is 
 hoped, be sufficiently evident. If it be true that by the 
 clouds are signified Divine Truth in its lowest or ultimate 
 form, which is the same thing as the Word in its literal 
 sense, it follows, that when the Lord informs us that his 
 second coming will be in the clouds, we are to understand, 
 that it will be effected by an opening of the true meaning 
 of the Holy Word : on which account, in the passage 
 which we have noticed from the Psalms, the clouds are 
 called the Lord's chariot ; a chariot signifying doctrine 
 or instruction, and it being by means of the letter of his 
 Word, and never without it, that the Lord communicates 
 instruction to man. And when we are apprised, that the 
 Lord always takes the title of Son of man in reference to 
 his character as Divine Truth, and as Divine Truth adapt- 
 ed to enlighten human minds, we see with what peculiar 
 propriety it is that he announces his coming, in this cha- 
 racter, in the clouds^ and with power and great glory ; these 
 phrases denoting, that within, and out of, the letter of the 
 Holy Word, the efficacy and light of pure Divine Truth 
 will be made apparent.* 
 
 * See the signification of clouds, when mentioned in Scripture, further illus- 
 trated in the Appendix, No. IV. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 249 
 
 >3. The last example which we are to offer of the appli- 
 cability of the Science of Analogies to the interpretation of 
 the prophetical part of the Word of God, is to be taken 
 from the writings of the Apocalyptic Divine ; and we have 
 selected his vision of spiritual Babylon ; the relation of 
 which, after mentioning that an angel came to shew him 
 the vision, lie commences thus : " So he carried me away 
 in the spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sit 
 upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, 
 having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was 
 arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold 
 and precious stones and pearls ; having a golden cup in 
 her hand full of abominations and nlthiness of her for- 
 nication : and upon her forehead was a name written, 
 Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and 
 abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken 
 with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the 
 martyrs of Jesus."* The description is continued through 
 the whole of this and of the following chapter. 
 
 As soon as men began freely to examine the Scriptures, 
 at the time of the Reformation, the palpable manner in 
 which the Roman Catholic religion is portrayed under the 
 emblem of this woman, struck every mind ; and from that 
 time to this it has been generally admitted by Protestants, 
 that the Harlot of Babylon is the Roman Catholic Church. 
 The application is undoubtedly just : yet the deep reason 
 of the various symbols employed, has not, perhaps, been 
 generally seen. For instance : Why is she called, not 
 Rome, but Babylon ? Should it be answered, Because Ba- 
 bylon was the greatest enemy and destroyer of the church 
 of God under the Mosaic dispensation : the question will 
 recur, Why, under a dispensation of an entirely represen- 
 tative character, was the king of Babylon made the instru- 
 ment of destroying the metropolis of Judaea and the tem- 
 
 * Rev. xvij. 3 to 6, 
 
 32 
 
250 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 pie of God ? Doubtless it must have been, because a re- 
 presentative character attaches also to Babylon, whenever 
 it is named in the Holy Word : and if modern Rome is 
 spiritually called Babylon, it must be, because the repre- 
 sentative character of the Scripture Babylon has become 
 the real one of the Roman Catholic Church. 
 
 (1.) When the situation of the places mentioned in the 
 Holy Word, does not alone, as in the case of the land of 
 Gog, indicate what principle they symbolize, it is necessa- 
 ry to note the chief circumstances predicated respecting 
 them ; which will generally point to the truth. 
 
 Among the various motives to action by which mankind 
 are governed, there is none which exercises a wider in- 
 fluence than the love of power . This is little attended to 
 among ordinary individuals, because cases do not often oc- 
 cur for its exercise in a very extended form ; and the in- 
 numerable instances in which it displays itself in little mat- 
 ters, escape attention from the very circumstance of their 
 frequency. Yet almost every family will furnish us with 
 instances of persons who are desirous to domineer over 
 those around them : and that the principle is deeply rooted 
 in human nature, in its present state, is evinced by its spon- 
 taneous developement in the minds of the young. One 
 cannot become domesticated in a seminary for youth, with- 
 out seeing it strongly displayed : even the greatest care on 
 the part of the master can seldom prevent the exercise of 
 cruel tyranny on the part of the stronger children over the 
 weaker. But when we turn our view from private scenes 
 to public, the monster stalks before us in the most gigantic 
 form. How many conquerors, miscalled heroes, figure in 
 the pages of history, who have spent their lives in the en- 
 deavour to aggrandize their power by the subjugation of 
 the surrounding nations ! and how many sovereigns, whom 
 the vicinity of more powerful states has prevented from 
 signalizing themselves by foreign conquests, have gratified 
 their lust of dominion by striving to render their authority 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 251 
 
 in their own kingdoms more absolute, setting their own 
 will above the laws, and disposing at pleasure of the pro- 
 perty and lives of their subjects ! In short, the lust of 
 dominion in private and in public, with the cruelty and 
 oppression with which it is associated, is the source of the 
 greatest evils which afflict mankind : even the lust of gold, 
 — the auri sacra fames, — so celebrated for the mischiefs of 
 which it is the origin, is, in comparison, a gentle demon. 
 The lust of dominion, soften it as we may by the milder 
 names of ambition and the love of power, is the most dire- 
 ful evil which can reign in the human heart : and it can- 
 not be doubted, that, when encouraged there, and made 
 the ruling motive of the life, it must finally sink its victim 
 to the lowest gulf which yawns in the kingdom of dark- 
 ness to swallow up the wicked of mankind. 
 
 But if the lust of dominion in general is of so direful a 
 character, what must we think of it when it seeks to ac- 
 complish its ends by hypocritical pretences ? If to en- 
 deavour to subjugate others to its own caprice by the arms 
 of the flesh, is a crime of so deep a die ; what does it be- 
 come when it employs, in the same design, the artillery of 
 heaven ? If to desire to rule over all the kingdoms of the 
 world, is so corrupt a lust ; what words can express its 
 atrocity, when it seats itself on the pinnacle of the temple, 
 and arrogates such a sovereignty as belongs to God alone ? 
 This, it must be admitted, is the worst form which the 
 lust of dominion can ever assume. And this most dread- 
 ful form of this most pernicious lust, is what is specifically 
 represented by Babylon in the Holy Word : as will appear 
 by noticing what is generally predicated of it in the pass- 
 ages where it is mentioned. 
 
 The place which the Greeks called Babylon was by the 
 Hebrews called Babel. The first occasion on which it is 
 mentioned in Scripture, is, when its first building is relat- 
 ed. It is said to have been built by Nimrod ; and its re- 
 presentation may in some degree be gathered from the 
 
252 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 character given of its founder, of whom it is said, that 
 " he began to be a mighty one in the earth," and that " he 
 was a mighty hunter before the Lord ;"* by which is gene- 
 rally understood, that he was a hunter whose game was 
 men, — a conqueror whose pursuit was power. Next we 
 have an account of the erection of the tower of Babel : and 
 the purpose of the builders is so stated, as to leave no doubt 
 of the symbolic meaning of the place they built : for they 
 said, " Go to, let us build us a city, and a tower whose 
 top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a narne."f 
 Whatever might be the nature of the historical fact here 
 referred to, it is plain that the terms in which it is related 
 must be intended to convey a spiritual meaning : for it is 
 impossible to suppose that any persons could think it prac- 
 ticable literally to build up to heaven : under this mode of 
 expression, then, is intimated the desire of some who lived 
 at that time, to found a dominion that should arrogate au- 
 thority over the souls of men as well as their bodies. 
 
 But there is no passage which exhibits more plainly than 
 is done in a prophecy of Isaiah, the meaning of Babylon, 
 as denoting the lust of ruling over both the bodies and 
 souls of men, by perverting the doctrines of the church, 
 and inventing fictions and imposing them as such doctrines, 
 so as to establish, by their means, an unlimited dominion. 
 The prophet exclaims, " How art thou fallen from heaven. 
 O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to 
 the ground which didst weaken the nations ? For thou 
 saidst within thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will ex- 
 alt my throne above the stars of God, I will also sit upon the 
 mount of the congregation in the sides of the north, I will 
 ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most 
 High."\ It is from this passage that the prince of the de- 
 vils has acquired the name of Lucifer : yet whoever will 
 attentively read the whole chapter, must see clearly, that 
 
 * Gen. x. 8, 9. t Ch. xi. 4. \ ha. xiv. 12, 13, 14. 
 
THE 1CRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 253 
 
 this name is not given to any individual evil spirit, but 
 that the pride of dominion, represented by the city of Ba- 
 bylon, is what is thus named and described. For when 
 the subject is opened, it is said to the true church, " Thou 
 shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon: "* 
 and towards the conclusion it is said, " I will rise up 
 against them saith the Lord, and cut off from Babylon the 
 name and remnant, son and nephew, saith the Lord,"f &c. 
 Thus it is plain, that Lucifer is a personification of the 
 kind of lust of domination represented by Babylon : and 
 that this is the lust of obtaining dominion by using spirit- 
 ual tilings as instruments for that purpose, and of arrogat- 
 ing authority over the souls of men as well as their bodies, 
 is evident from Lucifer's being described as saying, " I 
 will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the 
 stars of God, I will be like the Most High. "J 
 
 We will pass on to Daniel, who, writing his prophecies 
 at the place itself, whither he had been carried captive, 
 treats largely of Babylon, and consequently of that species 
 of the lust of dominion of which Babylon was a type. 
 Nebuchadnezzar relates a dream, in which he says, " I 
 saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the 
 height thereof was great. The tree grew and was strong, 
 
 * Ver. 4. t Ver. 2*2. r 
 
 t It should also be observed, that the words in our translation. " the mount 
 of the congregation," are better given by Bishop Lowth. " the mount of the 
 divine presence :" for the original term translated " congregation." though it is 
 expressive of meeting together, does not, in this use, merely mean the assem- 
 bling together of the people, but the meeting together of God and man. The 
 tabernacle, and afterwards the temple, were called the tabernacle and temple, 
 not, as in our version, of the congregation, but of meeting together, because in 
 them the divine presence was manifested, and God was considered to meet 
 with man : and the same title was thence transferred to mount Zion, on which 
 the temple, stood. When therefore Lucifer declares his purpose of establishing 
 himself on the mount of meeting together, the meaning is, that he, as represent- 
 ing the principle which we have described, would interpose himself between 
 God and man, to become the self-constituted organ of dispensing the divine 
 behests to mankind. 
 
254 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight there- 
 of to the end of all the earth. "* In the interpretation of 
 this dream, Daniel says to Nebuchadnezzar, " The tree 
 which thou sawest, whose height reached unto heaven, and 
 the sight thereof to all the earth, — it is thou, O king, that 
 art grown and become strong : for thy greatness is grown 
 and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion unto the ends 
 of the earth."f Nebuchadnezzar, as being the king of Baby- 
 lon, bears the same typical representation as Babylon itself : 
 and here we find the circumstance of reaching to heaven, so 
 often mentioned when Babylon is treated of, again intro- 
 duced ; because it is a phrase expressive of the claiming of 
 dominion over the souls of men ; whilst the reaching to the 
 ends of the earth as plainly implies the pretension to univer- 
 sal dominion over their bodies. The blind presumption 
 which accompanies such pretensions, is represented by Bel- 
 shazzar's impious feast, which was interrupted by the hand 
 writing on the wall ; on which occasion it is related, that 
 " they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of 
 the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem ; 
 and the king and his princes, his wives and his concubines, 
 drank in them ; they drank wine, and praised the gods of 
 gold and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of 
 stone :"J by which was represented the profanation of 
 which those are guilty who are principled in that love of 
 domination of which Babylon and her kings were types, 
 in consequence of their assuming the appearance of 
 sanctity, and making all the holy doctrines and rites 
 of the church minister to the gratification of their in- 
 sane lust. The same assumption of authority in sacred 
 affairs was represented by the command of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, that all people, nations, and languages, should 
 fall down and worship the golden image that he had 
 set up, under pain of being cast into a burning fiery 
 
 Dan. iv. 10, 11. I Ver. 20,22. \ Chap. v. 3, 4. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 255 
 
 furnace :* and the pretensions to a power absolutely 
 divine are appropriately expressed by the decree of Darius, 
 when he had obtained possession of Babylon, u that who- 
 soever, for the space of thirty days, should ask a petition 
 of God or man, save of the king only, should be cast into 
 the den of lions. "f 
 
 Many other testimonies to the character of Babylon 
 might be adduced; but these will surely be sufficient to 
 evince, that the lust of dominion, when it seeks to obtain 
 its end by prostituting to its purpose the doctrines and all 
 the sanctities of religion, is what is signified by Babylon, 
 or to represent which, Babylon, as a suitable type, is em- 
 ployed in the Divine Word. To ascertain, then, whether 
 Babylon, in the Apocalypse, bears any allusion to the Ro- 
 mish Church, it is only necessary to ask, Has the Romish 
 Church aimed at such dominion, and by such means? The 
 answer is to be read in every page of the history of Eu- 
 rope, during the ages that preceded the Reformation of 
 Luther 4 
 
 * Chap. iii. 4, 5, 6. t Ch. vi.*. 
 
 X History will discover to us the practice of the Romish Church ; the princi- 
 ples from which the practice proceeded are well brought together in a recent 
 popular work: take the following as a specimen : " According to the Canons, 
 the Pope was as far above all kings, as the sun is greater than the moon. He 
 was King of kings, and Lord of lords, though he subscribed himself the Ser- 
 vant of servants. His power it was which was intended, when it was said to the 
 Prophet Jeremiah, ' Behold, I have this day set thee over nations and king- 
 doms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to 
 build, and to plant.' It was an incomprehensible and infinite power, becauso 
 1 great is the Lord, and great is his power, and of his greatness there is no end.' 
 The immediate and sole rule of the whole world belonged to him, by natural, 
 moral, and divine right ; all authority depending upon him. As supreme King, 
 he might impose taxes upon all Christians ; and the Popes declared it was to be 
 held as a point necessary to salvation, that every human creature is subject to 
 the Roman Pontiff. That he might lawfully depose kings, was averred to be 
 so certain a doctrine, that it could only be denied by madmen, or through the 
 instigation of the Devil; it was more pernicious and intolerable to deny it, than 
 to err concerning the Sacraments. — All nations and kingdoms were under the 
 Pope's jurisdiction, for to him God had delivered over the power and dominion 
 in heaven and earth. — The Spouse of the Church [as he was railed] was Vice- 
 
256 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 Thus we see that the true reason why Babylon, in the 
 Revelation, is mentioned as a symbol of the corrupt Ro- 
 mish Church, is, because the governing powers of that 
 church have been inflamed with the lust of universal do- 
 minion over both the souls and bodies of men, and have 
 
 God : men were commanded to bow at his name, as at the name of Christ ; the 
 proudest sovereigns waited upon him like menials, led his horse by the bridle, 
 and held his stirrup while he alighted : and there were ambassadors, who pros- 
 trated themselves before him, saying, O thou, that takest away the sins of the 
 world, have mercy upon us ! 
 
 " The advocates of the Papal power proclaimed, — that all pontifical decrees 
 ought forever to be observed by all men, like the Word of God, to be received 
 as if they came from the mouth of St. Peter himself, and held like canonical 
 Scripture. — Even this monstrous proposition has been advanced, that although 
 the Catholic Faith teaches all virtue to be good, and all vice evil ; nevertheless, 
 if the Pope, through error, should enjoin vices to be committed, and prohibit 
 virtues, the Church would be bound to believe that vices were good and vir- 
 tues evil, and would sin in conscience were it to believe otherwise. He could 
 change the nature of things, and make injustice justice. Nor was it possible 
 that he should be amenable to any secular power, for he had been called God 
 by Constantine, and God was not to be judged by man ; under God, the salva- 
 tion of the faithful depended on him; and the commentators even gave him the 
 blasphemous appellation of our Lord God the Pope ! It was disputed in the 
 schools, — whether he did not, as God, participate both natures with Christ ; 
 and whether he was not more merciful than Christ, inasmuch as he delivered 
 souls from the pains of purgatory, whereas we did not read that this had 
 ever been done by our Saviour. Lastly, it was affirmed that he might 
 do things unlawful, and thus could do more than God!" 
 
 Nor were the - inferior clergy left without a handsome participation in this 
 plenitude of power. It having been determined that the sacramental bread 
 was changed, when consecrated, into the real body of the Lord; it was held 
 that " the Priest, when he performed this stupendous function of his ministry, 
 had before his eyes, and held in his hands, the Maker of heaven and earth ; 
 and the inference which they deduced from so blasphemous an assumption was, 
 that the Clergy were not to be subject to any secular authority, seeing they 
 could create God their creator ! Let it not be supposed," says our author, 
 u that the statement is in the slightest part exaggerated ; it is delivered faithful- 
 ly in their own words." Southey's " Book of the Church" Vol. I. ch. 10. 
 
 As a further sample of the manner in which the Romish hierarchy, in the 
 days of their prosperity, profaned the Scriptures by applying them to support 
 their extravagant pretensions, take the following extract of a letter from Saint 
 Thomas Beeket to the Pope : " It is by forbearanoe on our side that the pow- 
 ers of the world grow insolent, and kings become tyrants, so as to believe, that 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 257 
 
 profaned the most holy things by making them subservient 
 to that object ; and because of this principle, whether ex- 
 isting in the Romish Church or in any other, Babylon, in 
 the Scriptures, is constantly the symbol. 
 
 (2.) We have examined at some length the signification 
 of Babylon, this affording a key to the whole prediction. 
 The circumstances predicated of this personification of 
 Babylon, in the verses quoted above, will be found, when 
 explained, to be in perfect harmony with the signification 
 of the woman herself ; and as the analogical reasons of their 
 signification are for the most part pretty obvious, they 
 need not detain us long. 
 
 The appearance of the harlot was extremely splendid : 
 she was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and decked with 
 precious stones and pearls, and held in her hand a golden 
 cup. It is generally supposed, that these things are men- 
 tioned, to describe the magnificence and splendour of the 
 Roman Catholic worship, and the super-royal grandeur of 
 the Papal Court ; and, in their literal sense, the words 
 will very well bear this application. But this is not the 
 spiritual meaning of the terms ; which properly imply that 
 that church assumes, externally, an appearance as if she 
 were the true bride of the Divine Bridegroom, decorated 
 with all the spiritual elegancies which ought to distinguish 
 the true church, whilst, internally regarded, the opposite 
 of this is her state. Garments are always mentioned in 
 reference to the truths possessed by the wearer ; as may 
 appear from the passage of the Psalms noticed above, in 
 which light, the proper emblem of the purest truth, is as- 
 cribed to the Lord as his garment. The colours and other 
 ornaments of the garments, express the quality of the truth, 
 
 no rights, no privileges, are to be left to the Church, unless at their pleasure. 
 But blessed is he who taketh and dasheth their little ones against the stones ! 
 For if Judah does not, according to the command of the law, root out the 
 Canaanite, he will grow up against him, to be perpetually his ensmy and hit 
 sirourge.'' Ibid. J'ol. I. eh. 8. 
 
 33 
 
258 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 of which the wearer enjoys, or boasts, the possession. 
 Red colours bear an acknowledged analogy to fire and 
 warmth, which as plainly answer, by a spiritual analogy 
 to the principle of love : hence the purple in which this 
 woman was arrayed, being an extremely deep and intense 
 red,* represented the appearance which the Popish reli- 
 gion assumes, of possessing, from the truths of the Word, 
 the highest order of good, being that which in the Scrip- 
 tures is denominated the love of the Lord ; and the scarlet, 
 which is a bright red mixed with flame-colour and reflect- 
 ing a great deal of light, represented the appearance of 
 possessing, from the same source, the highest order of truth, 
 being that which proceeds from, and leads to, love to the 
 Lord. By gold is here specifically meant that species of 
 good which the Scriptures call love towards the neighbour: 
 and by precious stones and pearls, on account of the spark- 
 ling light which they emit, are signified specific points of 
 knowledge on heavenly subjects. By the golden cup in the 
 woman's hand, this being a vessel for containing liquids, is 
 signified the doctrine of that religion, which is " the wine 
 of her fornication," with which " the inhabitants of the 
 earth have been made drunk :"f it is said to be a golden 
 cup, to intimate that her doctrine is made outwardly to ap- 
 pear as if it were founded in goodness : but by its being 
 said to be " full of abominations and filthiness," is signi- 
 fied, that such appearance is merely assumed to ensnare 
 the well-disposed, whilst in reality every good and every 
 truth in that religion are adulterated and profaned. :f 
 
 But John saw the true character of the Romish Religion 
 revealed in the name written on the woman's forehead : 
 " Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and 
 abominations of the earth." The name is called " Myste- 
 
 * This was the colour called purple in the Scriptures. t Verse 2. 
 $ For a sample of the abominations and filthiness with which the cup of Po- 
 pish doctrine is full, see the Note above, p. 25">. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 259 
 
 ry," localise it discloses that which the Babylonians wish 
 to conceal. When we are apprised that by Babylon is 
 signified the lust of ruling over all mankind, and even over 
 heaven itself, we need not wonder that it is called " Baby- 
 lon the great ;" for none think themselves so great as those 
 who are under the influence of this self-magnifying appe- 
 tite. And this will explain, as we shall see presently, why 
 Babylon personified is called " the Mother of harlots and 
 abominations of the earth." It is generally admitted that 
 the spiritual signification of adultery, is idolatry : for it is 
 mentioned in Scripture in a variety of places where the 
 natural crime cannot be meant. Thus Jehovah says by the 
 prophet, " And I saw, when for all the causes whereby 
 backsliding Israel commited adultery, I had put her away, 
 and given her a bill of divorce, yet her treacherous sister 
 Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also :" 
 and in the verse following it is said, that she " committed 
 adultery with stones and with stocks."* Here, Israel and 
 Judah are regarded as the wives of the Lord ; consequent- 
 ly, the adultery with which they are reproached, is their 
 infidelity to him, which, by the clearest analogy, is the 
 adultery of the Church : stones and stocks are mentioned, 
 for idols made of stone and idols made of wood ; and to 
 commit adultery with these, is to turn from the worship of 
 the Lord to the worship of idols. And has not Rome been 
 guilty of this sin ? How many idols has she literally set 
 up, to share with the Lord the worship of her disciples, 
 or to draw them entirely away from him, who is the true 
 husband of the Church ! 
 
 It is necessary, however, to observe, that it is possible 
 to be spiritually a harlot, and yet not to offer outward 
 worship to any but the true God : for this is also done by 
 those who pervert the genuine truths of the Divine Word, 
 applying them in such a manner as to favour any senti- 
 
 * Jer. iii. 8. 9. 
 
260 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 ment which is not true and good ; especially when they 
 are so misapplied as to seem to confirm any doctrine that 
 has nothing for its end but the gratification of selfish and 
 corrupt inclinations. The proper partner of truth is good- 
 ness, and the proper partner of goodness is truth ; but 
 when an unnatural union is effected between truth and 
 evil, or good and a false persuasion, it is adulterated and 
 defiled. And this is perpetually done by spiritual Baby- 
 lon. For as Babylon represents the love of domineering 
 over others by means of the spiritualities of the church ; 
 and as the genuine doctrines and truths of the church are 
 diametrically opposite to such a lust ; they cannot be ap- 
 plied to promote its purposes, till they are quite wrested 
 from their genuine import, and utterly perverted : and so 
 to pervert them is to adulterate and profane them, thus, to 
 apply them to the purposes of spiritual adultery. And as 
 the lust of dominion, signified by Babylon, is perpetually 
 doing this ; therefore is she called, with the strictest pro- 
 priety, u the Mother of harlots and abominations of the 
 earth."* 
 
 But the Babylonian harlot is described as guilty of ano- 
 ther vice : she is said to be drunken, and that too with a 
 more maddening beverage than wine ; for she was u drunk- 
 en with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the 
 martyrs of Jesus." To be drunken, is a phrase sometimes 
 used in Scriptures, as in Ezekiel's address to the fowls and 
 beasts, merely to express abundance ; but when, as is more 
 common, intoxication is implied, its meaning will appear 
 from observing the spiritual analogy of that state. As 
 man, by natural ebriety, sinks from a rational being to a 
 
 * Some examples of the adulteration, by Babylon, of the truths of Scripture, 
 by applying them to support her blasphemous pretensions, occur in the Note 
 above, p. 256. It is also well known what a superstructure of imposture she 
 has erected upon the text relating to the giving of the keys to Peter, combined 
 with that in which Jesus Christ says, u All power is given to me in heaven 
 and in earth." 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &X. 261 
 
 merely animal one, and yet generally thinks himself, at 
 such times, more rational than those whose intellects are 
 undisturbed ; so the man who is spiritually intoxicated, 
 though he may retain the faculty of natural rationality, is 
 deprived of intelligence in spiritual subjects, and is, in re- 
 gard to these, in a manner insane ; yet he, also, common- 
 ly exults in his madness, and thinks himself wiser than 
 others. Ebriety, then, in Sacred Writ, denotes insanity 
 with respect to spiritual subjects, and an exulting profes- 
 sion of false sentiments for true ones'. But why is the 
 woman's intoxication ascribed to her drinking the blood 
 of the saints and martyrs of Jesus? This is commonly 
 supposed to refer to the barbarous persecutions and cruel 
 murders which have stained the hands of the Romish 
 hierarchy : but though the literal sense is here also very 
 applicable, something beyond this is implied by the ex- 
 pressions. It is to be remembered, that the word u mar- 
 tyr" is Greek, and means a icitness ; as the word u saint" 
 is from the Latin, and means a holy one. The holy ones of 
 Scripture, are those whose lives are purified and made 
 holy, by their reception, in affection, of the genuine truths 
 of the Word; and, abstractedly, they are those truths them- 
 selves : and the witnesses of Jesus, are those who, by the 
 same means, are enabled to bear the testimony which their 
 name implies ; and, abstractedly, they are those truths of 
 the Word which point to the Lord and unfold his true 
 character. To shed the blood, then, of the saints or holy 
 ones, is to destroy, by false interpretations, those truths of 
 the Divine Word which lead immediately to holiness of life; 
 and to shed the blood of the martyrs or witnesses of Jesus, 
 is to destroy, by the same means, those truths which lead 
 to the correct and saving knowledge of the Lord. This 
 has been done in abundance by the perverse expositions of 
 the Romish Church ; and in proportion as she has done it, 
 and has drunk the blood thus shed, — that is, has imbibed, 
 not the pure truth of the Word, but the most wilful vio- 
 
202 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 lations of it, which is the signification of blood when shed 
 unlawfully, — her spiritual intoxication has increased ; till 
 she has boasted herself infallible, and has exulted in the 
 persuasion that her proud pretensions would be admitted 
 for ever ; till she has said in her heart, " I sit a queen, 
 and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow."* 
 
 In all the particulars, then, of the description of the 
 harlot of Babylon, we find an exact delineation of the cor- 
 ruptions which take place, when the lust of dominion in- 
 trudes itself into the church, and applies all the sanctities 
 of religion to its own aggrandizement : and because this 
 has been the case, to a most deplorable extent, in the 
 Church of Rome, her portrait is, in this description, so 
 readily to be discerned. 
 
 These specimens are what it was deemed necessary to 
 offer, to evince the applicability of the Science of Analo- 
 gies, as a Rule of interpretation, to that part of the Word 
 of God which is delivered in the style of prophecy. As 
 before remarked, the brevity which it has been necessary 
 to consult, has rendered it impossible to give the full proof 
 which might be desired of the meaning of every symbol 
 which we have had to consider ; yet enough perhaps has 
 been advanced, to shew that the truth of every interpreta- 
 tion which has been offered is at least highly probable, and 
 to render it morally certain, that the system of Analogy 
 between natural things and spiritual, affords the true and 
 only key for the decyphering of the language of the pro- 
 phetic Scriptures. The principles laid down at the begin- 
 ning of this Lecture, on the character which must necessa- 
 rily belong to the Divine Style of Writing, must be borne 
 in mind. If, as stated above, in a written revelation from 
 God, the Divine Truth must clothe itself with ideas and 
 images taken from the world of nature before it could be 
 
 
 " Cliap. xviii. 7. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 263 
 
 presented to man ; and if the Divine Style of Writing 
 must thus follow the Law of that Analogy which indisso- 
 lubly connects natural objects and ideas with such as are 
 spiritual and divine ; — it will follow, that the spiritual and 
 divine wisdom which such a revelation must contain with- 
 in it, could only be understood by a right application to 
 it of this Law. And if on an application of this Law to 
 the books called the Holy Scriptures, it should be found 
 that they exhibit a coherent series of spiritual and divine 
 instruction ; it will follow further, that the Scriptures are 
 such a revelation of Divine Truth presented to man in 
 natural language ; that they are the Divine Speech, or 
 Divine Word, which has emanated from the bosom of 
 Deity into this lowest sphere of creation. In regard to the 
 prophetical parts of the sacred code, it is hoped, that 
 their title to this character has now, in some measure, 
 been evinced ; and if so, the claims of the Holy Scriptures 
 to Plenary Divine Inspiration, will, so far, have been 
 established. 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS CONTINUED. 
 
 I. Applicability of the Law which governs the Relation between 
 natural objects and spiritual and divine essences, — or of the 
 Science of Analogies, — as a Rule for the interpretation of the 
 Historical Parts of the Divine Word. 1. Sentiments of Bibli- 
 cal Critics, and admissions of Expositors, on the typical nature 
 of the Scripture History. 2. Necessity of making the system 
 uniform. II. Just Ideas of the nature and uses of the Israel- 
 itish Dispensation necessary to the right apprehension of the 
 Israelitish History. III. Examples of the light which results 
 from the application of the Rule of Analogy between natural 
 things and spiritual to the Scripture Histories : Instances se- 
 lected ; 1. The miraculous capture of Jericho ; (Josh, vi.) 
 2. Jephthah and his vow ; (Judges xi.) 3. The combat of 
 David and Goliath ; (I Sam. xvii.) 4. The circumstances 
 attending the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. IV. Examples of 
 the light which results from the application of the Rule to the 
 Ceremonial Precepts of the Divine Word : Instances selected ; 
 1. The Sacrifices in general : 2. The prohibition of various 
 kinds of meats : (Lev. xi.) 3. The Law of the Jfazarite : 
 (Numb, vi.) 4. Baptism and the Lord's Supper ; ichich 
 were instituted under the Christian Dispensation as an Epitome 
 of the whole Ceremonial Laic. 
 
 Having, in our last Lecture, endeavoured to shew 
 what the truly Divine Style of Writing must necessarily 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 265 
 
 be, and to evince that the Law of that Analogy which con- 
 nects natural objects and ideas with such as are spiritual 
 and divine, must afford the Rule for its interpretation ; we 
 inferred, that if the books which claim to be the Word of 
 God can be decyphered by the application to them of this 
 Rule, so as to yield, in every part, a coherent sense, wor- 
 thy of a Divine Author ; this will prove that they are com- 
 posed in the Divine Style of Writing, and that they must 
 have been given by a Plenary Divine Inspiration. The theo- 
 rem which we meant to propose may perhaps be more dis- 
 tinctly stated thus : A Divine C omposition must be written in a 
 peculiar Divine Style : The Divine Style must follow the Law 
 of that Analogy, which, as was before proved, connects natu- 
 ral objects and ideas with such as are spiritual and divine ; 
 being that by which the outward universe was first brought 
 into existence, and by which it is still kept in connexion 
 with its Divine Source, and thus is preserved : Every 
 writing which is composed with undeviating regularity 
 according to the Law of this Analogy, is composed in the 
 truly Divine Style : Consequently, every such writing is a 
 Divine Composition. This then must be true of the books 
 commonly named the Word of God, if, on applying to 
 their interpretation the Law of Analogy, they are found to 
 be written according to it. 
 
 This inference will not be weakened by the fact, that 
 other compositions may have been framed, by persons well 
 acquainted with the Analogy of which we are speaking, in 
 which the same Law, to a great extent, has been observed: 
 for the knowledge of analogies in uninspired writers can 
 never be so complete, as to govern the selection of every 
 expression ; whereas, in the divine afflatus of real inspira- 
 tion, every expression, to the minutest particle, — to every 
 jot and tittle,* — would flow in agreement with this Law : 
 and this is the case in the books of the Divine Word. Un- 
 
 * Matt. v. 18. 
 
 34 
 
2Q6 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 inspired writers might frame compositions, which, in their 
 leading points, should contain a spiritual sense ; but not 
 such as should carry a spiritual sense in one unbroken 
 series throughout. But even supposing it possible for 
 science to emulate the productions of inspiration with such 
 exactness, that no difference could be discerned between 
 them ; this would not tend to invalidate the claims of the 
 books which are called the Word of God ; since, whatever 
 such science might be capable of effecting, there is no rea- 
 son for supposing that the writers of those books possessed 
 it. Moses, indeed, who was educated in all the wisdom 
 of the Egyptians, might have some knowledge of it : but 
 it could be shewn, that though it continued to be studied 
 among some of the eastern nations, it was not known to the 
 Jews, who were always a gross and ignorant people. Even 
 if the prophets knew any thing of the science, it is certain 
 that their writings were not artificially composed by it ; 
 they being evidently unpremeditated, spontaneous effusions, 
 not the laboured productions of study. But it is perfectly 
 clear, that when the books of the New Testament were 
 written, no remains of the science were extant among the 
 Jews ; and as the style of writing composed of analogies 
 appears in all its vigour in the latest of those books, the 
 Revelation of John, it evidently is there the purely divine 
 style of writing, whicli nothing but inspiration could have 
 imparted to the writer. Our inference, then, remains un- 
 impeachable ; that if, on an application to the books which 
 claim to be the Word of God, of the Rule of interpretation 
 afforded by the Analogy between natural things and spirit- 
 ual, we every where obtain a coherent sense worthy of 
 a Divine Author, those books had a Divine Author, and 
 are written by a Plenary Divine Inspiration. 
 
 I. In our last Lecture, we endeavoured to give some 
 idea of the mode of applying the rule of spiritual Analogy 
 to the deciphering of the prophetical parts of the Scrip- 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 267 
 
 tures. As introductory to this, we first confirmed, by the 
 testimony of authors in high esteem, the general fact ; that 
 the prophecies of Scripture do include a meaning beyond 
 that which appears immediately on the surface, — that they 
 contain a double sense, the one applying to things natural 
 and temporal, the other to things spiritual and eternal. 
 We have seen, indeed, that the fact is so evident, — that it 
 so openly forces itself upon the notice of a serious student 
 of the prophetic writers, — as to be admitted by many who 
 are by no means disposed to estimate too highly the cha- 
 racter of the Word of God. We have even found, that 
 learned men have laid down a Rule for the interpretation 
 of the prophetic writings, which proceeds upon the same 
 principle as that which, we are endeavouring to prove, is the 
 true Rule for the interpretation of the whole of the sacred 
 Scriptures. The Rule which they have adopted is that of 
 Analogy or Mutual Relation ; only their analogies, being 
 between certain natural things and certain other natural 
 things, thus between things not sufficiently separate in their 
 nature, are in some respects arbitrary and uncertain; where- 
 as the analogies which we would point out, being between 
 outward forms and inward essences, — between things es- 
 sentially different, and yet so connected that the lower ab- 
 solutely draw their origin from the higher, — are fixed and 
 certain ; they are founded in the unalterable relations of 
 things, and are as immutable as the laws of nature ; of 
 Which, indeed, they constitute a part. 
 
 Having seen that the Prophetic Writings may be con- 
 sistently interpreted by the application of this rule, and are 
 thus proved to be written by a plenary inspiration ; we are 
 now to proceed to try its applicability to the historical 
 parts of the Scriptures. 
 
 1. The prophetical Scriptures form a species of Divine 
 Writing, in which the mind more readily expects to meet 
 with mysteries beyond what the letter exhibits. Laying 
 
263 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 out of the consideration its divine origin, we should not 
 so naturally look for such mysteries in the plain language 
 of history, of which a still greater portion of the Word of 
 God consists : and yet in many parts even of the plainest of 
 these histories, a further reference to things of a spiritual 
 nature is so obviously presented, that unless the mind be 
 fortified against the admission of it by previous confirma- 
 tions, it can hardly fail to see it as soon as it is pointed out. 
 Accordingly, I find that the typical or symbolic character 
 of many of the actions recorded, and of the persons men- 
 tioned, in the historical parts of the Word of God, is ac- 
 knowledged by nearly all who receive the Scriptures as 
 containing, in any degree, a divine Revelation. As we 
 have before stated the sentiments of Biblical Critics on the 
 double sense of Divine Prophecy, we will here deliver 
 their views of the typical nature of Scripture History. 
 
 (1.) We will begin with those parts of Scripture His- 
 tory which record divine miracles ; there being a general 
 tendency in the Commentators, to admit, in the miracles, 
 a typical representation. 
 
 In regard to these, the Rev. Mr. Home, whose work, 
 as being the most recent, I have repeatedly quoted, lays 
 this down as one of the rules of Scripture interpretation : 
 " Although the design of miracles is to mark the divine 
 interposition, yet when perusing the miracles recorded in 
 the Sacred Writings, we are not to lose sight of the mo- 
 ral and spiritual instruction concealed under them ; and 
 especially under the miracles performed by our Saviour."* 
 This he confirms by this remark of the Rev. W. Jones. 
 " All his [our Saviour's] miracles were undoubtedly so 
 many testimonies that he was sent from God : but they 
 were much more than this ; for they were all of such a 
 kind, and attended with such circumstances, as give us an 
 insight into the spiritual state of man, and the great work 
 
 * Introduction to the Scriptures, Vol. Ii. I't. ii. Ch. iv. § ii. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 269 
 
 of his salvation." This is a very important fact, and wor- 
 thy of the most careful attention : it also leads to very 
 important conclusions ; since, by establishing the symbolic 
 character of some of the historical transactions recorded 
 in the Word of God, it naturally leads us to expect to find 
 the same character in others ; at least, if the miracles of 
 the New Testament are clearly seen to be fraught with 
 spiritual instruction, it will be very difficult to deny those 
 of the Old to be equally replete with divine wisdom. We 
 will therefore state a summary view of the purport of 
 some of the miracles of Jesus Christ as offered by Dr. 
 Jortin, — a writer whom we have had occasion to quote 
 before, and who holds a high station among the sober and 
 learned divines of the Church of England. 
 
 This author considers the spiritual import of the mira- 
 cles as strengthening the argument which they afford for 
 the truth of Christianity : thus, after having made on 
 them, in reference to this argument, several remarks, he 
 says, u To these I shall add some proofs which are more re- 
 mote from common observation, and which perhaps have 
 not been sufficiently considered. — The miracles of Christ 
 were prophecies at the same time : they were such mira- 
 cles as in a particular manner suited his character : they 
 were significant emblems of his designs, and figures aptly 
 representing the benefits to be conferred by him upon 
 mankind ; and they had in them, if we may so speak, a 
 spiritual sense. So much may be urged in behalf of this 
 interpretation of them, as shall probably secure it from 
 being ranked among those fanciful expositions which are 
 generally slighted by wise men." Proceeding, then, to 
 state his view of the Saviour's miracles, he says, " He 
 cast out evil spirits, who were permitted to exert them- 
 selves at that time, and to possess many persons : by this 
 he shewed that he came to destroy the empire of Satan, 
 and seemed to foretell, that wherever his doctrines should 
 prevail, idolatry and vice should be put to flight. — He 
 
270 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 gave sight to the blind — a miracle well suiting him who 
 brought immortality to light, and taught truth to an 
 ignorant world. Lucem caliganti reddidit mundoj applied 
 by Q. Curtius to a Roman emperor, can be strictly appli- 
 ed to Christ, and to him alone. No prophet ever did this 
 miracle before him, as none ever made the religious disco- 
 veries which he made. Our Saviour himself leads us to 
 this observation, and sets his miracle in the same view, 
 saying upon that occasion, * I am the light of the world : 
 I am come into this world, that they which see not, might 
 see.' He cured the deaf, and the dumb, and the lame, 
 and the infirm, and cleansed the lepers, and healed all 
 manner of sicknesses, to shew at the same time that he 
 was the physician of souls, whicli have their diseases cor- 
 responding in some manner to those of the body, and are 
 deaf and dumb, and impotent, and paralytic, and leprous, 
 in a spiritual sense. He fed the hungry multitudes by a 
 miracle ; which aptly represented his heavenly doctrine, 
 and the gospel preached to the poor, and which he him- 
 self so explains, saying, 4 I am the living bread which came 
 down from heaven : if any man eat of this bread he shall 
 live for ever.' The figtree, which, with all its fair ap- 
 pearance was destitute of fruit, and died away at his re- 
 buke, was plainly a figure of the Pharisaical religion, 
 which was only outside shew ; and of the rejection and 
 fall of the Jewish nation. — He raised the dead, — a miracle 
 peculiarly suiting him, who at the last day should call 
 forth all mankind to appear before him ; and therefore, 
 when he raised Lazarus, he uttered those majestic words : 
 < I am the resurrection and the life : He that believeth in 
 me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.' He perform- 
 ed some miracles upon persons that were not of his own 
 nation, and it was so ordered by Divine Providence^ that 
 these persons, as the Centurion, the Syro-phcenician wo- 
 man, and the Samaritan leper, should shew a greater de- 
 gree of faith and of gratitude than the Jews to whom the 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 271 
 
 same favours were granted. This was an indication, that 
 the gospel would be more readily received by the gentiles 
 than by the Jews."* — So the two states of the Gadarene 
 demoniac, while under the influence of Satanic possession, 
 and when restored to his right mind, are explained by Mr. 
 Jones,f as respectively representing the two states of man, 
 first, while living in a course of sinful practice ; and, se- 
 condly, when u renewed in the spirit of his mind ;" listen- 
 ing to the precepts of the gospel, and walking in holiness 
 and righteousness. 
 
 Now surely it must be allowed, that the analogies here 
 pointed out, though not always precisely such as a syste- 
 matic study of spiritual analogies would dictate, are yet 
 so plain and unquestionable, as to satisfy every one that 
 the miracles wrought by Jesus Christ were not merely 
 intended for the transient benefit of a few persons, in a 
 single country, at a certain moment in the history of the 
 world, — nor yet merely to stand recorded as instances of 
 the divine power of Him who wrought them ; but to ex- 
 hibit lessons of perpetual instruction to weak and erring 
 man, — to lead him to reflect on his infirmities and defi- 
 ciencies ; and to point out where he may be relieved un- 
 der them, by guiding him to the Omnipotent Physician of 
 souls, the mighty Dispenser of spiritual nourishment. 
 
 (2.) But that the historical parts of the Word of God 
 contain a reference to spiritual and divine subjects in other 
 instances, as well as when delivering the account of mira- 
 cles, is also universally acknowledged. Thus it is gene- 
 rally conceded, that the Scriptures of the Old Testament 
 abound with types of things brought to light in the New. 
 Of these, the writers on Scripture interpretation say there 
 are three sorts, viz. legal types, prophetical types, and his- 
 
 * Jortin's Remarks, &c. Vol. i. p. 255 to 261 ; (Ed. 1805.) where other ex- 
 amples are given. 
 
 t Cited by Home, as above. 
 
212 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 torical types : and the latter are thus described by Home* 
 from the works of Huet and Macknight : " Historical 
 types are the characters, actions, and fortunes, of some 
 eminent persons recorded in the Old Testament, so order- 
 ed by Divine Providence as to be exact prefigurations of 
 the characters, actions, and fortunes of future persons who 
 should arise under the Gospel dispensation. In some in- 
 stances, the persons whose characters and actions prefigur- 
 ed future events, were declared by Jehovah himself to be 
 typical, long before the events which they prefigured 
 came to pass. But in other instances, many persons really 
 typical were not known to be such, until after the things 
 which they typified had actually happened, — they are 
 consequently ascertained to be such by expositors and in- 
 terpreters of the Scriptures, by fair probabilities agreeable 
 to the analogy of faith. The most remarkable typical 
 persons and things mentioned in the Old Testament," he 
 adds, " are Adam, Abel, Noah, Melchizedec, Isaac, the 
 ram sacrificed by Abraham, Joseph, the pillar of fire, the 
 manna, the rock in the desert whence water flowed, the 
 scape goat, the brazen serpent, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, 
 Sampson, Samuel, David, Solomon, Jonah, and Zerubba- 
 bel." And he concludes with saying, " It would swell 
 this chapter into a commentary upon very numerous pas- 
 sages of Scripture, were we to attempt to shew how clearly 
 these characters, &c. correspond with their great antitype, 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. "f 
 
 To this we will add the following remarks, on " the 
 correspondences of types and antitypes," from that very 
 eminent author, Dr. Clarke : " The analogies between the 
 paschal lamb, and the Lamb of God slain from the founda- 
 tion of the world ; between the Egyptian bondage, and the 
 
 * I do not here concern myself with the distinction which this author makea 
 between a type and a symbol. 
 t Vol. ii. ft. ii. Ch. viii. § ii. 3. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 273 
 
 tyranny of sin ; between the baptism of the Israelites in the 
 sea, and in the cloud, and the baptism of Christians ; be- 
 tween the passage through the wilderness, and through the 
 present world ; beticeen Jesus [Joshua] bringing the people 
 into the promised land, and Jesus Christ being the Captain 
 of salvation to believers ; between the sabbath of rest pro- 
 mised to the people of God in the earthly Canaan, and the 
 eternal rest promised in the heavenly Canaan ; beticeen the 
 liberty granted from the time of the death of the high 
 priest, to him that had fled into a city of refuge, and the 
 redemption purchased by the death of Christ ; between the 
 high priest entering into the holy place every year with 
 the blood of others, and Christ's once entering with his 
 own blood into heaven itself, to appear in the presence of 
 God for us : these, I say, and innumerable other analogies, be- 
 tween the shadows of things to come, of good things to 
 come, the shadows of heavenly things, the figures for the 
 time then present, patterns of things in the heavens, and 
 the heavenly things themselves, cannot, without the force of 
 strong prejudice, be conceived to have happened by mere chance, 
 without any foresight and design. There are no such analogies, 
 much less such series of analogies, found in the books of mere en- 
 thusiastic writers living in such remote ages from each other. It 
 is much more credible, and reasonable, to suppose, what St. Paul 
 affirms, that these things were our examples; and that, in the 
 uniform course of God's government of the world, all these 
 things happened to them of old for examples, and that 
 they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends 
 of the world are come : Jlnd hence arises that aptness of simi- 
 litude, in the application of several legal performances to the mo- 
 rality of the gospel, that it can hardly be supposed not to have 
 been originally intended."* 
 
 It is to be observed, that Clarke and Jortin adduce their 
 analogies, as affording strong evidence of the divine inspi- 
 
 * Clarke's Erid. of Nat. and Rev. Uelig. apud Jortin, Vol. i. p. 151. 
 
 35 
 
274 'PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 ration of the Word of God : if such is their tendency, 
 when regarded as the result of arbitrary appointment ra- 
 ther than as the effects of a regular and universal Law ; 
 how strong indeed does their evidence become, when it is 
 seen that the latter is their true character, and that this 
 Law governs not only the analogies noticed by these writ- 
 ers, but every part of the Sacred Scriptures ! — that, in 
 fact, the Scriptures consist of analogies throughout, and 
 such as do not depend for their meaning on simple ap- 
 pointment, or for their interpretation upon conjecture, but 
 are inherent in the nature of things, and will abide the 
 scrutiny of scientific investigation ! 
 
 2. These large admissions and strong assertions on the 
 subject of types, by the most esteemed writers on Scrip- 
 ture interpretation, are amply sufficient for the purpose 
 for which we have quoted them : — they prove that the 
 fact is in many instances unquestionable.* It is true that 
 modern critics take great pains to limit and circumscribe 
 their admissions on this subject. Some of them tell us, 
 that although those things and persons mentioned in the 
 Old Testament, whose typical character is expressly point- 
 ed out in the New, must have it allowed them, yet we are 
 not to look for symbols in those things and persons, whose 
 signification the New Testament writers have not explain- 
 ed. The late Bishop of Calcutta, for instance, whose ob- 
 servations on the spiritual sense of Scripture we cited in 
 our second Lecture, while he contends for its necessity, 
 restricts it thus : " Against the doctrine of a twofold ex- 
 planation, what is to be urged ? I know of no objection 
 worthy of regard, unless it be said, that the door will thus 
 be opened to the caprice of mystics and enthusiasts. But 
 it is not for unauthorized applications that I contend ; it is 
 
 * Ad propositum satis est, etiam in hoc sapientes vestros in aliquem modum 
 nobiscum conaonare. Min. Felix. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 275 
 
 only for those ichich have been made by Christ or his apostles"* 
 But who does not see the futility of such a limitation ? 
 The New Testament must have been made a much larger 
 volume than it is, were it designed to unfold every parti- 
 cular spiritual reference, contained in every particular part 
 of the Old Testament, where a meaning beyond the letter 
 is to be allowed. Had not the argument of the Epistle to 
 the Galatians led the apostle to mention the allegorical 
 character of the history of Hagar and Sarah. — the intro- 
 duction of which is purely incidental, and may almost be 
 called accidental, — many critics would have decried the 
 deducing of such a meaning from such a circumstance as 
 an instance of unfounded presumption. So, Melchizedec is 
 now one of the persons in the Old Testament, whose typical 
 character is most cordially admitted: but had not the argu- 
 ment of the Epistle to the Hebrews incidentally led the 
 writer to mention it, we must have concluded, upon these 
 principles, that it did not exist. Indeed all the notices in 
 the New Testament of the types in the Old, are introduced 
 in the same incidental manner ; and they are clearly men- 
 tioned, not to inform us, that although those persons and 
 things had a typical reference, this does not apply to any 
 others ; but to instruct us, that such is the character of the 
 Old Testament history in general. There cannot be a 
 plainer inference than this: that if some persons and things 
 mentioned in the Old Testament have a symbolic significa- 
 tion, so have others : and if it was not intended that we 
 should make such an inference, what an unpardonable 
 omission was it in the Apostles and Evangelists, when they 
 cite passages from the Old Testament as having a spiritual 
 signification, not to have guarded their quotations as our 
 modern critics would do! — not to have said to the reader, 
 " Observe, this circumstance, has a spiritual signification ; 
 but no others are to be interpreted upon the same princi- 
 
 * Middleton on the Greek Article, p. 577. 
 
276 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 pie, but such as we have expressly explained !" They, 
 however, have not thus taken away the key of knowledge; 
 on the contrary, by explaining the nature of the Holy 
 Word in a few passages, they have given a key to the dis- 
 covery of the whole. What they have explicitly unfold- 
 ed, must be intended as a sample of the rest. Ex pede Her- 
 culem. If the Divine Word contains a divine meaning in 
 one passage, undoubtedly it contains a similar meaning in 
 every other. Suppose a man were presented with a casket 
 of jewels, a few of them being also laid upon the lid as a 
 sample : but suppose that, instead of opening the casket in 
 search of more, he should affirm that it was not made to 
 open at all, but was merely a solid log of wood, only to 
 be admired for the singular workmanship of the outside : 
 should we not wonder at his rusticity, and his unconscious- 
 ness of the treasure he possessed ? Yet just such is the 
 conduct of those, who, after seeing a few of the jewels of 
 wisdom contained in the Divine Word brought to light by 
 the Apostles, deny the letter to inclose any more. 
 
 But while we regard such conduct as highly inconsistent, 
 we do not mean to censure too severely those who have 
 adopted it. They have done it to avoid what might prove 
 a worse evil. The reason why mankind have become so un- 
 willing to admit the typical and representative character of 
 the historical parts of the Word of God, is precisely the 
 same as that which has made them so reluctant to allow uni- 
 versally the double sense of prophecy; — the want of a Rule 
 of interpretation sufficiently clear and decided to be appli- 
 cable to the whole; and a laudable fear, without such a 
 Rule, of indulging in uncertain conjecture. I trust however 
 that the Rule which we have before laid down, arising out 
 of the certain Relation existing in the nature of things be- 
 tween objects natural and spiritual, will be found equally 
 capable of an application to this part of the subject. If 
 so, all reasonable objection to the universally typical cha- 
 racter of the Scripture history, will be removed. Bishop 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 277 
 
 Middleton, we have seen, admits, that the opening of the 
 door to capricious fancies, forms the only objection wor- 
 thy of regard to the doctrine of a two-fold explanation ; 
 remove then this danger, and such minds as his would 
 surely hail with joy a system, which relieves them from 
 the necessity of treating the Word of God itself as a capri- 
 ciously framed production. 
 
 But perhaps it will be said, Suppose we admit there to 
 be a Relation of Analogy between all the productions of 
 nature and certain moral, intellectual, or spiritual essences ; 
 how will this prove that all the persons, cities, nations, 
 and countries, with all the actions of men, and other con- 
 tingent events, mentioned in the history of the Bible, are 
 equally symbolic of moral and spiritual things ? We an- 
 swer, This was the result of a divine appointment, and 
 overruling providence ; still having for its basis the natu- 
 ral relation between things natural and spiritual, which 
 includes, as was shewn in our last Lecture, an analogy be- 
 tween the relations of mind and the relations of place. 
 Thus, for the sake of giving a code of divine wisdom more 
 completely than could otherwise have been effected, a 
 certain people was selected to represent a true church : the 
 country they inhabited was made to assume a similar re- 
 presentation ; and on all the surrounding countries, as 
 briefly stated in our last, a representation was also induced 
 of the principles connected with the former, more nearly 
 or more remotely, and either in the way of subordination 
 or of opposition. Who, for instance, does not see, that 
 Egypt is a type of the natural state of man, and Canaan of 
 his spiritual state, and that the forty-years' travels and 
 troubles of the children of Israel in the wilderness, repre- 
 sent the temptations and trials by which man passes from 
 the one state to the other ? These types are so plain, that 
 they have been recognized in all ages : but if the history 
 of the Israelites, in this part of it, is symbolic, as it so cer- 
 tainly is, why may we not conclude all the other parts of 
 
278 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 it to be symbolic also ? It is the denial of this truth, and 
 not the assertion of it, that tends most to introduce uncer- 
 tainty and capricious interpretation. As noticed in our 
 last, it is the jumping at random from the spiritual sense 
 to the literal, and from passages where commentators ad- 
 mit that types are presented to others where this is denied, 
 without any sufficient guide to direct our judgment in the 
 choice of either, that makes the interpretation of Scripture 
 vague and unsatisfactory. To treat the Word of God as 
 so irregular and inconsistent a production, most strongly 
 tends, in fact, to bring its divine inspiration into doubt. 
 A book that is of divine inspiration must be uniform 
 throughout. If it has a spiritual signification in one place, 
 it must in all. And most assuredly, whether we possess it 
 or not, some universal Rule of interpretation must exist, 
 which would make it every where harmonious.* 
 
 * We will here add an example of the inconsistency which must pervade 
 the writings of Biblical Critics, whilst, on the question of spiritual or of merely 
 literal interpretation, they halt between two opinions, reasoning at one time 
 in favour of the former sentiment and at another in favour of the latter, and 
 endeavouring to combine the two systems into one, by portioning out the 
 Sacred Code between them. We have repeatedly cited Home's Introduction 
 to the Scriptures, as esteeming it a very valuable work, and because the 
 learned Author gives many strong testimonies in favour of the spiritual sense 
 of the Divine Word : yet, led by the high authority of some modern critics of 
 high name, this intelligent writer repeatedly exhibits, on this subject, extreme 
 vacillation, and sometimes so limits his admissions, and so counteracts his 
 most decided assertions, as to make them almost nugatory. The following 
 passage, for instance, would certainly lead the reader to conclude, that he 
 ought, throughout the Scriptures without exception, to look for a spiritual 
 sense : " Since we learn from the New Testament, that some histories, which 
 in themselves convey no peculiar meaning, must be interpreted allegorically 
 or mystically, (as Gal. iv. 22 — 24,) and that persons and things are there evi- 
 dently types and emblems of the Christian dispensation, and its divine found- 
 er, as in Matt. xii. 40, John iii. 14, 15, 1 Cor. x. 4, and Heb. vii. 2, 3 ; it is 
 plain that the mystical sense ought to be followed in the histories and prophe- 
 cies of the Old Testament, and especially in such passages as are referred to 
 by the inspired writers of the New Testament ; who having given us the key 
 by which to unlock the mystical sense of Scripture, we not only may, but 
 ought, cautiously and diligently to make use of it. Where the inspired writ- 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 279 
 
 II. As a knowledge of the true nature of the Scripture 
 history is of so great importance to the right understand- 
 ing of the Word of God, we will here make upon it a few 
 
 ers themselves direct us to such an interpretation, when otherwise we might 
 not perceive its necessity, then we have an absolute authority for the exposi- 
 tion, which supersedes our own conjectures, and we are not only safe in 
 abiding by that authority, but should be unwarranted in rejecting it."* Here 
 he delivers his own sentiments ; and though he particularly mentions the pas- 
 sages which have been explained in a sense different from that of the letter by 
 the writers of the New Testament, he does not exclude any others. By and 
 by, however, he introduces, from Beausobre, this limitation : " No mystical or 
 typical sense ought to be put upon a plain passage of Scripture, the meaning 
 of which is obvious and natural ; unless it be evident from some other part of 
 Scripture that the place is to be understood in a double sense."! But what a 
 remarkable specimen of zigzag observation, first running in one direction and 
 then in another, have we in the following sentences ! In favour of the reality 
 and the superiority of the spiritual sense, he gives this excellent remark ; 
 " The literal sense, it has been well observed, is undoubtedly first in point 
 of nature, as well as in order of signification; and consequently, when 
 investigating the meaning of any passage, this must be ascertained before 
 we proceed to search out its mystical import : but the true and genuine 
 mystical or spiritual sense excels the literal in dignity, the latter being 
 only the medium of conveying the former, which is more evidently de- 
 signed by the Holy Spirit." Yet it seems that this sense so superior in dig- 
 nity, and for the conveyance of which the letter is composed, is to with- 
 draw upon occasion and leave its conveyance empty ; for " Though the true 
 spiritual sense of the text is undoubtedly to be most highly esteemed, it by no 
 means follows that we are to look for it in every passage of Scripture !" We 
 are not too easily to be satisfied with the mere shell, neither ; for the sentence 
 adds, " it is not. however, to be inferred that spiritual interpretations are to be 
 rejected, although they should not be clearly expressed." But, after all; " the 
 spiritual meaning of a passage is there only to be sought, where it is evident, 
 from certain criteria, that such meaning was designed by the Holy Spirit."! 
 These certain criteria are afterwards restricted within limits sufficiently nar- 
 row : but, assuredly, no criterion can be more certain, that a writing contains 
 a spiritual sense, than, that it was actually dictated by the Holy Spirit, and 
 proceeded from Him, all whose words are spirit and are life !- Our author con- 
 cludes his chapter " On the spiritual Interpretation of Scripture," with a speci- 
 men of similar vacillation : each sentence conveys an apprehension, that in the 
 previous sentence he had gone too far : they are a series of checks and coun- 
 terchecks : and he strikes the balance so exactly, that his remarks each way 
 are equipoised, and nothing positive remains. He says,- " In the spiritual in- 
 
 * Vol. ii. Pt. ii. Ch. i. § v. f Vol. ii. Ch. viii. § iii. 9. t **>• Ch. vi. 
 
280 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 general observations, before we proceed to illustrate, by 
 examples, the applicability of the Rule afforded by the 
 science of analogies to its interpretation. 
 
 terpretation of Scripture, there are two extremes to be avoided, viz. on the one 
 hand, that we do not restrict such interpretation within too narrow limits ; 
 and, on the other hand, that we do not seek for mystical meanings in every 
 passage, to the exclusion of its literal and common sense, when that sense is 
 sufficiently clear and intelligible." It is to be remembered, that he had before 
 admitted the literal sense to be " sufficiently clear and intelligible," — so much 
 so, that " we might not perceive the necessity" of a spiritual interpretation, — 
 in many of the passages " where the inspired writers themselves direct us to 
 such an interpretation." However, having now, at the expense of consistency 
 with himself and with them, thus settled the two extremes, he dwells through 
 two or three sentences upon the letter of them, and represents " the e^ils of 
 spiritualizing the sacred writings too much" as so formidable, that the reader 
 is in danger of forgetting the rule first laid down, that we are " not to restrict 
 such interpretation within too narrow limits." Checking himself, therefore, 
 he says, " In these strictures, the author trusts he shall not be charged with 
 improperly censuring that fair and sober accommodation of the historical and 
 parabolical parts to present times and circumstances, or to the elucidation of 
 either the doctrines or precepts of Christianity, which is sanctioned by the 
 Word of God : — such an accommodation is perfectly allowable, and may be 
 highly useful ; and in some cases it is absolutely necessary." But now he 
 again fears that he has gone too far; so, checking himself again, he adds, 
 " Let every truly pious man, however, be aware of the danger of extending 
 this principle beyond its natural and obvious application," &c. — It is thus that 
 writers endeavour to hide their inconsistencies behind loose general terms. In 
 a proper sense, certainly, the " natural and obvious application" of Una princi- 
 ple of spiritual interpretation, is, to every part of the Word of God. If the 
 Scriptures contain a spiritual sense at all, to assign this to some places and not 
 to others is in the highest degree unnatural : and this capricious application 
 of it is so far from being the obvious one, that it is contrary to what every per- 
 son would expect, who considers the undeviating regularity which distinguishes 
 all the works of God. Such a person, being previously assured that the Scrip- 
 tures are the Word of God, on being told that they contain in some parts both 
 a spiritual and a literal sense, and in others a literal sense alone, would think 
 the assertion just as reasonable, as to be told, that some portions of the human 
 race are constituted both of souls and bodies, and others of bodies only. 
 
 We have not made the above remarks from any inclination to depreciate 
 Mr. Home's valuable " Introduction ;" but merely to exemplify the difficulties 
 and inconsistencies which are unavoidable, when the Word of God is regard- 
 ed as not being a uniform work, but is supposed to be itself affected with the 
 monstrous inconsistency, of being written upon one principle in one sentence, 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 281 
 
 To view this subject in its proper light, we ought to have 
 just ideas of the nature of the dispensation under which 
 the Israelites lived. Of this Paul gives us plain intimations 
 when he says, " that the law was our schoolmaster, to 
 bring us to Christ ;"* and when he also says, of the festi- 
 vals of the Mosaic ritual, that they were " a shadow of 
 things to come, but the body is all ;"f and, further, that 
 " the law having a shadow of good things to come, and 
 not the very image of those things, can never, with those 
 sacrifices which they offered year by year continually, 
 make the comers thereunto perfect : ? *$ declarations which 
 shew, that the Mosaic dispensation was merely an inter- 
 mediate arrangement of the Divine Economy, established 
 to form a necessary link in the great chain of the divine 
 operations for the salvation of men, and to fill up the in- 
 terval between the period when the pure internal worship 
 and knowledge of divine things, which existed with the 
 posterity of Adam and of Noah, were lost, and that in 
 which they should be restored by the advent of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. We thus, also, are instructed, that the rites, 
 records, and prophecies, given to that church, were not 
 so much given for their private advantage, as with a view 
 
 and upon a contrary one in the next. The blemishes we have noticed, do not 
 belong, personally, to Mr. Home, but to his system ; and in them he only fol- 
 lows other writers. Indeed, we think, upon this subject, that his own views 
 are generally superior to those of the authorities whom he quotes ; for some of 
 the best of his remarks in favour of spiritual interpretation, are his own, whilst 
 those which he introduces against it are adopted by him from others. The 
 two or three puling sentences which we have last animadverted upon, are 
 taken by him from the Christian Observer. Altogether, what he has said in 
 favour of spiritual interpretation, having a strong base in reason and Scrip- 
 ture, cannot be overturned ; what he has advanced against its universality, be- 
 ing loaded with a weight of inconsistency, has, of itself, a tendency to fall : and 
 from a comparison of the whole the Biblical Student must, we should expect, 
 be led to wish for a Rule of interpretation, which would vindicate the spiritual 
 nature of the Word of God throughout, and exhibit it as an harmonious and 
 eoherent system. 
 
 * Gal. iii. 24. t Col. ii. 17. \ Heb.Y 1. 
 
 36 
 
PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 to the permanent advantage of all nations under a future 
 dispensation, in which should he imparted the knowledge 
 and enjoyment, — the real substance and body, — of those 
 divine things, which, among the Jews, were only symbo- . 
 lized and represented. 
 
 I. Whatever may be thought of that arrangement of the 
 Divine Economy in the government of the world, by 
 which the inconsiderable nation of the Israelites, occupy- 
 ing a country of inconsiderable extent, was selected from 
 all others, and invested with privileges as the chosen peo- 
 ple of God ; and whatever reasons the sceptical mind may 
 find for refusing to recognise them in that character ; 
 there yet are circumstances attending their history, which, 
 upon any other hypothesis than that which admits their 
 pretensions, it would be impossible to explain. The chief 
 of these circumstances is the singular fact, that this nation, 
 though by no means so distinguished by attainments in 
 arts, sciences, and literature, as some of those by which 
 it was surrounded, alone maintained, through many hun- 
 dred years, the great tru h of hi unity of God, and alone 
 worshipped him as an Infinite S^hit, to attempt the repre- 
 sentation of whom by sculpture or painting, is to be guilty 
 of profanation ; while-even the most polished of the other 
 nations of the globe were sunk in the grossest polytheism 
 and the most senseless idolatry. That this superiority of 
 the Jews above all other people, in their ideas of the most 
 sublime of all subjects, arose from any superiority of in- 
 tellect of their own, is a position which no admirer of 
 classical antiquity will admit: m r, indeed, < an it with 
 any shadow of truth be asserted ; since their own history 
 abundantly evinces, that, of themselves, they were as 
 prone to polytheism and idolatry as their neighbours. 
 This was true of them from the highest in rank to the 
 lowest, — from the priest and king to the meanest of the 
 populace. Aaron, the brother of Moses and the first high 
 
v THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 233 
 
 priest, made a golden calf for the people to worship with- 
 in a month or two after their deliverance from Egypt, and 
 after witnessing those extraordinary displays of the power 
 of Jehovah, in the execution of which he had himself been 
 made a princi; al instrument ; and Solomon, who had 
 erected the temple of Jerusalem, even " his heart was turn- 
 ed from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared to 
 him twice,"* and he built places of worship for the idols 
 of his foreign wives, at which he worshipped himself: 
 whilst the bulk of the nation was so addicted to idolatrous 
 practices, that they seldom entirely discontinued them ; 
 from the death of Joshua, presently after which " they 
 forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashteroth,"f to the 
 Babylonian captivity, which overtook them " because of 
 their wickedness which they committed to provoke the 
 Lord to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to 
 serve other gods. "J These facts sufficiently evince what 
 was the bent of that people's mind : it is evident then, 
 that had not a succession of prophets arisen, who conti- 
 nually called them from the worship of idols to that of 
 the one true God, this nation would have been as deeply 
 immersed in ignorance respecting the nature and unity of 
 the Divine Being, as the most stupid and superstitious of 
 their neighbours. And whence did the prophets obtain 
 their pure and elevated sentiments ? Arising among a peo- 
 ple as prone to the worship of stocks and stones as all those 
 around them, and in the midst of nations, who, though in 
 some respects more enlightened, never produced such wit- 
 nesses to the one true God ; whence could the prophets 
 have received the testimony which they bore, but from 
 Him to whose truth they testified ? Under all the circum- 
 stances of the case, the existence of the knowledge of the 
 one true God, and the denial of all other gods, whether 
 co-equal or subordinate, with -the rejection of image-wor- 
 
 * 1 Kings xi. 9. t Judges ii. 13. J Jer.-xliv. 3. 
 
284 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 ship, in the religion of the Jews, are facts which admit of 
 no rational explanation but that which the writers of the 
 Jewish Scriptures advance : — that they were immediately- 
 taught them by the true God himself. The argument is 
 an unanswerable one : it has been ably handled by many 
 of the Christian advocates ; and in their hands I leave it ; 
 the simple mention of it being all that is requisite to our 
 present purpose. 
 
 But though the infidel can never satisfactorily account, 
 on his principles, for the great fact just mentioned, he can 
 raise difficulties from other sources, which some may find 
 embarrassing. He objects, If the Jews were really chosen 
 of God in preference to all other people, how comes it to 
 pass that they were not better than all other people ? And 
 if God thought proper to reveal himself to man, how came 
 he to shut up the knowledge thus revealed in a corner, 
 and confine it so long to one of the most inconsiderable 
 nations of the earth ? It is remarkable that the circum- 
 stances thus made the ground of objection, are explicitly 
 avowed, as if to anticipate the objections, in the writings 
 of Moses : " Understand," he exclaims to the people, 
 " that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to 
 possess it for thy righteousness ; for thou art a stiff-necked 
 people."* u The Lord did not set his love upon you, 
 nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any 
 people ; for ye were the fewest of all people, "f These 
 facts being so, it has been concluded, by all who are dis- 
 posed to interpret them in a liberal manner, not that the 
 Jews were not selected at all, — there being other conside- 
 rations which so strongly prove the affirmative, — but that 
 they were not selected for any private benefit intended to 
 them above others, but to promote the designs of Divine 
 Benevolence towards mankind at large, and thus for the 
 eventual benefit of the whole human race. This also has 
 
 * Dcut. ix. 6. \ Ch. vii. i. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 285 
 
 been urged by many Christian writers. " Shall we dare," 
 it is well asked by Bishop Watson, " to accuse God of 
 injustice, for not having distributed the gifts of nature in 
 the same degree to all kinds of animals, when it is proba- 
 ble that this very inequality of distribution may be the 
 means of producing the greatest sum total of happiness to 
 the whole system ? In exactly the same manner," he adds, 
 u may we reason concerning the acts of God's especial 
 providence. If we consider any one act, such as that of 
 appointing the Jews to be his peculiar people, as uncon- 
 nected with every other, it may appear to be a partial 
 display of his goodness ; it may excite doubts concerning 
 the wisdom or benignity of the Divine Nature. But if we 
 connect the history of the Jews with that of other nations, 
 from the most remote antiquity to the present time, we 
 shall discover that they were not chosen so much for their 
 own benefit or on account of their own merit, as for the 
 general benefit of mankind."* 
 
 Certainly, this is the reasonable conclusion ; that the 
 selection of the Jews as a peculiar people, or to form for a 
 while the visible professing church, was a necessary link 
 in the great chain of those divine operations, which have 
 for their object to promote, in the greatest possible degree, 
 the general welfare of the human race. And what if the 
 very circumstances of their being " a stiff-necked people," 
 and " the fewest of all people," were those which render- 
 ed them fitter than any other nation to fill the station to 
 which they were appointed, and thus were the cause of 
 their being selected for it ? Paradoxical as this may sound, 
 I apprehend it is the truth. A dispensation like that 
 which Moses was the instrument of founding, was neces- 
 sary, before the higher dispensation of the Christian Reli- 
 gion could be imparted : None could be the proper sub- 
 jects of such a dispensation, but a people of an external 
 
 * Apol. for the Bible, Let. 4. 
 
286 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 but very peculiar character, little receptive of the interiors 
 of religion, (which is the spiritual meaning of the epithet 
 u stiff-necked,") but capable, beyond those who look more 
 at essentials, of attending to the minutiae of ceremonial 
 worship, and of being impressed with a sense of sanctity 
 during the performance of such worship : And none could 
 be the actors in a ceremonial worship which was only to 
 be performed in one place in the whole country, and at 
 which place the whole male population was required to be 
 present three times in a year, but a people few in number, 
 and inhabiting a country of small extent. Thus the very 
 qualities of being stiff-necked and few in number, were 
 those which rendered the Jewish people fit to be subjects, 
 in that peculiar era of the world, of such a dispensation as 
 alone could be given at that era. 
 
 2. Assuming then that the Jews u were not chosen so 
 much for their own benefit, as for the general benefit of man- 
 kind ;" how did their selection conduce to this great end? 
 I would answer, In two ways : first, in forming a church, 
 which, as just stated, was necessary as a preparation for 
 tlie Christian church, the establishment of which, and its 
 exaltation to a more glorious state than has hitherto been 
 seen, have always been intended by Divine Providence, as 
 the means of imparting the greatest possible benefits to 
 mankind: and, secondly, as furnishing the means by which 
 the Holy Word might be written in the form in which we 
 now possess it ; being that which is best adapted to render 
 permanent the blessings of divine revelation, to make them 
 the most extensive, ana* to secure them from perversion. 
 We will remark upon the utility of the calling of the Is- 
 raelites, for the accomplishment of both these objects. 
 
 (1.) It is evident to all who have reflected a moment on 
 the subject, that the Divine Operations ever proceed by 
 regular gradations and by orderly succession : they never 
 jump to- the end in view at once, but always act by a series 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 287 
 
 of means terminating in the intended result : and where 
 the actions of intelligent creatures intervene, it even ap- 
 pears that the Divine Providence so accommodates itself to 
 their nature, as to allow them to act, to a certain extent, 
 in contravention to its designs, permitting its own plans to 
 be modified by them, yet so overruling the whole, as 
 eventually to accomplish its own purposes, though, appa- 
 rently, by a different course from that which would have 
 been pursued, had not the intractab lity of self-willed crea- 
 tures stood in the way. Thus, since much evil exists, 
 which we are certain the Divine Being does not wi/Z, it 
 cannot be said with truth, that " whatever is, is right ;" 
 yet, as we may be sure that no more evil is permitted than 
 cannot be restrained without depriving man of his free- 
 agency, and destroying him as a human being altogether ; 
 and as the whole is so overruled as to be productive in the 
 end of the greatest possible degree of good ; we may say 
 with the utmost confidence, that whatever is, is best. 
 
 That the divine operations proceed by regular grada- 
 tions and in orderly succession, is evident from every pro- 
 duction of nature. Look, for instance, at the origin and 
 growth of a tree. A seed falls to the ground : its parts 
 being a 1 cnce softened by moisture and opened by warmth, 
 it shoots in one direction a root into the earth and in the 
 other a stem into the air, which successively increasing in 
 height and thickness, and putting forth branches and 
 leaves, till it has attained its proper maturity in a certain 
 number of years, the tree at length bears its fruit, and 
 yields again new seeds : and never is it perfected without 
 passing through the*e stages. Look again at man, and 
 consider him only as destined to fill a station in human 
 society. He is born an infant : the faculties of his mind 
 and body open by degrees, and more perfectly as they are 
 assisted by culture : at length, in about twenty years, his 
 frame acquires its perfect form and stature, and his ration- 
 al powers al?o are fully developed : and then, and not be- 
 
288 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 fore, he is capable of filling his place among his fellows in 
 society. Now, though this is the end designed by his 
 Creator from his birth, he never springs up a full grown 
 man at once, nor are any of the steps of the process neces- 
 sary to his becoming such ever dispensed with. His 
 growing up an adult human being and a rational creature, 
 is, however, in the design of his Creator, only a lower 
 end, subordinate to that of his becoming a subject of eter- 
 nal happiness : but to this his own concurrence is necessa- 
 ry ; wherefore here the Divine Creator allows his own 
 operations and designs to be modified by the determina- 
 tions and actions of his creature. 
 
 Now if in individual cases, — in the individual inhabitants 
 of the world, and even in its inanimate productions, — the 
 operations of the Divine Hand, — the dispensations of the 
 Divine Providence, — so clearly follow a regular order and 
 proceed by successive steps ; unquestionably the case must 
 be the same in regard to the human race in general, con- 
 sidered as a whole, and viewed in its progress from the 
 beginning of creation to the latest evolutions of time. 
 There can be no doubt that a similar order is observed in 
 the Divine Economy as it regards the whole, as we see is 
 observed in regard to each individual of each successive 
 generation ; and if we are not equally sensible of it, the 
 reason must be, because our observation takes in so small 
 a part of the chain ; because we are only intimately ac- 
 quainted with man as he is in the generation, and in the 
 country, in which we live ; and because the knowledge 
 which f we possess of former times from history is extreme- 
 ly general and extremely partial, and does not reach, in an 
 authentic form, except in the Scripture records which are 
 very brief, to any very remote antiquity : it, moreover, is 
 seldom studied by us for the light it may afford in regard 
 to the history, not of political events, but of human na- 
 ture. It is indeed a proverbial remark, that human nature 
 is the same in all times and in all places. As to the gene- 
 
tttcot 
 
 THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. >!|%%5*/V 
 
 ral characteristics of human nature, no doubt this is true 
 but that its general characteristics appear under an endless 
 diversity of modifications, is a truth equally certain. We 
 see how great these diversities are, among the inhabitants 
 of different countries and climates, the subjects of different 
 governments, and the disciples of various forms of religion, 
 even when, in time, they are all contemporaries : how nu- 
 merous then must the diversities become, when remoteness 
 of ages is also allowed its operation ! The inhabitants of 
 New Zealand are not more antipodes to the inhabitants of 
 the British metropolis in physical than in moral geography: 
 and it is probable, that neither the one nor the other can 
 form an idea approximating to the truth respecting the 
 character of the primeval inhabitants of the globe. But 
 all these varieties must, unquestionably, be arranged by 
 the Divine Operator in some certain order, such as is most 
 conducive to the well-being of the whole; more especially 
 the successive varieties, or the changes in the state of man- 
 kind during successive generations : and where the per- 
 verse self-will of man interferes, so to speak, with the di- 
 vine designs, so as to prevent them from being accom* 
 plished in the most direct manner, still, doubtless, it is 
 overruled so as to be subservient to them in the end. The 
 divine designs are ever kept in view, and will finally take 
 effect, although the operations of the Divine Providence to 
 this purpose receive some modification from the intracta- 
 bility of the subjects on which it has to act. But even 
 where they are resisted most, still a regularity of progres- 
 sion will be maintained. The course of a fever is as regu- 
 lar as the planetary motions : and whatever changes the 
 self-will of man may occasion in his own state; and however 
 Divine Wisdom may in consequence modify the operations 
 of its Providence ; still we cannot doubt that the whole is 
 so arranged as to flow in most regular order, and that the 
 revolutions of the human mind, occurring in successive 
 37 
 
 
290 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 ages, are guided in as certain a course as the revolutions 
 of the solar system. 
 
 Such seem to be the views which reason would suggest 
 respecting the order observed in all the proceedings of the 
 Divine Economy and Providence ; and the testimony of 
 Scripture is to the same effect: it always represents the di- 
 vine operations as regarding the fitness of times and states, 
 and as never precipitating events till the suitable season 
 has arrived ; and also, as allowing the determinations of 
 mankind to modify its arrangements. Thus, when the 
 possession of Canaan is promised to Abraham, the state of 
 the inhabitants at the time is assigned as a reason for de- 
 ferring the fulfilment of the promise till the fourth gene- 
 ration ; " for," says the Divine Speaker, " the iniquity of 
 the Amorites is not yet full."* So, that most important 
 of all events, the coming of the Lord in the flesh, is con- 
 stantly referred to " the fulness of the time;"f and it would 
 be ridiculous to suppose that the time thus spoken of is 
 determined by any fore-ordained number of days and 
 years, independently of the state into which it was foreseen 
 that mankind would, in such a period, have come. As for 
 the modifications which the arrangements for the bringing 
 into effect the ultimate divine purposes, — not those pur- 
 poses themselves, — receive from human determinations and 
 actions ; or the manner in which the Divine Providence 
 adapts its proceedings to contingencies which man is al- 
 lowed to determine ; the Scriptures are full of examples : 
 we will mention but one : Jesus Christ says " Jerusa- 
 lem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest 
 them that are sent unto thee ; how often would I have ga- 
 thered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her 
 chickens under her wings : and ye would not ! Behold, 
 your house is left unto you desolate. "J 
 
 Now it is evident from many passages in the New Tes- 
 tament, that the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the 
 
 * Gen. xv. 10. t> Gal. iv. 4, Eph. i. 10, Mark i. 15. t Matt, xxiii. 37, 38. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 291 
 
 consequent raising up of a church that should look to him 
 for salvation, was the purpose of God, even before the 
 creation of the world. Paul declares that he was commis- 
 sioned to preach u to the intent that now might be known 
 by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to 
 the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus 
 our Lord :" # and Peter, speaking of Jesus Christ, says, 
 M Who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of 
 the world, but was manifest in these last times for you."f 
 And it is evident that the passages in which Paul and Peter 
 speak of the election and predestination of those to whom 
 they write, do not allude to any divine decree passed from 
 eternity in favour of them as individuals, but to an eternal 
 purpose to raise up a church of believers in the Word In- 
 carnate ; and that all who sincerely enter the church thus 
 eternally predestined and elected, are themselves called the 
 predestinate and elect. Whatever may be the true myste- 
 ry of " God manifest in the flesh," certain it is that it was 
 looked to from eternity as the only means of permanently 
 effecting the union of God with his creatures, on which 
 depends their salvation. But if, nevertheless, before this 
 could take place so as to be productive of its full effect, it 
 was necessary that certain preparations should intervene, 
 and even, as it would appear, that the human mind should 
 be allowed to descend into the lowest state into which it 
 could fall without degenerating from the human into the 
 merely animal nature : then it will be seen that such a dis- 
 pensation as that given to the Jews was required to fill up 
 the last and darkest portion of the intermediate time. 
 Doubtless the dispensation of divine benefits under which 
 the primitive inhabitants of the world lived, even after sin 
 had entered, was of a higher and more interior nature than 
 any that could be given afterwards : but this became so 
 entirely corrupted, that an end was put to the church 
 
 * Eph. iii. 10, 11. f 1 Peter i. 20. 
 
292 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 which lived under it by the flood. The proper time and 
 suitable state being not yet arrived for the coming of the 
 Second Adam, a new dispensation, evidently of a different 
 nature from the former, and not of so interior a character, 
 that being no longer suited to the more external state into 
 which man had descended, was given to Noah and his pos- 
 terity. Mankind continuing still to fall lower and lower, 
 this dispensation also suffered perversion, and from its 
 ruins arose all the idolatries of the eastern world. Still 
 the time and state had not arrived for the appearance of 
 the Great Restorer ; wherefore, mankind being disposed 
 to rest in the mere externals of religious worship, with lit- 
 tle regard to its essence in the heart and mind, a dispensa- 
 tion was given, in which the rituals of worship, being pre- 
 scribed by divine wisdom, and agreeably to the laws of 
 that analogy between natural things and spiritual by which 
 divine essences descend into material forms, were effective 
 of a communication between God and man, sufficient to 
 keep mankind in a salvable state, till " the fulness of time" 
 should have arrived for the appearance of God in the flesh. 
 Thus it appears that the human mind passed through a 
 series of successive changes, descending still lower and 
 lower, or becoming continually of a more gross and exter- 
 nal character, but still proceeding with the utmost regu- 
 larity, from the creation of man to the coming of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ : and it appears also, that the economy of 
 Divine Providence, adapting itself to man's various states, 
 by affording new dispensations of the divine will as the 
 previous ones became perverted, continued to furnish to 
 man, in every state, the means of salvation. It is also easy 
 to conceive, that, in the course of these progressions, a 
 state might occur, which was suited for the establishment 
 of such a dispensation as was given to the Jews, and for no 
 other : in which case, it was worthy of the Divine Being 
 to give such a dispensation. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 293 
 
 But is it objected, that, allowing that a period may have 
 occurred in the history of the human mind in which no 
 other dispensation of divine things than such as was com- 
 municated to the Israelites would have been suited to the 
 state of mankind, this does not account for its being con- 
 fined to one small nation ? that still it was unjust to de- 
 prive the rest of the world of its benefits ? It may be 
 answered, that probably other nations enjoyed advantages 
 in consequence of this arrangement, which they could not 
 have enjoyed, had not the Jews filled the station which 
 they actually did in the Divine Economy, constituting, for 
 a time, the visible church of God upon the earth. This 
 may sound like a paradox, yet perhaps it will not be dif- 
 ficult to shew that it is true. 
 
 All that we know of the Divine Economy leads to the con- 
 clusion, that the existence of a church on earth in which 
 the true God is known, and of persons in that church by 
 whom the true God is worshipped in sincerity, are neces- 
 sary to the well-being, perhaps to the continuance in exist- 
 ence of the whole human race. Whoever believes, as every 
 reasonable creature must believe, God to be the sole foun- 
 tain of life, will easily see that if all communication could 
 be cut off between him and his creatures, the latter must 
 immediately fall into annihilation. All must likewise see, 
 that the communication between God and his creatures 
 must be more direct, and the life of which he is the source 
 must be received in greater fulness, when just ideas are en- 
 tertained of him, a»d when, with corresponding affections 
 of the heart, the mind is turned towards him its proper 
 centre : may it not then be considered as highly probable, 
 that they who possess this just knowledge of him, and thus 
 receive in its highest degree the life which flows from him, 
 form channels by which an adequate measure of it is con- 
 veyed to others ? that they afford a chief connecting link 
 by which the Creator is united to his creation ? This, at 
 least, is conformable to the order we see observed in other 
 
294 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 things. Look at the human frame ; We see in it two 
 principal organs, — the heart and4he lungs, — upon the ac- 
 tion of which the life of the whole depends : They do not 
 constitute the whole of the body ; but the whole of the 
 body lives by its connexion, in all its parts, with them : 
 Thus they are the media, by which life, originally from 
 the Source of Life, actuates the corporeal members. But 
 the more immediate living principle in the body is the 
 brain ; this being the organ of the soul, which lives in a 
 sphere nearer to the Deity. Though the action of the heart 
 and lungs are necessary to the life of the other parts of the 
 body, their action could not continue a moment if all the 
 nerves were separated which connect them with the brain : 
 from this they receive the life, which they dispense through 
 the bo*dy. It is true that the brain also communicates im- 
 mediately with all the other parts of the body, which 
 thence derive all their powers of motion and sensation : 
 yet they only can receive these from the brain so long as 
 they remain also in communication with the heart, sepa- 
 rated from which they wither and perish. Now may we 
 not say, that what the brain is to the human frame, God is 
 to the whole human race ? He communicates with the 
 soul of every individual on the globe, as the brain com- 
 municates with every member and fibre in the body ; but 
 may it not be necessary, in order to man's reception, at 
 least, of spiritual life from this communication, that there 
 be some among the mass who should be to the rest what 
 the heart and lungs are to the other members ? Who can 
 these be, but those who have a genuine knowledge of God 
 from revelation, and who are thence capable of being ani- 
 mated by the purest affections, directed by the highest in- 
 telligence ? May it not then be reasonably presumed, that 
 the existence of a church in the world, favoured with the 
 light of revelation, is necessary to the well-being of the 
 whole human race ? And this the Lord Jesus Christ evi- 
 dently inculcates, when he says to his disciples, a Ye arc 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 295 
 
 the salt of the earth," and " Ye are the light of the 
 world."* 
 
 But although it is necessary to the welfare of mankind 
 that God should have a church on the earth in which he 
 is known by revelation ; and although it is a high privilege 
 to belong to it ; it may not be necessary that all mankind 
 should be admitted to that privilege, any more than it is 
 necessary that the body should be all heart. If a church 
 exists any where, all mankind are benefited through it in 
 a secret manner : a union is thus maintained between the 
 world and its Maker, of which all the human race enjoy 
 the advantages : but it may not be necessary that they 
 should all be stationed in the direct channel of communi- 
 cation. It does indeed appear to be predicted in Scripture, 
 that a time shall come in which the knowledge of God by 
 means of his Word will become general throughout the 
 earth : yet it cannot be expected that its influence will ever 
 become every where the same : there will always be a 
 centre in which its truths will be more clearly understood, 
 and the life to which they lead more eminently cultivat- 
 ed ; and this centre will be as a heart to the rest. Future 
 ages are no doubt destined to behold a great amelioration 
 of the human race : but none suppose that the highest 
 point at present attained is to remain immovable till all 
 mankind have arrived at it : the amelioration then will 
 be effected by a proportionate elevation of the whole. 
 The portion of mankind who are the subjects of that 
 true civilization, with its accompaniments, moral and 
 scientific, which is the result of religion derived imme- 
 diately from revelation, may be compared to a pyramid, 
 of which those which are in the highest light constitute 
 the apex : now the sphere of human improvement derived 
 from this source may go on extending, till it has reached 
 the darkest corners of the earth : but it will always retain 
 
 * Matt. v. 13, 14. 
 
296 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 its pyramidal form ; and the wider the base, the higher 
 will be the summit. But if such is to be the state of the 
 human race when M the eternal purpose" of God shall 
 have had its full effect, and under a dispensation which 
 brings real advantages to all who become its subjects, very 
 different must have been the case during the times which 
 u God winked at,"* or when the human race at large was 
 in its lowest state pi decline, and under a dispensation 
 which conferred little superiority on those to whom it 
 was given. A church in which God was known by reve- 
 lation, to form in a manner the heart of the world, was 
 then also necessary : but it was not necessary, to its acting 
 in that capacity, that its members should be numerous. 
 To carry on the simile : in the human frame, a strong ac- 
 tion of the heart is indispensable to high health and supe- 
 rior vigour, and perhaps the general powers are all exalted 
 by the increase of its energy, so long as the energy of the 
 brain keeps pace with and controls it ; but a very weak 
 and languid action is sufficient to the mere continuance of 
 life : applied to the moral frame of the world, the former 
 state is that which the Divine Benevolence aims eventually 
 at producing ; the latter was all that, at the time when 
 the Jewish Church existed, the state of mankind admitted. 
 If it is true, according to the testimony of the Scriptures, 
 that the Lord's disciples, or the members of his Church, 
 are " the salt of the earth," it also appears to be true, from 
 the same authority, that even the existence of a small 
 quantity of this salt is sufficient for the preservation of the 
 mass : thus, could ten real servants of the Lord have been 
 found in Sodom, it would have been preserved : and, to 
 reverse the mode of statement, the destruction of the king- 
 dom of Israel would have taken place in the days of Eli- 
 jah, had not seven thousand still been left who had not 
 bowed their knees to Baal.f 
 
 " Acts xvii. 30. t Gen. xviii. 32. 1 Kings xix. 17, 18. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &.C. 297 
 
 It seems then a just conclusion, that so long as a church 
 is maintained on earth in which the true God is known by 
 revelation, the gentiles also partake of the benefit, and are 
 kept in a salvable state ; and that this benefit results, 
 whether the persons immediately constituting the Church 
 be many or few. Thus this benefit was secured, even by 
 the establishment of the Church in one nation, and that so 
 small a nation as was constituted by the Israelites. And 
 if, as may rationally be inferred, the state of mankind at 
 that time was such as did not admit of a higher dispensa- 
 tion than one which consisted chiefly in representative 
 rites, it may easily be conceived, that the advantage of 
 being its subjects was so slight, that no injustice was done 
 to those who were not admitted to the privilege. 
 
 (2.) But if it appears, from the views just developed, 
 that the calling of the Israelites was a measure of Divine 
 Goodness, designed more for the general benefit of man- 
 kind than for their own private advantage ; still more will 
 this be seen when their selection is regarded as furnishing 
 the means by which the Holy Word might be written in 
 the form in which we now possess it ; being that which is 
 best adapted to render permanent the blessings of divine 
 revelation, to make them most extensive, and to secure 
 them from perversion. In this point of view we are also 
 to consider it. 
 
 It was shewn in our last Lecture, that a Revelation from 
 God to man, — a communication of Divine Wisdom in a 
 form adapted to human apprehension, — must be produced 
 by a sphere or emanation of Divine Truth flowing forth 
 from God, passing through the angelic and spiritual into 
 the material world, and there presenting itself in natural 
 language ; and that its language must consist of images 
 taken from the objects that appear in nature, and from the 
 common modes of thinking and acting of the beings whom 
 there it found.* We have seen also, that there not only 
 
 * P. 160. 
 
 38 
 
298 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 is a perfect analogy between all the lower parts and infe- 
 rior objects of nature, and certain moral, intellectual, and 
 divine essences ; but, likewise, between all that belongs to 
 man as an inhabitant of a natural world, and what belongs 
 to or concerns him as the heir of a spiritual one : and 
 hence we have observed, that the analogical language of 
 the Word of God is not confined to the mention of the 
 irrational and inanimate parts of nature, but admits all that 
 arises out of man's inclinations and feelings as an animal 
 and naturally rational being, and as a member of civil so- 
 ciety ; because all this answers, by a decided mutual rela- 
 tion, to that which belongs to his spiritual affections and 
 feelings, as an immortal and spiritually rational being, 
 designed to become a member of angelic society.* If this 
 be true, (and surely no plausible objection can be raised 
 against it !) it follows that a Revelation from God, follow- 
 ing the laws of the Analogy between natural things and 
 spiritual, cannot be given, which does not treat much, in 
 its letter, of human beings and of human actions. If all 
 the objects of nature answer by regular analogy to spirit- 
 ual things, most of all must man, the principal being in 
 nature, and his actions as a member of civil society. Of 
 man, then, and his actions, a composition really given by 
 divine inspiration must extensively treat in its letter. But 
 of what persons and actions could it thus treat ? Evident- 
 ly, they must either be purely allegorical ones, — that is, 
 such persons as never really existed, and such actions as 
 never were actually performed, — or they must be repre- 
 sentative ones, — real persons invested by divine appoint- 
 ment with a representative character, and whose actions 
 (such of them at least as the sacred history records) were 
 so Overruled as to bear a representative signification. 
 Probably, either mode might serve adequately to convey 
 the divine and spiritual things which divine revelation is 
 
 P. 1(52. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 299 
 
 designed to communicate : but it is easy to see that this 
 would be accomplished much more fully by the latter 
 method than by the former. If the Bible-history had 
 been a pure allegory throughout, destitute of a foundation 
 in actual ocurrences, it would long ago have been rejected 
 as a mer# fable. Men who had a knowledge of the science 
 of Analogies, as was the case in times of very remote anti- 
 quity, might have been equally benefited by a revelation 
 in the style of pure allegory as by one in the garb of true 
 but representative history ; and accordingly, to compose 
 such allegories was, in those distant ages, a customary 
 mode, perhaps the only one, of imparting instruction : 
 but when the key for the decyphering of such composi- 
 tions was lost ; when the human mind had become of so 
 gross a character as scarcely to regard any thing as real 
 beyond the objects of sense ; had no divine revelation 
 been extant but a purely allegorical one, it would soon 
 have been entirely neglected and have fallen into oblivion. 
 The spiritual sense being unknown and the literal sense 
 perceived to be unreal, the whole would have been deem- 
 ed unworthy of attention. To obviate this mischief, 
 means were provided by Divine Providence, for uniting 
 the advantages of pure allegory with those of true history. 
 In the darkest night of human degeneracy, when man was 
 incapable of any direct perception of heavenly things, and 
 wholly immersed in the carnal part of his nature, Divine 
 Goodness, by selecting a nation which was more entirely 
 of this character than any other, — " a stiff-necked people," 
 — to represent those things which they were incapable of 
 interiorly perceiving and feeling, brought divine subjects 
 into their most extreme and lowest natural form. By 
 causing the Holy Word to be written at this time, and to 
 treat in its literal sense of the transactions of this people, 
 its Divine Author gave to the revelation of divine things a 
 fixity of character, of which it could not otherwise have 
 been made susceptible : he laid for it a foundation in the 
 
300 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 lowest possible base, as the means of rendering it the most 
 securely permanent. He thus conjoined even nature in its 
 extreme circumference and uttermost boundary with him- 
 self, and provided the means of extending divine instruc- 
 tion to the most debased of mankind. A revelation thus 
 circumstanced acquired external evidence in addition to 
 the internal. The Jews are to this day witnesses to us of 
 the truth of the leading facts of the Scripture history, and 
 of the belief of their ancestors, that it was given by inspi- 
 ration. Thus, even though the deep wisdom which the 
 Divine Word inwardly contains has been unknown, it has 
 generally been received as of divine origin : it has been 
 reverenced as holy ; and hence the important truths which 
 are in many places extant in the letter have been pressed 
 with authority upon the mind and heart. It doubtless, 
 also, is true, that whilst even the bare historical circum- 
 stances are read with an acknowledgment of the divine 
 origin of the record, the mind is disposed to a holy frame, 
 which is a plane for the insemination of spiritual graces ; 
 as the performance of the representative worship of the 
 Jews had a similar effect on the well-disposed among that 
 people. 
 
 This then was the main object of the calling of the in- 
 dividual nation of the Israelites, and « of making them the 
 subjects and depositaries of divine communications. This 
 singular people was in fact selected, to exhibit, in a sensi- 
 ble manner, for the instruction of all the generations of 
 men that may ever exist on this globe, the consequences 
 with which both the obedience and disobedience of the 
 divine laws are necessarily attended ; and at the same time 
 to picture, with the utmost exactness, all the changes of 
 state that the church at large, or its individual epitome, 
 man, can ever experience. That people in particular was 
 selected for this purpose, not because they were themselves 
 at all more the objects of divine favour than any other 
 nation, but because their genius and temper were such, that 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 301 
 
 they were more capable than any other people of being made 
 the mediums of representing, under external symbols and 
 natural occurrences, all the things and subjects which Di- 
 vine Wisdom desires to reveal to man. 
 
 The disposition of the Jews to multiply ceremonial ob- 
 servances beyond what was required of them, and to sub- 
 stitute these for the morals enjoined by the law of God, is 
 noticed in the gospel : u The Pharisees, and all the Jews, 
 except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tra- 
 dition of the elders : and when they come from the market, 
 except they wash, they eat not ; and many other things 
 there be which they have received to hold, as the washing 
 of cups and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables. — Laying 
 aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of 
 men, as the washing of pots and cups : and many other 
 such like things ye do."* So, whoever has looked into 
 the works which describe the manners and customs of the 
 Jews, or into the writings of the Rabbins, .must have been 
 struck with the tendency to minute observances, even re- 
 garding things the most indifferent and insignificant, which 
 they every where exhibit : he must also have been surprised 
 at the subtlety with which they discover, even in u the 
 weightier matters of the law," some fancied precept for 
 some outward observance, and the dexterity with which 
 they substitute the latter for the former. f It is evident, 
 also, that they have partaken of this character ever since 
 they were a people, and that this gave occasion to some of 
 the rites with which the dispensation, of which they were 
 the subjects, was loaded. u I spake not unto your fathers," 
 says the Lord by the prophet, " nor commanded them, in 
 the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, 
 concerning burnt-offerings and sacrifices ; but this thing I 
 commanded them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be 
 
 * Mark vii. 3, 4, 8. 
 
 t For full proof of this assertion, and for some remarkable illustrations of 
 the Jewish character, see Appendix. No. V*. 
 
302 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 your God, and ye shall be my people, and walk ye in all 
 the ways that I have commanded you : But they hearkened 
 not,"* &c. So, in reference to their conduct in the wil- 
 derness, the Lord says by another prophet, " Because they 
 had not executed my judgments, but had despised my sta- 
 tutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were 
 after their fathers' idols :" — which words clearly imply 
 that they did not regard the interior things of religion, 
 but were idolaters at heart ; " wherefore," it is added, " I 
 gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments 
 whereby they should not live ;"f referring to the ceremo- 
 nial observances, which have no sanctifying efficacy of 
 themselves, being representative types, only, of holy things> 
 but not identical with them. 
 
 Now this disposition of that people to neglect essentials 
 and to cleave to formalities, if it disqualified them from 
 constituting an interior church themselves, eminently 
 adapted them to be made the representatives of such a 
 church, and to have their affairs overruled, so as to be sub- 
 servient to such representation. Nor is there any room to 
 object, that such control was* incompatible with their free 
 agency and moral responsibility, when this their gross 
 temper and superficial disposition is regarded. The ac- 
 tions of the Jews would no doubt have been of the same 
 general character as they were, had they not been subject- 
 ed to such a controlling influence as we are supposing ; 
 for they were, in fact, very similar to those of other half- 
 civilized nations and tribes : and how easy must it be to 
 the Divine Providence, working as it were upon the general 
 tendencies of men of this description, as upon materials 
 prepared to its hands, to give such a direction to the speci- 
 fic actions resulting from those tendencies, as was necessary 
 to induce on them the form which its purposes required ! 
 Under any circumstances, the persons mentioned in the 
 
 * Jer. vii. 22, 23, 24. t Kzek. xx. 24, 25. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 803 
 
 Bible as doing good or bad actions, would have done good 
 and bad actions : the exact form, only, of the actions, being 
 the result of the circumstances in which they were placed. 
 It is common with philosophical minds to amuse them- 
 selves with thinking, how certain individuals would have 
 acted under certain circumstances : but few suppose that 
 different circumstances would have changed their charac- 
 ter altogether, though they would have differently modi- 
 fied its developements. There is then no difficulty in con- 
 ceiving how the Divine Providence could overrule the ac- 
 tions of a small nation, such as we are describing, but 
 more particularly of certain individuals in it, so as to ren- 
 der them exactly representative of the subjects which form 
 the proper matter of a divine revelation, without affecting 
 their inward states of mind as free and accountable agents. 
 All that was necessary to adapt the people for being thus 
 acted on, was, the negative quality of not being themselves 
 inwardly principled in the divine and spiritual things 
 which they were made the mediums of representing ; for 
 then it would have been impossible to separate their re- 
 presentative from their proper character, and none could 
 have sustained a holy representation without being holy 
 himself : and as in forming his proper character man is left 
 to his own freedom, it would thus have been impossible 
 that a series of representative persons could have been pro- 
 vided. But this was easy with a people disposed to rest 
 entirely in externals : with such, the external could be so 
 separated from the internal, that the vilest persons might 
 be made to represent the most holy things: and so entirely 
 were the Israelites of this character, that even the great 
 truth, that man lives after death, was not to them openly 
 revealed, and the rewards of obedience and punishments 
 of disobedience proposed to them were all such as were to 
 be experienced in this life only.* To have, in our actions, 
 
 * For summaries of the whole, see Lev. xxvi. and Dent, xxviii. 
 
304 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 a view to the life hereafter, opens and spiritualizes the 
 mind ; to have no view but to the life here, closes and ma- 
 terializes it : the nature of the Jewish mind, then, may ea- 
 sily be estimated, by the nature of the motives proposed to 
 them, which, we may be sure, were the highest that they 
 were able to appreciate : and external motives, though not 
 such as will introduce into the mind heavenly graces, are 
 best adapted to induce such conduct as will represent them. 
 
 Such then is the character of the whole of the Israelitish 
 history, as recorded in the Scriptures. From one end to the 
 other, it is representative and typical of spiritual things ; 
 the affairs of that people having been constantly overruled 
 by Divine Providence for this purpose. Their history 
 may in fact be considered as a grand divine drama, the 
 first scene of which commences with the calling of Abra- 
 ham, and the last concludes with the destruction of Jeru- 
 salem by the Romans. All their patriarchs and. kings, 
 priests and prophets, and indeed the whole people, were 
 the actors in this wonderful drama ; and the characters 
 represented were the Lord Jesus Christ, as to all that he 
 performed and suffered for the redemption of mankind, 
 and all the states through which he passed to union with 
 the Father ; — his Church in all the steps of her progress 
 from carnal to celestial; and the individual'member of the 
 church through all the stages of his corresponding ad- 
 vancement: and every thing which creates opposition is at 
 the same time shewn, — the obstacles to be overcome, and 
 the lapses to be dreaded, as well as the blessings to be ob- 
 tained. 
 
 This certainly is a view of the design of the selection of 
 the Israelites as a peculiar people, which fully exonerates 
 the Father of the universe from the charge of partiality 
 towards one family of his creatures over the rest, and truly 
 shews that they were not chosen for their own sakes, but 
 that, as was promised to Abraham, through them all the 
 families of the earth might be blessed ; a promise which 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 305 
 
 indeed refers, primarily, to the birth of the Word Incar- 
 nate among that nation, bnt which is also applicable to the 
 gift of the written Word communicated by their means. 
 This view of the subject furnishes, in addition, a complete 
 answer to the objection which demands, " If the Jews were 
 really chosen of God, in preference to all other people, how 
 comes it to pass that they were not better than all other 
 people ?" since, if they were not chosen to form a real in- 
 ternal church, composed of heavenly-minded worshippers 
 of God, but only to represent a church of such worshippers, 
 then individual sanctity was not particularly to be looked 
 for among them, and their private characters had no more 
 necessary connexion with the things represented by them, 
 than has the private character of an actor on the stage with 
 that of the prince or hero whom he personifies. In short, 
 every objection which can be raised against the calling of 
 the Israelites, and against the divine inspiration of their 
 history, is entirely removed by this view of the subject, as 
 will be further seen in our next Lecture : and perhaps I 
 may be allowed to express my own convictions by saying, 
 that certain I am, that whoever will candidly study the 
 Jewish character and history, both as recorded in the 
 Scriptures and as presented in the writings of their Rab- 
 bins, will find ample reason to conclude that this view is 
 the true one. The Mosaic dispensation was given, as the 
 Apostle affirms, "because of transgressions;"* — because 
 such was the gross character of that people, and, indeed, 
 such was the state of the whole of mankind in those ages, 
 before the work of redemption was accomplished, that a 
 dispensation in which spiritual things were openly reveal- 
 ed could not have been received, or would have been im- 
 mediately profaned: and it was given, as is declared in the 
 same place, " till the seed should come to whom the pro- 
 mise was made ;" that is, as had been explained before, to 
 
 1 Gal. iii. 1!>. \ » 
 
 39 , '   
 
306 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 fill up the intermediate period till the coming of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, who was to found a spiritual dispensation. 
 And not merely a transient, but a permanent benefit was 
 conferred on mankind by these means. The dispensation 
 given to the Israelites was full of " patterns (or types) of 
 ^things in the heavens ;"* which are replete with the sub- 
 limest instruction when their antitypes are understood : 
 and the very history of the people who were the subjects 
 of this representative dispensation became representative 
 too, depicting to the enlightened observer every thing that 
 can be experienced in the spiritual life. This also the 
 Apostle teaches : " All these things happened unto them 
 for ensamples ; and they are written for our admonition, 
 upon whom the ends of the world are come."f We have 
 seen before, that all who accept the Scriptures at all, are 
 constrained to allow a great number of their historical re- 
 lations to have a typical, representative, and spiritual 
 meaning : we have seen also, that if we allow the Word 
 of God to have a spiritual sense in some parts, we must, to 
 make it consistent with itself, allow the same in all : and 
 the view now presented shews how this may be the case in 
 the divine narrations, consistently with the reality of the 
 historical events, agreeably with the attributes belonging 
 both to the nature of God and the nature of man, and in 
 accordance with the laws of that Analogy which must al- 
 ways govern the connexion between natural things and 
 spiritual, between the world and its Maker, and between 
 the literal expression and divine import of every composi- 
 tion which has God for its Author. 
 
 III. Having presented these views of the true nature of 
 the Scripture history, we are now to offer a few examples 
 of the applicability of the Science of Analogies to its in- 
 terpretation. 
 
 * Heb.ix.23. t I Cor. x. 11. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 307 
 
 1. The first instance which we select is that of the mi- 
 raculous capture of Jericho, on the entrance of the Israel- 
 ites into the promised land. 
 
 (1.) Among the objections which have been raised 
 against the Scriptures as containing a revelation from 
 God, and against the idea that the Jews were, in any man- 
 ner, the elect people of God, none has been more insisted 
 upon than that drawn from the extermination by them of 
 the Canaanites, executed, as it would appear, by the ex- 
 press command of God. This has been held up to execra- 
 tion, by the Deists, in the strongest terms, as a measure of 
 the most enormous cruelty and most indefensible injustice : 
 it was a measure, they affirm, which a God deserving of 
 reverence could never authorize, and a people entitled to 
 esteem could never execute. But great as is the clamour 
 which has been raised against this part of the Bible histo- 
 ry, there is no part of it which has been defended by the 
 Christian advocates with more powerful arguments : their 
 success, indeed, in most respects, has here been quite tri- 
 umphant. As they have shewn, jf vice ever deserves pun- 
 ishment, then most justly was punishment inflicted on the 
 Canaanites. If the infliction of punishment can ever be a 
 measure of mercy, then was mercy displayed in the extir- 
 pation of that race : for if the contagion of vice is more 
 deadly in its results than the contagion of disease ; and if, 
 to arrest the latter, it is a beneficent act to interdict all 
 communication between an infected city and the surround- 
 ing country, though the consequence may be the death of 
 most of its inhabitants ; then was it an act of goodness, on 
 the part of the Supreme Disposer, entirely to cut off a na- 
 tion which set examples of the most flagitious criminality 
 to all around, and all whose posterity (surely we may 
 allow Divine Omniscience to know this !) would only 
 have grown up to add inhabitants to the kingdom of dark- 
 ness. Supposing, too, that any who were less criminal 
 suffered ; it is to be recollected, that, if a man is immor- 
 
308 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 tal, the death of the body is by no means the greatest 
 calamity which can befal him : it is even reasonable to be- 
 lieve, what the Scriptures intimate, that death is often a 
 kind dispensation ; that, among the wicked, they are some- 
 times removed " in whom there is found some good thing 
 towards the Lord God of Israel,"* and that H the righteous 
 is taken away from the evil to come."f It were as rea- 
 sonable then to blaspheme the Divine Power which suffer- 
 ed Herculaneum to be overflowed with burning lava, Lis- 
 bon to be swallowed up by an earthquake, and the Caribs 
 and other nations of the West Indies to be exterminated 
 by the Spaniards ; and which permits thousands of per- 
 sons to be annually destroyed in Barbary and Turkey by 
 the plague, and a third part, or more, of the human race 
 to perish in infancy ; as to revile the Divine Word in 
 which is recorded the destruction of the Canaanites by the 
 sword of the children of Israel. Christian advocates ad- 
 mit, and have convincingly shewn, that there is here an 
 analogy between the Word of God and his works : and if 
 we would deny the God of Scripture for sanctioning the 
 extirpation of a most abandoned nation, (who, however, 
 were by no means completely extirpated, after all,) we 
 must deny the God of nature for permitting such multi- 
 tudes, not only of the wicked but of the good, to perish 
 by war and murder, by shipwreck and famine, by the 
 convulsions of nature and the visitations of disease. 
 
 Put though it is perfectly easy to vindicate the Divine 
 Justice in the destruction of the Cannaanites, whether 
 effected by the sword or by any other means, some diffi- 
 culty, certainly, still attends the transaction, while the 
 nation to which the execution of it was committed is sup- 
 posed to have been a nation of saints. The extirpation of 
 the wicked, when their wickedness has arrived at its sum- 
 mit, may be a measure of necessity : but I apprehend that 
 
 * 1 Kings xiv. 13. \ Isu. lvii. 1. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 309 
 
 men whose minds are imbued with real religion, — whose 
 hearts are modelled by the spirit which says, u Love your 
 enemies ; bless them that curse you ; do good to them 
 that hate you ; and pray for them which despiteful! y use 
 you and persecute you ;"* would revolt from a task of un- 
 relenting slaughter. How much better, then, are the diffi- 
 culties of this transaction solved, by the view of the cha- 
 racter of the Jewish nation, and of the design of their 
 election, which has been given above ! 
 
 So again, though the justice of the measure of extirpat- 
 ing the Canaanites is easily vindicated, yet some difficulty 
 still attaches to it while it is regarded as flowing from the 
 pure will of God, and the executioners are supposed to 
 have been the peculiar objects of his favour. The true 
 character of the objects of divine favour, and that of their 
 God, are brought openly to light in the Gospel ; and 
 there, if we learn that the disciples of pure religion are 
 u to love their enemies, to bless them that curse them, to 
 do good to them that hate them, and to pray for them 
 who despitefully use and persecute them ;" we learn also, 
 that they are to do this, u that they may be the children 
 of their Father which is in heaven ; for he maketh his sun 
 to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the 
 just and on the unjust. "f The testimony of the Old Tes- 
 tament, when it describes the divine character as it is in 
 itself, not, as is frequently the case, as it appears to the ap- 
 prehension of gross and wicked minds, is to the same effect : 
 u As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of 
 the wicked ;"f " He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve 
 the children of men."§ Accordingly, it is never supposed 
 that the pains of the wicked in hell will be inflicted by 
 angels of light, but by spirits of darkness : certainly, no- 
 thing that requires spirits of darkness for its actors, how- 
 ever indispensable in the Divine Economy, can be posi- 
 
 * Matt. v. 44. f Matt. v. 45. j Ezek.xxxiii.il. *§ Lam. iii. 33. 
 
310 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 tively agreeable to the Fountain of Good : of course, nei- 
 ther could the Israelites, when destroying wicked nations, 
 and thus doing the work of the spirits of darkness, be 
 absolutely the objects of divine approbation. All suffer- 
 ing, even when inflicted as the punishment of evil, must 
 then be of divine permission, not directly of divine will. 
 What the Divine Being wills in it, must be, the preserva- 
 tion of the good, and restraint upon the perpetration of 
 evil : and as these objects cannot be accomplished without 
 the infliction of punishment upon the wicked, this is per- 
 mitted, as a matter of necessity, though not of itself pleas- 
 ing to the Divine Nature. This view, founded upon the 
 plainest Scripture authority, is surely as liberal as any can 
 desire, except those who would confound all distinctions of 
 right and wrong, and would rather have happiness attach- 
 ed as a reward to evil than to good. 
 
 But is it asked, How can these ideas be reconciled with 
 the commands so positively laid upon the Israelites to de- 
 stroy the Canaanites, and enforced by threats of punish- 
 ment on themselves if they omitted it ? The view which 
 has been given above, of the manner in which the Divine 
 Truth, emanating from the bosom of Deity, presents itself 
 in the world of nature, solves the enigma, and clears the 
 subject from all remaining difficulty. Divine Truth, we 
 have seen, clothes itself in the world, not only with images 
 taken from exterior nature, but with the ideas proper to 
 the mind of man as an inhabitant of the natural world ; 
 frequently, indeed, with ideas which only belong to him 
 in the merest state of nature. Hence the necessity of dis- 
 tinguishing between those parts of the letter of the Divine 
 Word, which are expressed according to appearances only, 
 and those parts in which the genuine truth is exhibited, as 
 noticed in our second Lecture :* and it will always appear 
 to man in a mere state of nature, and who judges by his 
 
 * P. 80,81. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 311 
 
 senses without elevating his rational faculty into a less falla- 
 cious light, that all suffering, as well as all good, flows 
 from the immediate will of God. Hence in the letter of 
 the Word of God,, which in many parts is expressed ac- 
 cording to the ideas of such persons, some things will seem 
 to be of command that are only of permission. In the 
 spiritual sense, which is in a sphere above the letter, resides 
 the genuine truth : but when this descends into the lower 
 sphere in which are the thoughts of man in his natural 
 state, it there puts on an appearance different from its pro- 
 per one, and assumes a conformity with his state and ideas. 
 Thus, in the literal sense of the Word, many things are said, 
 and even some practices are permitted, in which the ideas 
 of Divine TrutH, and the laws of Divine Order, are ac- 
 commodated to the gross state of apprehension in which 
 the Jews were, among whom, and by whom as instruments, 
 the Word of the Old Testament was written. This is not 
 an unauthorized assertion, but is expressly taught by the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. When, in answer to the inquiry by 
 the Pharisees, whether it is lawful for a man to put away 
 his wife for every cause, he had laid down the divine law 
 respecting the indissoluble nature of the marriage union, 
 they, in reference to Deut. xxiv. 1, said to him, u Why did 
 Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement and 
 to put her away ?" — to which he answered, u Moses, be- 
 cause of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put 
 away your wives : but from the beginning it was not so."* 
 He had delivered the same doctrine on a former occasion, 
 and had illustrated it, not only by the case of divorce, but 
 of several other things, permitted, and, apparently, com- 
 manded, in the Mosaic law. Thus, in reference to Lev. 
 xix. 12, and Deut. xxiii. 23, he says, " Ye have heard 
 that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not 
 forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine 
 
 » * Matt. xix. 7, P. 
 
312 PLENARY INSPIRATION OT 
 
 oaths : but I say unto you, Swear not at all,"* &c. So, in 
 regard to the law of retaliation, laid down in Lev. xxiv. 
 19, 20, he says, " Ye have heard that it hath been said, 
 An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth : but I say unto 
 you, that ye resist not evil,"f &c. Hence, and from other 
 examples, it is evident, that there are enactments in the 
 Mosaic code, which, in their external form, are not of di- 
 vine will, but only of divine permission, notwithstanding 
 their being delivered in the form of commands. Divine 
 Truth adapted itself to " the hardness of men's hearts," 
 and to the grossness of their ideas, in regard to many 
 things, which " from the beginning were not so," — which, 
 if they followed the order designed by the Creator when 
 he founded the creation, would be quite otherwise. Of 
 this nature, certainly, is the liberty which nations arrogate 
 of engaging in mortal conflict. We are permitted at the 
 present day, and the Jews were apparently commanded, 
 to slaughter others in the war : but this also " from the 
 beginning was not so :" it was one of the concessions made 
 to the Jews " because of the hardness of their hearts," 
 and which we claim a right to act upon to a certain extent, 
 because of the hardness of ours. 
 
 None of these things, however, are enjoined upon man- 
 kind, even in appearance, under the spiritual dispensation 
 of the gospel ; nor would they have been enjoined upon 
 the Jews, and recorded in the Word of God, had they 
 been the subjects of any but a representative dispensation. 
 Such ordinances were prescribed to them, because, though 
 not holy or even good in themselves, they were exactly 
 symbolic of things truly spiritual and divine. Thus, had 
 not that nation been selected to represent the subjects con- 
 nected with man's welfare as a spiritual being and an heir 
 of eternity, we should never have heard of their extermi- 
 nating the Canaanites by divine command : they might 
 
 *Ch. v. 33,34. tVer. 38, 3!». 
 
 I t 
 
 i 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 313 
 
 probably have done so in the general course of events, and 
 as other conquerors have frequently subjugated, and in 
 great part destroyed, other nations : but we should never 
 have been told that they acted by divine authority. Eve- 
 ry thing that takes place in human affairs, being under the 
 control of Divine Providence, may, so far, be said to be 
 done by divine authority : here, however, we are certain, 
 that much is done which is not of the divine will, though 
 nothing can occur without the divine permission. That 
 guidance of Providence, then, which in general is tacit 
 and secret, was, in the case of the Israelites, open and 
 avowed, only because their affairs were so directed as to 
 be made symbolic of heavenly things. Thus they were 
 not only tacitly led to execute the judgments upon the 
 Canaanites, as the northern nations were led to overrun 
 and destroy the corrupt Roman Empire, and as the Turks 
 were led to destroy the equally corrupt empire of the 
 Greeks, but a direction to that effect was given them by 
 divine authority, because it was seen by Infinite Wisdom, 
 that the whole might be so overruled as to be representa- 
 tive of spiritual things of the greatest importance. But, 
 as observed above, the act of destroying can never in itself 
 be pleasing to the God of love, nor can the actors be the 
 peculiar objects of his favour : when therefore the Israel- 
 ites are charged to do such things, and are promised bless- 
 ings (temporal blessings, observe,) in consequence, it is 
 solely because they here, as every where else, are carrying 
 on the business of the grainl'drama of which they were 
 the appointed performers. It was the things represented, 
 not those executed, which were the objects really regard- 
 ed with approbation by the Lord. The external acts ob- 
 tained for the Jews a transient abode in the earthly Ca- 
 naan ; but such of them as received an inheritance in the 
 heavenly Canaan obtained it by very different means. 
 This is only to be acquired by the things represented : and 
 every Christian must do in reality vtfhal the extermination 
 40 
 
314 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 of the Canaanites outwardly symbolized, before he can be 
 established in that heavenly kingdom, of which a land 
 flowing with milk and honey is, by analogy, an expressive 
 representative. 
 
 Although then, in the main, the extermination of the 
 Canaanites has been successfully justified by many Chris- 
 tian advocates, yet a higher view of the subject than has 
 usually been taken is necessary to remove all the difficul- 
 ties of the case : but all remaining difficulties are most 
 completely removed, when the true character of the Is- 
 raelitish nation, and of the code of Divine Truth of which 
 they were the subjects, is distinctly apprehended ; when 
 it is seen that that nation was selected to represent, only, 
 the states which belong to the spiritual life, without being 
 principled in that life themselves ; and that every circum- 
 stance of their history has a representative application. 
 
 (2.) To this account of the command given to the Israel- 
 ites to destroy the Canaanites, we will add a general state- 
 ment of its spiritual signification. By a most obvious 
 analogy, natural foes are expressive symbols of spiritual 
 ones ; and spiritual foes are not only the unseen powers of 
 darkness, but the tendencies to evil and error which lurk 
 in the corrupt heart of man, — all the vile lusts and decep- 
 tive persuasions which he is prone to indulge and cherish. 
 It is against these that the Lord Jesus Christ warns us, 
 when he says, " A man's foes shall be those of his own 
 household :" # for these words do not merely refer to the 
 collisions of opinion, and the animosities on that account, 
 which might be expected to arise in families upon the pro- 
 mulgation of the gospel ; but to the discoveries it would 
 make of the corruptions of the human heart, and to the 
 conflict of feelings which man would experience, in conse- 
 quence, within his own breast. That the Israelitish peo- 
 ple were types of the true members of the church, and of 
 
 * Matt. x. 36. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 315 
 
 the principles which make men such, has been generally 
 acknowledged, and cannot be denied after the statement of 
 the Apostle, quoted in our second Lecture.* The same 
 sentiment is also recognized on various occasions by the 
 Lord Jesus Christ ; as when he calls Nathaniel, on account 
 of his guileless sincerity, " an Israelite indeed. "f Such 
 being the signification of the Jews or Israelites, it follows, 
 that that of their enemies must be the contrary, — that they 
 must represent all that is opposite to, and destructive of, 
 the sacred principles which constitute man a member of 
 the church ; and that is, all evil and all religious error. 
 This then must be the general signification of the Canaan- 
 ites : they must denote the corrupt tendencies and senti- 
 ments which occupy the mind of man, before it is new 
 modelled by the principles of true religion ; and the com- 
 mand to extirpate them must be meant to affirm the neces- 
 sity of removing the former before the latter can be estab- 
 lished in security. This analogy is so plain, that its gene- 
 ral features have been seen by many of the expositors ; 
 though, for want of a regular key of interpretation, they 
 usually err when they descend to particulars : it has even 
 been rendered popular through the medium of poetry ; as 
 in the following lines. Taking Joshua as a type of the 
 Saviour, the poet, after speaking of being brought to 
 " Canaan's bounds," proceeds thus: 
 
 " I see an open door of hope ; 
 
 Legions of sins in vain oppose : 
 Bold, I, with thee, my head, march up, 
 
 And triumph o'er a world of foes. — 
 Lo ! the tall sons of Anak rise ! 
 
 Who can the sons of Anak meet ? 
 Captain ! to thee I lift mine eyes, 
 
 And lo ! they fall beneath my feet. 
 Passion, and appetite, and pride, 
 
 (Pride, my old, dreadful, tyrant foe,) 
 I Hee cast down on every side ; 
 
 And, conquering, I to conquer go." 
 
 P- 57. f John i. 47. 
 
316 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 Who can avoid being struck with the truth of the analogy 
 thus pointed out, and who can help being affected with its 
 beauty ? And is not the utility of it equally evident ? 
 Every one who knows any thing of that wonderful laby- 
 rinth, the human heart, must be aware, that the work of 
 removing its native waywardness and substituting in its 
 place steady principles of virtue, which is the work that 
 divines call regeneration, must include a great variety of 
 particulars, and must be attended with an immense multi- 
 tude of indescribable emotions ; — indescribable, that is, in 
 any other language than that of analogy. What other 
 style of composition could be invented, which should in- 
 telligibly delineate the innumerable fluctuations and vicis- 
 situdes of state, which, in the progress of such an opera- 
 tion, must be experienced ? The best devised arrangement 
 of abstract terms that could be framed for the purpose, 
 would only appear a confused jumble of endless repeti- 
 tions. But construct an allegory to describe it : represent 
 it under a series of historical circumstancess occurring to 
 a variety of persons all invested with a typical character ; 
 and we easily see that the object may be accomplished. 
 That Infinite Wisdom which is c£ acquainted with all our 
 ways,"* and which M knoweth the secrets of the heart ;"f 
 that Omnipotent God who alone can t; take the stony 
 heart out of our flesh and give us a heart of flesh, "J and 
 who alone knoweth all the mysteries of our spiritual as 
 well as of our natural creation ;§ he has described the 
 work in the divinely inspired account of the deliverance 
 of the children of Israel from Egypt and their establish- 
 ment in Canaan : and by actually leading that people 
 through a series of adventures exactly representative of 
 the stages through which man is led to salvation, he has 
 given to the pliability of allegory the solidity of historical 
 fact. With the mere circumstances of the war, then, between 
 
 * Fe. cxxxix. 3. t Ps. xliv. 21. \ Ezek. xi. 19. § Vs. cxxxix. 14, 15. 16. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 317 
 
 the Canaanites and the Israelites, we have nothing to do : 
 nothing is here proposed for our imitation : but the true 
 moral of the history is instructive indeed ; and we ought 
 to be eternally grateful that it has been written for our 
 benefit. 
 
 (3.) With this idea of the war of the Israelites against 
 the former inhabitants of Canaan, we shall easily form a 
 general conception of the import of the miraculous capture 
 of Jericho. The following are the principal circumstances 
 of the event, as related in the sixth chapter of Joshua : 
 U The Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thy 
 hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men 
 of valour. And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of 
 war, and go round about the city, once. Thus shalt thou 
 do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark 
 seven trumpets of rams' horns : and the seventh day ye 
 shall compass the city seven times ; and the priests shall 
 blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that 
 when they make a long blast with the rams' horn, and 
 when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people 
 shall shout with a great shout : and the wall of the city 
 shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up, every 
 man straight before him." # This is the command of the 
 Lord to Joshua, who repeats it, a little more particularly, 
 to the priest and people. Care was also taken that all the 
 people, except the priests who blew the trumpets, should 
 march in silence for the first six days : for u Joshua had 
 commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not. shout, nor 
 make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word 
 proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout: 
 then shall ye shout. "f The procession thus moved round 
 the city, once each day, for the first six days. " And it 
 came to pass, on the seventh day, that they rose early 
 about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city se- 
 
 * Vcr. 2 to 5. f Ver. 10. 
 
318 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 ven times : only on that day, compassed they it seven 
 times. And it came to pass, on the seventh time, when 
 the priests blew witli the trumpets, Joshua said unto the 
 people, Shout ! for the Lord hath given you the city. 
 And the city shall be accursed, even it and all that are 
 therein, to the Lord : only Rahab the harlot shall live, 
 she and all that are with her in the house, because she re- 
 ceived the messengers that we sent. And ye, in any wise 
 keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make 
 yourselves accursed when ye take of the accursed thing, 
 and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. But 
 all the silver and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are 
 consecrated to the Lord; they shall come into the treasury 
 of the Lord. So the people shouted when the priests blew 
 with the trumpets. And it came to pass, when the people 
 heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted 
 with a great shout, that the wall of the city fell down flat, 
 so that the people went up into the city, every man straight 
 before him : and they took the city."* 
 
 Surely every one who believes that this miracle was re- 
 ally performed, must feel that subjects of universal appli- 
 cation must be represented under its various circumstances; 
 that, grand and magnificent as the literal facts are, yet, if 
 no other end was designed to be accomplished by it than 
 the capture of Jericho and the destruction of its inhabit- 
 ants, it never would have been performed by an exertion 
 of Divine Power, nor recorded in the Word of Divine 
 Wisdom. The crimes of nations render it necessary that 
 they should be visited by the scourge of war in our days 
 as well as in the days of Joshua, of which the world has 
 of late years had sad experience : but though the hand of 
 Providence is still often strikingly manifested in the sur- 
 prising turns and seeming accidents by which the event of 
 battles or sieges, embracing the fate of empires, is frequent- 
 
 * V«r. 15 to 20. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 319 
 
 ly decided, yet no results are obtained without the action 
 of causes which have at least something like a direct ten- 
 dency to produce them. When therefore, in the case be- 
 fore us, we see such great effects produced by means ap- 
 parently so totally inadequate, we may be satisfied that the 
 whole must have some interior signification, and that it 
 must have been in consequence of their answering to spi- 
 ritual things by analogy, that the natural events took place. 
 Had, also, nothing been intended but to exhibit a signal 
 proof of Divine Power, the city might as well have been 
 destroyed by raining upon it fire and brimstone from hea- 
 ven, as is related of Sodom: but then the occurrence would 
 not have told the particular lesson designed, of which all 
 the accompanying circumstances were essential parts. 
 
 Among all the emblems employed in the representative 
 worship of the Israelitish church, the ark was the most 
 holy and exalted. Several other great miracles are re- 
 corded to have been wrought by its presence, one of which 
 was noticed in our third Lecture: and the reason that such 
 power attended it was, because it was the symbol of the 
 Divine Presence, and thus of the Lord himself, as dwelling 
 in his church, and in the inmost centre of the soul of every 
 true member of the church universal. How can the Lord's 
 presence be thus effected with finite creatures, but by a 
 sphere or emanation proceeding from himself, analogous 
 to the sphere of heat and light proceeding from the sun of 
 nature, by which the sun is rendered virtually present, and 
 produces effects, in the earth ? We have seen in our last 
 Lecture, * that it must be by a sphere or emanation of Di- 
 vine Truth, proceeding forth as spiritual light, that per- 
 ceptions are communicated to the minds of intelligent crea- 
 tures, according to their respective natures and capacities: 
 and we have seen also, that it must have been by such a 
 proceeding sphere of Divine Truth, that the Word of God, 
 
 P. 158. &e. 
 
320 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 if any composition deserving that title exists, must have 
 been given. The Word of God, in its letter, is, in reality, 
 the sphere of Divine Truth thus proceeding from God fix- 
 ed and terminated in language taken from the objects of 
 nature ; and it is, also, the great medium by which the 
 Presence of God is effected in the world. The Divine Pre- 
 sence, then, thus produced, is what was represented by the 
 ark : and to impart to it this representation, there were 
 deposited in it the two tables of stone on which were writ- 
 ten, by the finger of God, as is said, or by a miraculous 
 divine operation, the commandments promulgated from 
 Mount Sinai ; these being the first fruits of the written 
 Word ; and not only the first fruits, but the substance of 
 the whole. The tables were two, because they prescribed 
 man's duty to God and his duty to his neighbour : these 
 were condensed into the two precepts, to love the Lord 
 above all things and our neighbour as ourselves : and 
 the Lord Jesus Christ declares, that " on these two 
 commandments hang all the law and the prophets."* 
 There evidently then is reason in Analogy for the ark's 
 being taken as a symbol of the Divine Presence with man 
 by the Divine Truth proceeding from himself: and that to 
 convey this representation was the express design with 
 which the ark was constructed, is evident from the instruc- 
 tions given to Moses on the occasion. Jehovah said to him, 
 " In the ark shalt thou put the testimony [the two tables 
 of the law] that I shall give thee. And there I will meet 
 thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy- 
 seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the 
 ark of the testimony, of all tilings which I will give thee 
 in commandment unto the children of Israel. "f That the 
 ark was intended to be a representative of the Divine 
 Presence, is clearly expressed in the words u there I will 
 meet thee ;" and that it was intended to be a representative 
 
   Mntt. mi. 40. | Ex. xxv. 31, 2*>. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. S2\ 
 
 of the Lord's presence in and by his Divine Truth, is 
 equally clear from its being added, " and I will commune 
 with thee — of all things which I will give thee in command- 
 ment unto the children of Israel ;" for it can only be by his 
 Divine Truth that the Lord communicates his will to man. 
 It is hoped then that the signification of the ark of the tes- 
 timony, as the symbol of the Divine Presence, and, speci- 
 fically, of the Divine Truth, must be sufficiently evi- 
 dent ; as also, that this was its meaning by appoint- 
 ment, and that there was a ground for that appointment in 
 Analogy. 
 
 Jericho was situated just at the entrance to the land of 
 Canaan : and as the land of Canaan represented the church, 
 Jericho, in a good sense, would represent the first state ex- 
 perienced on full admission into it, and, indeed, the prin- 
 ciple by which such admission is effected ; which is, in- 
 struction in doctrinal truths, accompanied with obedience 
 of life. But while the land of Canaan was occupied by 
 idolatrous nations, every place in it had a signification op- 
 posite to its genuine one : and, in this sense, Jericho re- 
 presented the disposition to resist instruction, by opposing 
 to it such sentiments as the corrupt tendencies of the human 
 heart incline the understanding to invent in their excuse. 
 The city itself, then, was the type of such doctrinal senti- 
 ments as resist or profane the pure doctrines of the Church; 
 and its wall signifies such false persuasions and confirmations 
 by fallacious arguments as defend such false doctrine, and 
 prevent those who hold it from discerning the evidence of 
 truth. Every one must see the analogy between the argu- 
 ments by which a man defends his sentiments, and prevents 
 an adversary from depriving him of them, and the wall 
 that defends a city. As all such persuasions originate in 
 depraved lusts and appetites, however they may be glossed 
 over ; and as, in the time of judgment, the arguments with 
 which they are excused will not serve to defend them ; 
 41 
 
322 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 therefore the city was burnt with fire,* and its wall fell 
 down : for fire, as was shewn in our third Lecture, is the 
 proper symbol of love, either good or evil, but always, 
 when considered as to its destroying property, of evil love 
 or lust ; and the falling down of the wall expresses priva- 
 tion of all protection. The marching round the city, de- 
 notes the exploration of the quality of the principle repre- 
 sented by it ; and the action upon it of the sphere of Divine 
 Truth from the Lord was represented by the carrying 
 round of the ark, and the sounding of the trumpets before 
 it by the priests. The sounding of trumpets, in the repre- 
 sentative dispensation of the Jews, was a symbol, by an 
 obvious analogy, of the revelation, manifestation, commu- 
 nication, or bringing down, of the Divine Truth, from a 
 higher region towards a lower : the priests were represen- 
 tatives of whatever in man truly worships the Lord, which 
 is all that belongs to the true love of his name, and which, 
 of course, is the medium by which divine communica- 
 tions are received from him : the shouting of the people 
 expresses consent and confirmation on the part of the in- 
 ferior faculties. The reason why the priests were seven in 
 number, and why they went round the city seven days, and 
 seven times on the seventh day, is, because that number 
 signifies what is supremely holy, full, and complete. 
 
 Such, according to the sense resulting from the applica- 
 tion of the Rule of Analogies, are the general subjects con- 
 tained in this miracle : but perhaps this will be more clear- 
 ly seen, if we make a brief application of it to a state to be 
 experienced in individual regeneration. 
 
 We have before had occasion to notice the doctrine of 
 the Apostle Paul respecting the inward and outward, or in- 
 ternal and external man. These he treats as two distinct 
 regions of the mental constitution ; and he speaks of the 
 necessity of man's becoming " spiritually minded" as to 
 
 * Ver.24. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 323 
 
 both. But he describes a state in which the inward man 
 is opened, and replenished with " the things of the Spirit," 
 while the outer man, which he sometimes calls " the flesh," 
 still " lusteth against the spirit :" thus, placing himself in 
 the situation of such a person, he says, u I delight in the 
 law of God, after the inward man ; but I see another law 
 in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and 
 bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my 
 members."* Now this state seems to be that which is re- 
 presented by the Israelites, when they had arrived at the 
 entrance of Canaan. The law of God is revealed to the 
 spiritual Israelite in the wilderness, and is there made 
 " the law of his mind." He there also learns to bring his 
 outward conduct into conformity to it : for it is not to be 
 supposed that, when the Apostle speaks of the man <; who 
 delights in the law of God after the inward man," as cc see- 
 ing another law in his members, warring against the law 
 of his mind ;" and when he had before said, speaking in 
 this character, '• what I would, that I do not, but what I 
 hate, that I do ;"f he meant to sanction the shocking 
 casuistry of those who pretend, that immoral conduct is 
 compatible with inward holiness. Doubtless, even the 
 Jews were capable of, and many of them practised, good 
 outward moral conduct, in obedience to their law. But 
 the Apostle is not here speaking of actions, but of inclina- 
 tions : for he opens the subject with saying, " I had not 
 known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet : 
 but sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in 
 me all manner of concupiscence :"J he does not say, as he 
 would have clone, had he been speaking of actions, that it 
 wrought in him adultery, or theft, or the like. The law in 
 the members, then, is this concupiscence, — the evil incli- 
 nations that are seated in the external man. Nor can it be 
 supposed, when he says that he had not known these but 
 
 * Rom. vii. 22, 23. t Ver 15. j Ver. 7, 8. 
 
324 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 for the law, that he means to affirm that the law was the 
 cause of their existence : what he means is, that the law 
 made him sensible of their existence. But he that delights 
 in the law of God after the inward man, though he may 
 also have brought his outward conduct into conformity 
 with it, will not be fully established in the Lord's kingdom, 
 nor experience the enjoyments which attend it, till the law 
 in the members no longer wars against the law of his mind, 
 but there is one law for them both, and both find delight 
 in similar things : wherefore the Apostle exclaims, u 
 wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from this 
 body of death ?"* — meaning by the body, not the natural 
 body, but the external man, which is to the internal as the 
 body to the soul, and whose affections being opposite to 
 those of the internal, which is actuated by the spirit of life, 
 it is called " a body of death." This deliverance is capa- 
 ble of being effected under the spiritual dispensation of the 
 gospel, or by the Lord Jesus Christ ; as the same authori- 
 ty affirms when he adds, " I thank God through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord ;"f words which mean, in his elliptical 
 mode of expression, u I thank God, it is done through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord." He therefore subjoins immediately, 
 ° The law of the spirit of life, in Christ Jesus, hath made 
 me free from the law of sin and death. "J 
 
 This great work then, of the deliverance of man from 
 " the body of death," or from " the law of sin and death," 
 or from the concupiscences of the external man lusting 
 against the spirit, is What is described, in the spiritual 
 sense, by the extirpation of the Canaanites by the Israel- 
 ites, under the conduct of Joshua, who is an acknowledged 
 type of the Lord Jesus Christ : and since in spiritual as in 
 natural conflicts much depends upon a decisive first blow, 
 to represent this, the capture of Jericho, and its complete 
 destruction, were effected by so grand a miracle. In this 
 
 * Ver. 24. t Vcr. 25. \ Ch. viii. 2. . 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 325 
 
 individual application, the ark will represent the presence 
 of the Lord, by his Divine Truth, in the inmost of the 
 mind, — an abode for him having been formed there by the 
 application of the commandments of the Divine Word to 
 the regulation of the life, and by elevating them to the su- 
 preme seat in the affections, to reign with absolute sway ; 
 by making, in short, the divine law, " the law of the 
 mind." When this is effected, and this ark is carried 
 round, or its influence directed upon, the spiritual Jeri- 
 cho, — " the law in the members," — no defence can stand 
 before it. Care however must be taken that the action of 
 this battery be directed in the manner prescribed : the ark 
 must be carried round the city seven days, the priests must 
 go before, blowing the trumpets, and on the seventh day, 
 and not before, all the people must shout. The Christian 
 will often discover an evil propensity in his heart, and 
 wish it away, yet find it give him repeated cause to blush 
 and lament for his weakness. The reason is, because the 
 affections side with it too strongly ; because, though, from 
 a view of its corrupt nature presented by the understand- 
 ing, he fancies he wishes it away, the wish does not really 
 amount to a will ; at least, it falls short of that ardent de- 
 sire, accompanied by a sense of its intolerable hatefulness, 
 which must be felt, before it will yield either to his wishes 
 or his prayers, — before the influences of the holy ark can 
 be directed upon it with sufficient power to effect its down- 
 fal. This was indicated by the direction, that the priests 
 should go before the ark, blowing the trumpets : for, as 
 noticed before, by the priests was represented that inward 
 principle of love from which the Lord is worshipped; and 
 their blowing the trumpets is the manifestation of Divine 
 Truth, or, what amounts to the same, the communication 
 of an influx from the Lord by his Divine Truth within us, 
 when called down by love to Him, and the strongest desire 
 for the removal of every thing from the bosom which is 
 opposed to that love. But even this is not all that is re- 
 
325 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 quired. Love may be strong in the internal man; and yet 
 there may be obstacles in the way of its descent to encoun- 
 ter the evils below. All the lower principles which own 
 the influence of the internal must concur also ; and when 
 this is the case, nothing can resist it any longer. This 
 concurrence is represented by all the people's shouting a 
 great shout at the command of Joshua ; upon which " the 
 wall of the city fell down flat, and they went up, every 
 man straight before him, and they took the city." The 
 reason why the people were commanded not to shout soon- 
 er, was, because until Divine Truth, inspired by love, de- 
 scends in an orderly manner through the interiors to the 
 exteriors ; and until the desire is increased to that holy in- 
 tensity, and all the energies are called forth with that sa- 
 cred fulness, which the frequent repetition of the number 
 seven involves ; effort on the part of the exteriors — the 
 mere shouting of the people — would be unavailing : as, on 
 the other hand, Divine Truth inspired with desire in the 
 interiors is without power, till a corresponding state is 
 produced in the exteriors : but when both concur it is ir- 
 resistible. 
 
 These then are a portion of the truths conveyed by this 
 beautiful part of the Word of God, when the literal sense 
 is unlocked, by the key afforded by the fixed relation be- 
 tween natural things and spiritual. The analogies might 
 easily be made more conspicuous; but, as observed on for- 
 mer occasions, this would extend our discussions to a 
 greater length than most might be disposed to accompany 
 us : and if some leading ones are seen distinctly, this is 
 sufficient to establish the principle. Whether the doctrine 
 thus developed, though the same as is taught by the Apos- 
 tle, will be acceptable, may perhaps be doubted : it cer- 
 tainly exhibits the Christian warfare in a more serious light 
 than some may be willing to view it : but in a matter of 
 such deep importance the true question to be asked is, not 
 What do we wish ? but What is the truth ? How much 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 327 
 
 of the states here described will be perceptible to the ex- 
 perience of the advanced Christian^ we do not undertake 
 to say : doubtless, in the work of new-creating his heart 
 and mind, much must be transacted by the Divine Hand 
 in secret : but that the work is real, and will be conspicu- 
 ous in its effects, is declared by the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 when he says, " The wind bloweth where it listeth, and 
 thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence 
 it cometh nor whither it goeth : so is every one that is 
 born of the spirit. "* But if we know not what the Lord 
 doth with us now, we shall know hereafter :f it will form 
 a great subject of our meditations in the life hereafter: and 
 we ought to esteem it a high privilege, if, by obtaining the 
 true key to the interpretation of the Scriptures, we can be 
 instructed in some of its mysteries here. What the Apos- 
 tle has stated in general terms, in the passages noticed 
 above, is in this part of the Scriptures described as to all 
 its particulars: and whether we have appetites for the wis- 
 dom which may hence be learned, or not, we certainly 
 must allow that it is a species of wisdom worthy of God 
 to communicate, and which, if really couched under the 
 natural images afforded by the Israelitish history, renders 
 the affairs of that people worthy to have been directed by 
 God, and to have been written by his inspiration. 
 
 We will only add further on this subject, respecting the 
 miracle itself, that the views which have been offered 
 above give a rational account both of the reason why, and 
 the means by which, it was performed. It certainly would 
 never have taken place, had not the descendants of Israel 
 been appointed to act the part on the theatre of the world 
 which has been already described; that is, to represent, in 
 an external form, bearing no resemblance to the things re- 
 presented, and yet answering to them by an exact analogy, 
 such things and states as belong to heaven and the church, 
 
 * John iii. 8. 1 Chap. xiii. 7. 
 
328 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 and to the progress of man in the spiritual life. But 
 under such a dispensation, whenever means were employ- 
 ed corresponding to the spiritual operations of which they 
 were the types, suitable effects invariably followed : for, 
 though sometimes exhibiting themselves under the form of 
 extraordinary miracles, these effects were in reality the 
 necessary consequences of the means employed, flowing 
 from them according to the order of the relation between 
 spiritual things and natural, and being in fact as natural as 
 any of the ordinary operations of nature. The simple 
 means used for the capture of Jericho, — the carrying about 
 of the ark, the sounding of the trumpets by the priests, 
 and the shouting of the people, — being prescribed by a 
 Wisdom which knew how exactly they answered to cer- 
 tain spiritual operations, by which spiritual foes are dissi- 
 pated and their refuges destroyed, were followed by natu- 
 ral effects, bearing a precise analogy to these spiritual ones; 
 and the presence of a sphere of Divine Power was produc- 
 ed by them, against which a triple wall of brass would 
 have afforded no better protection to the city than its wall 
 of stone. 
 
 2. The next circumstance in the historical relations of 
 the Holy Word to which we are to direct our attention, 
 is the history of Jephthah and his rash vow, as it is com- 
 monly called, as related in the 11th ch. of the book of 
 Judges ; the principal circumstances of which are the fol- 
 lowing. 
 
 The neighbouring people of the Ammonites had overrun 
 the land of Gilead, or the part of the Israelitish country 
 which lay beyond Jordan, and had passed over Jordan, also, 
 to invade the land of Canaan itself; so that the nation was 
 reduced to a state of great distress. Jephthah, on being 
 elected to the command, in the first instance, endeavoured 
 to bring the Ammonites to reason by treaty: but his over- 
 tures being rejected, " Then (it is said) the Spirit of the 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 329 
 
 Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and 
 Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from 
 Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Am- 
 nion. And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and 
 said, If thou wilt without fail deliver the children of Am- 
 nion into my hands ; then it shall be, that whatsoever 
 cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when 
 I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall sure- 
 ly be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt-offer- 
 ing. "* However rash this vow might be, the piety of it, 
 according to the genius of those times, and of the Mosaic 
 dispensation, seems to have been acceptable : for he com- 
 pletely defeated the Ammonites, so that they u were sub- 
 dued before the children of Israel." And the sacred nar- 
 rative proceeds, u Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his 
 house : and behold, his daughter came out to meet him 
 with timbrels and with dances; and she was his only child. 
 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his 
 clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter ! thou hast brought 
 me very low ; thou art one of them that trouble me ; for I 
 have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go 
 back."f With the spirit of a Spartan heroine, she replied, 
 " My Father ! if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the 
 Lord, do unto me according to that which hath proceeded 
 out of thy mouth ; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken ven- 
 geance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of 
 Ammon. "J She requested however a respite of two 
 months ; to be spent in a solemn mourning for being cut 
 off from the world in her unmarried state ; for, according 
 to the ideas of those times, the circumstance of leaving no 
 issue was deemed a far greater evil than death itself. The 
 narrative concludes thus : " And it came to pass, at the 
 end of two months, that she returned unto her father: who 
 did with her according to his vow which he had vowed : 
 
 - Ver. 30, 31. | Ver. 33, 34, 35. f Ver. 36. 
 
 42 
 
330 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel, that 
 the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter 
 of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days in the year."* 
 
 There is no passage of the Holy Word, which has been 
 the subject of more controversy and discussion than this. 
 Infidel writers, assuming it to be the fact that Jephthah's 
 daughter was offered as a burnt sacrifice, have thought 
 that they have found in it a fair occasion for railing against 
 the volume in which it is narrated, and for denying the 
 * divine origin of either the Jewish or the Christian religion, 
 as containing, among the documents on which they rest, a 
 story so revolting to humanity. Expositors of Scripture, 
 also, have been greatly embarrassed with the narrative, 
 and have been divided into two great parties, the one 
 maintaining that the fair victim of what they both regard 
 as a rash vow, was actually put to death ; the other, that 
 she was only devoted to a life of pious celibacy. Both, 
 however, have conclusively shewn, that there is here no 
 room for the scoffs of the infidel, let the fact of her having 
 been put to death, or otherwise, have been as it might : 
 since, if such an execution was perpetrated, it was not done 
 in agreement with the divine precepts, but in flagrant vio- 
 lation of them,f and only proved that this Judge of Israel 
 was extremely ignorant of the Mosaic law ; and if he only 
 devoted her to the service of the tabernacle, he still dis- 
 played a want of knowledge of the Levitical code, in sup- 
 posing that he " could not go back" from his vow ; there 
 being an express provision that such vows might be com- 
 muted.]: But whatever of error there might have been in 
 the transaction, upon the supposition that the sacrifice 
 took place, there would be much in it, even then, that de- 
 mands admiration. If we understand it thus, what pure 
 patriotism, what |enerous filial love, is expressed in the 
 
 * Ver. 39, 40. t Lev. xviii. 21, Ch. xx. 2 to 5. Deut. xii. 20, 30, 'M . 
 
 $ Lev. xxvii. 1 to 8 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 331 
 
 young woman's answer, when the fatal tidings are com- 
 municated to her ! It is happiness enough for her, that 
 her country is rescued from its oppressors, and that her 
 father is the instrument of its deliverance ; she said, there- 
 fore, " My Father ! if thou hast opened thy mouth to the 
 Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded 
 out of thy mouth ; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken 
 vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of 
 Amnion. "* If she believed, when she uttered these words, 
 that she was to be put to death, certainly, neither Greece 
 nor Rome, with all the Leonidae and Decii, can furnish 
 an instance of sublimer self-devotion than this of Jeph- 
 thah's daughter. Had it occurred among those boasting 
 people, instead of the plain unvarnished tale of the sacred 
 historian, we should have had it pressed on our admira- 
 tion with all the pomp of eloquence. Nor would the 
 steady resolution, and deep paternal feeling, of Jephthah, 
 have passed unpraised. In fact it cannot be doubted, had 
 but he and his daughter been heathens, that the very per- 
 sons who now find in the transaction nothing but a pre- 
 tence for vilifying the Scriptures, would then have extol- 
 led the whole as exhibiting the finest examples of the most 
 noble constancy, the most disinterested virtue. Even the 
 mistaken views from which it could be supposed that such 
 a vow, or such a fulfilment of it could be acceptable to 
 the Supreme Being, would have been spoken of as merit- 
 ing our pity, not our contempt : and the immoveable re- 
 gard to principle, which in the father proceeded, and in 
 the daughter submitted, to so deplorable a catastrophe, 
 would have been thought to atone for any error of judg- 
 ment in forming that principle, and to exalt those who 
 were capable of it to the highest rank among the worthies 
 who have shed a lustre on the human race. 
 
 But though the praise of disinterested heroism cannot 
 
 * Judges xi. 36. 
 
332 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 be withheld either from the father or the (laughter, upon 
 the supposition that she was actually sacrificed, yet Chris- 
 tians in general have thought that the honour of religion 
 was compromised in the transaction, because Jephthah was 
 an instrument raised up by Providence for the deliverance 
 of Israel, and was divinely favoured as a commander and 
 judge ; and because no intimation is given in the history 
 that the vow was considered to be illegal, or was attended 
 with any divine disapprobation. But if the honour of re- 
 ligion depended on the blamelessness of the characters dis- 
 tinguished in the Israelitish history, it would be very diffi- 
 cult to maintain it indeed ; as there is scarcely one of them 
 whose conduct might be proposed, without reserve, for 
 the imitation of the Christian. To the best of them, as 
 remarked above, on the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 many things were permitted, " because of the hardness of 
 their hearts," which u in the beginning were not so," and 
 which are therefore prohibited to the member of the true 
 church. Everything then proves the necessity of regard- 
 ing the Jews as constituting, according to the view already 
 offered, not a true internal church, but an external repre- 
 sentative one, or rather as exhibiting the representation or 
 type of one ; in which case, sanctity and intelligence of 
 private character are by no means implied to attend on the 
 persons who sustained even the most holy and exalted re- 
 presentations. They were placed in those situations for 
 the benefit of others more than for their own ; that, 
 through all generations, instruction of a divine and spirit- 
 ual nature should be presented to mankind, in the most 
 permanent as well as striking form in which it could be 
 imparted. Thus considered, it matters not to us, beyond 
 the interest which the story is calculated to excite, whether 
 Jephtliah's daughter was actually sacrificed, or whether 
 she was merely made a nun ; any more than it does 
 whether Agamemnon's daughter was actually sacrificed, or 
 whether, as some authors affirm, she was, at the critical 
 
'••'■ 
 
 THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 333 
 
 moment, conveyed away by Diana, to be a priestess in her 
 temple, and a white hind miraculously substituted in her 
 place. With this view, it matters not to us, whether 
 Jephthah was the man of enlightened piety which he is 
 described by some writers, or the ignorant barbarian 
 assumed by others. His conduct, at the worst, was not 
 below that of the most illustrious characters of the most 
 polished nations of his age : it was such as naturally 
 sprung out of the habits and modes of thinking of the 
 times : but it was so overruled by Divine Providence, as 
 to the express form of it, and so related in the Divine 
 Word, as to be representative of a highly important fact 
 and state in the Christian warfare, and to teach a momen- 
 tous spiritual truth. And this is all that we have to do 
 with it, considered as one of the narratives of Divine 
 Revelation. 
 
 (1.) It is not then my intention to attempt to decide the 
 much disputed question, whether Jephthah's daughter was 
 really put to death or not. My own opinion certainly is, 
 that she was not : but I am led to form this opinion, more 
 from a spiritual consideration which will appear in the 
 sequel, than from any elucidation of the literal history 
 which I have met with ; for after all the pains that have 
 been taken by the learned to make the literal history itself 
 point to this conclusion, I still think that the most unforc- 
 ed inference from the language of the original, and from 
 the history in general, is, that the sacrifice took place.* 
 But, it will then be asked, why is this ? Why is the his- 
 tory couched in such terms as would seem to imply that 
 the dreadful rite was performed, when a statement of the 
 contrary, if that was the fact, would be so agreeable to 
 the feelings of every one who peruses the narrative, and 
 would have obviated the objections which are thence urg- 
 ed against its holy nature ? Perhaps the only satisfactory 
 
 * See this fully proved in the Appendix, No. VI. 
 
334 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 answer which can be given is, Because the subjects treated 
 of in the spiritual sense could not have been so fully re- 
 presented, had not such an appearance been permitted in 
 the letter. 
 
 And if both these facts are true, viz. that Jephthah's 
 daughter was not put to death, and yet that the literal 
 narrative, without positively affirming it, seems to point 
 to that inference ; it may be remarked, by the way, that 
 we have here such an example of the manner in which the 
 historical relations of the Scriptures are composed, as may 
 tend to clear up some other difficulties in the literal ac- 
 counts. For this will shew, that fully to convey the spi- 
 ritual sense is the sole object regarded in the construction 
 of the narrative. The circumstances recorded with this 
 design are true ; but perhaps they do not immediately ex- 
 hibit the whole truth, as regards the mere history ; other 
 circumstances, without the knowledge of which the histo- 
 rical relation seems confused and imperfect, being omitted, 
 because the mention of them would have been incompati- 
 ble with the spiritual lesson intended. This, I am satisfi- 
 ed, is the true cause of the elliptical style so often observa- 
 ble in the sacred writers, and which renders it frequently 
 so difficult to arrive at certainty respecting positive facts. 
 Just so much is recorded as conveys the true spiritual 
 sense, and no more : and Divine Wisdom, which only re- 
 gards things eternal, deems it of no moment whatever, 
 though an impression be thus left of transient events, dif- 
 ferent from the true one. Man's salvation and his ad- 
 vancement to eternity in spiritual wisdom, are the sole 
 objects intended to be promoted by the gift of the Holy 
 Word : but these no more depend upon his knowing with 
 certainty whether Jephthah's daughter was put to death 
 or not, than upon his knowing with certainty whether 
 Mary Queen of Scots was privy to the death of Darnley 
 or not. Both inquiries have exercised the pens of many 
 profound and elegant scholars, because man, as living in 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 335 
 
 time, takes an interest in temporal events : but He who is 
 Eternal, and whose communications to man are addressed 
 to him as an heir of eternity, regards his notions on both 
 subjects as matters indifferent, and no more deems it im- 
 portant that the facts of the one history should be certainly 
 known, than of the other. 
 
 But when we say, that, notwithstanding the fact was 
 otherwise, yet it is suffered to appear in the letter as if 
 Jephthah's daughter was actually sacrified, because other- 
 wise the subjects treated of in the spiritual sense could not 
 have been fully expressed : the elucidation may perhaps 
 be thought to render the matter still more obscure. It 
 may be asked, If human sacrifices were, in fact, the great- 
 est abominations that could be offered to insult the Majes- 
 ty of heaven, and were strictly prohibited in the divine 
 law on that account, how can it be necessary that an ap- 
 pearance of the performance of one should occur in this 
 history ; especially when it evidently is not related to 
 represent any thing profane and unholy, but the contrary ? 
 It may be answered, For the same reason as it was neces- 
 sary for Abraham to believe that it was required of him 
 by the Lord to sacrifice his only son, Isaac ; and to act 
 under the influence of this belief so far, as to " stretch 
 forth his hand, and take the knife to slay his son."* In 
 the case of Abraham, also, the actual deed was prevent- 
 ed ; but the preparations proceeded far enough to shew, 
 that the offering up of a child as a sacrifice, taken only in 
 one point of view, has a holy signification ; though, taken 
 in another, it is in the highest degree profane. The same 
 may be concluded with probability from this circum- 
 stance, that, by the Levitical law, the first-born of every 
 thing was considered as belonging to the Lord : " The 
 Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Sanctify unto me all the 
 
 * Cent xxii. 10. 
 
336 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 first-born ; whatsoever openeth the womb, among the 
 children of Israel, both of man and beast : it is mine."* 
 This is the first instance where this law is delivered : and 
 here the offspring of man* and beast are put on the same 
 footing ; and the only idea proposed is, the entire surren- 
 der of them, however they were to be afterwards disposed 
 of, to the Lord. Now the first-born of clean beasts were 
 to be offered in sacrifice, without any alternative :f and 
 for the first-born of unclean beasts; a clean one was to be 
 substituted and sacrificed also ; as a lamb or kid for an 
 ass. J But because no animal was considered as an equiva- 
 lent for the first-born of man, he was to be redeemed by 
 the payment of a price :§ beside which, also, the whole 
 tribe of Levi was taken in lieu of all the first-born of 
 Israel :|| but as the actual putting of them to death would 
 have been horrible in itself, and would have borne the 
 profane signification which we have intimated, they were 
 consecrated to the Lord in a different way, and dedicated 
 to the sacredjservice of the tabernacle ; which, however, 
 was considered as a figurative sacrifice, and a death to the 
 world. This is evident from its being instituted in refer- 
 ence to the death of all the first-born of Egypt ; u All the 
 first-born are mine : for on the day that I smote all the 
 first-born in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the 
 first-born in Israel, both man and beast : mine they shall 
 be : I am the Lord."1F The death of the first-born of 
 Egypt, both of men and cattle, was evidently representa- 
 tive of the spiritual death, as to all the leading sentiments 
 and affections of their minds, of those who would oppress 
 and destroy the true church of God, or the sacred princi- 
 ples which compose it ; or a death to every thing holy 
 and heavenly, true and good ; and the consecration to 
 
 * Ex. xiii. 1, 2. t Numb, xviii. 17. $ Ver. 15. Ex.xiii. 13. § Numb. 
 xviii. 16. II Ch. iii. 12. II Ver. 13. • 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 337 
 
 God of all the first-born of Israel, both of man and beast, 
 must certainly be intended to represent something exactly 
 the opposite of the former ; an entire devotion to the Lord 
 of all the leading sentiments and affections of the mind, 
 and a death to every thing selfish and earthly. Therefore, 
 all the first-born of beasts were actually offered in sacrifice: 
 and if the offering in sacrifice of the first-born of man 
 could, to use the appropriate distinction made by Bishop 
 Warburton, form merely a significative and not at the same 
 time a moral action, it would have been commanded too, 
 as the most complete mode of exhibiting the representation 
 intended : but as it would have been a moral action like- 
 wise, and would, in this respect, have been most flagitious, 
 consecration to the service of the tabernacle was appointed 
 in its stead. 
 
 (2.) Here then we shall have a key to that otherwise 
 inexplicable mystery, the practice of human sacrifices. 
 
 Every one must be apt, on the first thought, to wonder 
 how so horrible a superstition, so repugnant to some of 
 the strongest feelings of human nature, as the sacrificing 
 of human victims, and especially of children by their pa- 
 rents, could ever have been tolerated among mankind for 
 a moment ; much more, how it could have been so exten- 
 sively and constantly practised among the various, — in- 
 deed, as it would appear, among all the nations of antiqui- 
 ty, as history assures us was the fact.* Even the most 
 polished nations of those times, the Greeks and Romans, 
 were not untainted with it; and we are assured that it was 
 practised to an enormous extent in this now favoured 
 island of Britain. It is evident from numerous pas- 
 sages of Scripture, that the custom was particularly pre- 
 valent among the original inhabitants of Canaan and 
 the surrounding countries, especially in the worship of 
 
 * See Bryant's Dissertation on the Human Sacrifices of the Ancients ; or 
 Magee on Atonement and Sucrificp, Vol. 1, No. V. 
 
 43 
 
333 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood 
 
 Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears ; 
 Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud, 
 Their children's cries unheard, that pass'd through fire 
 To his grim idol. 
 
 What could have been the reason that a mode of worship, 
 which had every principle of natural feeling and common 
 sense alike opposed to it, could ever obtain so extensive a 
 reception ? Only, I apprehend, because, regarded in one 
 point of view, or taken simply as a significant action, it 
 was seen to carry a holy representation. Hence it got into 
 use, in disregard to its character in the other point of 
 view, considered as a moral action ; which ought never to 
 be laid out of sight, and in which it was in the highest de- 
 gree atrocious ; and from which, when actually perpetrat- 
 ed, it became, in its signification also, in the highest de- 
 gree profane. The practice then would appear to have 
 had the same origin as many other of the most detestable 
 practices that have ever prevailed among mankind, — the 
 perversion of something intrinsically good : and it illus- 
 trates the old and very true maxim, — The best things, 
 when corrupted, become the worst. 
 
 But to exhibit this in its proper light, it is necessary to 
 say something of the origin of sacrificial worship in gene- 
 ral ; though this will anticipate what we proposed to offer 
 presently on that subject. 
 
 (3.) If there be indeed a Mutual Relation and Analogy, 
 not of a merely arbitrary and conjectural kind, but fixed 
 and invariable, between spiritual things and natural ; we 
 certainly must see in it a more clear and satisfactory origin 
 of the practice, anciently quite universal, of the worship 
 by sacrifices and burnt-offerings, than can be afforded by 
 any other principle : and that worship itself, otherwise so 
 unaccountable, affords, in its turn, a strongly conclusive 
 argument for the reality of that Analogy, and for the fact 
 endeavoured to be established above, that in ancient times 
 the relations of this Analogy were extensively understood. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 339 
 
 A satisfactory theory of the origin of sacrificial rites is 
 among the great desiderata of modern religious science: and 
 surely it must be agreeable to the intelligent and candid 
 mind, to view so curious a subject in a light which invites 
 the understanding and gratifies it, — in a manner of which 
 light may be justly predicated ; rather than to acquiesce in 
 regarding the whole as involved in darkness, and to take 
 refuge in the blind persuasion which some authors of great 
 name would recommend : — that sacrificial worship must 
 have originated from God, because it is too irrational ever 
 to have been invented by man !* Perhaps both parts of 
 this proposition might be successfully controverted, and it 
 might be shewn, first, that sacrifices were not, strictly 
 speaking, first instituted by God; and, secondly, that when 
 men adopted them they took for their guide a certain law 
 of nature. The former sentiment has been strongly advo- 
 cated by the celebrated Maimonides, among the Jews, and 
 by the learned Spencer, and others, among Christians ; 
 and if they had been aware that there is a regular analoay 
 between spiritual things and natural, I doubt not that they 
 would also have incontrovertible established the latter, 
 and not have fallen into the errors which at present dis- 
 figure their systems. To enter into all the inquiries neces- 
 sary to this investigation would require a work by itself : 
 this, probably, if life and health be spared me, I may here- 
 after attempt : a mere sketch, chiefly proposed hypotheti- 
 cally, is all that can be offered here. 
 
 We will first see what is the Scriptural idea of the Sac- 
 rifices under the Mosaic law. 
 
 The prevailing opinion upon this subject is, that they 
 were instituted by divine appointment to prefigure the 
 death or sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ ; and that this 
 was their only design. Most certainly it is true, that He 
 is " the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the 
 
 * See Abp. Mapee's Dissertation On the Natural Unreasonableness of the 
 Sacrificial Rite : being No. lv. in his work On Atonement. 
 
340 PLENARY INSPIRATION OT 
 
 world :"* and that all the sacrifices, yea, all the rituals, of 
 the Mosaic law, yea, the whole Word of God, have a spe- 
 cific reference to him: but it is no less true that they have 
 a reference to us likewise. Because " Christ our passover 
 is sacrificed for us,"f are we not to " purge out the old 
 leaven, that we may be a new lump," and to " keep the 
 feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of ma- 
 lice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sin- 
 cerity and truth ?"£ In other words, are we not to offer 
 a spiritual sacrifice ourselves ? None but an Antinomian 
 will answer in the negative. We are not only to look to 
 Jesus Christ, but to follow him :§ we cannot do this with- 
 out offering the spiritual worship of the heart and mind : 
 and the Scriptures plainly teach, that, as regards us, this 
 spiritual worship is what the sacrificial worship represent- 
 ed. If sacrifices were designed to be significative of no- 
 thing besides the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, why were 
 so many kinds of them prescribed ? Why were so nume- 
 rous ceremonies directed to be observed in the offering of 
 each ? And especially, why were certain quantities of 
 flour and oil, either crude or prepared in various ways in 
 the form of cakes, to be burnt upon the altar ?|| Why 
 were the first fruits of the harvest to be presented?|| These 
 made as necessary a part of the Levitical offerings as the 
 sacrifices of animals : evidently, then, the sacrifices of ani- 
 mals must also have represented spiritual things of the 
 same general nature, though with a variety as to their spe- 
 cies, as the offerings of cakes and fruits ; and as these caiir 
 not represent the death of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the 
 cross, neither can the others be confined to that significa- 
 tion. The truth then is, that, applied to the case of man, 
 all the numerous sacrifices and offerings of the Levitical 
 code, represented the true worship of the Lord arising 
 from all the affections and sentiments of a heavenly nature 
 
 * John i. 20. t 1 Cor. v. 7. J Ver. 7, 8. § Matt. iv. 19, xvi. 24. xir. 21. 
 John xiT. 26, &c. || Lev. ii. &c. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 341 
 
 that can be inseminated by God into the human heart and 
 mind ; and the offering of them upon his altar was expres- 
 sive of the heartfelt acknowledgment, that they all are 
 from the Lord, and to be ascribed to him alone ; in which 
 acknowledgment and ascription all true worship essential- 
 ly consists. 
 
 Many declarations, giving this idea of the design of sac- 
 rifices, are to be found both in the Old and New Testa- 
 ments. David, in the depth of his humiliation for his 
 crimes, when, if at any time, the mind would be disposed 
 to fly to external sacrifices, if either in themselves, or as 
 representing the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, they possessed 
 any efficacy, exclaims, " Thou desirest not sacrifice ; else 
 would I give it : thou delightest not in burnt-offerings : 
 the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite 
 heart, O God, thou wilt not despise :"* evidently instructing 
 us what the sacrifices of God, suited to sincere penitence, 
 really are, and, of course, what the Levitical sacrifices re- 
 presented : namely, a state of the thoughts and affections 
 in which man acknowledges, in deep humility, his 
 own unworthiness. Accordingly, Jehovah says by the 
 prophet, in a passage which is repeatedly quoted by the 
 Lord in the gospel, " I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and 
 the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings :"f where it 
 is evident, since sacrifices were nevertheless established 
 under the Mosaic dispensation, that the Divine Reprover 
 means us to understand, that outward sacrifices, separate 
 from the dispositions of heart and mind intended to be re- 
 presented by them, cannot be accepted ; and that the hea- 
 venly graces for which sacrifices were used as symbols, are 
 mercy or love, and the knowledge of God or a living faith 
 in him. Similar is the doctrine of the Apostles. Paul 
 says to the Romans : " I beseech you brethren, by the 
 mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacri- 
 
 * Ps. li. 16, 17. 1 Hos. vi. 6. Matt. ix. 13, xii. 7. 
 
3 42 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 fice, holy and acceptable unto God ; which is your reason- 
 able service :"* where it is evident that by a living sacrifice 
 he means a pure life and conversation ; and he calls it a rea- 
 sonable service, to contrast it with the carnal service of sac- 
 rifices, and to intimate that the latter was an image of the 
 former. So he says to the Hebrews : " By him let us of- 
 fer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit 
 of your lips, giving thanks to his name : but to do good and 
 to communicate forget not, for with such sacrifices God is 
 well pleased."! Here praise and doing good, the service of 
 the lips and of the actions, are described as sacrifices : evi- 
 dently shewing, that the sacrifices of God are the free-will 
 offerings of adoration and love, proceeding from heavenly 
 affections and manifested by beneficent deeds. How plain 
 is the inference, that the offerings of the Levitical law 
 must be meant to represent such offerings of the heart and 
 mind, — the pure worship of the Lord, floiving from affec- 
 tions of love and charity, offered to him as their only 
 source and author ! 
 
 As then the outward sacrifices were nothing without the 
 spiritual ones of which they were types ; nor, indeed, 
 with them, to those whose minds were sufficiently elevat- 
 ed to form just ideas of spiritual worship without the help 
 of the carnal figures, as appears from the example of David 
 just quoted; these latter were not given to the Israelites of 
 the Divine Will and Appointment, but permitted them on 
 account of the hardness of their hearts ; as is evident from 
 the passage just adduced from Hosea, and more decidedly 
 from those cited above from Jeremiah and Ezekiel.J It 
 
 * Ch. xii. 1. t Ch. xiii. 15, 16. 
 
 t Pp. 301, 302. " I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them, in 
 the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offer- 
 ings and sacrifices : but this thing I commanded them, saying, Obey my voice, 
 and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people ; and walk ye in the ways 
 that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you." (Jer. vii. 22, 23.) 
 u Because they had not executed my judgments, &c. — Wherefore I gave them 
 
&c. 343 
 
 has indeed been proved by many learned men, that the 
 sacrifices directed in the Levitical law, with many other 
 of the customs introduced into that law, were not institu- 
 tions given for the first time by Moses, but such as had 
 long before been observed among the eastern nations :* all 
 that was done by Moses respecting them was, to limit the 
 animals which might be offered in sacrifice to certain spe- 
 cies, and to prescribe exactly the place, occasions, and 
 manner of offering them. Now how may this previous 
 and general use of sacrificial worship be reasonably sup- 
 posed to have originated ? how so reasonably, as in a 
 knowledge of that fixed analogy between natural things 
 and spiritual, which we have before shewn was extensively 
 possessed in the early ages of the world ? The people of 
 those times well knew of what affections and sentiments, 
 or of what modes of thinking and feeling, the various ani- 
 mals are the proper emblems and representative forms : 
 they knew, also, that all genuine worship of the Lord es- 
 sentially consists in an elevation to him of all the affections 
 and perceptions of the heart and mind : and they knew 
 that to sacrifice the corresponding animals upon an altar 
 dedicated to the Lord would be a significant action, pow- 
 erfully expressive of such pure worship. But, it may be 
 asked, could the joining of the significative action to the 
 
 also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live." 
 (Ez. xx. 25.) These words are evidently contrasted with ver. 11. " I gave 
 them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do he shall 
 even live in them." The statutes and judgments in or by which a man should- 
 live (for the particle in the original is the same which, in ver. 25, our transla- 
 tors have rendered by,) and which are said to have been delivered to the Israel- 
 ite's upon their coming out of Egypt, are clearly the law of the decalogue : and 
 the statutes not good, and judgments by which they should not live, and which 
 are said to have been given them for their rebellions in the wilderness, are as 
 clearly the law of ceremonies. See this fact proved to the completest demon- 
 stration, and the paltering attempts of Shuckford to evade it most entirely 
 overthrown, in Warburton's Div. Leg. B. iv. Sec. 6. 
 
 * See Warburton vbi supra; and Michaelis's Cornm. Lam of Moses, Art. 3, 
 189, &c. 
 
841 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 spiritual worship of the heart and lips render the latter 
 any more acceptable to the Lord than it would be without 
 it ? This cannot well be supposed : and we may be sure 
 that while men remained in that state of elevated intelli- 
 gence which saw clearly the spiritual things to which na- 
 tural objects answer by analogy, they would not think it 
 necessary, nor even allowable, to add the representative 
 rite to the spiritual reality. Previously to the time of 
 Noah, at least, if it be true that the slaughter of animals, 
 even for food, was unknown, a rite which required it 
 would surely be deemed unlawful. They knew that, as a 
 significative action, it might be expressive of pure worship : 
 but they knew also, that the only real part even of repre- 
 sentative worship must be the offering to the Lord of the 
 inward states of mind which the animals represented, and 
 that in the slaughter of the animals themselves there was 
 nothing pleasing to the Lord, but rather the contrary, as 
 it was attended with suffering, which, even when inflicted 
 on an animal, is abhorrent from the will of Infinite Good- 
 ness. So thinks Archbishop Magee; and doubtless he here 
 thinks right, though he draws from the fact the opposite 
 conclusion:* and, though he perhaps did not think so cor- 
 rectly, he yet expresses as certain a truth, when he affirms 
 that the language of the first men r cannot be supposed so 
 defective, in those terms that related to the worship of 
 God, as to have rendered it necessary to call in the aid of 
 actions to express the sentiment of gratitude or sorrow. "f 
 
 * Speaking of Abel, he affirms it to be little likely " that he would have re- 
 sorted to that species of action, which, in the eye of reason must have appeared 
 displeasing to God, the slaughter of an unoffending animal." On Atonement, 
 &c. Disc. ii. Hence, taking it for granted, that when Abel " brought of the 
 firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof, (Gen. iv. 4.) he slew them as a 
 burnt-sacrifice, (though the text does not say so,) the learned Archbishop in- 
 fers, that he was led by an express revelation to do an act, against which his 
 own reason and moral sense revolted. But the true nature of Abel's offering 
 may be gathered from what is advanced above, and will further appear from a 
 view which we have to offer in the next Lecture. 
 
 t Ibid. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. S45 
 
 But the very reason why it was not so defective, was, be- 
 cause it followed the laws of the analogy between spiritual 
 things and natural : whatever idea of a spiritual or divine 
 subject they had conceived in their minds, they did not 
 seek for abstract metaphysical terms to express it, but 
 painted it to the life in terms borrowed from natural ob- 
 jects, of the spiritual relations of which they had an intui- 
 tive perception. It is related of Adam, that the Lord 
 brought unto him every beast of the field and every fowl 
 of the air " to see what he would call them ; and whatso- 
 ever Adam called every living creature, that was the name 
 thereof :" # who can suppose that the mere fact of giving 
 verbal names to animals is all that is here intended? Doubt- 
 less, they are right who infer, that when Adam gave names 
 to all living objects he had an intuitive perception of their 
 nature, in all its relations : or rather, his knowledge of 
 their nature is the thing described, in the language of ana- 
 logy, by the significative action of pronouncing their 
 names. Whilst then, in any considerable degree, the un- 
 dented worship of the Lord was preserved, and the intui- 
 tive wisdom of Adam remained, among his posterity, when 
 they conversed of or described such worship, they would 
 borrow images from the significant actions which they saw 
 would represent it, and would speak of it as of offering, as 
 sacrifices and burnt-offerings, animals and the fruits of the 
 earth : and this they would do, owing to the peculiar ge- 
 nius of all who lived before the coming of the Lord, when 
 a more powerful illumination of the human mind was af- 
 forded, because such symbolic language would give them 
 stronger and fuller ideas of the subject than could be afford- 
 ed by any other medium. But, with them, it went no further, 
 as may be concluded from a reference to this custom which 
 we find in the prophet Hosea, who, as if on purpose to ex- 
 plain this ancient style of expression, uses it thus : " So 
 
   Gen. ii. 13. 
 
 u 
 
346 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 will we render the calves of our lips."* With these offer- 
 ings, then, in the times of which we were speaking, man- 
 kind were content. They offered to the Lord the affections 
 of the heart, represented by the calves and other animals used 
 in sacrifices, in their prayers and praises, called by the pro- 
 phet the lips : but without slaughtering the animals them- 
 selves: and they described their worship in the same terms 
 as would be employed in speaking of an animal sacrifice. 
 
 It is easy to see, however, that, in darker ages, this style 
 of speech and writing would lead to the abuse of offering 
 animal sacrifices themselves : in the same manner as the 
 formation of hieroglyphic sculptures, to present to the 
 mind, through the intervention of natural images, spiritual 
 and divine ideas, led to a far more flagrant abuse, the ab- 
 surdities of image-worship. When a generation of grosser 
 minds arose, — of men who were more immersed in sensual 
 and carnal objects and regards, and who thence had not 
 such clear perceptions of the hidden meaning of phrases 
 drawn from the Science of Analogies, and of a purely spi- 
 ritual worship, they began to think it necessary actually 
 to put the animals to death ; much as the Roman Catho- 
 lic, to strengthen his conceptions, when engaged in devo- 
 tion, of his redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ, thinks 
 it necessary to have a crucifix before his eyes. And as 
 they who thus introduced the carnal part of the worship, 
 by the help of it retained some idea, or some obscure feel- 
 ing, of what was spiritually represented, the use of actual 
 sacrifices was permitted, by Divine Providence, as neces- 
 sary to keep this alive. 
 
 Here then, surely, we have a very probable reason, why 
 sacrifices were permitted, and in appearance enjoined, to 
 the children of Israel. Properly speaking, as we have 
 already seen, they were not enjoined them* since their an- 
 cestors were in the custom of using them long before ; 
 
 Hos. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 347 
 
 and the continuance of the practice was permitted to the 
 Israelites, because they u rebelled against the Lord in the 
 wilderness ;"* or, in the language of Jesus Christ, " be- 
 cause of the hardness of their hearts.'' And the moral 
 reason why, under certain regulations, they were permit- 
 ted to the Jews, was, because, though their true spiritual 
 reference was not known to that carnal people, they yet 
 were affected by them with a sense of holiness, and kept 
 in some kind of worship, of which, without such helps, 
 they would have been incapable ; at least, if not allowed 
 to worship Jehovah with sacrifices, they would have wor- 
 shipped with sacrifices Baal and Moloch. But the ulti- 
 mate reason for the institution of sacrifices among the 
 Israelites, was the same as that of their call and selection 
 as a peculiar people ; that, from the descriptions and pre 
 cepts relating to this representative worship recorded in 
 the Divine Word, future generations, under a dispensation 
 of higher light, without returning to the use of the signifi- 
 cative actions, might learn, by a knowledge of their mean- 
 ing, how to offer to the Lord a purely spiritual worship : 
 a worship that should consist in the consecration to Him, 
 at all times, of all the faculties of the heart and mind, and 
 in the ascription of this to him, at stated periods, in pray- 
 ers and praises, in their public assemblies. 
 
 (3.) We now, I trust, shall have found a clew, that will 
 unravel the mystery of the extensive prevalence, in former 
 ages, of the practice of human sacrifices. For from what 
 has been offered it will appear, that there may be forms of 
 speaking and writing respecting sacred subjects, and of 
 describing them by imagined significative actions, which 
 would be exceedingly criminal if reduced into practice. 
 We find that, considered as a moral action, the slaughter 
 even of animals cannot enter with strict propriety, or any 
 otherwise than by permission, into the worship of the 
 
 * Exod! xx. 13. 
 
348 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 Lord ; although, viewed merely as a significative action, it 
 affords images highly expressive for representing his genuine 
 worship. So it is, in a much higher degree, when the sub- 
 ject of the sacrifice is considered to be a son or a daughter. 
 If the animals allowed to be sacrificed were representative 
 of certain principles in the mind of the offerer dedicated by 
 him to the Lord ; his own children must be representa- 
 tive of principles in his mind connected with him still 
 more closely, — more nearly allied to, and indeed identical 
 with, the governing motives of all his conduct. They must 
 be significative of the proper affections of his own will, 
 the proper conceptions of his own understanding ; and 
 these, unless surrendered and consecrated to the Lord, 
 would have self alone for their object ; and this, again, if 
 suffered to reign, would poison every virtue. For this 
 reason, under the representative dispensation of the Jews, 
 ail the first-born, without exception, were declared to be 
 holy to the Lord : and if the sacrificing of them could be 
 merely a significative and not at the same time a moral ac- 
 tion, this would, in the fullest manner, convey the impor- 
 tant spiritual doctrine. On this account it was that Abra- 
 ham, the proper type of the most devoted of the faithful, 
 was tried as to his willingness to offer Isaac : he was per- 
 mitted, as noticed above, to go far enough towards the 
 completion of the sacrifice fully to shew its holy import as 
 a significant action, though he was stopped in time to ex- 
 clude its enormity as a moral one : and the reason assign- 
 ed by Jehovah for the blessing afterwards pronounced 
 upon him, was, " Because thou hast not withheld thy son, 
 thine only son."* Thus it is evident, that, in the lan- 
 
 * Gen. xxii. 16. Much erudition and genius have been exercised to prove, 
 that the sacrifice of Isaac was designed as a representation of that of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ;: I acknowledge it to have been so : indeed, its applicability to 
 that great fact appears too obvious to be overlooked by any one. But, taking 
 the representation under this relation, what part does Abraham sustain in it ? 
 Is he a type of " the Father" of the New Testament, as Isaac is of " the Son ?" 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 3*9 
 
 guage of Analogy, to speak of sacrificing children to the 
 Lord only means to devote to him the nearest and inmost 
 affections of the heart. As a significant action, and when 
 
 This is a conclusion, which, according to the common mode of understanding 
 the transaction, seems .impossible to be avoided. Even Warburton is con- 
 strained to admit it i though he considers the whole to be specially intended 
 to instruct Abraham in the mystery of the Redemption, he cannot help repre- 
 senting the patriarch as standing in a relation of analogy to the Father : thus 
 he says, that " God to instruct him (in the best manner humanity is capable of 
 receiving instruction) in the infinite extent of divine goodness to mankind, 
 ' who spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all.' [Rom. viii. 32,] 
 let Abraham feel, by experience, what it was to lose a beloved son." [D. 
 Leg. B. vi. Sec. 5.] But how monstrous is such an idea ! The relation begins 
 with informing us, (ver. 1,) that ' ; God did tempt Abraham :" if then Abraham 
 represents the Father of Jesus Christ; — who is the being here denominated 
 God ? And was the Father himself tempted in the death of Jesus Christ ? and 
 by Himself? And is it of himself that he here says. « By mys( \i have I 
 sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not 
 withheld thy son. thine only son : that in blessing I will bless thee, and in 
 multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand 
 which is upon the sea shore ;" &c. [ver. 10, 17.] Evidently, in this view of 
 the matter, there is an utter want of parallelism between the type and the 
 antitype, and the whole is replete with inconsistencies. But con-ider Abra- 
 ham himself as the principal type of the Lord Jesus Christ in the transaction; 
 and admit that in typical language different persons may be mentioned to re- 
 present, not different beings, but different principles in the game being, whe- 
 ther in God qr in man ; and all difficulties vanish. Abraham is the only agent : 
 it is lie who surrenders and is about to sacrifice Isaac, who is quite passive ; 
 and he acts in the affair by the command of God : thus the circumstances of 
 the whole become exactly parallel to those of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, as 
 stated in his own words. He says of himself, " / lay down my life for the 
 sheep.— No man taketh it from me, but / lay it floim of myself i 1 have power 
 to lay it down, and I have power to take it again : this commandment hare I 
 received of my Faticr" [John x. 15, 18.] Abraham then represents that 
 principle in the Lord Jesus Christ which says, u I lay down my life of mv 
 self:" Isaac is the lift laid down. — the life of the human nature: and " God" 
 is " the Father," — the Divine Essence Itself. — whose love was the moving 
 cause ofman's redemption. The life which Jesus Christ says he has " power 
 to take again," is also the life of his human nature glorified at his resurrection, 
 which is represented by the restoration of teaac to Abraham, as it were " from 
 the dead ; from whence'' also he received him in a figure." [Heb. xi. 19.] 
 Thus the whole becomes consistent, even to the blessing pronounced upon 
 Abraham for his obedience ; which refers to the salvation of man in conse- 
 
350 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 suffered to go no farther than to words or signs, the sacri- 
 fice of children was clearly representative of something 
 pre-eminently holy. The reason is, because, in this point 
 of view, the children are not regarded as possessing any 
 thing, not even life, as their own, but are considered as if 
 they were the absolute property of their parents ; — merely 
 as something most dear to them, and which they are to 
 dedicate to the Lord as an acknowledgment that all good 
 is from him, and of right is to be ascribed to him. No 
 doubt then, among the ancients, who were acquainted 
 with the relation that natural things bear to spiritual, and 
 whose ordinary language was, to a great degree at least, 
 formed upon that relation, whence they used to speak of 
 sacrifices in their conversation and writings which they 
 never thought of performing according to the letter, the 
 sacrifice of children would often be mentioned : and hence 
 arose the abuse : for their ignorant and corrupt descend- 
 ants at length proceeded to the act. This must necessarily 
 be in the highest degree profane : because here the moral 
 nature of the action interferes, and totally changes the 
 character of the significative. For although, in one point 
 
 quenee of the assumption by the Lord of the human nature, his laying down 
 of the life of it, and his taking of it again in a glorified state,, and thence im- 
 parting the gifts of the spirit : [John vii. 39 :] his seed who should be multiplied 
 are the church of his faithful followers ; or those, to whom he thus " gave 
 power to become the sons of God, even they that believe on his name." 
 [John i. 12.] 
 
 But the reference of this type, in its highest application, to the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, does not exclude it from having a secondary reference to Jhs faithful 
 disciples. As observed in the text above, we are required to folloto him : we 
 are to drink of the same cup, and to be baptized with the same baptism ; 
 as he said to James and John : " Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink 
 of, and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized :" 
 [Mark x. 39 :] whence the Apostle declares, " We are buried with him by 
 baptism unto death : that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the 
 glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." [Rom. 
 vi. 4.] It is doubtless, then, true, that Abraham is a type of the most faithful 
 of the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ as well as of himself; and in this 
 reference the sacrifice of Isaac must bear the meaning stated in the text abova. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. > . 351 
 
 of view, children may be considered merely in their rela- 
 tion to their parents, and thus as their property ; yet are 
 they also human beings themselves, having a life distinct 
 from that of their parents, and being, or at least in prepa- 
 ration for becoming, independent moral agents : hence to 
 kill them is murder of the worst kind : and hence the act 
 of sacrificing them, instead of representing the hallowing 
 of the inmost affections to the Lord, represents the direct 
 contrary, — the privation of all spiritual life in the affec- 
 tions with which the man is most closely identified, and, 
 in fact, the substitution in the heart of the love of evil for 
 the love of good ; which is equivalent to the worship of 
 demons instead of God. 
 
 It surely cannot be difficult to see, that all this is ground- 
 ed, not in any fanciful, but in a most certain and determi- 
 nate analogy. A few words will now suffice, to apply 
 these principles to the apparent sacrifice of Jephthah's 
 daughter. 
 
 (4.) It has been shewn in our last Lecture, that the peo- 
 ple or nations who occupied the countries surrounding the 
 land of Canaan, are all representative of moral and intel- 
 lectual principles, more or less connected with, or opposed 
 to, those which constitute the church in the human mind ; 
 and, less abstractedly, of those classes of persons who 
 make such principles their predominant and influencing 
 motives. One of these nations was that of the Ammonites : 
 and it would be both a curious and interesting inquiry, to 
 endeavour to ascertain, of what specific principle, and 
 class of persons, connected with the church, they were the 
 representatives ; but to render the inquiry satisfactory, it 
 would demand more space than we can now spare ; and it 
 is not necessary to the immediate object before us. Suf- 
 fice it to say, that it is a principle, as appears from the 
 chapter of Judges detailing the history of Jephthah and 
 his daughter, which not only infests the church, represent- 
 ed by the Ammonites overrunning the land, but claim* a 
 
352 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 legitimate right to it ;* and which, though clearly confut- 
 ed from the Word of God,f does not recede from its pre- 
 tensions.^: But, what throws more light upon Jephthah's 
 vow, it is a principle, the abstract idea of which is typifi- 
 ed by the fancied deity who was particularly worshipped 
 by the sacrifice of children^-the horrid Moloch : 
 
 " Him the Ammonite 
 
 Worshipped in Rabbah and her wat'ry plain, 
 In Argob and in Basan, to the stream 
 Of utmost Arnon." 
 
 Thus Moloch is emphatically called in Scripture, " the 
 abomination of the children of Ammon."§ It is true that 
 in Jephthah's remonstrance, Chemosh is mentioned as their 
 God ;|| who was properly the idol of the Moabites :H but 
 the Moabites and the Ammonites are often considered as 
 one people : and Chemosh, also, was worshipped by the 
 sacrifice of children ; as is evident from the conduct of his 
 proper votary, the king of Moab, who " took his eldest 
 son, that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him 
 for a burnt-offering upon the wall."** Now the occasion 
 upon which Jephthah uttered his vow, was, when he was 
 about to engage in mortal conflict with this nation of 
 sacrificers of their children. Consider this conflict as 
 representative of that which takes place in the mind, when 
 any evil attachment that has taken deep root there is to be 
 ejected. Every one must be aware that no evil can be 
 successfully combated but from the opposite good, from a 
 desire for it, and an inward attachment to it : who then 
 does not see, that when the evil to be removed is that of 
 which the Ammonites were types, and which was appro- 
 priately represented by the actual sacrifice of their sons 
 and daughters to Moloch or Chemosh, the significant ac- 
 tion most proper to represent the opposite good would be, 
 an apparent sacrifice of a son or daughter to Jehovah ? 
 
 * Ver. 13. t Ver. 15 to 27. \ Ver. 28. § 1 Kings xi. 7. || Jud. xi. 54. 
 I 1' Kings xi. 7. Num. xxi. 2H. •* 2 Kings iii. 27. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 353 
 
 This then appears to be the true design of this extraor- 
 dinary transaction : only one or two more of its circum- 
 stances need be noticed. No evil, as has just been inti- 
 mated, can ever be entirely removed, till the mind is made 
 completely willing to relinquish it : and this willingness 
 manifests the presence of an opposite good ; and is such, 
 in fact, itself. It is, however, seldom produced but in a 
 state of deep inward trial : this, therefore, is appropriately 
 represented by the anxiety respecting the issue of the bat- 
 tle which engrossed the feelings of Jephthah when he 
 made his vow, and which he describes by the strong figure 
 of "putting his life in his hands:"* and his vow as strong- 
 ly breathes the willingness itself. And that resolutions of 
 relinquishment and of dedication, made in a season of 
 trial, are not to be receded from when it is over, is signi- 
 fied by Jephthah's perseverance in performing, " when he 
 returned in peace from the children of Aramon," that 
 which he had vowed in the hour of jeopardy. 
 
 When, however, we speak of Jephthah's perseverance 
 in performing his vow. we mean, his perseverance such as 
 it appears upon the face of the narration : but that this 
 extended to the actual sacrificing of his daughter, cannot, 
 I think, be supposed. Here, as before observed, the mo- 
 ral character of the action would interfere, and would, 
 beside being so horrible in itself, entirely vitiate the signi- 
 ficative. Upon the supposition, however, that she was 
 sacrificed, (the fault of which, we have before seen, would 
 lie entirely in the ignorance of the parties,) as all mention 
 of the actual perpetration of the deed is avoided, the sig- 
 nification of the transaction, as it stands in the record, 
 would not be altered. But, no doubt, the execution was 
 prevented, — probably in one of the ways which the com- 
 mentators have supposed : but as, in the history, the 
 
 * Ch. xii. 3. 
 45   \ • ' . 
 
 m 
 
354 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 merely significative action is all that is intended for con- 
 sideration ; therefore the narrative is so constructed as to 
 lead to the conclusion that the sacrifice took place. 
 
 And surely the reason which we have alleged for the 
 narrative's bearing such a construction, must be seen to be 
 amply sufficient. That the only instance in the Israelitish 
 history which presents the appearance of the sacrifice of a 
 child having been vowed or performed by a leader favour- 
 ed of God, should occur where the object of it was to 
 obtain divine aid against a nation of sacrificers of their 
 children, must have struck all who ever remarked it, as a 
 very extraordinary coincidence : how can it be accounted 
 for, but by the analogy which we have endeavoured to 
 point out, on the one hand, between the real sacrifice of 
 a child to an idol and the devotion of the nearest affections 
 of the mind to the love of evil, and, on the other, between 
 the apparent sacrifice of a child to God and the devotion 
 of the inmost affections to the love of good ; whence the 
 one constitutes the proper opposite, and depicts the pro- 
 per antidote, of the other ? Thus the narrative becomes 
 eminently illustrative of the true character of the Israeli- 
 tish history ; it strongly confirms the fact, that that histo- 
 ry is of a representative character throughout ; and it 
 exhibits the necessity of calling in the Science of Analogies 
 for its elucidation, and for clearing up the difficulties with 
 which the letter, regarded by itself, often appears per- 
 plexed. 
 
 We have dwelt at considerable length upon the import, 
 when decyphered by the Science of Analogies, of the cap- 
 ture of Jericjao and of Jephthah's vow, because they af- 
 forded opportunities of illustrating some important truths 
 of a general nature, which tend to throw considerable 
 light upon the whole of the subject under inquiry : but, 
 to prevent this work from extending too far beyond the 
 
 m 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &1C 355 
 
 moderate dimensions which it seems advisable to observe, 
 we must confine our explanation of the examples still to 
 be offered nearly within the limits of a simple statement. 
 
 3. The combat between David and Goliath, related in 
 1 Samuel, ch. xvii. bears so many marks of its representa- 
 tive character on the face of the narrative, that many ex- 
 positors have felt that something was intended by it beyond 
 a mere relation of historical facts. 
 
 The victory obtained by a youth, represented as a mere 
 child, witli a sling and a pebble from the brook, over a pro- 
 fessed champion above nine feet in stature and armed at all 
 points, has generally been considered as symbolizing, in a 
 very expressive manner, the superiority of divine depend- 
 ance over self-confidence ; and undoubtedly this is the 
 general meaning of the history. The Philistines, we have 
 stated in a former Lecture,* represent, in the Word, those 
 who profess to belong to the church, and who have an 
 extensive knowledge of sacred subjects, but yet give them- 
 selves no concern about bringing knowledge into practice, 
 about uniting their faith with charity ; and who even pro- 
 ceed so far as to affirm, that salvation depends upon faith 
 alone. In all ages, and in all churches, there have been 
 professors of this description, and we know that there is a 
 large body of them at the present day, some of whom 
 even go to the extent of affirming, that they who embrace 
 the gospel are freed from the necessity of observing the 
 law. Now, as to apply the knowledge of salvation by 
 Jesus Christ to so impure a heresy as this, is deeply to de- 
 file it, therefore the Philistines are often called in Scrip- 
 ture, by way of reproach, the uncircumcised ; that term 
 denoting those who are in all the uncleanness of the nnpu- 
 rified lusts of the natural man. That epithet is, indeed, 
 in a great measure appropriated to them : Thus David 
 
 * Page 134. 
 
356 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 says, in the history before us, " Who is this un circumcised 
 Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living 
 God ?"* The wars, then, between the Philistines and the 
 Israelites, were symbolic of the contests for supremacy in 
 the church between this doctrine; and that of faith in 
 union with charity. Giants, when mentioned in Scripture, 
 always denote those who are in strong persuasion of their 
 superior power and intelligence, and who are deeply 
 grounded in pride and self-conceit ; as is generally the 
 case with those who are in the persuasion that they are 
 the peculiar favourites of heaven, accepted on account of 
 their faith, but whose natural lusts are at the same time 
 unsubdued ; — especially those who never reflect upon sin 
 in themselves, and conceive that the justification which 
 they have received makes it impossible for them to com- 
 mit any ; — or, in other words, that whatever they may 
 commit does not appear in the sight of God. The armour 
 wherein the Philistine trusted, affords a suitable image of 
 the false reasonings, and perversions of truth, by which 
 such persons confirm themselves in their erroneous persua- 
 sions. David, on the contrary, is generally allowed to 
 represent, in the highest sense, the Lord Jesus Christ, as 
 to that principle in his nature whereby, when in the 
 world, he combated against and subdued the infernal pow- 
 ers which held man in bondage ; and hence, derivatively, 
 he represents the faithful member of the church, who en- 
 gages in spiritual conflicts in an humble dependance on 
 the Lord alone. The smooth stones from the brook, are 
 the pure truths of the Divine Word, applied, with the 
 proper power, to detect the fallacies by which they who 
 cherish faith without charity support their cause : and the 
 stone smote the enemy in his forehead, to denote, that the 
 very first and leading principle of the system of doctrine 
 
 * Ver. 26. See also ver. 36 ; and Jud. xiv. 3, xv. 18 ; 1 Sam. xiv. 6, xxxi. 
 4 ! 2 Sam. i. 20. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 357 
 
 which makes every thing to depend upon faith, — the sen- 
 timent which forms the head of all the rest, — is discovered 
 at once to be erroneous, when contrasted with any of the 
 plain declarations of Scripture which express the senti- 
 ment, " Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the 
 things which I say ?"* 
 
 I am fully satisfied that most of these interpretations 
 could be proved, with a weight of evidence which it would 
 be difficult to resist, to be founded in the immutable Rela- 
 tion of Analogy which subsists by creation between all 
 natural objects and certain spiritual counterparts ; and 
 that all of them might be demonstrated, by a sufficiently 
 extensive collation of other passages of Scripture, to be 
 those which, in the Divine Word, every where belong to 
 these symbols : but, for the reason stated above, we leave 
 them, thus nakedly propounded, for the lovers of truth to 
 examine for themselves. 
 
 4. The same remark will be applicable to the explana- 
 tion which we here will offer on some of the circum- 
 stances attending the Crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 It is usual to regard the circumstances of insult and 
 cruelty which marked the manner in which Jesus laid 
 down his life, as affording strong marks of that depravity 
 and corruption of the human heart, which could excite 
 any who called themselves men, especially any who be- 
 lieved themselves to be the elect people of God, to act 
 with such savage malice towards a being, who, even if 
 not acknowledged to be God incarnate, must be venerated 
 by every impartial mind as the most unoffending, most 
 amiable, most beneficent, most perfect of men. But this 
 view of the subject, though just, does not go far enough. 
 Not only were all the circumstances, generally, expressive 
 of this deep depravity, but every thing that is recorded, 
 
 Luke vi. 46. 
 
358 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 even to the most minute, has a distinct spiritual signifi- 
 cation. 
 
 All Christians admit, that the Lord Jesus Christ is " the 
 Word of God,"* which is the same thing as the Divine 
 Truth itself; whence we read that H the Word was made 
 flesh. "f It was also shewn in our last Lecture, that when- 
 ever Jesus himself speaks of his approaching passion, he 
 speaks of it as being to be suffered by u the Son of man ;" 
 because the " Son of man" is a title always applied to him 
 in reference to his character as the Divine Truth or Word. J 
 He suffered then in his character of the Word ; and hence, 
 byj all the indignities to which he submitted, was repre- 
 sented the manner in which the Word was treated by the 
 Jewish Church in its state of utter debasement : and, in 
 fact, the manner in which the Word is treated in every 
 Church, when it has departed from every thing which 
 gives to a church its title to the name. The Lord was 
 betrayed by Judas,§ because Judas represents the very 
 lowest principle in the constitution of fallen human na- 
 ture, — that of mere selfishness, — that which is identified as 
 man's proper own, considered as exclusive of every thing 
 that he receives from God : and as this principle reigned 
 with the Jewish nation, who were at that time the deposi- 
 taries of the Word, of them, also, Judas was a type. The 
 chief priests and elders, being the leading characters of the 
 Jewish church, may be viewed as personifying its ruling 
 sentiments in regard to charity and faith ; and these being 
 contrary to the love of God and to all genuine faith, and 
 thus such as reject and destroy the truth of the Word, it 
 was by the chief priests and elders that the Son of man 
 was apprehended and first condemned ;|| and his being after- 
 wards condemned by Pilate, who was a gentile, at their 
 accusation and instigation,^ shews how the Word is reject- 
 
 * Rev. xix. 13. t John i. 14. J P. 233. § Matt. xxvi. 47. || Matt. xxvi. 
 47, 66. IT Ch. xxvii. 12, 23. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 359 
 
 ed by those who do not profess to belong to the church, 
 but merely to follow the law of nature, because they* re- 
 ceive their ideas of it from the misrepresentations of those 
 who call themselves the church, and whom they regard as 
 the proper judges of such a subject :* as, also, they whose 
 minds are not pre-occupied with the false doctrines of a 
 corrupt church see many things by the light of nature 
 which are in agreement with the truth of the Word ; and 
 as they, likewise, are always loud in their professions of 
 regard for the truth abstractedly ; therefore Pilate had 
 such strong misgivings on the occasion. The Lord's being 
 scourged and smitten on the head with a reed,f were exact 
 figures of the treatment which the Word receives from 
 those who reject it : and as a crown is an emblem of wis- 
 dom, and thorns of pernicious false sentiments, his being 
 crowned with thornsj expressively symbolized the manner 
 in which the wisdom of the Word is falsified and pervert- 
 ed. The dividing of his outer garments into four parts 
 among the soldiers§ was indicative of the complete dissipa- 
 tion of the truths of the letter of the Word ; but the pre- 
 serving of his vesture or inner garment entire, represented 
 that its spiritual sense could not be thus injured, being 
 sheltered from common observation; and their casting lots 
 for it, afforded an apt image of the conjecture and debate 
 of which the spiritual sense, or, what is the same thing, 
 the truth itself, becomes the subject, when all right under- 
 standing of the Word is lost. Without some such mean- 
 ing, is it reasonable to suppose that such, in themselves, 
 trivial circumstances, would have been recorded? and not 
 only so, but that they should long before have been ex- 
 pressly foretold ?|[ Their crucifying him fully expressed 
 that the church had profaned and destroyed the whole of 
 the Word. Their offering him vinegar to drink mingled 
 
 * John xviii. 35. f Matt, xxvii.26,30. t Ver. 29. § John xix. 23, 24 . 
 II Ps. xxii. Li. 
 
360 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 with gall,* exhibited, by an apt symbol, that all their ideas 
 of truth were false, all the truths they possessed being fal- 
 sified from the influence of their depraved lusts; truth fal- 
 sified bearing the same relation to genuine truth as vinegar 
 does to wine, and its mixture with gall implying defilement 
 from grievous evils; wherefore he would not drink it: but 
 afterwards, when, on occasion of his saying " I thirst," 
 they gave him simple vinegar, the sponge containing it be- 
 ing put upon hyssop, he received it ;f because this repre- 
 sented such erroneous sentiments as are grounded, not in 
 evil and the intentional perversion of truth, but in igno- 
 rance, such as prevailed among the gentiles, who after- 
 wards were taken to form the church instead of the Jews: 
 — hyssop, and other bitter herbs, were symbolic of purifica- 
 tion : the Lord's thirst is his ardent desire for the salvation 
 of mankind, through their reception of his life-giving 
 Word. 
 
 This explanation is applied to the treatment of the Lord 
 and his Word by the Jewish Church: but the circumstances 
 will equally suit the manner in which he is treated by 
 mankind individually, whose selfish nature thus treats the 
 Lord and his Word at all times. Indeed, as the Jewish 
 Church, which was entirely a representative one, repre- 
 sents, in its state of integrity, the true church of the Lord, 
 both generally, and as formed in the heart of the individu- 
 al who professes to belong to it ; so in its state of perver- 
 sion it was symbolic of the mere selfish nature of man ; 
 and its treatment of the Lord depicts the manner in which 
 man regards the Lord, and the divine truths of his Word, 
 when he views them under the influence of his selfish na- 
 ture alone. 
 
 Now whether or not, without further explanation, the 
 circumstances we have noticed may be seen to bear the 
 exact signification which has been offered, is probably 
 
 * Matt, xxvii. 34. t John xix. 33, 29, 30. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. SGI 
 
 doubtful ; yet that they certainly carry some signification, 
 and are recorded to intimate some spiritual instruction, is 
 surely obvious upon the face of them. To me, at least, 
 after the most impartial examination that I arn able to give 
 the subject, it appears so evident, that, without the slight- 
 est wish to think harshly of those who entertain the oppo- 
 site opinion, I can only impute the existence of an opposite 
 opinion to the want of a sufficiently careful and candid ex- 
 amination. To deny the spiritual import of this part of 
 the Word of God after serious consideration, appears to 
 me to demand, not merely a large share of the negative 
 principle of incredulity, but of a positive principle of cre- 
 dulity ; of a principle that can believe any inconsistency, 
 provided it be requisite to support one species of consis- 
 tency; — that which assumes, prior to the examination of 
 evidence, that nothing spiritual can be contained in the 
 Scriptures, and which is determined to maintain this as- 
 sumption, let the presumptions to the contrary become 
 ever so numerous and conclusive. Even Pilate could lis- 
 ten, with respect, to the Lord's avowal, that he was a 
 king whose kingdom was not of this world ; and to his 
 declaration, that "every one that is of the truth heareth 
 his voice :"* and surely every thing that is recorded, by 
 the pen of inspiration, of the actions or treatment of such 
 a king, must relate to him as the king of tins spiritual 
 kingdom, and must either treat, directly, of the kingdom 
 which is not of this world, or of the manner in which it i& 
 received among men. In such persons as Pilate is a type 
 of, it might not be inconsistent to refuse to listen to such a 
 plea ; but when those who profess to be the true subjects 
 of " the King of the Jews" would confine the circum- 
 stances of his history to this world only, do they not allow 
 the supremacy of the worldly principle rather than of the 
 heavenly one, and partake of the spirit which exclaimed, 
 
 * John xviii. 36, 37. 
 
 46 
 
362 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 " We have no king but Caesar ?"* As is observed in an- 
 other part of this work ;f if the Lord Jesus Christ had re- 
 ally a divine nature within him, then not only must all his 
 words, but all his actions too, have flowed according to 
 the order in which divine and spiritual things descend into 
 natural, and thus must Jiave been expressions of spiritual 
 and divine ideas : nor could any thing be done to him, or 
 suffered by him, without being brought within the same 
 order : and thus, in every thing recorded of him, weighty 
 instruction must be included, though conveyed by actions 
 instead of words. To admit that the record of these trans- 
 actions is the Word of God, is to affirm a truth; but to in- 
 sist that it is to be understood according to the letter alone, 
 is, (may I be pardoned for the assertion ?) to falsify that 
 truth : assuredly, it is turning the wine into vinegar : but 
 whether the vinegar thus produced be that mingled with 
 gall, or that corrected with hyssop, depends upon the in- 
 ward disposition of the parties preparing it, and their 
 means of information. 
 
 IV. Nearly related to those parts of the Word of God 
 which, in their form, are strictly historical, are those which 
 detail the rituals of the Ceremonial Law : and that these 
 were intended to shadow out spiritual realities, is so obvi- 
 ous a truth, that it has generally been received among 
 Christians as unquestionable : — unquestionable it certainly 
 is, by all who believe that the Apostle Paul had any know- 
 ledge of the subject, since his declarations respecting it are 
 too positive to be by any means evaded. Indeed, an en- 
 larged consideration of this part of our subject, where proof 
 would be so easy, would perhaps, more directly than any 
 thing else, afford certain evidence of the spiritual nature 
 of the Word of God. But it seems scarcely necessary to 
 go into the demonstration of a fact, which every Christian 
 
 *Ch.xix.I5. t App.-No.II. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 363 
 
 is obliged to believe by the authoritative documents of his 
 faith; and which even the Deist must admit to be the only 
 rational account of the origin of ceremonial worship. Cer- 
 tain it is, that, in the early ages of the world, ceremonial 
 worship was practised, if not by all, by the most enlight- 
 ened and polished nations : and can any maintain such a 
 paradox as to affirm, that this general consent of the most 
 intelligent of mankind in the use of such worship, had no 
 origin but chance ? Is it not far more reasonable to be- 
 lieve, that it had some reasonable foundation? And what 
 so reasonable as to conclude, that because the primeval in- 
 habitants of the globe had an intuitive perception of the 
 relation of Analogy existing from creation between spiritu- 
 al objects and natural, men at length began to assist their 
 conceptions of the former by appropriate applications of 
 the latter ? 
 
 1. That such was the origin, in particular, of the use of 
 Sacrifices in worship, must, we should apprehend, at least 
 appear highly probable, from the remarks which we have 
 advanced upon the subject in our consideration of Jeph- 
 thah's vow, where we anticipated most of what we think 
 necessary to offer respecting it.* It is perfectly evident, 
 from various parts of Scripture, that the sacrifices offered 
 upon the altar, as also the shew-bread set out upon the ta- 
 ble in the sanctuary, were considered, strange as it may 
 appear to our ideas, as food offered to the Divine Majesty. 
 Indeed, whatever was put upon the altar, whether consist- 
 ing of flesh or flour, is frequently called, in one word, 
 bread ; according to the known use of the Hebrew lan- 
 guage, which often uses the term bread for food in general. 
 Hence it is expressly said of the priests, that they offered, 
 and also themselves partook of, the bread of God.f So the 
 
 * Page 338 — 346. See also the remarks on the signification of animals at 
 p. 109, &c. and 208, &c. t Lev. xxi. 6, 8, 17, 21, 22 j Ch. xxii. 25. 
 
364 PLENARF INSPIRATION OP 
 
 parts of the lamb or goat for the peace-offering which were 
 consumed upon the altar, are explicitly called by our trans- 
 lators, " the food of the offering made by fire unto the 
 Lord ;" and " the food of the offering made by fire for a 
 sweet savour ;"* and the idea of the agreeable scent of roast- 
 ed food, is applied to the whole burnt-offerings, whether 
 of bullocks, sheep, or doves, each of which is called " an 
 offering made by fire, of a sweet savour, unto the Lord :"f 
 as also are'the offerings of flour, baked or unbaked. :f The 
 same ideas are used by Jehovah himself, when, reproach- 
 ing by the prophet the Israelites for their " abominations," 
 he says, " Ye have brought strangers, u'ncircumcised in 
 heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary to 
 pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, tlie fat 
 and the blood :"§ and by another prophet, still more parti- 
 cularly, the same Divine Speaker says, " Ye offer pol- 
 luted bread upon wine altar ; and ye say, Wherein have we 
 polluted thee ? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is 
 contemptible. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it 
 not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? — 
 But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the 
 Lord is polluted, and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is 
 contemptible. "|| It is impossible for any fact to be more 
 explicitly stated : the altar is considered, by God himself, 
 as his table, and the things offered upon it as his meat. For 
 what purpose then was meat thus presented to him ? The 
 natural idea evidently is, to satisfy the divine hunger. 
 But is the divine hunger such as can feed upon the things 
 burnt upon the altar themselves ? He himself declares 
 plainly, that if he were subject to such hunger, he would 
 not be dependent upon man for satisfying it : " If I were 
 hungry, I would not tell thee : for the world is mine, and 
 the fulness thereof : Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink 
 
 * Ch. iii. 11, 16. t Ch. i. 9, 1$, 17. J Ch. li. 2, 9. § Ezek. xliv. 7. 
 H Matt. i. 7, 8, 12. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 265 
 
 the blood of goats ?"* What else then is man to present, 
 which Deity can appetite ? Himself, continuing the same 
 earnest address, informs us: u Offer unto God thanksgiving, 
 and pay thy votes unto the Most High ; and call upon me in 
 the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glo- 
 rify me."f How evident then is it, that the flesh of bulls 
 and the blood of goats, with the other elements of sacrifi- 
 cial worship, are the symbols of the worship of thanksgiv- 
 ing, vows, and invocation ; which, again, are only sincere 
 as they proceed from love, charity, and faith ; and thus 
 that, properly, the things presented upon the altar were 
 natural images, answering, by a just analogy, to all the 
 spiritual graces, by and from which an acceptable worship 
 can be offered to the Most High ! What then can the di- 
 vine hunger be, which requires to be fed with such food as 
 this ? What, but, like the thirst of Jesus Christ, as noticed 
 above, the ardent desire with which Divine Love yearns for 
 man's salvation, and which is satisfied in proportion as 
 man receives from God the graces which bring salvation ; 
 for the obtaining of which the spiritual worship of God is 
 an indispensable medium ; and of the possession of which, 
 such worship as gratefully ascribes them all to him, is both 
 a consequence and a sign ? The spiritual idea of hunger 
 is plainly intimated, when the Lord says, " Blessed are 
 they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. "I By a clear 
 analogy, as natural hunger is an appetite for food, and na- 
 tural thirst an appetite for drink, so spiritual hunger is a 
 desire for good, and spiritual thirst a desire for truth; and 
 divine hunger and thirst can be no other than the Lord's 
 desire, that the goodness and truth of which he is the Au- 
 thor might find an abode in the heart and mind of man, 
 and be returned him again in the ascriptions of genuine 
 worship. 
 
 Ps. 1. ]? : 13. • t V?r. 14. 15. 1 Mat* v. 6. 
 
356 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 2. Nearly related to the worship of the Lord by the 
 sacrifice of animals, and to the precepts respecting the 
 species of animals which might be employed in such wor- 
 ship, is the law delivered in Leviticus xi. and Deut. xiv. 
 relating to the species of animals which might or might 
 not be used as articles of food. If, as seems so evident, 
 all living creatures are forms expressive of particular 
 affections and modes of thinking that live in the human 
 breast ; and if the nourishment of the body answers by an 
 exact analogy to the nourishment of the mind ; it cannot 
 be extraordinary, that, under a representative dispensa- 
 tion, precise directions should be given upon this subject. 
 By this law then, in general, is taught,* how careful man 
 should be respecting what sort of affections he appropriates 
 in his will, and what sort of sentiments # he adopts in his 
 understanding : and the rules laid down for distinguishing 
 the unclean creatures from the clean, delineate the criteria 
 for discriminating between evil affections and good ones, 
 mischievous sentiments and beneficial. As, however, this 
 would open to us a very extensive field of investigation, 
 this slight notice of it must suffice. 
 
 3. But under the Israelitish dispensation there were 
 other ceremonial observances, beside those which related 
 either to the bread of God or to the food of man. One of 
 the most remarkable of these was the vow of the Nazarite, 
 the law of which is prescribed in Num. vi. The chief 
 regulations of it were, that the subject of the vow, during 
 its continuance, was to drink no wine, " and eat nothing 
 that is made of the vine-tree, from the kernels even to the 
 husk ;" and no razor was to come upon his head. At the 
 termination of the period for which he was set apart, the 
 length of which is not defined, he was to offer a burnt- 
 offering, a sin-offering, a peace-offering, a meat-offering, 
 and a drink-offering ; and he was then'to shave his head, 
 and put the hair in the fire under the sacrifice of the peace- 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, SiC. 367 
 
 offering : after which he was at liberty to drink wine. 
 Both Samson and Samuel were Nazarites for life, by ap- 
 pointment and dedication before they were born ;* and 
 from the growth of his hair in this consecrated state, the 
 former derived his great strength. f Surely, then, the 
 Scriptures must mean us to infer, that the Nazariteship 
 was representative of a state' eminently holy ; and what 
 that state is, the circumstances, considered as speaking the 
 language of Analogy, very clearly designate. 
 
 There are in the Scriptures numerous intimations re- 
 specting two sorts of characters belonging to the church, 
 — those who act more under the influence of good or love, 
 and those who act more under the influence of truth or 
 faith. The former apply the commandments of the Word 
 immediately to life and practice, without thinking or rea- 
 soning upon them ; and they hence acquire an intuitive 
 perception of truth, which the Lord refers to when lie 
 says, " Let your communication be Yea, yea, Nay, nay : 
 for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil :"| the 
 latter take too much pleasure in the " whatsoever is more 
 than these," to be satisfied with so short a road to wis- 
 dom : they love the exercise of thought and reasoning : 
 they scarcely regard truth itself as valuable, but as it is the 
 object of these faculties : they have, however, an ardent 
 love of truth ; but their love of goodness is rather a re- 
 gard to what they see to be the dictates of truth. Now 
 of truth, and of the good which is the result of a love of 
 truth, the vine and its productions are, in the Word, emi- 
 nent types ; as are the olive and its products of the higher 
 love of good. That they who would obtain the proper 
 love of good, should aim at it at once, and not amuse 
 themselves too far with the lower love of truth, is then 
 what is meant by the prohibition to the Nazarites of the 
 use of wine or the other products of the vine : it is, in 
 
 Jud. xiii. & 7. 1 Sam. i. ti. t Jjud. xvi. 17. J Matt. v. 37, 
 
3G8 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 fact, the same precept as !s delivered by Jesus Christ in 
 plainer terms, when he says, a Let your communication 
 be Yea, yea ; Nay, nay." Nevertheless, though they do 
 not make truth their study, they enjoy, by virtue of their 
 love of good, an intuitive knowledge of all truth ; accord- 
 ing to that other divine saying, u If any man will do 
 [ivilleth to do] his will, he shall know of the doctrine whe- 
 ther it be of God."*1 They have, on every occasion, a 
 perception of the truth or falsehood of every suggestion 
 presented to them ; and in the combats of temptation they 
 apply their Yea, yea, or Nay, nay, with a power, which 
 they who are in evil and error, and all the tempting forces, 
 are unable to resist. Of this power of the true Nazarite, 
 the extraordinary strength of Samson was a symbol. And 
 as the greatest power of truth lies in its lowest manifesta- 
 tion — or the strength of Jehovah is in the clouds ;f and as 
 the hair, being the extreme part of the bodily frame, de- 
 notes the extreme part of the mental constitution, — the 
 ultimate of all, — the immediate seat of the senses and cor- 
 poreal appetites ; and as when divine goodness and truth 
 possess these they possess the "whole man,— and they do 
 possess even these with those who are principled in the 
 proper love of good : — therefore the Nazarites were com- 
 manded not to cut their hair ; and Samson declared that 
 in his hair his great strength resided. As they who have 
 persevered the full period in the kind of life which this 
 vow symbolizes, become regenerate through all their 
 mind, and every principle of their constitution at length 
 spontaneously rises in the worship of the Lord ; this was 
 represented by the Nazarite's offering, when the days of 
 his separation were fulfilled, sacrifices of all the kinds 
 directed by the Levitical law. His then consuming his 
 hair in the fire of the altar, was expressive of the com- 
 plete renewal of the very ultimate principle of his consti- 
 
 * John vii. 17. t See App. No. IV. 
 

 m 
 
 »* 
 
 ■•£■ 
 
 360 
 
 *"S 
 
 THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, 
 
 tution, of which the hair is the type, so that there remains 
 no longer any thing of self in it, but the whole is dedicat- 
 ed to the Lord. And 3iis being at liberty afterwards to 
 drink wine, signifies, that all the recreation and delight 
 that truth can afford are then free to him also ; as to him 
 who seeks first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all 
 inferior things are given in addition.* 
 
 These are very holy and interior subjects ; and, for that 
 very reason, it is to be expected that they will only excite 
 the scorn of those, (should any of that character give them 
 a moment's notice,) who regard nothing but what their 
 corporeal senses dictate. We are warned by divine au- 
 thority of the consequences of presenting the holy things 
 of celestial good to dogs, and the pure pearls of spiritual 
 truth to swine. Probably, also, to many of better dispo- 
 sitions, but who raise their views with reluctance above 
 the precincts of nature, such matters will appear too re- 
 mote from ordinary apprehension to deserve much atten- 
 tion ; they will regard them, as the rustic regards the 
 nebulae in the galaxy of heaven, — as films not more impor- 
 tant than those formed by the exhalations of the marsh ; 
 whilst by the votary of true science they are contemplated 
 with delight mixed with awe, and are regarded, not mere- 
 ly as suns, but as systems of sung, dispensing the beams of 
 light and life to numberless unseen worlds. The truth of 
 the doctrine deduced from this mysterious ceremony, 
 whether it be seen to be taught by the ceremony or not, 
 may, however, be readily appreciated. Assuredly, every 
 breast that has ever glowed with one touch of pure, disin- 
 terested affection, — which has ever been warmed with one 
 feeling of which the high name of goodness may justly be 
 predicated, — must have felt how, when placed in contrast, 
 the coruscations of the brightest intellect, the most exalted 
 
 * Matt. vi. 33. The same subjprt is illustrated by the obedience of the 
 Rerhabitps : Jer. xxxv. 
 
 47 
 
370 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 views of truth, admirable and excellent as "these, also, 
 nevertheless are, sink into shade. He will naturally then 
 expect, that of a fact so important, some decided intima- 
 tions would be given in a book which is really the Word 
 of God ; and if he knows that the Word of God must 
 necessarily be written by the aid of natural images ; and 
 is aware, also, that the Jewish nation was selected for the 
 purpose of representing heavenly things by symbolic ac- 
 tions ; he will expect to find the subject somewhere shad- 
 owed out among the rituals of their law. When thus pre- 
 pared, if possessed, in addition, of some acquaintance with 
 the language of Analogies, he will easily recognise a beau- 
 tiful representation of it in the Law of the Nazarite. 
 
 * 
 
 4. Finally, we are to notice the ceremonial observances 
 which are retained among Christians : and that some are 
 retained, by divine appointment, under the spiritual dis- 
 pensation of the gospel, is an argument, surely, that spirit- 
 ual things are include;! in them ; and, by consequence, 
 that spiritual things were represented in the ceremonies 
 of the Jewish Church, of which they are a remnant and 
 epitome. 
 
 There are two things to which all the divine command- 
 ments relate, and to which they may be reduced : to the 
 same two things all the ordinances of the Levitical law 
 necessarily had reference : and these are, purification from 
 the evil and false tendencies of man's selfish nature, and 
 the appropriation and practice, in their stead, of the prin- 
 ciples and sentiments of goodness and truth. Such, ac- 
 cordingly, are the order and substance of the summaries 
 of religion occasionally given in the Divine Word : "De- 
 part from eytZ, and do good :" # " Cease to do evil ; learn to do 
 wcll.^j These two things then, in a general way, are 
 pointed at in the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's 
 
 * P» xxxiv. 14. ) Isa. i. 16, 17. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 371 
 
 supper : and thus in them, is concentrated the substance of 
 all the rituals of the Mosaic dispensation, and of all the 
 precepts of the Word of God. On how numerous occa- 
 sions washings were prescribed under the Levitical law, is 
 well known to all who have examined it : almost every 
 ceremony, was to be accompanied with washing : of all 
 these different ablutions then the ordinance of baptism was 
 appointed as an epitome. On how many occasions, also, 
 sacrifices were to be offered, and how various were the 
 kinds of them, are equally well known : instead then of 
 " the flesh of bulls and the blood of goats," and of all the 
 other sacrifices, are now substituted, as the substance of 
 them all, the flesh and blood of the Son of man ; and as 
 the former were all called, in one word, the bread of God, 
 and were accompanied with libations of wine ; so of these, 
 now, bread and wine are taken as the symbols. 
 
 Now the foundation of these institutions in the univer- 
 sal principle, that spiritual things may be adequately re- 
 presented by natural images, there being, from the order 
 of creation, a fixed Relation of Analogy between the one 
 and the other, is, one would think, too obvious to be de- 
 nied ; and the meaning of them, when decyphered by that 
 principle, is, one might apprehend, too clear to be disput- 
 ed. Between the washing of the person from its impuri- 
 ties, and the purification of the spirit from its defilements, 
 the analogy is seen at once : and the water, which is the 
 medium of effecting the one, is the appropriate symbol of 
 the truth, which is the agent in accomplishing the other. 
 For how is man ever led to desist from the evil and error 
 of his ways, but by listening to the commands and exhor- 
 tations of Divine Truth ? Of Divine Truth, regarded, not 
 as to its power of enlightening the mind, but of purifying 
 it, water is, assuredly, a most manifest image ; as it also 
 is, when regarded as tiie element of drinking, of Divine 
 Truth viewed as contributing to spiritual nourishment. 
 Baptism then was instituted, not, as some have strangely 
 
372 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 supposed, as conferring regeneration, but as a sign of it. 
 It is submitted to as a pledge, tbat the party undergoing it 
 engages to yield his mind and life to the purifying disci- 
 pline of the truth ; and no doubt it is accompanied with a 
 divine influence, conferring on him, more fully, the ability 
 of acting in conformity with his engagement. 
 
 But perhaps there is no instance in which the power of 
 the Science of Analogies in explaining the sacred mysteries 
 of the Word of God is more conspicuous, than in the or- 
 dinance of the Lord's supper. This is a subject which has 
 involved the Christian world in endless disputes. One 
 party maintains that the bread and wine, when consecrat- 
 ed, do actually become, by a real transubstantiation, the 
 body and blood of the Lord : and if we confine ourselves 
 to the literal sense of the Lord's words on instituting the 
 rite, — " This is my body ; — This is my blood ;"* — we 
 shall be forced to confess that this view is correct. The 
 other party maintains, that, notwithstanding the Lord's 
 words literally affirm it, the doctrine of transubstantiation 
 cannot be true, because it supposes an impossibility : and 
 if we consult the suggestions of reason, we must allow that 
 this is undeniable. But when we are apprised that the 
 Lord, for the expression of spiritual and divine ideas, con- 
 stantly employed natural images answering to them by an 
 exact analogy, the difference is reconciled at once. Flesh 
 and blood, being the two chief elements of man's corpo- 
 real frame, must denote, when predicated of a Divine Per- 
 son, the two first Essentials of the Divine Nature, which 
 are, love and wisdom, or goodness and truth. Bread and 
 wine, as the main articles by which the body is nourished, 
 must have the same signification. We learn then, that by 
 receiving the bread and wine in the Holy Supper, are 
 represented the reception and appropriation in the mind 
 of love and wisdom communicated by the Lord ; which 
 
 * Mark xiv. 22, 24. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C . 373 
 
 have the same effect in nourishing and preserving our 
 souls as the bread and wine have in nourishing and pre- 
 serving our bodies. And doubtless the rite itself was in- 
 stituted, because, in properly corresponding externals, in- 
 ternals are present with greater power than without them ; 
 and thus to the sincere communicant who ascribes all good 
 to the Lord as its Author, he himself, with his divine 
 graces of love and wisdom, is then more near than at oth- 
 er times, imparting that heavenly nourishment on which 
 depends the life of his soul. 
 
 But let this be as it may : whether or not any heavenly 
 influences are present at the ordinances of Baptism and the 
 Lord's Supper ; it seems impossible to doubt that such 
 graces as we have described are intended to be represented 
 by those ordinances : In them, therefore, we assuredly 
 have conclusive evidence, that the Word of God is written 
 according to the laws of that Analogy which so clearly 
 connects together the objects of spirit and of nature, — the 
 intellectual and moral with the physical and material 
 world — and that this Analogy affords the Rule by which 
 the genuine import of tiie Word of God may be decy- 
 phered. t'i' 
 
 Here then we conclude our Proofs and Illustrations of 
 the applicability of the Science of Analogies as a Rule for 
 the interpretation of the Word of God : and though I am 
 aware that the instances selected have not been elucidated 
 with half the strength and clearness which the principle 
 admits ; yet amid all the defects of the advocate, it can 
 hardly, I trust, be denied, that from most of the examples 
 such a degree of light has been elicited, as to render it 
 morally certain that the principle is correct. 
 
 But to draw from these elucidations the conclusion 
 which they are intended to support, we must still remem- 
 ber the principles laid down at the beginning of the fourth 
 Lecture, on the character which must necessarily belong 
 
374 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 to the Divine Style of Writing. " If, as there stated, in a 
 written revelation from God the Divine Truth must clothe 
 itself with ideas and images taken from the world of nature 
 before it could be presented to man ; and if the Divine 
 Style of Writing must thus follow the Law of that Analo- 
 gy, which, as was shewn in the third Lecture, indissolubly 
 connects natural objects and ideas with such as are spirit- 
 ual and divine ; — it will follow, that the spiritual and 
 divine wisdom which such a revelation must contain with- 
 in it, could only be understood by a right application of this 
 Law. And if on an application of this Law to the books 
 called the Holy Scriptures, it should be found that they 
 exhibit a coherent series of spiritual and divine instruc- 
 tion ; it will follow, further, that the Scriptures are such 
 a revelation of Divine Truth presented to man in natural 
 language ; that they are the Divine Speech, or Divine 
 Word, which has emanated from the bosom of Deity, and 
 presents itself under this form in this lowest sphere of 
 creation." We have now tried the applicability of the 
 Rule to all the species of composition which the Sacred 
 Writings contain, — the prophetical, the historical, and the 
 perceptive, (taking our examples of the last from the pre- 
 cepts relating to ceremonial rites) : we have found that, 
 when deciphered by the proposed key, a coherent series 
 of spiritual and divine instruction every where appears : 
 we have a right then to infer, that the Scriptures actually 
 are composed in the truly Divine Style of Writing, and 
 that nothing below the Plenary Divine Inspiration was 
 adequate to their production. 
 
 V. Before I conclude this Lecture, I will add an argu- 
 ment which occurred to my own mind many years ago, 
 and which to me carried irresistible conviction. 
 
 1. It may be simply propounded thus : It is impossible 
 for a false, yet regular rule for the interpretation of the 
 Scriptures, to draw from them a coherent' sense in every 
 
 
 •   
 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 375 
 
 passage to which it should be applied : But the Doctrine 
 of Analogies is thus universally applicable : Necessarily, 
 then, the Scriptures are written throughout according to 
 that Doctrine, and this affords the true Rule for their 
 interpretation. 
 
 And it may be illustrated thus : Suppose a book were 
 found, written in the English tongue, but in characters 
 grown obsolete by antiquity. The mode of decyphering 
 . it, of course, would be, by ascertaining what letters of the 
 present alphabet answer to those in which the book was 
 written. It is evident that if, in attempting to assign the 
 corresponding letters, we fixed upon wrong ones, though 
 we might appear to make out a word here and there, the 
 sense of the series of words would be as much hidden as 
 ever. Suppose, for instance, I assume the letter which is 
 indeed a G to be an Jlf, the O to be an A, and the D an 
 JV* ; and instead of God were to read man, wherever that 
 combination of letters occurred : although I should thus 
 have got a single word, which, for aught that appeared in 
 that instance alone, might be the true one, yet perhaps I 
 might not find another case in which my misconstrued al- 
 phabet would make any word whatever ; and certainly I 
 should never find two or three words, so made out, that 
 would read together in a coherent series. Until, then, the 
 really corresponding letters were discovered, all would be 
 doubt and conjecture: we might dispute whether the book 
 were written in the English or in any other language: and 
 probably many would contend, that it was not intended to 
 have any series of meaning at all ; just as is now generally 
 affirmed with respect to the spiritual sense of the Scrip- 
 tures. If, on the contrary, on applying any system of in- 
 terpretation to the supposed mysterious book, it should be 
 found to decypher, not one or two words only, but the 
 whole ;— if the whole might be read in order, definite 
 words and a coherent sense being found in every part; the 
 truth of the proposed system of interpretation would be 
 
 ^ 
 
376 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 incontestable ; there could be no doubt that the unknown 
 characters really answered to the common ones which the 
 proposed system substituted for them. Now this case, I 
 venture to affirm, is exactly parallel to that of our propos- 
 ed interpretation of the Word of God by the Rule drawn 
 from the Doctrine of Analogies. If the signification as- 
 signed from this Doctrine to any term used in Scripture 
 were not the true one, — did not give the properly corres- 
 ponding idea, — though a colourable interpretation of one 
 or two passages might perhaps be offered, yet the applica- 
 tion of the same sense to the same term wherever else it 
 occurred would yield nothing but a chaos of confusion. 
 But when we find that the contrary is the case with the 
 system w r e have proposed ; when it is seen, that this ex- 
 plains one passage as readily as another, and the whole as 
 completely as a part; when the sense assigned by it to any 
 individual term is found to afford a luminous meaning in 
 every instance where that term occurs ;* the conclusion is 
 irresistible, that the system is correct. On this ground we 
 rest the claim of the Doctrine of Analogies to be received 
 as the true key for the interpretation of Holy Writ; assur- 
 ed that in this will be found the true alphabet for decy- 
 phering the Divine Style of Writing. Let us take this for 
 our guide, and begin with the books of Moses ; and we 
 fear not to say ; Behold, their mysteries unfold. Let us 
 proceed through the Prophets ; and nothing so recondite 
 will present itself, as will not, on the right application of 
 this key, expand full to the view. Let us continue our re- 
 searches through the Gospels and Apocalypse, and still we 
 shall find that this Doctrine affords the universal talisman, 
 by which the \eil of the letter is every where laid open, 
 and the wonders of God's law, — all that man can compre- 
 hend of the wisdom of Omniscience, — are revealed. 
 
 * See this exemplified, with respect to the term dmtds, in the fourth Lec- 
 ture, p. 210, &c and Appendix. No". IV. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 377 
 
 The two conclusions then, of our proposition above, 
 hence result : 
 
 First, That the Doctrine of Analogies, being thus appli- 
 cable to the decyphering of the natural images composing 
 the letter of the Divine Word from one end of it to the 
 other, affords the true rule for its interpretation. 
 
 Secondly : That the Divine Word, being thus univer- 
 sally capable of being interpreted by the Doctrine of Ana- 
 logies, must have been intentionally written according to it. 
 
 2. Let us extend this argument by the following sup- 
 plement : How can it be accounted for, that writings 
 composed by a great number of different authors, who 
 were scattered over a period of sixteen hundred years, and 
 were thus without any possibility of settling a plan in con- 
 cert, should be written throughout by a uniform principle 
 of so remarkable a kind ; — especially when it is certain, 
 that at least the greater number of the penmen were quite 
 unconscious that their productions were governed by this 
 principle, and were entirely unacquainted with the spirit- 
 ual contents, which, by virtue of this law of their con- 
 struction, their writings contained ? 
 
 From this circumstance alone, then, we surely are again 
 entitled to infer, that the style in which the Scriptures are 
 composed, following every where the Law of Analogy, is 
 the truly Divine Style of Writing ; and that nothing short 
 of Plenary Divine Inspiration could be adequate to the 
 production of Compositions so extraordinary. Truly, 
 therefore, are they denominated, " the Word of God." 
 48 
 
LECTURE VI. 
 
 THE WHOLE FABRIC OF INFIDEL OBJECTIONS SHEWN TO BE 
 WITHOUT FOUNDATION. 
 
 I. General View of the System and Arguments of the preceding 
 Lectures : Important additional Testimony. II. The four 
 classes of Infidel Objections stated in the first Lecture resumed, 
 and examined by the view which has been developed of the na- 
 ture of the Holy Word, and of the means of decyphering its 
 true signification. 1. Imputed Inconsistencies tcith Reason 
 and Science considered : Style of Writing in the first part of 
 the book of Genesis. 2. Imputed Contradictions considered : 
 Why four Gospels were written. 3. Imputed Violations of 
 Morality considered : David not a pattern, but a type. 4. 
 Imputed Insignificance considered. General Reply confirmed; 
 — That all such Objections arise from taking a merely super- 
 ficial view of the Sacred Scriptures, and from an utter Igno- 
 rance of their true Nature. III. Address to Christians, en 
 the Necessity of taking higher ground in their Controversy with 
 Deists. IV. Address to Deists, on the internal causes of 
 Scepticism. Conclusion. 
 
 It has been the object of our preceding Lectures to shew, 
 that the Holy Scriptures are written according to the laws 
 of the Analogy or Mutual Relation established by creation 
 
PLENARY INSPIRATION, &C. 579 
 
 between things natural and spiritual : that they thus con- 
 tain a spiritual sense distinct from the literal expression, 
 which they could not convey, in an orderly series, unless 
 they were divinely inspired throughout ; that there is am- 
 ple evidence that they are thus written, and of course that 
 they are divinely inspired ; # and thus that they are, what 
 they profess to be, the Word of God. • 
 
 I. The line of argument by which we arrive at this con- 
 clusion has consisted of four stages, which, now that we 
 are about to close the whole discussion, we will state in 
 one view. 
 
 1. We have seen in the first place, in our first Lecture, 
 that a'Revelation which is indeed from God, must contain, 
 in every part of it, the treasures of infinite Wisdom : but 
 we have seen also, that this wisdom does not every where 
 appear in the Scriptures on the face of the letter ; — so far 
 from it, that infidels have deduced from the appearances 
 of the letter, and in ignorance of their containing any 
 thing further, various plausible arguments for denying 
 them to have proceeded from any superior intelligence. 
 But the fair inference from those appearances is, not that 
 they are not divinely inspired, but that, if they are, they 
 must contain that superior wisdom which is the criterion 
 of inspiration, in an interior sense distinct from the literal 
 expression. This the deistical objections appear to me de- 
 cidedly to prove ; — that if the Scriptures actually do not 
 contain any thing beyond what appears on the surface, 
 they are not the Word of God : but they by no means 
 prove the negation which they aim at, — that they are not 
 the Word of God : — they only prove, that, to be such, 
 they must contain more than appears on the surface, — that 
 they must include a spiritual sense within the letter, in 
 which all difficulties vanish, and the wisdom every way 
 worthy of God opens to the view. 
 
380 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 So far, then, the objections of Deists may clearly be re- 
 torted against themselves. We may say to them, " After 
 all your industry in seeking for difficulties in the letter of 
 Scripture; and admitting the difficulties you have brought 
 forward to be ever so great, so long as the literal expres- 
 sion alone is attended to ; you have not produced any 
 thing that can convince a reflecting mind that the Scrip- 
 tures are not the Word of God; you only elevate our con- 
 ceptions to higher views respecting what the Word of God 
 must really be. We find in the Scriptures numerous inti- 
 mations, leading us to look for something beyond the let- 
 ter : the difficulties you have started are, calculated to turn 
 attention the same way : Let us then examine the Scrip- 
 tures in this new and more exalted point of view ; in 
 which, if you will accompany us, you will probably see 
 reason to change your opinion, and to acknowledge that 
 your objections to the inspiration of the Scriptures have 
 all proceeded upon a very partial and entirely inadequate 
 view of the case." 
 
 2. This being precisely the situation in which the Christ- 
 ian advocate is placed by the Deistical objector, we pro- 
 ceeded, in the second branch of our argument, contained 
 in our second Lecture, to examine the question thus open- 
 ed for consideration. Here then we gave proofs, from ra- 
 tional and philosophical considerations, that a composition 
 which is really the Word of God, must not only be gene- 
 rally replete with divine wisdom, but must contain the 
 chief stores of such wisdom in its interior recesses, — in a 
 spiritual sense included within the letter ;— just as* in all 
 the works of God, and especially in his noblest work, man, 
 are contained innumerable forms and wonderful organs, 
 both corporeal and mental, within the outward form, 
 which alone is visible to the eye. This branch of the ar- 
 gument then stands thus: " A composition which has God 
 for its Author, must contain within it stores of hidden wis- 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 381 
 
 dom, beyond that which appears on the surface : On the 
 supposition, then, that the Scriptures are the Word of 
 God, they actually must be replete with such hidden wis- 
 dom." And thus the same conclusion is pressed upon us 
 by considerations grounded in the very nature of things, 
 which we before found was pointed out to us by the infi- 
 del objections. • 
 
 It is true that this argument does not prove that the 
 Scriptures positively arc the Word of God, but only what 
 their nature must be if they are : But as they likewise af- 
 firm the same of themselves, and had that affirmation be- 
 lieved, without reserve, in the clays of primitive and pure 
 Christianity, (both which points are also proved in our 
 second Lecture,) a full coincidence is established between 
 what a divine revelation must be, and what the Scriptures 
 pretend to be ; and thus is raised a strong presumption, 
 that this, on due examination, is what they will actually 
 be found to be. Before then the Deist rejects them on 
 account of some things which offend him in the letter, it 
 behoves him to be very certain, that the literal sense is all 
 that is intended : and if he is assured that a further mean- 
 ing is intended, (and I wish my voice or pen could carry 
 this assurance to every one that ever saw a Bible, whether 
 Deist or Christian !) then ought he, as a candid inquirer, 
 to pause awhile, and examine the evidence upon which 
 this statement rests : and sure I am, that whoever would 
 candidly do this, and would take the pains to understand 
 it, must be convinced of its truth, and must learn to prize 
 the Scriptures as his highest treasure, — as containing in- 
 deed the pure Word of God. 
 
 3. But to determine this point with certainty, it is ne- 
 cessary that we should be acquainted with the Law or 
 Rule by which every divine composition must be compos- 
 ed, and by which of course it alone can be decyphered : 
 wherefore, as the third branch of our argument, we pro- 
 
382 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 ceeded to shew, in our third Lecture, that there must be, 
 from the very nature of creation, an unalterable relation 
 between natural things and spiritual, insomuch that all 
 things in nature, being outward productions from inward 
 essences, must be natural, sensible, and material types, of 
 moral, intellectual, and spiritual antetypes, and finally of 
 their prototypes in God. I then availed myself of several 
 testimonies in favour of this great principle : but I will 
 here mention one which was not before the public at the 
 time of the delivery of my former Lecture, but which is 
 so striking and beautiful, that I am sure every lover of 
 truth will be glad to be put in possession of it now. It is 
 contained in an address delivered by the Rev. W. Kirby, 
 M.A., F.R. and L.S., the Chairman of the Zoological 
 Club of the Linnaean Society, at a late meeting of that 
 body. He offers his views of the existence of fixed analo- 
 gies among the various orders of being ; of the importance 
 of the recognition of the principle to the higher interests 
 of Science ; and of its applicability to the construction of 
 a highly significant language ; in these terms : a When 
 we are engaged in the study of animals, and more espe- 
 cially of groups of them, it is of the first importance, if we 
 would avoid mistakes, that our attention should be kept 
 alive to what the friend lately alluded to has said on the 
 subject of affinity and analogy.* By his judicious observa- 
 tions on this subject he has opened a new door into the 
 temple of nature, and taught us to explore her mystic la- 
 byrinths, guided' by a safer clew than ice were wont to follow. 
 And whoever casts even a cursory glance over her three 
 kingdoms, will every where be struck by resemblances 
 between objects which have no real relation to each other. 
 He will see on one side dendritic minerals; on another, zoo* 
 morphous plants ; on a third, phytomorphous animals ; and 
 
 * The gentleman alluded to is Mr. Macleay, who has demonstrated the ex- 
 istence of a remarkable analogy between insects and fungi : See our third 
 Lecture, p. 106 and 107 (notes.) 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 383 
 
 among animals themselves he will see numberless instances 
 of this simulation of affinity where the reality of it does 
 not exist. From this part of the plan of the Creator, tee may 
 gather, I think, that every thing has its meaning, a« 
 well as its use .; and that probably to the first pair the Cre- 
 ation WAS A BOOK OF SYMBOLS, A SACRED LANGUAGE ; OF 
 
 which they possessed the Key, and which it was their de- 
 light to stxuly and decypher."* 
 
 Here then is asserted in the most conclusive manner, and 
 as founded on the most certain facts, the very principle 
 which it has been a chief object of these Lectures to estab- 
 lish. Not only does this enlightened philosopher and di- 
 vine affirm the existence of a fixed analogy between the 
 various objects of the three kingdoms of nature, but he 
 recognises, as an unavoidable consequence, its existence 
 between the kingdoms of nature and those of mind : 
 and when he concludes that it forms a sacred language, of 
 which our first parents possessed the key, he leads by an 
 easy step to our further conclusion, that in this language 
 the Word of God is, and must be, written. Little, cer- 
 tainly, did I think, when I first propounded the principle 
 in this Hall, that it was being advanced, almost at the 
 same moment, in one of the most distinguished philosophi- 
 cal societies in the kingdom! But from this and other to- 
 kens I am quite satisfied, that the advances which science 
 is at present making in all directions, are very rapidly 
 leading the mind of reflecting men to the same doctrine of 
 Scripture interpretation as has been offered in these Lec- 
 tures. The final consequence will be, that there will be 
 no resting place to be found between absolute Atheism, 
 and those views of the nature of the Divine Word which 
 we have endeavoured to develope. These, all real science 
 will be found more and more to confirm : and Atheism, 
 also, will then become far more inexcusable, because the 
 
 * Phil. Mag. Dec. 1823. p. 4H1. 
 
384 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 testimonies to the divinity of the Scriptures will become 
 so palpable and so abundant. 
 
 4. Finally, we have endeavoured to shew, that the 
 communication of a Revelation from God to man, must 
 follow the same general law as regulated the production 
 of the creation ; thus that the Analogy found to exist be- 
 tween natural things and spiritual, must govern the com- 
 position of writings constituting such a Revelation ; and 
 that, in point of fact, such a regard to this Analogy is dis- 
 coverable in every part of the Holy Word, and is the true 
 key for decyphering its contents. Examples in proof of 
 this, with dissertations on the true nature of divinely in- 
 spired prophecy and divinely inspired history, and on the 
 design of the selection of the Israelites as a peculiar peo- 
 ple, occupied our two last and longest Lectures : and I do 
 trust, that some of the instances which were given of the 
 applicability of the Doctrine of Analogies to the. interpre- 
 tation of the Divine Word, though very imperfectly eluci- 
 dated, must yet have been sufficiently clear to carry con- 
 viction to every accessible mind. 
 
 The presumption, then, in favour of the divinity of the 
 Scriptures, created by the former part of our argument, 
 now rises to certainty ; for this branch of the argument 
 stands thus : A Composition which has God for its Author 
 must own the laws of the same Analogy as reigns through 
 all the divine works : This characteristic exists in the 
 Sacred Scriptures : Wherefore they must have proceeded 
 from the Author of nature. If it be objected that this 
 only proves that the Scriptures may have had such an ori- 
 gin, but not that they must ; a supplementary member may 
 be added to the argument : As was shewn at the com- 
 mencement of the fifth Lecture, No composition could, 
 everywhere, follow the laws of the Analogy between natural 
 and spiritual objects, unless dictated by a Being to whom 
 the properties of all natural and spiritual objects were per- 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. $85 
 
 fectly known : As then the Scriptures do every where fol- 
 low this Analogy, they must have proceeded from a Being 
 i of Infinite Intelligence. 
 
 Thus have we arrived fully at the conclusion, that the 
 Scriptures are, what they profess to be, the Word of God. 
 
 II. If then it is true, that such is the nature of the Word 
 of God ; — if, as has been shewn, it is not given to commu- 
 nicate to man natural knowledge, but spiritual, — and if, as 
 likewise has been evinced, to communicate spiritual things 
 without a veil would be to injure those who are in states 
 of confirmation against divine things, and not to benefit 
 them ; — if, finally, it is because it follows the Law which 
 must necessarily govern the communication of a Divine 
 Revelation, that the Word of God is couched in language 
 outwardly sample, whilst it contains divine wisdom with- 
 in ; which, also, is capable of being decyphered by an ap- 
 plication to it of the laws observable in nature : then are 
 we furnished with a satisfactory answer to every argument 
 that can possibly be urged against it. It necessarily fol- 
 lows, that it is the Word of God indeed : and it is imme- 
 diately seen that all infidel objections proceed upon a par- 
 tial view of the case, and that they fall to the ground of 
 themselves, as soon as the true nature of the Writings 
 against which they are raised is known, without the neces- 
 sity of being separately refuted. 
 
 By way of conclusion, however, we are to shew more 
 particularly, how the system of which we have been en- 
 deavouring to give a sketch, applies to the four classes of 
 infidel objections noticed in our first Lecture ; which im- 
 pute to it many statements contradictory to each other ; 
 many that are contradictory to reason and science ; many 
 that are contradictory to just morality ; and many that 
 relate to matters of an indifferent nature, totally unworthy 
 of the concern of an Infinite Being. 
 49 
 
S8G PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 1. There will be some convenience in considering first, 
 that class of infidel objections which imputes to the Scrip- 
 tures Contradictions to Reason and Science. • 
 
 Rightly to estimate the chief of these objections, it is 
 necessary to be acquainted with the peculiarity of style 
 belonging to that part of the Word of God in which they 
 occur ; which is, the first portion of the book of Genesis. 
 We have endeavoured to draw the line of distinction, in 
 our fourth Lecture,* between some of the books contained 
 in the collection denominated the Bible, and others, and 
 to shew, that while the greater part are written by the 
 plenary inspiration for which we contend, and thus contain 
 a spiritual sense within that of the letter, which is the 
 criterion for distinguishing the proper Word of God ; the 
 remainder are the offspring of the illuminated intellect of 
 the writers, possess no regular sense beside that of the let- 
 ter, and cannot claim any higher inspiration than that lax 
 and partial one, which is now all that is usually allowed 
 to the whole of the Sacred Writings. But among those 
 books which are written by the plenary and immediate 
 inspiration, there are also some specific differences of style, 
 though they are all composed in the general divine style. 
 Thus the prophetic style is evidently different from the 
 historical. There also are two species of that which as- 
 sumes the historical form ; and which must be distinctly 
 seen before we can meet effectually that class of infidel 
 objections which is founded on imputed contradictions to 
 reason and science. 
 
 (1.) We have seen in the fifth Lecture,! tnat * ne Israel- 
 ites were selected by Divine Providence, to be made the 
 instruments of representing things of a divine and spiritual 
 nature ; hence, though the particulars of their history re- 
 corded in the Scriptures are all typical, exhibiting spiritual 
 « 1 1 _ _ — 
 
 * Page 105 ; but more particularly in the Appendix, No. II. t Page 282 
 to 306 ; &c. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C, 387 
 
 and divine things under symbolic actions and descriptions, 
 they still are histories of real occurrences, which took 
 place, in general, as they are related. But it is easy to 
 see, that this combination of symbolic meaning with ac- 
 tual facts could not exist, till the nation, thus invested by 
 divine appointment with a representative character, exist- 
 ed : this species of Divine Writing, therefore, can only 
 commence with the origin of the Israelitish nation. What 
 style, then, might we expect would be employed in that 
 portion of the Word of God, which relates to the affairs 
 of the inhabitants of the earth before the birth of Abra- 
 ham, the great founder of the Israelitish nation ? What 
 could be so proper, as the style of writing which prevail- 
 ed among the natives of the globe at the period it de- 
 scribes ? And this was the style of pure allegory, in which 
 the things meant are so entirely independent on the things 
 mentioned, that the latter are invented to serve merely as 
 a vehicle for the conveyance of the former. 
 
 If such be the fact, there cannot be a greater mistake 
 than to imagine, that the first chapter of Genesis is intend- 
 ed to be an exact description of the process of the Creation 
 of the world. It can answer to it no further, than as the 
 real order of that creation answered to the order in which 
 the endowments necessary for rendering man a purely in- 
 telligent and heavenly-minded being were successively 
 implanted in him ; and which was an order similar to that, 
 in which the child now advances from the ignorance in 
 which he comes into the world, to the understanding of a 
 man. All the objections then which scepticism has ad- 
 vanced against the divine inspiration of the Word of God, 
 founded on the inconsistency of some of the facts related 
 in the early part of Genesis with the known principles of 
 reason and science, fall to the ground at once, when it is 
 seen, that this is not intended to be the record of a natural 
 but of a spiritual creation ; and that the events which fol- 
 io w to the time of Abraham, are not intended to give the 
 
383 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 history of mankind as to their outward transactions, but a 
 history of mankind as to the state of their minds, and 
 their reception or perversion of divine gifts and graces. 
 To affirm, as is now the fashion, that the narration is to 
 be literally understood, — that the ordinary date of human 
 life was then about a thousand years, — that serpents could 
 talk, and that the woman was literally made of her hus- 
 band's rib, — is to exact of the believer a blind faith in- 
 deed. In the early ages of Christianity, her teachers knew 
 better : they did not thus " bind heavy burthens, and 
 grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders." 
 Clemens of Alexandria, one of the most learned of the 
 early Fathers, declares, that such was the style customary 
 in the ages to which this history belongs ; observing u that 
 all who have treated of divine subjects, w r hether Greeks 
 or Barbarians, industriously involved the beginnings of 
 things, and have delivered the truth in enigmas, signs, and 
 symbols, in allegories and metaphors, and other such 
 figures."* Origen, when the shrewd enemy of Christiani- 
 ty, Celsus, ridiculed the stories of the rib, the serpent, &c. 
 as childish fables, reproaches him for want of candour, in 
 purposely keeping out of sight, what was so evident upon 
 the face of the narrative, that the whole is a pure allego- 
 ry."! Indeed, so universal was this sentiment, that De la 
 Bigue, in his Bibliotheca Patrum, after quoting a number of 
 testimonies to this effect, says, a For these reasons, the 
 Interpreters whom we have mentioned, understanding all 
 that is said of Paradise in a spiritual manner, affirmed, 
 that divers heresies had arisen, because certain persons 
 had understood what is said of God and Paradise after a 
 carnal manner :"J so that although orthodoxy, as the pre- 
 vailing opinion is always called, has since gone over to 
 the other side, it is certain that, in the primitive days, the 
 
 * Strom. .1. v. p. 658, Ed. Ox. t Cont. Cels. 1. iv. p. 187, Ed. Sp. 
 
 i " Propter has causas," <fcc. torn. i. p. 270. (Par. 1589.) 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 389 
 
 heretics were those who interpreted this part of Scripture 
 according to the letter. 
 
 However, there is an evident prospect, that Reason and 
 Truth will, in this respect, again resume their sway ; for 
 just sentiments in regard to the bearing of Revelation on 
 physical science, are now frequently promulgated from 
 high authority : Indeed, the sentiment which I have ad- 
 vanced, that Divine Revelation is not intended to commu- 
 nicate to mankind natural knowledge, but moral and spi- 
 ritual, seems likely soon to be generally admitted. Thus 
 the Rev. W. D. Conybeare, in his admirable Introduction 
 to c; Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales," by 
 himself and Mr. Phillips, delivers his views on this ques- 
 tion thus : " Before we examine the bearings of physical 
 science on Revelation, our ideas should first be settled as 
 to what may reasonably be expected from Revelation in 
 this respect. Both its opponents and some of its defendants 
 often seem to argue, as if it should have included the dis- 
 covery of a system of physical truth ; which, it would not 
 be difficult to shew, gives an entirely erroneous view of 
 its professed object ; — to treat, namely, of the history of 
 man, only, and that, even, but as far as affects his rela- 
 tions to his Creator, and the dealings of Divine Provi- 
 dence in regard to him."* He afterwards gives three views 
 of the manner in which the term days may be understood 
 in the first chapter of Genesis ; the second of which, and 
 by far the most tenable one, he states thus : " We may 
 perhaps without real violence to the inspired writer, re- 
 gard the periods of creation recorded by Moses, and ex- 
 pressed under the term of days, not to have designated 
 ordinary days of twenty-four hours, but periods of defi- 
 nite but considerable length ; such a mode of extending 
 the signification of this term being not unexampled in the 
 Sacred Writings. Those who embrace this opinion, will 
 
 * Page I. 
 
390 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 of course assign the formation of the secondary strata, in 
 great part at least, to these clays of creation ; and we have 
 the authority of several divines in favour of this mode of 
 interpretation."* 
 
 Here we have the principle openly admitted, that to 
 convey physical instruction cannot be the design of the 
 book of God ; and that even to make the statements which 
 appear in the form of physical details harmonize with 
 the unquestionable discoveries of true science, great lati- 
 tude must be taken in the interpretation of the terms. 
 The same doctrine is powerfully advocated in a late Number 
 of the Quarterly Review ; which I advert to, because that 
 journal is devoted to the interests of religion, as under- 
 stood in the Church of England, — and because the reputed 
 author of the article alluded to is likewise a clergyman. f 
 
 * Page lx. 
 
 t The passage is rather long ; but its interest being fully commensurate with 
 its length, it is here given. It forms part of the review of Professor Buckland'i 
 late work, Reliquim Diluviance. 
 
 " The more the strata which compose the crust of the earth are examined, 
 the stronger evidence do they present of revolutions and catastrophes occur- 
 ring at wide intervals of time, of slow progressive advancement to its present 
 state, and of the existence of varied orders of created beings which successively 
 occupied its surface before it was finally fitted for the abode of man. These 
 phenomena, or rather the principles on which they are explained in the mod- 
 ern schools of geology, have been thought to militate against the history of the 
 creation contained in the first chapters of Genesis. — 
 
 " The usual mode of solving the difficulty has been, to interpret the six days 
 of creation, not as natural days determined by the revolution of the earth on 
 its axis, but as indefinite periods of time : and to this explanation Mr. Buck- 
 land seems disposed in that [his Inaugural] Lecture to incline. Others object 
 to it with great vehemence, as wholly incompatible with the institution of the 
 Sabbath, which is manifestly set forth as the seventh day : and therefore they 
 contend, that the other six must necessarily be regarded as days in the same 
 sense, and of the same kind. 
 
 " Instead of presuming to decide peremptorily in this matter, our object 
 will rather be to caution the friends of religion against a rash and possibly mis- 
 chievous mode of vindicating their opinions. We beseech them to bear in 
 mind, that similar alarm has been taken, and similar zeal manifested, in the 
 cause of religion, in several instances which have all terminated in establishing 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 391 
 
 Supposing, however, that this part of the narrative of the 
 beginning of Genesis, were capable, by this latitude of in- 
 
 the points so much dreaded; and yet Christianity, so far from receiving a 
 shock, has only emerged from the controversy with increased vigour and lustre. 
 It is hardly necessary to remind them of the persecutions raised against the 
 first teachers of the Copernican system of the universe. The doctrine was 
 pronounced to be contradictory to the language of Holy Writ, and was ac- 
 cordingly condemned as false and impious. Nay, so late as the early part of 
 the eighteenth century, when the Jesuits' edition of Newton appeared, it was 
 thought necessary by the Editors to prefix an advertisement, disclaiming all 
 belief in the system thus demonstrated, because it had been declared unscrip- 
 tural by the church, and setting it forth only as a series of deductions from a 
 false hypothesis. — 
 
 " Well indeed it is for us, that the cause of revelation does not depend upon 
 questions such as these : for it is remarkable that in every instance the contro- 
 versy has ended in a gradual surrender of those very points which were at one 
 time represented as involving the vital interests of religion. Truth, it is cer- 
 tain, cannot be opposed to Truth. How inconsiderate a risk do they run, who 
 declare that the whole cause is at issue in a single dispute,* and that the sub- 
 stance of our faith hangs upon a thread — upon the literal interpretation of some 
 word or phrase against which fresh arguments are springing up from day 
 to day ! 
 
 " Why, for instance, must we be compelled to understand the word day in 
 the first chapter of Genesis precisely in the same sense it now bears, viz. the 
 period of the earth's rotation upon its axis ? Certain it is from the narrative itself 
 that the word does not bear the same meaning throughout the whole chapter > 
 for the first three days were passed before the creation of the sun is mention- 
 ed: and yet in these, no less than in the others, the portion of time is denoted 
 by the words - evening and morning :' which, according to their received im- 
 port, necessarily suppose the existence of the sun. Let us not, however, be 
 misunderstood. We are firmly convinced that the institution of the Sabbath 
 is a divine ordinance from the beginning — that the observance of it is enjoined 
 as commemorative of the close of the great work of creation, and that its so- 
 lemn obligation is expressed by the parallel which it pleased God to draw be- 
 tween the progress of his own works, and the destined employment of that 
 being whom he made in his own likeness. Yet no one can believe, when it is 
 said God rested from his works, that he really underwent fatigue and required 
 repose. The same principle of accommodation to our perceptions and modes 
 of speaking must be admitted here as it is in a thousand other passages of 
 Holy Scripture. Our duty cannot be mistaken, whatever interpretation we 
 put upon the disputed words ; and it is this duty which it is the main purpose 
 of that volume to declare and to impress upon usJ' Q. R. No. lvii. p. 162 
 to 164. 
 
392 PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 terpretation, of being reconciled with the facts as now 
 ascertained, much difficulty would still remain to account 
 for the existence of light for four days (and days too of 
 this indefinitely long duration, amounting, altogether, at 
 least to hundreds of years ; — to account for the existence 
 of light all this while) before the creation of the sun, 
 moon, and stars : — for the hypothesis which has been so 
 eagerly caught at by some of the Christian advocates, that 
 this light was what certain modern philosophers have 
 called " the matter of light," diffused through all space, 
 cannot be accepted till it is shewn, that light can ever be 
 rendered perceptible without some luminous centre to put 
 it into activity. When such philosophic advocates of the 
 literal sense can introduce us into a closed room, contain- 
 ing neither lamp nor candle, yet fully illuminated by the 
 universally diffused u matter of light," their explanation 
 of Genesis may be received : but to receive it before, is 
 only to combine the dreams of philosophers with the 
 dreams of divines. But every difficulty would be sur- 
 mounted at once, were it admitted, that to describe the 
 spiritual creation, — the endowment of man with those 
 gifts and graces which were so eminently conspicuous in 
 the primitive times, — in those times which the poets have 
 designated as the golden age, and have represented by the 
 fiction of the garden of Jupiter, and which our Scriptures 
 depict by the happiness of man when the garden of Eden 
 was his abode ; — were it admitted that to describe this 
 creation is the true object of this relation in Genesis. The 
 truth is, that the circumstances detailed agree with the 
 facts attending the physical creation, so far as the analogy 
 between the one and the other is exact ; but when it holds 
 no longer, the inspired relation follows the course of the 
 moral creation, and disregards the physical altogether. 
 
 2. The truth of this view will be greatly strengthened, 
 if we stop a little to consider the genius of the inhabitants 
 of the world in those very ancient times, according to 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 
 
 393 
 
 the best idea we can form of it from the traditions and ac- 
 counts handed down from ancient writers. 
 
 This is a circumstance which has much puzzled the ex- 
 plorers of antiquity, and which has frequently led histori- 
 ans immensely out of the way ; that all history is, in the 
 beginning, involved in fable. Trace up the records of any 
 very ancient nation to its origin, and they are universally 
 found to become enveloped in mystery, — to contain rela- 
 tions as remote from probability as those delivered in the 
 early part of Genesis ; wherefore they are considered by 
 all as incredible. Now the air which they thus wear of 
 incredibility, cannot possibly arise from their antiquity 
 alone. Never was there a more gross attempt to impose 
 an egregious sophism upon the public, than when a cele- 
 brated infidel advanced, that all testimony diminished in 
 credibility in the ratio of its age. The history of Thucy- 
 dides and the commentaries of Caesar, will carry as much 
 conviction to the mind of the reader that they were in- 
 tended to be records of actual occurrences, and are in the 
 main true, five thousand years hence, as they do now, or 
 ever did : whereas the fabulous history of the origin of 
 Thebes, and of the armed men that sprung out of the earth 
 when Cadmus had killed a dragon and sown his teeth in 
 the ground, equally wore the character of fable when first 
 the story was broached as at the present day : only, they 
 who lived in the age of its invention, knew that it was to 
 be regarded as an allegorical and not as a real history ; 
 they knew, also, how such allegories were to be interpret- 
 ed ; and did not, like many of the modern learned, sup- 
 pose, that every writing wearing the historical form was 
 meant to be understood literally, and that, if it was in this 
 shape incredible, it was to be rejected altogether. The 
 fact is, as the remains of Grecian, Egyptian, and Indian 
 antiquity which have come down to us abundantly evince, 
 that it was the custom in very ancient times, not only with 
 the people who lived before the flood, but with those who 
 50 
 
 • 
 
 - * 
 
 .1 r 
 
394 
 
 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 flourished many ages afterwards, to couch whatever they 
 wished to be conveyed to posterity under the form of an 
 historical relation, but intermingled, like the history of 
 Adam and Eve, with circumstances so extraordinary, as 
 shewed that it was not designed to be literally apprehend- 
 ed. But in process of time the meaning of the symbols 
 which they used was forgotten ; and then the narratives 
 composed by their aid, being accompanied with a tradi- 
 tional feeling of respect which prevented their total rejec- 
 tion, began to be understood in their literal sense only, 
 and mankind were lost in amazement at the marvellous 
 things, which they supposed their ancestors witnessed. 
 Thus the vulgar, in the latter ages of Greece and Rome, 
 looked back with admiration at the times when their he- 
 roes went to school to the centaurs, and sacred statues or 
 holy shields fell from heaven for the protection of favour- 
 ed cities ; as the vulgar of modern date, — such of them, at 
 least, as love the world so well they fain would never 
 leave it, — envy the longevity of the antediluvian patri- 
 archs, and think how happy they should be were a thou- 
 sand years still the duration of human life. 
 
 But further : The people of the earliest ages of the 
 world were of a turn of mind so devoted to exalted senti- 
 ments and sublime contemplations, that they never thought 
 of committing to writing accounts of common occurrences: 
 they were too indifferent to the affairs of this world, in 
 which they knew they were but pilgrims and sojourners, to 
 deem them worth recording : for which reason, no au- 
 thentic history of political or civil events, of any very 
 great antiquity, exists. Hence the well-known remark of 
 the learned Varro : that the space of time before the flood 
 was cufyXov, — the period of utter obscurity ; that the age 
 from the flood to the first Olympiad was jxuSjxov — the 
 period of fable or mystery ; and that it was only with the 
 first Olympiad that commenced the period ko^ixov — that 
 of* literal history. The reason why the genius of these 
 
 
 
 *' 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 395 
 
 ancients led them to describe interior subjects in the lan- 
 guage of allegory, was, because the illumination of their 
 minds was such as to enable them to discern, in natural 
 objects, the images of the spiritual and divine things which 
 are the causes of their production ; because, as elegantly 
 expressed by Mr. Kirby, " the creation Avas to them a book 
 of symbols, a sacred language, of which they possessed the 
 key, and which it was their delight to study and decy- 
 pher." Hence, when they wished to communicate to oth- 
 ers their interior perceptions, they would veil their 
 thoughts in language borrowed from natural objects and 
 occurrences. Whilst, indeed, this knowledge was possess- 
 ed intuitively, they probably would not think of writing 
 at all. The whole creation was to them an open book : 
 whatever they had occasion or desire to know, they there 
 could read : every object in it spoke to them, in the clear- 
 est terms, of the supreme objects of their regard, — of God, 
 and heaven, and heavenly things; and reading every thing 
 there, they had no occasion for any books beside. But 
 when this faculty of intuitive perception begun to decline, 
 in consequence of their beginning to turn their affections 
 towards outward objects, instead of only using these, as 
 before, as means for nourishing their love for heavenly 
 things as contemplated in them ; whilst yet, among the 
 better sort, a desire for the knowledge of heavenly things 
 remained; then, we may conclude, they would study those 
 things as a science which they before knew by intuition. 
 Then books would begin to be composed, in which they 
 would endeavour to express their meaning by analogies 
 taken from the objects of nature, the knowledge of which 
 they would long regard as the first of sciences, and the dis- 
 tinguishing mark of wisdom and learning. 
 
 Now the early chapters of Genesis treat of the people 
 who were of this character and genius, — both of those who 
 had an intuitive perception of spiritual tilings in natural 
 objects, and of those who enjoyed the knowledge of them 
 
396 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 by science and study ; and therefore that part of the book 
 is written in a style similar to that which those people 
 used ; that is, spiritual and interior subjects are described 
 in language borrowed from the appearances of nature, — 
 in the form of apologue and allegory, — in a narrative that 
 appears in the letter to relate only to natural and ordinary 
 facts. Whole classes of people, whose modes of thinking 
 and feeling, especially in regard to sacred subjects, were 
 similar, are personified as one man, to whom an age is as- 
 signed, answering, probably, to the period during which 
 the principles represented continued to prevail : the man- 
 ner in which one class of religious sentiment and profes- 
 sion is propagated from another is described by family de- 
 scents : and the fates among mankind of religion in gene- 
 ral, or the vicissitudes which the church of God, under 
 different forms, experienced, are represented by the for- 
 tunes of these allegorical personages. That such a mode 
 of describing such subjects is agreeable to nature, is evi- 
 dent from the tendency to it which still occasionally shews 
 itself ; of which many examples might be given from mo- 
 dern compositions. 
 
 (3.) That such is the character of the Scripture history 
 antecedent to the birth of Abraham, may also be inferred 
 from the similarity which is observable between the events 
 which it relates and the traditionary accounts of the ancient 
 heathen mythologers. This resemblance has been observed 
 by many of the Christian advocates, from Justin and Cle- 
 mens to Bryant and Faber ; and has been dwelt upon as 
 affording a strong testimony to the authenticity of the 
 Mosaic writings. Many, however, have here run into an 
 error, which has thrown a shade of doubt and suspicion 
 over all that they have urged upon the subject : they have 
 assumed, that whatever exists in heathen writings which 
 bears some similitude to facts, or apparent facts, detailed 
 in our Scriptures, was borrowed from this source: and they 
 who do not affirm this, consider such fables of the heathens 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 397 
 
 to be mere distortions of matters of fact, which are simply 
 true as recorded in the Bible. But the argument in favour 
 of the authority of the Volume of Revelation is much 
 stronger, when it is admitted, as doubtless is the truth, 
 that neither the mythological stories nor the correspond- 
 ing relations in Genesis are details of external facts, but 
 both are allegorical records of the same facts in the moral 
 and spiritual history of mankind, handed down through 
 different channels : the former being the productions of 
 men who possessed the knowledge, and wrote in the style, 
 which was common to the learned of those ages ; and the 
 latter being also composed in the style which was common 
 to those times, so far as this consisted in the purely allego- 
 rical character of the narration, but written by absolute in- 
 spiration, and thus possessing all the fulness and truth which 
 inspiration only can convey. This will account for the 
 considerable variety in the images under which the cir- 
 cumstances are described. Thus, for example, we have the 
 record in Scripture of the termination of two distinct dis- 
 pensations of divine things to man ; the first of which, be- 
 ginning with Adam, closes with the flood ; and the other, 
 which commenced with Noah, began to be corrupted at 
 the building of the tower of Babel, and was totally so by 
 the abominations which were plunged into by the Canaan- 
 ites, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and other nations which 
 flourished in those ages, and which originally were branch- 
 es of the Noetic Church. These events are evidently the 
 same as are described in the Grecian mythology, by the 
 two wars waged against heaven by two different races of 
 giants, the first called the Titans, and the second, simply 
 the giants.* The first race is described in Scripture by 
 the giants which are said to have existed before the flood, 
 and who are represented as having sprung from the inter- 
 course of the sons of God with the daughters of men ; and 
 
 * See our third Lecture, p. 141 and 145. 
 
398 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 the second race, though not denominated giants in the 
 Scriptures, are they who undertook the gigantic enterprise 
 of building a tower whose top should reach to heaven, — 
 an enterprise very similar to that of scaling heaven by a 
 pile of mountains. By these relations, both the mytholo- 
 gical and Scriptural, is not meant that a race of people of 
 enormous stature then existed ; but giants, in the language 
 of Analogy, are they who are great in their own conceit ; 
 and such giants as are here spoken of, were they who abso- 
 lutely looked upon themselves as deities, arrogating all 
 merit, all goodness, and all wisdom to themselves, and not 
 allowing that every thing they possessed which was really 
 good was imparted to them by gift and perpetual deriva- 
 tion from the Lord alone. In short, the symbol of mon- 
 strous giants was adopted, to represent those who fell into 
 such direful persuasions, as to imagine that the Deity had 
 actually transfused himself into them, so as to have no ex- 
 istence independently of them ; approximations to which 
 sentiment are to be found in some of the doctrines of the 
 Greek philosophers : and at this day it lies at the bottom 
 of the religious system of the Hindoos, and has decided 
 affiliations in that of Thibet and China : the origins of all 
 which rise to the highest antiquity. 
 
 Is it not then, we may now ask with confidence, in the 
 highest degree probable, that the early part of Genesis, 
 and the mythological tales which bear so much resem- 
 blance to it, relate to the same facts, not in the political 
 and civil, but in the moral and spiritual history of man- 
 kind ? that they equally are composed in the general style 
 prevalent in the ages to which they refer? that neither the 
 one narrative nor the other was ever intended to be under- 
 stood according to the literal form ? that both are inter- 
 mixed with such stories as, in the literal sense, are in the 
 highest degree extravagant and incredible, purposely, 
 among their other uses, to intimate to mankind that a 
 common record of facts was not intended ? but that the 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 399 
 
 mythological tales, though originally composed by men 
 who possessed a knowledge of interior things and their 
 analogies with natural objects, yet not being communicat- 
 ed by plenary inspiration, have not a spiritual sense, except 
 as to the general circumstances, do not exist in any record 
 which carries a spiritual idea in every expression, and are 
 not always, perhaps, exact representations of the things 
 intended ; whereas, in Genesis, the same occurrences are 
 described in language inspired throughout, and all the 
 representatives are infallibly exact ? 
 
 We may, I trust, now repeat as a certain fact : that this 
 early part of Genesis is written in the language of pure 
 allegory, because it describes the moral history of a peo- 
 ple with whom that style of writing was the only one in 
 use ; and because, further, it could not be given in the 
 style of true but representative history, whilst the nation 
 afterwards raised up to sustain the proper representations 
 was not yet in existence ; and because, finally, these are 
 the only two species of narrative that can be delivered by 
 plenary inspiration ; from which source, a history of mere 
 facts, containing no internal meaning, never can proceed. 
 
 Now what objection, carrying the smallest weight, can 
 be raised against this view of the subject ? I can see none. 
 It solves all difficulties, and is, itself, absolutely unattend- 
 ed by any.* Nothing further, then, needs be urged to 
 overturn from the foundation that class of Infidel Objec- 
 tions which rejects the Word of God for the alleged con- 
 tradictions to reason and science to be found in this part 
 of its contents. The literal history was never intended to 
 be understood as such ; it, therefore, can contradict no- 
 thing. The questions, then, respecting the manner and 
 order in which the world was created, and respecting the 
 vicissitudes which its surface has undergone ; whether all 
 
 
 See Appendix, No. VII. 
 
 
 [ 
 
400 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 the convulsions of which symptoms are apparent in the 
 disposition of its strata, and in the vegetable and animal 
 remains found in its bowels, took place before it was 
 brought into a state fit for the habitation of man, or whe- 
 ther part of the indications have been occasioned by a 
 general deluge which it has undergone since : are matters 
 which may safely be left for decision to the unfettered pro- 
 gress of science. The Word of God pronounces no dictum 
 upon such subjects : and nothing which Science may ever 
 bring to light respecting them, can, in the slightest degree, 
 affect the title of the Scriptures to be received as the Word 
 of God. The only bearing of all real Science upon the 
 Word of God, is, to point to and confirm its true nature. 
 
 2. The class of infidel objections which we are next to 
 consider, is that which is drawn from apparent contradic- 
 tions between the various statements made by the sacred 
 writers. 
 
 It is undoubtedly true, as is generally urged by the ad- 
 vocates of Revelation, that the greater part of these admit 
 of a sufficient explanation when the context is fairly consi- 
 dered : but, as was stated in the second Lecture, if there 
 are any which cannot thus be reconciled, it is, because, in 
 such cases, the letter has yielded a little to the weight of 
 the matters contained within ; a slight turn has been given 
 it to make it express more fully the spiritual contents, re- 
 specting which alone it is the object of inspiration to im- 
 part instruction.* Of this* an example was given, and the 
 principle more explicitly developed, in our last Lecture, 
 from the history of Jephthah and his daughter. Though 
 the circumstances related are true, they may not immedi- 
 ately exhibit the whole truth, as far as the outward his- 
 tory is concerned. " Just so much is recorded as conveys 
 the true spiritual sense, and no more : and Divine Wis- 
 1 
 
 * Page 34, 35. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 401 
 
 dom, which only regards things eternal, deems it of no 
 moment whatever, if an impression be thus left of transient 
 events different from the true one."* Admit this princi- 
 ple, (and if we admit that a Revelation from God must 
 primarily treat of spiritual subjects, it will be difficult to 
 dispute it,) and we shall find no instances of seeming con- 
 tradiction which can occasion the smallest embarrassment 
 to the candid inquirer. 
 
 (1.) In the case, for instance, of the turning of the wa- 
 ters of Egypt into blood, by Moses and Aaron ; when it is 
 afterwards said that " the magicians did so with their en- 
 chantments ;" upon which the Deist asks, When all the 
 water of Egypt was changed before, how could the magi- 
 cians repeat the operation ?f — It is here well answered 
 from the letter, that the context shews that water was still 
 attainable for the experiment, since we read, two verses 
 below, that " the Egyptians digged round about the river 
 for water to drink." If, however, it had been more diffi- 
 cult to account for the manner in which the magicians 
 obtained their water, there still would have been a neces- 
 sity, to convey the spiritual lesson intended, that the nar- 
 rative should be so framed as to imply in the letter, that 
 all the waters of Egypt were changed into blood by Moses 
 and Aaron, and yet that the magicians performed a like 
 miracle afterwards. The subject here spiritually treated 
 of is respecting the false persuasions which adhere to those 
 who cultivate natural science, but oppose themselves to 
 the will of God and the truth of his Word, and respecting 
 the judgments with which they are visited to compel them 
 to desist. The waters of Egypt are all the truths possess- 
 ed by such persons : blood, when considered in any way 
 different from its proper relation, is the symbol of truth 
 to which violence is done by wresting it from its just ap- 
 plication. Moses is the type and representative of that 
 
 * Page 3J4. 335. t See the first Lecture p. 22 
 
 51 
 
402 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 Law or Word which was given by his instrumentality ; 
 and Aaron, as his prophet, or spokesman, represents the 
 true doctrine or instruction which that teaches. The 
 miracle, therefore, was performed by them, to indicate, that, 
 before the wicked are finally condemned, their real .state, 
 as Divine Truth discovers it, is shewn to them. But 
 " the magicians did so with their enchantments," to re- 
 present how the natural man finds excuses for not setting 
 his heart to consider the divine judgments when openly 
 displayed before him, referring thern to other causes : in 
 fact, the magicians are the proper types of that ingenious 
 mode of reasoning from fallacies, which resolves the most 
 express interferences of Deity into the common operations 
 of nature. The spiritual lesson, surely, is deeply interest- 
 ing, and the analogies from which it results self-evident : 
 to yield those analogies is the main thing regarded in the 
 construction of the letter : and when matters so weighty 
 are to be expressed, it surely is more important that the 
 language of the sacred history should be such as gives the 
 spiritual contents in all their fulness, than that it should 
 be absolutely free from obscurity in regard to all the 
 minutiae of the literal details ! 
 
 But the difficulties in the literal narratives of the Word 
 of God which appear most considerable, to those who do 
 not attend to the proper design with which all the narra- 
 tives of the Word of God are constructed, are those which 
 are presented by the frequently varying accounts of the 
 four Evangelists. 
 
 (2.) The question, why so many as four authentic Gos- 
 pels should have been written, has embarrassed not a few 
 inquirers. Many, even of those who have no prejudice 
 against them on account of any part of their contents, 
 would be glad of a plausible pretext for ejecting some of 
 them from the Canon : thus the celebrated Michaelis, en- 
 tertaining the common notions of inspiration, regarding it 
 as a personal and permanent endowment, and being at a 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 403 
 
 loss for a certain rule to discriminate between composi- 
 tions which are inspired and such as are not, would fain 
 limit the inspiration of the New Testament to the Apos- 
 tles' writings alone : and he intimates that no small advan- 
 tage would result from accepting Apostleship as the crite- 
 rion of inspiration, since there would then be but two 
 Gospels which we should be concerned to harmonize.* 
 But if we regard the historical Scriptures as containing 
 throughout a spiritual meaning, and conclude that, where 
 the same general fact is variously related, it is for the sake 
 of teaching the same general spiritual lesson with some 
 specific modifications ; we shall have no need to wish that 
 the number of inspired books were fewer, or to murmur 
 at their Divine Author for the abundance of his benefits. 
 
 The Apostle and Evangelist John concludes his gospel 
 with observing, U There are also many other things which 
 Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, 
 I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the 
 books that should be written." This would be an extra- 
 vagant hyperbole indeed, if it referred to the acts of 
 Jesus as they appeared in their simple performance ; but 
 it becomes a sober truth, if we understand by it, all that 
 was included and involved within the outward appear- 
 ances. Only let it be acknowledged, or supposed even, 
 that Jesus was u the Word" or Divine Truth itself u made 
 flesh,"f thus was God Incarnate ; and it follows inevita- 
 bly, that there must have been an infinity of meaning in 
 every one both of his words and of his actions ; and it 
 may be easily conceived, that one mode of narrating them 
 would be insufficient for their full representation. 
 
 Perhaps, also, in agreement with that unvarying con- 
 stancy with which all the divine operations follow fixed 
 laws, there may be some divine law which rendered it 
 
 * Introd. by Marsh, Vol. i. Ch. iii. Sec. 3 ; Vol. iii. Pt. i. Ch. ii. Sees. 4 and 
 5 ; Ch. vi. Sec 2. t John i. 14. 
 
404^ PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 necessary that the Gospels should neither be fewer nor 
 more than four : indeed, if inspiration be allowed to them, 
 such must be the fact ; since it were a contradiction in 
 terms to affirm, that Divine Inspiration produced the exact 
 number of four Gospels by chance. It is somewhat re- 
 markable, that we read respecting the u river which went 
 out of Eden to water the garden," that u from thence it 
 was parted, and became into four heads :"* and it seems 
 possible that the coincidence was not unintentional, which 
 was noticed by an ancient father ; that c( there were four 
 Evangelists, four rivers of Paradise, four corners and four 
 rings to the ark of the covenant ;"f not that the first of 
 these circumstances was the cause of the others, nor even 
 that the others were provided to form types of the first ; 
 but that they all owed their origin to the same general 
 principle ; — that the same law regulating the descent of 
 divine things into nature, governed the one circumstance 
 as the others. Now, what could the rivers of Paradise 
 represent, but the streams of truth and wisdom which 
 nourished the mind of man in his paradisiacal state? And 
 why were there four of them, but because that number ex- 
 presses fulness and abundance? for it is a number which is 
 used in reference to the four quarters of the world, — the 
 east, west, north, and south, — in connexion with which it 
 is frequently mentioned in the Scriptures ;f and while each 
 of these, singly, refers to some specific quality, the four 
 together manifestly stand for the whole. So, if the four 
 rivers of Paradise, together, were representative of the truth 
 and wisdom, in all their fulness and abundance, which, in 
 the primeval ages, animated and endowed the human mind; 
 each of them must have been the symbol of some general 
 class of these graces. What this is, is discoverable from 
 the import, in the language of Analogy, of the four quar- 
 
 * Gen. ii. 10. t Jerome, apud Lardner, vol. xii. p. 82. 
 
 ^ As when John " saw four angels standing on the/our corners oflkt earth, 
 holding the four winds of the earth." Rev. vii. 1. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &.C. 405 
 
 ters, from which the number four draws its signification of 
 fulness. The east, being considered as the seat of the sun, 
 represents much the same as the sun does, — a state of love, 
 and of the illumination immediately proceeding from love, 
 in its highest intensity ; and the west is the same general 
 state in a lower degree: so the south is expressive of a state 
 of intelligence, with its attendant charity, in the highest 
 brightness ; and the north of the same as verging towards 
 obscurity. Thus the east and west, and the south and 
 north, are to each other, respectively, as the internal and 
 external of one general principle. If the cardinal points 
 did not bear, in the language of Analogy, which is that of 
 the Word of God, some such meaning, would they be so 
 frequently noticed in that Word ; and this even in its pro- 
 phecies and visions ?* Now what if four Gospels were 
 given, describing the history of the birth and ministry of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, with a reference to these four gene- 
 ral states ? to be divine streams of truth and wisdom, pos- 
 sessing, respectively, these general qualities ? to form the 
 unfailing rivers of the Christian Paradise, — the church, — 
 supplying to its inhabitants the waters of life ? I throw 
 out this suggestion, not as a certain truth, but because, to 
 me, it yields a probable reason for the number of the Gos- 
 pels, and because it includes ideas, which, as we shall see 
 presently, tend considerably to clear up the mystery of 
 their varying statements. To me, also, it appears quite 
 evident, that the obviously distinct characters of the seve- 
 ral Gospels tally remarkably with those which this view 
 supposes. Will not all who venerate these sacred narra- 
 tives confess, that the Gospel of John displays the highest 
 order of the illumination here alluded to, treating more 
 openly of the highest subjects of divine illumination, which 
 are, the true nature and character of Him whose history it 
 
 * See Ezekiel's vision of the New Temple, in the last nine chapters of his 
 book, and John's of* the JVew Jerusalem ; Rev. xxi. For the general frequen- 
 cy with which the quarters are mentioned, see a Concordance. 
 
406 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 relates, and the necessity of love to his name ? that the 
 Gospel of Luke, with its sweet delineations of charity, and 
 luminous statements of so many essential truths, ranks next 
 in clearness? and that those of Matthew and Mark, though 
 fully imbued with the same spirit, treat their subjects in a 
 more external manner, or clothe them with a somewhat 
 thicker veil, and are to the former, respectively, what the 
 north and west are to the south and east ? 
 
 (3.) Supposing there to be any truth in this view of the 
 subject, the reader of the Gospels would expect, that, in 
 recording any transaction, each Evangelist would relate 
 such of the circumstances attending it as belonged to the 
 proper character of his Gospel, and would omit others : 
 and if there are any cases in which the circumstances re- 
 lated by different Evangelists are quite incompatible with 
 each other, he would expect further, that the narrative of 
 the facts, as they actually appeared to the senses of the be- 
 holders, would most probably be found in one of those 
 Gospels, (Matthew's or Mark's,) which treat the subjects 
 under their most external form ; whilst the seemingly in- 
 congruous circumstances, if any, mentioned by the others, 
 equally belong to the transaction, but exhibit the inward 
 state of mind of the parties concerned, which did not ma- 
 nifestly appear in the words or actions actually spoken or 
 performed, but yet were as really present as those words 
 or actions themselves. 
 
 This suggestion may be illustrated in a very familiar 
 manner. Every one knows how frequently the words and 
 actions of persons in society greatly differ from their in- 
 ward thoughts and inclinations. To take a rather coarse, 
 but too common example : how often does the greedy ex- 
 pectant of a profitable reversion, express with his lips a 
 great desire for the restoration of the sick possessor's 
 health, when the language of his heart is, " I wish you 
 were dead, out of the way !" Now, if these words were 
 actually ascribed to him by a narrator who knew the 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 407 
 
 heart, there would be no real contradiction between this 
 account and that of another who reported the language of 
 his tongue : they would both record different parts of the 
 same transaction, and both records would be true, though 
 one of them could have flowed from the pen of none but 
 an inspired writer. This is so obvious an idea, that I re- 
 member to have seen it very pleasantly illustrated in a fa- 
 ble for the instruction of youth. The writer imagines the 
 existence of an edifice called the Palace of Truth ; the in- 
 mates of which are unconsciously compelled to speak and 
 act according to their real thoughts and inclinations : the 
 consequence is, that they are continually disgusting each 
 other by rudeness of language and demeanour, whilst they 
 fancy themselves to be behaving with perfect good man- 
 ners, and saying the civilest things imaginable. Who 
 doubts that the universe is, to its Architect, a Palace of 
 Truth, in which the inmost thoughts are as audible as the 
 outward declarations ? 
 
 But not only is there frequently this palpable difference 
 between the thoughts and inclinations and the words and 
 actions — a difference of which the parties themselves are 
 sensible ; but doubtless there is much more included with- 
 in every single idea of thought than comes to the appre- 
 hension of him who conceives it: and if the moving springs 
 from which it arises, with all their complications, were 
 discovered to him, they would sometimes be so different 
 from what he himself suspects, that he would hardly re- 
 cognise himself in them, though they belonged to the very 
 essence of his distinguishing character. If then these un- 
 conscious thoughts and inclinations were actually ascribed 
 to him by the pen of that Omniscience to which they are 
 all known, the picture drawn of him would still be in ex- 
 act accordance with the reality y though the likeness would 
 not be discernible to a superficial observer. 
 
 "We now, I apprehend, shall be in possession of the true 
 principles for reconciling the seeming discrepancies of the 
 
4DS PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 divinely inspired recorders of the Gospel-history. — When 
 circumstances arc omitted by one Evangelist which are 
 mentioned by another, it is, because they belong to a dif- 
 ferent specific modification of the same general spiritual 
 lesson, and, in fact, to a different order of Divine Truth, 
 from those which it is within the province of that Evan- 
 gelist to deliver. — When, if ever, the circumstances are 
 such as could not, both, have outwardly occurred, one of 
 them is the expression of the state of mind of the parties, 
 within or above their outward speech and actions: it gives 
 such developements of inward character as would have 
 taken place had the parties been speaking or acting in the 
 Palace of Truth ; and, to carry on the allegory, it belongs, 
 sometimes to the lower and sometimes to the upper stories 
 of that edifice, or is more near to, or more remote from, 
 the actual consciousness of the actors or speakers. 
 
 From theory, let us now descend to facts, and try the 
 application of our principles to the actual relations of the 
 Gospels. ' . t 
 
 (4.) A remarkable example of variations, from both 
 these causes, is, I conceive, afforded by the history, as de- 
 livered by the four Evangelists, of the treatment of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ at his crucifixion, and of his behaviour 
 on the cross. Matthew and Mark, agreeably to their office 
 of presenting things as they appeared to the outward ob- 
 server, and also, as they were perceived by the parties in 
 the lowest and most external sphere of their thoughts and 
 feelings, are very full, especially the former, in the detail 
 of the cruel insults which were heaped upon the Saviour 
 in that dismal scene. They describe all the bitterness of 
 his temptation thence arising, and the severity of his men- 
 tal as well as bodily suffering. They record his despairing 
 exclamation, u My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken 
 me :" # and these, as far as can be gathered from them, 
 
 * Matt, xxvii. 46, Mark xv. 34. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 409 
 
 were the only words uttered from the cross. Luke, on 
 the contrary, states much less of the aggravating scoffs 
 with which the Redeemer was assailed as he hung, arid 
 narrates nothing in his conduct which indicates that the 
 sufferings inflicted on him engaged much of his attention. 
 According to this Gospel, when going to execution, he says 
 to the mourning women, u Daughters of Jerusalem, weep 
 not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your child- 
 ren."* Instead of any exclamation of despair upon the 
 cross, we have this effusion of imperturbable confidence : 
 " Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit :"f and 
 these, with the encouraging declaration to one of the 
 thieves, and a prayer for his murderers, were, as far as 
 can be gathered from this Evangelist, the only words ut- 
 tered by him in that situation. How. plain then is it, that 
 Luke relates the perceptions and feelings of Jesus on this 
 occasion, as they existed in a sphere of his mind above 
 that, the sensations of which are recorded by Matthew and 
 Mark ; with the words which he spoke from this different 
 order of sentiments ! And still more is this the case with 
 the narrative of John. This seems to describe his feelings 
 in a sphere of his mind to which no consciousness what- 
 ever of his indignities and sufferings reached. It therefore 
 does not at all notice the insults addressed to him on the 
 cross. He is represented as occupied with no considera- 
 tions whatever which regarded himself. To represent his 
 care of the church, which ever dwells with those of whom 
 " the disciple whom he loved" was a type, " he saith to 
 his mother," in reference to that disciple, " Woman, be- 
 hold thy son !" and to the disciple, who thenceforth took 
 her to his own home, u Behold thy mother t"J To ex- 
 press his ardent desire for man's salvation, and " that the 
 Scripture might be fulfilled," he exclaimed, " I thirst. "§ 
 And, so far from indicating any feeling bordering upon? 
 
 * Ch. xxiii. 2<-. t Ver. 46. f Ch. xix.26. 27." § Ver. .28. 
 
 52 
 
410 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 despair, he does not even express any sense of needing sup- 
 port: he does not, even in appearance, refer to any Divine 
 Helper out of himself ; but, experiencing already a perfect 
 consciousness of his union with Divinity, and "knowing 
 that all things were now accomplished" necessary to effect 
 that union, and with it to secure the redemption of man- 
 kind, he simply, and with divine composure, says, M It is 
 finished."* 
 
 Now though these very different narratives, may not, 
 regarded only as to the letter, be irreconcilable with each 
 other ; though it is probable that all the circumstances re- 
 corded by each Evangelist did actually occur; and though 
 the very dissimilar speeches related might all actually be 
 spoken : yet every one must see, that the different narra- 
 tives and the different speeches breathe different feelings, 
 and belong to decidedly different classes of sentiment ; 
 which would have been broken and confused had they 
 been jumbled into one continued discourse, but are pre- 
 served in all their distinctness and beauty, by the wise 
 provision of Providence, that several Gospels should be 
 written. 
 
 (5.) Another striking example of the excellence of this 
 arrangement, is afforded by the account of the conduct of 
 the two thieves, as related by Matthew and Mark, and by 
 Luke. 
 
 Without particularly dwelling upon the behaviour of 
 these unhappy men, Matthew, after mentioning the taunts 
 of the chief priests and scribes, adds, " The thieves also, 
 which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth :"f 
 Mark also says, " And they that were crucified with him 
 reviled him :"J a circumstance deeply aggravatory of the 
 Saviour's sufferings, when he had to endure the insults of 
 the very outcasts of society ; and therefore well suited to 
 be introduced in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, the 
 
 * Ver. 30. t Ch. xxvii. 44. J Cli. xv. 32. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C 411 
 
 nature and design of which necessarily included the insist- 
 ing upon such details. Luke, however, who does not give 
 so much of the scoffs of the priests and scribes, mentions 
 the reviling of one of the thieves only, and this, chiefly, 
 to contrast it with the becoming behaviour of the other : 
 his words are these : u And one of the malefactors which 
 were hanged with him, railed on him, saying, If thou be 
 Christ, save thyself and us. But the other rebuked him, 
 saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the 
 same condemnation? and we indeed justly ; for we receive 
 the due reward of our deeds : but this man hath done no- 
 thing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me 
 when thou comest into thy kingdom."* Now whether 
 both these narratives describe things which took place in 
 outward form, just as they are related, or not ; it is cer- 
 tain, that, spiritually, both narratives are true, and that 
 both were necessary for conveying the spiritual lesson in- 
 tended. 
 
 Thieves, in the Word, are types of those who deprive 
 others of truths by infusing false and heretical opinions ; 
 as, also, of those who possess the knowledge of truth, but 
 pervert it from its proper object, which is, to lead to a life of 
 goodness: they likewise represent such as arrogate to them- 
 selves what belongs to the Lord. The two thieves, then, 
 are they who act thus, either from a confirmed principle 
 of evil in the will, or from a false principle assumed by 
 the understanding ; and they thus will represent the Jew 
 and the Gentile world. Both these classes of spiritual 
 thieves, viewed as to their doctrinal sentiments, reviled 
 the Son of man ; both Jews and Gentiles entertained opi- 
 nions adverse to the true doctrines of the Word of God : 
 and this is represented by the fact as stated by Matthew 
 and Mark, that u the thieves, also, cast the same in his 
 teeth :" " they that were crucified with him reviled him." 
 
 * Luke xxiii. 39 to 42. 
 
412 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 But though both classes thus reviled the Lord externally, 
 it was only with one that the outward conduct proceeded 
 from an internal ground: Luke, therefore, who relates the 
 circumstances as they exist in, or flow from, an interior 
 sphere, ascribes determined malevolence to but one of the 
 malefactors : the other, who is the type of those who, like 
 the Gentiles, entertain false sentiments merely from igno- 
 rance, and of those who fall into improper conduct because 
 they have not had the advantage of such instruction as 
 would teach them better, when brought, even in this ex- 
 tremity, into the presence of the Son of man,— made ac- 
 quainted with the Truth Itself, — feels all the compunction 
 that a conviction of his error and misconduct ought to ex- 
 cite, and solicits the mercy of him whom he is thus brought 
 to know : and because no one in heart can acknowledge 
 the Lord but from some good principle, Jesus answers, 
 u To day," — in this state, — " thou shaft be with me in pa- 
 radise." Considered then as representative characters, — 
 as the types of two classes of spiritual thieves, there evi- 
 dently is no contradiction whatever between the accounts 
 of Matthew and Luke : they describe different parts of the 
 same general facts, and parts so distinct, being those which 
 constitute its external form and its internal, that they could 
 not possibly have been included in the same narrative. 
 And the case will be the same, if, without looking at the 
 thieves as types of general classes, we regard them as indi- 
 vidual transgressors of two different characters. Many a 
 one has been led, by untutored passions, into excesses 
 which he never deliberately purposed, and has afterwards 
 been awakened, by the voice of Truth, to, the most sincere 
 feelings of remorse. The law may have been so far vio- 
 lated, that the gibbet must expiate the offence : but who 
 will affirm that the redeeming feelings in the heart of the 
 sufferer will go for nothing in his final account, though, 
 being beyond the eye of the human judge, they cannot 
 change his doom here ? Every criminal act reviles the 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 413 
 
 Son of man: bnt we cannot positively affirm, of every one 
 who has been hurried into the commission of a criminal 
 act, that his heart does the same. The outward conduct, 
 then, of these two characters, in which they appeared si- 
 milar to each other, is described by Matthew and Mark, 
 and their inward state, in which they were dissimilar, by 
 Luke. 
 
 Seeing then the spiritual reason for the variation of these 
 narratives is so evident, and the spiritual lessons they in- 
 culcate are so completely satisfactory ; to know, how far 
 the facts mentioned by Matthew and Luke appeared mani- 
 festly before the spectators of the scene, becomes a matter 
 of perfect indifference. It may be true, as some of the 
 commentators suppose, that both the Gospels relate facts 
 as they happened ; that both the thieves at first joined in 
 blasphemous language, but that afterwards one repented, 
 and behaved as stated by Luke : supposing it were so, the 
 view we have offered above clearly explains why neither 
 Evangelist states both facts : to have done this, would 
 have confused the spiritual sense, and would have been a 
 deviation from the proper character of his Gospel. It may 
 be true, again, that Luke alone relates the facts as they 
 happened, and that the penitent thief never reviled with 
 the other : and in this case, whether we suppose, with 
 most of the critics, that Matthew and Mark, who say, " the 
 thieves," and " they y " loosely, and not " both the thieves," 
 and " both of them," emphatically, use the plural number 
 for the singular by the grammatical figure called enallage 
 (of which they produce several examples) ; or whether we 
 conclude that they were really ignorant of the different 
 circumstances recorded by Luke ; we still see, as before, 
 that there is no mistake in the matter, and that the spirit- 
 ual sense of the whole transaction would have been 
 mutilated had not both records of it been made. Or, 
 finally, the outwardly apparent circumstances might 
 only have been those given by Matthew and Mark ; — 
 
414 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 either, positively, both thieves did revile, or this might 
 be said because one of them, though silent, gave no out- 
 ward indication of dissent from the conduct of the other ; 
 and still it may be perfectly true that the language of their 
 heart was that given by Luke, though what this spoke, in 
 the penitent, was only audible to him to whom all hearts 
 are known ; if, however, such sentiments were actually 
 heard by Him, he did not make one Evangelist contradict 
 another, when he caused him to give them an open tongue. 
 One or other of these three solutions must be the true 
 one ; which, is to us of no moment whatever : and it is plain 
 from either of them, that the Gospels are not here really 
 at variance, but only relating different parts of the same 
 transaction, which all belonged to it with equal truth. 
 
 We mentioned, in our first Lecture, two of the other 
 seeming difficulties on which infidel writers have founded 
 objections ; and as, though solvable upon the same princi- 
 ples, they rather differ in kind from those just considered, 
 it may be expected that we shall not dismiss them without 
 specific notice. 
 
 (6.) The first of these is the circumstance, that in the 
 history of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, as de- 
 livered by Matthew* and by Luke,f there is an inversion 
 of the order of two of the principal facts ; the first Evan- 
 gelist making the devil set the Saviour on a pinnacle of 
 the temple, before he shews him, from a high mountain, 
 all the kingdoms of the world ; whereas, Luke places this 
 latter circumstance before the other. Regarded as a record 
 of outward facts, there must here be allowed to exist a 
 difficulty ; but there will remain none at all when it is 
 admitted, that to communicate information respecting the 
 same general spiritual fact is the main design, in both nar- 
 ratives ; but that this general fact includes two leading 
 
 * Ch. Lv. 1 to 11. t Ch. iv. 1 to J3. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 415 
 
 branches, one of which is represented by one Evangelist, 
 and the other by the other. 
 
 It must here be observed, that all the circumstances of 
 this temptation prove strongly the generally spiritual na- 
 ture of the Gospel-history, and evince that it treats' of 
 spiritual subjects under natural representatives. For who 
 can imagine that Jesus Christ, as to his person, was thus 
 at the disposal of the devil ? was personally transported 
 by him from the wilderness to a high mountain, and 
 thence to the summit of the temple in " the holy city ?" 
 or that, to effect the temptation, Satan shewed himself in 
 proper form, and carried it on by actual colloquy ? And 
 where could the mountain be found, so u exceeding high," 
 that from the top of it might be seen, by any optics, 1C all 
 the kingdoms of the world ?" Some of the critics would 
 surmount this difficulty, by wishing us to believe, that the 
 world, here, only means the land of Judaea : but how will 
 the phrase, " all the kingdoms of the world," apply to 
 this little speck of it ? Doubtless, then, it was in spirit, 
 and in vision, that these things were presented to the Sa- 
 viour's perceptions ; just as Ezekiel was transported u in 
 the visions of God to Jerusalem,"* and as John also was 
 " carried away in the spirit to a great and high moun- 
 tain."! Thus the transaction, being altogether a spirit- 
 ual one, must bear, in all its circumstances, a spiritual 
 signification. 
 
 A mountain is a symbol, in the Scriptures, of an exalted 
 state of love, either heawnly or infernal : to be incited, 
 thence, to desire the possession of all the kingdoms of the 
 world, is to be tempted with the lust of self-aggrandize- 
 ment, either as regards the monopoly of all power, or of 
 all wealth, or of both : to be set upon the pinnacle of the 
 temple, and thence incited to do a rash act that includes 
 the persuasion of possessing divine power, is to be tempt- 
 
 * Ezek. viii. 3. t Rev. xxi. 10. 
 
416 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 ed by a still more extravagant species of the lust of power, 
 — what may be called the ecclesiastical thirst for dominion, 
 — that which aims at sovereignty over men's souls as well 
 as their bodies. But the ultimate end which is proposed 
 by any passion that sways the human breast, is what de- 
 termines its positive quality. There doubtless have been 
 Popes and Grand Lamas, who, in arrogating dominion 
 over the souls of men, have made this pretension and lust 
 subservient to the desire of temporal power and wealth : 
 the latter have been their supreme objects of regard ; and 
 the former has been valued as a means to the attainment of 
 these ends. These then have yielded to the suggestions of 
 Satan, as they are represented by Matthew. Other occu- 
 pants of the pontifical thrones of Rome and of Lassa, have 
 unquestionably been possessed, as their ruling aim and ob- 
 ject, with the lust of spiritual domination, and have 
 grasped at temporal power and wealth as calculated to 
 promote it : These then have adopted the persuasions of 
 the devil, as they are arranged by Luke. Thus, while it 
 is perfectly evident that there exist these two general kinds 
 of the lust of domination, it appears no less certain, that 
 each of them undergoes a modification, as it is made sub- 
 servient or paramount to the other. This is even indicat- 
 ed by the Evangelists in the minute distinctions of their 
 language : thus Luke, who represents the appetite for tem- 
 poral power and wealth as subservient to the ecclesiastical 
 lust, calls the symbol of the state, simply a " high moun- 
 tain ;" whilst Matthew, who exhibits it as predominant, 
 exalts its symbol into "■ an exceeding high mountain." Now 
 it cannot be doubted, since the Saviour " was in all points 
 tempted as we are/'* — was made sensible in the human part 
 of his constitution, of the strongest instigations to every 
 evil that ever beset the most corrupt child of Adam ; that 
 the tempter injected the propensity to both these general 
 
 _^_ T _ H f - 
 
 * Ilcb. iv. 15. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 417 
 
 evils in both these states of their developement. But the 
 only way, in the language of analogies, in which the two 
 forms of them could be described, was by placing the 
 representatives of them before, and after, each other, re- 
 spectively. To have done this in the same narrative 
 would have appeared a strange tautology ; neither would 
 it have expressed the order of their manifestation or exist- 
 ence, the one abiding within, or occupying a more interior 
 sphere than, the other. Therefore the symbolic descrip- 
 tion of each is given in a separate book : and as Matthew's 
 Gospel treats of things in their more exterior, and 'Luke's 
 in their more interior developements, therefore, in agree- 
 ment with the respective characters of the narratives, the 
 more exterior and superficial developement of these dire- 
 ful evils forms the subject of the temptation as described 
 by the first Evangelist ; while the latter represents them 
 in their more interior form, and opens, in its still deeper 
 recesses, their diabolical nature. 
 
 (7.) The only other case which we have to notice, is 
 that in which Matthew cites a text, as from the prophet 
 Jeremiah, which is only to be found in the book of Zech- 
 ariah : he gives it thus : " Then was fulfilled that which 
 was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took 
 the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was val- 
 ued, whom they of the children of Israel did value, and 
 gave them for the potter's field ; as the Lord appointed 
 me."* In an ordinary writer, this certainly would argue 
 strange negligence : but what if, occurring where it does, 
 it affords a positive argument for the Evangelist's plenary 
 inspiration ? What if it should be absolutely impossible 
 for a writer whose pen was irresistibly guided by the 
 Spirit of God, to cite these words, how well soever he 
 might know that he had read them in Zechariah, without 
 ascribing them to Jeremiah ? Such, I apprehend, will 
 
 * Matt, xxvii. 9, 10. Coinp. Zech. xi. 1*, 13. 
 53 
 
4IS PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 readily appear to be the fact. And indeed, how is it pos- 
 sible that the change of name could have originated in 
 mistake ? Is it credible that Matthew could know so lit- 
 tle of the Scriptures as to be ignorant in what book the 
 words were extant ? And if so monstrous an improbabili- 
 ty might for a moment be supposed, is it imaginable that, 
 among those to whom he first communicated his Gospel, 
 there was none who possessed sufficient knowledge of the 
 ancient Word, with which every Jew was familiar from 
 his cradle, to inform him of the erratum 9 Really the dif- 
 ficulties of conceiving it to be an unintended error, are 
 greater than those of supposing that it was a dictate from 
 the Spirit of God : they indeed are such as directly point 
 to this conclusion. And in this we shall find an easy and 
 natural solution of the whole seeming inconsistency. 
 
 If the Word of God be the Word of God indeed, it is a 
 mere truism to affirm, that the Spirit which dictated it 
 cannot possibly regard it as the work of men : consequent- 
 ly, that Spirit can never mean to ascribe any of its books 
 to the men whose names they bear. Every prophet who 
 was commissioned to deliver any portion of the Word of 
 God, became, ipso facto, a representative type of the Word 
 of God itself ; specifically, of that portion of it which he 
 was the instrument of writing. Now every such portion 
 of it has a distinctive character of its own, more or less 
 obviously discriminated. So plain is this, in some in- 
 stances, as to have become proverbial : thus Isaiah is com- 
 monly called the evangelical prophet, on account of his open 
 annunciations of the incarnation of the Lord and his ad- 
 vent in the flesh ; and Jeremiah is popularly denominated 
 the weeping prophet, for his pathetic lamentations over the 
 fall and utter corruption of the Jewish Church, and its 
 rejection and maltreatment of the Word of God, in its per- 
 sonal type, the prophet himself, and in its still plainer type, 
 the roll of inspired writing which Jehoiakim committed to 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 419 
 
 the flames.* When therefore a prophet is cited by name 
 in the inspired writings, it is not that prophet, personally, 
 that was in the mind of the Spirit of God ; nor even the 
 specific book which bears his name : but his name is 
 used as a symbol of all that portion of Scripture which is 
 of the same character as belongs, generally, to the writings 
 of the prophet named, whether occurring in his book or 
 in any other. Usually, indeed, it cannot but happen, that 
 the passage quoted is in the book of the prophet who 
 stands as the type of that species of divine composition 
 which distinguishes his own writings : but where occasion 
 occurs for citing a passage of a different character from 
 that which belongs, in general, to the book in which it is 
 found, and of the same as belongs to another principal 
 prophet, Divine Inspiration, which regards the intrinsic 
 qualities of things and not merely their external circum- 
 stances, adduces the quotation in the name of the latter 
 prophet instead of the former. Of this, indeed, only this 
 one instance occurs : it cannot, therefore, be illustrated by 
 other examples : but this one itself is admirably illustra- 
 tive of the principle, and points to it with a clearness 
 which it were difficult to overlook. The weeping prophet, 
 Jeremiah, we have noticed, though a real character, is a 
 striking personification of that species of Divine Truth, or 
 of that portion of the Divine Word, which treats of th^ 
 utter corruption of the Jewish Church, and its maltreat- 
 ment of the Word : the latter is precisely the character of 
 the divine declaration which is here cited as from him ; it 
 treats of the low estimation in which the Word was at this 
 time held by the Jews, who hoped to have purchased of 
 Judas the power of destroying its actual personification, 
 the Word incarnate. And whilst this passage is so decid- 
 edly of the same character as distinguishes the writings of 
 Jeremiah, it as evidently does not at all belong to the gen- 
 
 * See Ch. xxxvi. 
 
420 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 eral character of the book of Zechariah, which is mostly 
 composed in a cheering strain, and dwells more upon the 
 restoration of the church, and her glorious state in conse- 
 quence of receiving the Lord as the Word, than of her 
 previous debasement and infidelity. The two subjects are 
 nearly connected together, since the one event follows the 
 other ; and hence the prophets seldom dwell long upon 
 the desolation of the church and her rejection of the Lord, 
 without some reference to her restoration and her reception 
 of him : but the one subject constitutes the predominant 
 topic of Jeremiah, and the other of Zechariah : wherefore 
 the Spirit of Inspiration designates the statements which 
 even Zechariah delivers on the former subject, by the 
 name of its proper type, Jeremiah. 
 
 Surely I may be allowed to say, how satisfactory, and 
 how beautiful, is this explanation ! It is a perfectly easy 
 solution of a difficulty, which, upon every other theory, 
 is insurmountable.* But from our system it flows unforc- 
 ed ; and not only so, but as a natural and necessary result. 
 May we not then assume, that both the solution and the 
 system must indubitably be true ? 
 
 The Doctrine that the Sacred Scriptures every where 
 contain a spiritual sense, for the sake of conveying which 
 the letter is constructed, with a knowledge of the just 
 mode of decyphering it by the Doctrine of Representation 
 and Analogy, will solve every other seeming contradiction 
 in the statements of the inspired writers. To examine, in 
 this manner, all the passages in the Gospels which appear 
 contradictory, would constitute a work of much interest : 
 
 * It is affirmed by some, that Jeremiah is named instead of Zechariah, 
 because he anciently stood first in the copies of the prophets, and so might be 
 taken as a name for them all : but that there is no authority for such an 
 assertion, is sufficiently shewn in the Appendix, No. II. Others consider 
 the name of Jeremiah to be an accidental interpolation ; but certainly it were 
 tuch an interpolation as it could never come into the" head of any scribe to 
 make. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 421 
 
 but our design in the present work is, simply to lay down 
 the principles upon which they are to be solved, and to 
 illustrate the applicability of the theory to the facts, by 
 such examples as might be necessary for that purpose. 
 This may now have been done. And I trust that it can- 
 not but be seen, that the varying statements, proceeding 
 from inspired pens, may all equally be true, and may de- 
 tail circumstances which equally belong to the same trans- 
 action, though sometimes, possibly, to such parts of it as 
 were beyond the ken of ordinary observation, and could 
 have been known to none but inspired writers. Of their 
 inspiration, then, such circumstances, fairly interpreted, 
 actually become evidences. Thus in this case, as in every 
 other, the system of interpretation which we propose, 
 wrests the weapons of the infidel out of his hands, and 
 makes them assist in demonstrating the divinity of the 
 Scriptures. 
 
 3. On the Class of Objections which are drawn from 
 the imperfect morality of some of the distinguished cha- 
 racters of the Israelitish Church, little needs be added, 
 after the view given of the design of the calling of that 
 people, and of the nature of their history, in our last 
 Lecture. 
 
 (1.) Admit the Israelites to have been chosen merely to 
 represent the subjects belonging to the church ; and con- 
 sider all the persons distinguished among them as repre- 
 sentative characters only ; and all difficulties arising from 
 the questionable morality of some of them immediately 
 disappear. We then see, how the record may be essen- 
 tially the Word of God, notwithstanding the craft imputed 
 to the immediate founder of the nation, their adherence to 
 eastern manners in regard to the intercourse of the sexes, 
 and the acts of violence and treachery which several of 
 their heroes and heroines scrupled not to commit. Some 
 of these might perhaps be allowable according to the laws 
 
422 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 of nations that prevailed in those distant ages : but still 
 they were such as could not, themselves, have been agree- 
 able to the divine will, or have been practised by persons 
 who were the subjects of a spiritual dispensation. The 
 slaughter, noticed in our first Lecture, of Eglon by Ehud, 
 though effected under fair pretences, and thus by treache- 
 ry, was indeed no more than would have been done, and 
 gloried in, by the most illustrious heroes of Greece and 
 Rome, among whom tyrannicide, by whatever means ac- 
 complished, was deemed highly meritorious : but it may 
 be doubted whether any national opinions or customs 
 would justify the still more insidious act of Jael. What 
 then ? Does this prove that the book in which they are 
 recorded is not the Word of God ? Far from it. It only 
 proves that the Jews were not the subjects of a real church, 
 possessing inward principles of life and grace, but only of 
 the type of a church, — of a dispensation which symbolized 
 spiritual things by external acts, the performers of which 
 might be far from any participation of spiritual feelings. 
 
 (2.) How heavenly things might be occasionally repre- 
 sented even by acts of violence, has been shewn at large in 
 the last Lecture : and when this is seen, every objection 
 which the infidel can raise against the divine origin of the 
 Scriptures on this ground, is entirely surmounted. We 
 also see how greatly they err, who propose the exploits of 
 the Jewish worthies, in their outward form, as things for' 
 the imitation of Christians ; — a principle which, at various 
 periods, has been adopted by fanatics, who have perpetrat- 
 ed the greatest outrages under its sanction. The crimes 
 of the Old Testament scmits, as they are considered, have, 
 likewise, always formed the main bulwark of Antinomian- 
 ism ; which hence has invented the profane sentiment, 
 that the saints are often permitted to fall into great sins, 
 to convince them that salvation is by faith only, and to 
 make them more illustrious examples of the sovereignty of 
 grace. But when David, for instance, is no longer con- 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 423 
 
 sidered as the pattern of a saint, but as the type of one, there 
 is an end to the pretended sanction of lust and cruelty, 
 drawn, and which I have myself known to be drawn and 
 openly avowed, from some of his actions. The worst 
 parts of his conduct will then only be viewed as symboliz- 
 ing the discovery which must be made to the highly gra- 
 duated Christian, to become the ground of his humility 
 and self-abhorrence, of the tendencies to evil which lurk 
 in the recesses of his heart ; not as intimating that he may 
 appropriate and practise such evils, and hope for impuni- 
 ty. This will be perfectly evident, if we consider, for a 
 moment, who that Saint or Holy One specifically is, of 
 whom David was eminently a type. 
 
 This king of Israel is allowed, in his highest reference, 
 to be a type of the " King of saints,"* — the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. But, f he, it is admitted by all, though " in all 
 points tempted as we are," yet was " without sin."f Sin 
 is evil appropriated in the will and thought, and brought,, 
 when convenient opportunity serves, into act. Jesus was 
 M without sin :" how then could David, in his fall, be a 
 type of him ? Because, though never was the slightest 
 evil appropriated by the Redeemer in will, thought, or 
 act, but always instantly rejected with a " Get thee hence, 
 Satan ;"f yet, in the nature taken by him from the human 
 mother, were, before it was renewed by spiritual conflicts, 
 the same tendencies as belong to ordinary humanity : As 
 the Apostle declares, c; In all things it behoved him to be 
 made like unto his brethren :"§ and since, in the nature 
 taken from the mother, the likeness was so complete, " we 
 have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the 
 feeling of our infirmities. "|| Had it been otherwise, it 
 would have been impossible for Hell to have approached 
 him with temptations, and thus the great end of his com- 
 ing would have been defeated ; which, according to the 
 
 * Rev. xv. 3. t Heb. iv. 15. i Matt. iv. 10. § Heb. ii. 17. |l Ch. iv. 15.- 
 
424 
 
 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 same Apostle, was, M that through death he might destroy 
 him that had the power of death, that is, the devil ; and 
 deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their 
 lifetime subject to bondage."* The death he underwent 
 included, not only the death of the material frame, but of 
 every principle of his constitution which partook of hu- 
 man infirmity, and which presented an impediment to his 
 returning to perfect union with his Father ; and this death 
 he was undergoing through the whole period of his life : 
 " I have a baptism to be baptized with ; and how am I 
 straitened till it be accomplished !"f The fall of David, 
 then, represented, not the falling into sin of Him who was 
 " without sin," but the deep temptations undergone by 
 him, from the action of " him that had the power of 
 death" upon those principles of human nature appertain- 
 ing to him which were susceptible of the influence : the 
 remorse and penitence of David typified the utter rejec- 
 tion, by Jesus, of every thing in his nature which could be 
 susceptible of such an excitement ; and David's restora- 
 tion to divine favour, the renewal of the Lord's human 
 nature, and of every principle in it, by communication 
 from his divine. 
 
 Now how could the perceptions and feelings which must 
 have been experienced by Jesus during the suffering of this 
 inward process, be otherwise represented, than by a detail 
 of corresponding outward acts ? And what could those out- 
 ward acts which were positively sinful typify, in regard to 
 Him who was without sin, but his experimental discovery, 
 that the tendencies to it were inherent in that human na- 
 ture of which he had become a partaker, and which in 
 him, as in us, was to be " made perfect through suffer- 
 ings ?"J For he, also, " learned obedience by the things 
 which he suffered ; and being made perfect, he became the 
 Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him."§ 
 
 * Ch. ii. 14, 15. t Luke xii. 50. $ Heb. ii. 10. § Ch. r. 8, 9. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 425 
 
 What then is the doctrine taught by this part of the his- 
 tory of David, to the Christian ? What but this ? that he 
 has in his nature the seeds of the evils which in David 
 proceeded to such flagitious acts. And what is the practi- 
 cal lesson taught by this part of David's conduct, viewing 
 him as the type of a saint, and decyphering the type by 
 comparing it with the known Antitype, the king 'of saints ? 
 that it is excusable in" the Christian, because he has the 
 seeds of such evils in his nature, to adopt them in his will, 
 or thought, or act, as was done by the type ? No ! but that, 
 like the great Antitype, who alone is his pattern, he is to 
 engage in conflict with them within ; to reject them as 
 soon as he is made sensible of their existence in his breast ; 
 and to seek from above for that renewal of the heart, 
 which, far from favouring the least tendency to evil, de- 
 lights in nothing but goodness and purity. This is the 
 real use which is to be made by the Christian of the histo- 
 ry of David. Referred to his acknowledged chief Anti- 
 type, it becomes intelligible at once. We are to study 
 him as a type, not as an example, and are to take for our 
 example the Antitype alone. Accordingly, the Lord never 
 says to his disciples, " Follow David," but, continually, 
 "Follow me."* 
 
 Under such views of the Word of God as these, what 
 becomes of the blasphemous imputation of its encouraging 
 immorality ? 
 
 (4.) With regard to the charge of Insignificance, 
 brought against great part of the Word of God, it cannot 
 now be necessary to say a«syllable. When it is seen that 
 every part of the Sacred Records is profoundly significant, 
 and that the most apparently' trifling ceremonies, direc- 
 tions, and statements, include representations of things of 
 all others the most important to immortal beings ; the im- 
 putation against them of Insignificance comes with the 
 
 * Mat. iv. 19 ; viii. 22 ; ix. 9 ; xvi. 24 ; xix. 21 i &c. 
 54 
 
 • 
 
42Q PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 same weight, as would attend a decree, censuring the 
 structure of the universe, and pronouncing the unimpor- 
 tance of the stars, issued by a conclave of moles. 
 
 After this view of the bearing of all Infidel objections 
 against the Word of God as rightly understood, may it not 
 be assumed as certain, that all such objections arise from 
 taking a merely superficial view of the Sacred Scriptures, 
 and from an utter ignorance of their true nature ? 
 
 May I, then, now hope, that the affirmation made in the 
 first Lecture* will be considered as made good ? Does it 
 not clearly appear, that [to adduce from such considera- 
 tions as are urged by Deists an argument against the di- 
 vine inspiration of the Scriptures, is entirely to mistake 
 the whole nature of the case ? Is it not evident, that the 
 argument thence deduced falls to the ground of itself, as 
 soon as the true nature of the Word of God is seen, and 
 the design is regarded with which it was given to man- 
 kind ? In short, is it not a fact, that a view of the true 
 nature of the Divine Word overturns from the foundation 
 the whole fabric of Infidel Objections ? that it takes the 
 ground on which the Infidel stands in making his objec- 
 tions, entirely away from under his feet ? 
 
 III. But although the objections of Infidels avail nothing 
 whatever against the Word of God, as it is in itself, they 
 are not so contemptible when urged against the views of it 
 which commonly prevail. They afford no argument at all 
 when advanced to prove that the Scriptures have no ori- 
 gin in Divine authority ; but they yield an irrefragable 
 one when applied, as they only ough't to be applied, to 
 evince that the Scriptures' must contain much more in 
 their bosom than is extant on the surface. 
 
 On this subject, then, I fain would address an earnest 
 appeal to all Christian advocates, and to all the portion of 
 
 * Page 28. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 427 
 
 the Christian world in general, who adhere to the merely 
 literal interpretation. I would say to them, with all re- 
 spect, Consider, my brethren, whose zeal in the cause of 
 what you helieve to be the truth I venerate, and who, I 
 doubt not, are actuated by a sincere desire to uphold the 
 credit of the Word of God, how much you compromise 
 that credit, 'when you affirm, (as Ave have seen is now so 
 generally the case,) that the Scriptures are every where 
 to be understood according to the letter alone ; that no 
 spiritual sense is to be looked for, unless, perchance, in 
 those passages where it is expressly referred to in the New 
 Testament ; that the inspiration by which they were writ- 
 ten, so far from being plenary, and dictating the very 
 words to the writers, did not even secure them from any 
 but u material errors." It is true, probably, that you 
 have adopted these views of the Scriptures, from disgust 
 at the absurdities and abominations which have formerly 
 been advanced, drawn, as was pretended, from their spi- 
 ritual sense : but are you sure, that while you thus jiet 
 from a lion, you have not been met by a bear f* Is the lite- 
 ral sense attended with no difficulties ? and is the abiding, 
 simply, by it, an unfailing preservative from all delusion 
 and error ? Are not some of the greatest delusions, such 
 as have just been noticed of the Antinomians and other 
 fanatics, the offspring of the separated letter alone ? As- 
 suredly, then, even if, by embracing such ideas of the 
 Word of God, you afforded no advantage to the enemies 
 of religion, you deprive your own souls of great benefits, 
 and expose yourselves to very serious mistakes. 
 
 But when, by thus binding the understanding to the let- 
 ter alone, you give so great odds to our Deistical and oth- 
 er adversaries, and so encumber the Christian cause with 
 
 > , . 
 
 * Amos v. 19. The lion, when mentioned in a bad sense, is the symbol of 
 such false persuasions as arise from the perversion of the interiors of the 
 Word ; the bear, of such as result from abiding by the letter alone, without 
 understanding it. . 
 
428 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 difficulties not its own, as to render it, in the eye of rea- 
 son, almost untenable ; how serious indeed does the mis- 
 chief become ! The objections, for example, which are 
 urged from the literal sense of the beginning of Genesi?, 
 are fully demonstrative against the credibility of that sense 
 taken alone : they thus, as we have seen, point to the real 
 divinity of the Word, by pointing to a spiritual sense : 
 why then give them a direction, which, without abating 
 an atom of their force, makes them fatal to the divinity of 
 the Word altogether ? The whole style of the narration 
 in those chapters is such as might satisfy any one, that the 
 literal sense is not that which is intended. Many circum- 
 stances are introduced which are clearly designed, among 
 their other uses, to demonstrate, that a spiritual sense only 
 is what is proposed. In what a situation, then, is the mo- 
 dest inquirer placed, when he is told, that he must either 
 give his faith to incredibilities which bear palpable marks 
 that they were intended to be regarded as incredibilities, 
 or must reject the record altogether ! Any one who be- 
 lieves in a God, may believe that, on occasions sufficiently 
 important, a miracle may be performed, — a deviation may 
 take place from the customary proceedings of nature; and 
 he will not reject a narration assuming to be divine for af- 
 firming such facts : but the marvels of the first chapters of 
 Genesis are not delivered as miracles, but as things in the 
 common course of events ; and the most extraordinary of 
 them, — the talking of the serpent, — if it is to be taken as a 
 miracle, was wrought, not by the hand of God, but of Sa- 
 tan ; of whom, nevertheless, not a word is said in the let- 
 ter. To insist then that the literal sense is here to be be- 
 lieved ; and not only so, is all that is to be believed ; if it 
 is not crucifying the Son of man afresh, is delivering him, 
 bound, into the hands of Pilate and his soldiers, to be by 
 them mocked, and scourged, and crucified. The infidel, 
 amid his scoffs, may now quote in extenuation the divine 
 declaration, " He that hath delivered me unto thee, hath 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C, 429 
 
 the greater sin."* Indeed, the literal interpreters ascribe 
 such absurdities to the letter of the Word as are not to be 
 found in it : for, as has been well remarked, the Sacred 
 Narrative does not, with these interpreters, refer the cause 
 of the fall to the eating of the produce of any sort of natu- 
 ral fruit-tree whatever. But when Condorcet ridicules 
 Christianity for imputing the origin of evil to Eve's eating 
 an apple ; if he were asked where he learned this, when 
 the Sacred Record says nothing of a tree that bore apples 
 or any such fruit, but calls it "the tree of the knowledge 
 of good and evil," — thus plainly intimating that a spiritu- 
 al, not a natural tree is signified ; he might answer in ex- 
 cuse, " The orthodox told me so :" and Voltaire might 
 make the same apology for his jests upon Eve's tele a tele 
 with the serpent. How much better was the chance which 
 Christianity stood with her adversaries, when Origen could 
 reproach Celsus with dissembling what he could not but 
 know, that the whole history is an allegory, and was so 
 considered by those whom he was attacking ! Were this 
 the unanimous confession of Christians now, what modern 
 Celsus would think of again levelling the shafts of ridicule, 
 thus deprived of their point? Before he could find a butt 
 to aim at, he must, like Bolingbroke, change sides with 
 modern Christian advocates, and prove, what they have 
 laboured at so long, that the literal sense is what we are 
 hereto abide by : and as the proof of this would be as im- 
 possible to him as to them, this part of the Word of God 
 would stand for ever invulnerable to his assaults. 
 
 The difficulties under which the Christian advocate la- 
 bours in defending the Scriptures, by their literal sense 
 alone, from the charge of contradictions, are not, perhaps, 
 quite so great; but still they are such as ought to convince 
 him of the necessity of recurring to higher views of the 
 subject. I wish not to detract from the usefulness of the 
 
 * John xix, 11. 
 
430 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 harmonists; though I think that no one can ever have read 
 what is called a Harmony of the Gospels, combining their 
 respective narratives into one, without feeling himself in a 
 maze of confusion, the consequence of its jumbling toge- 
 ther things which Infinite Wisdom provided and intended 
 should be kept distinct* I acknowledge, however, the va- 
 lidity of some of the solutions of seeming contradictions 
 drawn out of the literal sense alone: but in general I think, 
 it must be allowed, that to seal that validity, and entitle 
 it to pass without dispute, higher interpretations must be 
 joined with them : for though the solutions drawn from 
 the letter alone, in many instances may be true, a reason is 
 still wanting why the appearance of a contradiction should 
 exist, — why the direct literal interpretation should often be 
 such as to involve a contradiction. It must be allowed, 
 too, after all, that many of the solutions attempted to be 
 drawn from the letter alone, so desperately torture it to 
 wring them out, that, where doubt has once entered, they 
 can never expel it. Your very friends confess this. " The 
 violent methods," says*Michaelis. " which have been used 
 to reconcile the accounts of Mark and Luke with those of 
 the other Evangelists, and the insuperable difficulty which 
 has hitherto attended the harmony of the Gospels, have 
 cast a dark shade on our religion, and the truth and sim- 
 plicity of its history have been almost buried under the 
 weight of explanations."* Why then, my brethren, not 
 accept the views which alone can satisfactorily remove all 
 difficulty ? Why present the Scripture as a jewel of 
 agate, carved in such a manner as is little suited for orna- 
 ment, and yet insist that its value consists in • its outside 
 appearance alone ; when the reasons of its peculiarity of 
 form would immediately appear, were it known, that it 
 was made to open, and that its singular shape arose from 
 its exact adaptation to hold and preserve the rubies and 
 
 ....   —   » — 
 
 * Intrml. Vol. i. Ch. iii. Si 
 
! 
 
 THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 431 
 
 diamonds which glow within ? Why allow the world to 
 condemn as flaws, what are merely the junctures, designed 
 to lead the examiner from the surface to the contents ? 
 
 But again : Most certainly, none but such views as we 
 have offered of the nature of the Israelitish dispensation, 
 can meet the objections of the Deist on the score of the 
 immoral conduct, and the acts of wrong and outrage, 
 committed by those who, if we refuse to look beyond the 
 letter, were the personal favourites of heaven. You deny, 
 (most of you,) atypical character to any persons or actions 
 which are not expressly recognised in that capacity, in the 
 New Testament. You deny then such a character to Jael 
 and her slaughter of Sisera : then how justify or excuse 
 them ? It is in vain to say, as some have done, that this 
 was a transaction for which the performer alone was ac- 
 countable, it not being owned by the God of the Scrip- 
 tures ; whereas, as noticed in our first Lecture, it is ex- 
 pressly eulogized by the voice of prophecy. With what 
 sort of feelings do you read of a woman's killing her guest 
 in his sleep, while you believe that it was the act itself, 
 and not something represented by it, which was really 
 agreeable to him who hath said, " Thou shalt not kill ?" 
 Beautiful and impressive does the narrative become, when 
 we read in it the manner in which wicked persons of the 
 specific character represented by Sisera, endeavour to es- 
 cape detection, by lurking behind the assumed appearance 
 of that species of good of which Jael is the type; and how, 
 when they have thus filled up the measure of their iniquity 
 by adding hypocrisy to their other vices, they sink into a 
 merely natural state, of which sleep is the symbol, and 
 thence pass, unconsciously, into complete spiritual death ; 
 nailed to the earth, — to earth-born feelings, — for ever. 
 Jael is thus seen as the representative of goodness of a ge- 
 nuine kind, which does not suffer itself to be prostituted 
 by being made a cover to vice. Here is something on 
 which the divine approbation cannot but rest: but, without 
 
432 r PLENARY INSPIRATION OP 
 
 it, how vindicate the transaction ? Persons even of the 
 best disposed minds, while they look at nothing beyond 
 the letter, cannot reconcile such a deed with the universal 
 command prohibitory of murder, but by affirming, that he 
 who gave the precept, retains the right, when he sees fit, 
 to remit its obligation ; that the occasions for its suspen- 
 sion were communicated to such characters as Jael by a 
 divine impulse ; and that the slaughter which ensued then 
 became, instead of murder, a judicial infliction. But what 
 a door would be opened by this casuistry to the most hor- 
 rid enormities ! and not a few have actually been perpe- 
 trated under its sanction. If a judicial infliction were all 
 that was intended, how much more impressively would 
 this be exhibited by an immediate visitation, as in the cases 
 of Ananias and Sapphira !* Indeed, the sentiment leads 
 directly to the conclusion, that there is no such thing as 
 immutable right or wrong ; that He who gave the moral 
 code could reverse it also. But what a being does this 
 make of the Author of creation ! Does it not paint him 
 like those tyrants that blot the pages of history, who made 
 their mere will the law, and whose will was guided by ca- 
 price alone? It is true, that the will of God is, and ever must 
 be, the standard of morals, and that obedience to it must 
 always remain the test of virtue : but to imagine that his 
 will can be mutable ; that it is not unalterably determined 
 to goodness in the abstract; and that essential goodness can 
 ever be any thing else than love, or its duties any but such 
 as love would dictate : — surely this is to display any but 
 a just idea of the Divine Nature ! It is, in fact, to deny 
 to God any unalterable attribute but that of Infinite Pow- 
 er : and the worshippers of mere Power, it may fairly be 
 affirmed, would worship Satan himself, had it been possi- 
 ble for him to have succeeded in tjie enterprise which is 
 ascribed to him, and to have seized the throne of heaven. 
 
 Acts v. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 433 
 
 Consider then, I beseech you, my Christian brethren, 
 the consequences in which you involve yourselves, and the 
 cause of God and of Truth, by denying a regular spiritual 
 sense to the Scriptures of Truth. Consider how this per- 
 suasion degrades the Word of God, and disgraces its Di- 
 vine Author. Believe it to be possible that inspiration 
 really may be inspiration ; that the Word of God may be 
 the Word of God indeed, and that the wisdom of God may 
 be actually included in it. Look for it then, as you 
 would look for God himself. As you do not expect to 
 find him in the scenes of nature, but in the inmost sphere 
 of mind ; so neither is it reasonable to expect to find his 
 pure, wisdom in the outward letter of his Word, but in a 
 sphere within it. Look again, I would also entreat you, 
 at the objections of the Infidels. Pretend not to meet them 
 in their own valley, where they can deploy their nine 
 hundred chariots of 'iron ; but let the array they make 
 there convince you, as it did Barak,* of the necessity of 
 taking that elevated station which is your proper sphere, 
 and of rushing down upon them from thence. Suffer them 
 not to persuade you that the Scriptures are not the Word 
 of God ; but permit them to point out to you what their 
 nature must be if they are. Thus will the weapons of the 
 Infidel be wrested out of his hands, and made efficient to 
 his discomfiture; as the sword of Goliath became an instru- 
 ment of mighty efficacy when wielded by a David.f But 
 unless you deal with them thus, they will eventually ac- 
 complish the object at which they aim. Either Christians 
 must rise to higher views of the nature of the Scriptures, 
 and of the laws of their composition, or, I presume to af- 
 firm, the day will come, when all veneration for them as the 
 proper Word of God, all belief of their having been dictated 
 by any thing at all worthy of the name of Inspiration, all 
 sense of their inherent sanctity, and all communication by 
 
 * Judges iv. 12, 13, 14. 1 1 Sam. xvii. 51 ; Ch. xxi. 9. 
 
 55 
 
434 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 means of them with God and heaven, will cease to exist 
 through the greater portion of the Christian world. Avert, 
 I beseech you, the catastrophe, by preserving the Palladi- 
 um in the centre of the Christian Temple. Cast not the 
 Ark of the Testimony out of the Holy Place. Regard the 
 Word as possessing an internal principle within it : and 
 then, and then only, you may defy the fiercest attacks 
 upon the outer bulwarks. 
 
 IV. But it is time to turn to the Deists : and to them I 
 would say, Imagine not, men and brethren, should even 
 the half of Christendom openly go over to your side, that 
 you have obtained any victory over Christianity or over 
 the Word of God. Flatter not yourselves that your suc- 
 cess were the triumph of truth over error : it were nothing, 
 be assured, but a triumph of one species of error over 
 another, — of simple fallacy over falsified truth. It were 
 not a triumph of the light of nature over the light of the 
 Word, but over a view of the Word which extinguishes its 
 light and that of nature together. It has become the gen- 
 eral opinion of Christians, that the Divine Word is to be 
 understood in its literal sense alone ; or rather, as, when 
 looked at merely in the letter, it often cannot be under- 
 stood at all, that it is to be simply believed : you look at 
 it with these preconceived impressions ; and as you thus 
 • find in it much that you cannot believe, and are not led to 
 look for its true meaning in a higher sense, you reject it. 
 But what you thus reject is not so properly the Word It- 
 self, as a mistaken idea of it, which you have taken from 
 those whom you regard as its proper interpreters. A very 
 different view of the Divine Book, and to which, as we 
 have seen, none of your objections are in the slightest de- 
 gree applicable, has now been laid before you. As was 
 observed to me by a gentleman, once of your sentiments, 
 who saw, as soon as this view was presented to him, that 
 against the Scriptures thus interpreted, nothing which he 
 
THE SCRITTURES ASSERTED, SiC. 435 
 
 had read in the deistical writers would attach ; — your 
 Paines and Volneys would here have all their work to be- 
 gin again. An opportunity then is now afforded you, of 
 trying the sincerity of that love of truth which you pro- 
 fess so loudly : for here, I hesitate not to say, is offered 
 you the truth itself ; that is, a just view of the Word of 
 Truth itself ; and this declares, by its proper organ, the 
 mouth of the Word Incarnate, " Every one that is of the 
 truth heareth my words." 
 
 But, alas ! I know too well how many causes, very, dif- 
 ferent from the proper love of truth, tend to swell the 
 ranks of Infidelity, to expect that any great proportion of 
 you will listen to this appeal. Though perfectly satisfied 
 that the view here offered is the truth, I by no means ex- 
 pect that it will satisfy those confirmed deniers of the inspi- 
 ration of the Scriptures, who, instead of being desirous to 
 know the will of God in order that they may do it, would 
 be better pleased to obtain demonstration that there were 
 no God at all whose will they need consider ; — that they 
 are free from all obligation of regarding any will but their 
 own. Of those who, from this ground, " hear not Moses 
 and the prophets," Divine Truth has declared, that " nei- 
 ther would they be persuaded, though one rose from the 
 dead."* But to such of you as are of a different charac- 
 ter, who have fallen into states of doubt, in consequence 
 of having been led to fix your attention upon those parts 
 of the Scriptures, wh^ch, when regarded as to the literal 
 statements alone, appear repugnant to reason, but who feel 
 uneasiness in consequence, and would gladly see a way by 
 which your difficulties might be removed ; the view which 
 has been developed may certainly afford all the satisfaction 
 which you can desire. 
 
 Since then there are two so very different origins of 
 scepticism, I would earnestly and affectionately exhort 
 
 * Luke xvi. 31. 
 
436 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF 
 
 every one who is in such a state, or who feels a tendency 
 towards it, dispassionately to examine his own heart, in 
 order to ascertain the first source of his impressions. You- 
 will all, perhaps, eagerly reply, that you follow in your 
 sentiments nothing but the unbiassed suggestions of reason. 
 I would ask in return, Are you sure of that ? Every phi- 
 losopher knows what an extraordinary influence is exer- 
 cised by the inclinations of the will over the conclusions 
 of the understanding : it has even become a proverbial 
 remark, that whatsoever a man ardently wishes to find 
 true, he seldom fails ih the end to persuade himself is true. 
 Let then every one, before he trusts too implicitly to what 
 he deems the dictates of his reason, faithfully ascertain, 
 whether he inwardly icishes to find that which is offered 
 him as a Divine Revelation true or false : and whether, in 
 the event of sufficient evidence of its truth being presented, 
 he is prepared, cheerfully and without reserve, to follow 
 the course of duty which it enjoins. If he can answer this 
 inquiry in the affirmative, then can we allow him to be an 
 impartial inquirer after truth, all whose scruples we are 
 convinced we could satisfy. Another test by which any 
 one may judge of his own impartiality, is this : Does he 
 find as much satisfaction, when looking over the Scrip- 
 tures, in those passages which present truly exalted ideas 
 of God, and the most pure and sublime precepts of moral 
 duty, as when he discovers statements which, to his no- 
 tions, appear extravagant and irre<¥)ncileable to reason ? 
 Does he look for and dwell upon these with* satisfaction 
 and triumph ? and does he feel not disposed to look atten- 
 tively at the others, but to slur them over, experiencing 
 something like mortification at finding anything indisputa- 
 bly excellent in a hoo\ which he would fain regard as 
 worthy of nothing but contempt ? If so, it is plain to 
 which of the two classes of sceptics before described lie 
 belongs, and he will do well to relinquish his boast of im- 
 partiality, and to allow that his rejection of'thc   Scriptures 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 437 
 
 is not the result of reason but of prejudice ;— of prejudice, 
 the offspring of pride and self-conceit, if not of more pal- 
 pably disgraceful vices. 
 
 He, on the other hand, who is really disposed to look 
 impartially at the matter, must surely feel his heart glow 
 with inward devotion, when he reads such a description of 
 the Divine Majesty, as we quoted in our first Lecture, from 
 Isaiah ; in which, as in many other instances, the great 
 attributes of Infinity and Eternity are exhibited with a 
 sublimity and force to which Philosophy never pretended. 
 And again : while the Scriptures so excel in describing the 
 Divine Majesty and attributes^ when did Philosophy deliv- 
 er so striking and affecting a delineation of the whole duty 
 of man, both to God and his fellow creatures, as in the 
 declarations of Moses, quoted by Jesus Christ as the proper 
 answer to an inquirer, who asked, " What was the great 
 commandment of the law." " The first of all the com- 
 mandments," said he, " is, Hear, Israel, the Lord thy 
 God is one Lord ; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
 with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
 mind, and with all thy strength : And the second is like 
 unto it : Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself :" to 
 which he adds this emphatic declaration ; u On these two 
 commandments hang all the law and the prophets."* Here 
 we are plainly instructed, that to inculcate love to God 
 and man is the design of the whole Word of God : if then 
 there are any parts of that Word in which this design does 
 not appear upon the surface, the just inference is, that 
 there is something beneath the surface which does not shew 
 itself on a superficial inspection. So, again, in that other 
 beautiful and impressive summary of all moral duty : 
 " Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, 
 even so do ye unto them;" to which also the Divine Speaker 
 adds, " for this is the law and the prophets."! Now, 
 
 * Mat. xxii. 36 to 40. t Ch. vji. \% 
 
433 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF ^ 
 
 surely, none who is animated by a sincere affection for 
 truth, and who actually loves the charity which he is so 
 ready, to eulogize, can help feeling deeply affected by such 
 touching appeals to the heart and conscience as these ; and 
 he who thus feels their power cannot be disposed eagerly to 
 reject as a fable or a forgery, the whole book in which they 
 are found, and of which they are a part ; especially, too, 
 when these declarations affirm so positively, that all the rest 
 of the book is of the same character as themselves. Let him 
 then listen candidly to a system which points out how the 
 rest of the book is of the same character as these specimens ; 
 which evinces, that there is a spiritual sense contained 
 throughout the whole, which shines plainly through the 
 very letter in such passages as we have just quoted, but 
 which equally exists every where else, though veiled from 
 immediate view by a clothing of images taken from natu- 
 ral objects. In short, every one who is not rendered inimi- 
 cal to the Word of God by passion, prejudice, or pride, 
 may find abundant reason to conclude in its favour upon a 
 candid examination of the general scope of its letter : he 
 may there find, for himself, plain indications that it is in- 
 wardly replenished with real divine wisdom : and when 
 he sees this proved by the views of its nature which have 
 now been developed, lie surely will take it to his bosom, 
 and thank its Author for the invaluable boon. 
 
 I conclude with expressing a devout hope, that the Au- 
 thor of the Word of God will accompany this attempt at 
 its vindication with his blessing. May the number of the 
 sincere and devotional lovers of Truth, of all classes and 
 of all parties, be rapidly increased ! May they learn to 
 venerate the Word of God as the Word of God, and draw 
 from its exhaustless bosom the streams of genuine truth ! 
 Believing, also, the view of the nature of the Scriptures of 
 which a faint sketch has now been given, to be the truth ; 
 and feeling the powerful, the unalterable conviction of 
 
THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED, &C. 439 
 
 their divinity which the reception of it imparts ; I add, 
 May mankind in general be speedily brought to do justice 
 to a system, which sets the feet of the disciple of Revela- 
 tion on a rock of adamant, and invests him with a panoply 
 of strength, aimed against which, the keenest shafts of 
 Infidelity will ever fall blunted and harmless ! 
 
 END OF THE LECTURES. 
 
 
 
APPE1VDIX, 
 
 No. I. (Page 62.) 
 
 Proofs of the Symbolic Character of the Writings of the Old 
 Testament, afforded by the Revelation of John. 
 
 This book of the Apocalypse, though itself one of the most mysterious of the 
 books of Scripture, yet affords a key to the interpretation of all the rest ; — at 
 least of all those of the Old Testament j for it is impossible to read this book 
 with any attention, without discovering, that it is written throughout upon tho 
 supposition, that every thing related in Scripture respecting the Jewish church 
 and people, has a symbolic meaning, and is not merely a record of compara- 
 tively unimportant matters of fact. If then this book is written by divine 
 inspiration, (and, notwithstanding the objections which some, judging by to- 
 tally erroneous criteria, have raised against it, there is no book of Scripture in 
 which the Spirit of inspiration discovers itself by more infallible marks.) we 
 have here the most explicit testimony of that Spirit itself to the spiritual nature 
 of the more ancient Scriptures. We will notice a little more particularly than 
 in the text above, some statements which prove these three points ; the typical 
 character of the persons mentioned in the Old Testament ; — of the rituals of 
 the Mosaic law ; — of the places mentioned in the Old Testament. 
 
 I We need go no farther than the second chapter of this extraordinary 
 book, to find proof that the events related in the historical part of the Old 
 Testament, contain an ulterior reference to subjects of a spiritual nature, im- 
 portant to the Church and her members in every age ; and that the persons 
 whose actions are recorded in the Holy Word, are all typical characters. For 
 in the divine address to the Church of Pergnmos, we have these words : " But 
 I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the 
 doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the 
 children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit forniea- 
 
11 APPENDIX. NO. I. 
 
 tion."* A little further, we find Jesus Christ saying to the church of Thyatira, 
 ** Notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest 
 that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach, and to seduce 
 my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And 
 I gave her space to repent of her fornication ; and she repented not. Behold, 
 I cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribu- 
 lation, except they repent of their deeds : and I will kill her children with 
 death : And all the churches shall know, that I am he which searcheth the 
 reins and hearts."t In these passages we have two of the characters of the 
 Old Testament brought forward, and described as still occupied in their old 
 work of perverting the church. 
 
 The book of Numbers]: relates the history of the prophet Balaam, who was 
 employed by Balak king of Moab, to obstruct the march of the Israelites by 
 his incantations ; and who actually did prepare a snare § into which they fell, 
 and were visited in consequence by a destroying plague. The narrative after- 
 wards mentions his death by the sword of the Israelites :[| and there, if no- 
 thing but a record of natural events were intended, we should expect the 
 history of Balaam and his arts to end. No mention is made of any " doctrine" 
 taught by him ; much less of any sect of followers attached to such doctrine. 
 But in the passage just quoted we find mention occur, not indeed of Balaam 
 himself, as being still alive, but of a body of his disciples, existing fifteen 
 hundred years after his death, during the whole of which interval he does not 
 appear to have had any disciples at all ! 
 
 But the other instance we have cited is more remarkable still. Jezebel was 
 the wife of Ahab,, one of the most wicked kings that ever reignod in Israel ; 
 but who, wicked as he was, was not so abandoned as his wife : for the sacred 
 Record says, " There was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work 
 wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. "IT This 
 wicked queen perished miserably** about 2600 years ago, and above eight 
 hundred years before the book of the Revelation of John was written : yet 
 she is here spoken of as being still living, — still practising what she delighted 
 in when alive, which was, to pervert the church, and to seduce or destroy the 
 Lord's faithful servants ; — and she is represented as being still to undergo the 
 punishment due to her crimes, though that had been so dreadfully inflicted 
 upon her, personally, by the instrumentality of Jehu. Can any thing then be 
 more plain, than that this mention of Balaam and of Jezebel in the Apoca- 
 lypse, is designed to instruct us, that they were both representative characters, 
 and thus that the narratives which record their actions are replete with a hid- 
 den meaning, beyond that which appears on the surface? To admit, as all 
 must admit, that they were used as types by John, but to deny that they have 
 a typical signification in the Old Testament, is to maintain a gross inconsisten- 
 
 * Rev. ii. 14. f Ver. 20 to 23. % Chs. xxii. to xxv. § Ch. xxxi. 16. || Clu 
 xxxi. 8. 1T 1 Kings xxi. 25. ** 2 Kings ix. 30 to end. 
 
NO. I. APPENDIX. Ill 
 
 cv. John gives no sort of intimation that he is assigning them a new rela- 
 tion, but evidently considers their typical character as a thing fully established, 
 and not to be questioned. 
 
 We will give two other examples. The Lamb that was seen in the midst 
 of the throne in heaven,* is called " the Lion of the tribe of Juda.'i This is 
 an allusion to the prophetic benediction of his sons by Jacob ; in which we 
 read, u Judah is a lion's whelp : from the prey, my son, art thou gone up ; 
 he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion ; who shall rouse 
 him up :VJ and thus we are taught, that the ultimate reference of this enigma- 
 tical saying is not to Judah, or to his tribe, but to the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 In the seventh chapter, when four angels were seen holding the four winds, 
 and another angel cried to them, saying, " Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, 
 nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads ;'' 
 and when, in consequence, exactly twelve thousand were sealed of each of 
 the twelve tribes of the children of Israel : — every one sees that the children 
 of Israel and their tribes cannot be personally meant : and if they have a sym- 
 bolic meaning here, they must have a symbolic meaning elsewhere; which is 
 thus clearly taught. 
 
 II. In regard to the notices of the Mosaic rituals. In the eighth chapter 
 we read of " the golden altar which was before the throne," and of an angel 
 having " a golden censer," and to whom was given " much incense, that he 
 should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar." § This 
 is an allusion to the golden altar which stood before the veil in the tabernacle 
 and temple, and upon which the incense was offered. || In the eleventh chap- 
 ter an angel said to John, " Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the 
 altar, and them that worship therein : but the court, which is without the 
 temple, leave out, and measure it not,"1t &c. This alludes to the temple, its 
 altar and courts, as they existed under the Jewish economy. So, also, when 
 the Revelator says, " I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the 
 testimony in heaven was opened ;"** — " and the temple was filled with smoke 
 from the glory of God ;"tt — " and I heard a great voice out of the temple, 
 saying to the seven angels ;"\\ — " and there came a great voice out of the 
 temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done ;"§ § — " And the temple 
 of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen irrhis temple the ark of his 
 testament. "WW It is plain that these things are all here mentioned as symbols 
 of spiritual things ; and what they denote is also in some measure hinted ; and 
 thus we are taught that they have a symbolic meaning when mentioned in the 
 Old Testament. 
 
 Beside those which are properly rituals, many of the other representatives 
 of the Old Testament are also alluded to, and their representative character 
 
 * Ch. v. 6. f Ver. 5. J Gen. xlix. 9. § Ver. 3. || Exod. xl. 26, 27. 
 IT Ver. 1, 2. ** Ch. xv. 5. ft Ver. 8 : See also Ex. xl. 34, and 1 Kings 
 
 viii. 10. XX Rer. xvi. 1. §§ Ver. 17. |||| Ver. 19. 
 
iv APPENDIX. NO. I. 
 
 thus clearly, established ; as the tree of life;* the manna;] the key of 
 David ;\ and the plagues of Egypt. § 
 
 III. Respecting the places mentioned in the Israelitish history, there are 
 several allusions. The river Euphrates is mentioned thus : John u heard a 
 voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, saying to 
 the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound 
 in the great river Euphrates ;"|j M The sixth angel poured out his vial upon 
 the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of 
 the kings of the east might be prepared."!! As Commentators are disposed, 
 though with very questionable success, to interpret these passages literally, we 
 will not build any thing upon them, but leave them to the consideration of the 
 intelligent, while we mention other passages for which none can claim a 
 literal interpretation. 
 
 Of the two witnesses it is said, after they are killed by the beast that ascend- 
 eth out of the bottomless pit, that " their dead bodies shall lie in the street of 
 the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt ; where also our 
 Lord was crucified."** Here it is difficult to suppose that these figurative 
 witnesses, when slain by a figurative beast, can lie in any other than a figura- 
 tive city : and what can that be, but some state of opposition to, or of the per- 
 version of, divine things ? The nature of this state then must be denoted by 
 the names which are applied to it ; and of course Sodom and Egypt must 
 have a similar meaning when mentioned elsewhere in the Holy Word ; other- 
 wise it would be quite unmeaning to call such a state by those names here. 
 
 Of Mount Sion, we have this remarkable notice : " I looked, and lo, a 
 Lamb stood on the Mount Sion. and with him a hundred and forty-four thou- 
 sand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads."tt Mount Sion, 
 or Zion, is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, and is generally allow- 
 ed to have a spiritual signification ; which this passage demonstrates ; and 
 also shews that its spiritual reference must be to something of the most holy 
 and exalted nature. The hundred and forty-four thousand here again men- 
 tioned, are, no doubt, the same as were before said to have been sealed out of 
 all the tribes of Israel ; and what is here said of them further evinces, that wa 
 are not to understand by them Israelites according to the flesh, but i* Israel- 
 ites indeed, in whom is no guile ?*ty or them who receive in the most ample 
 manner the graces of salvation, and yield the most unhesitating obedience to 
 ull the divine will : for it is presently added, " These are they which were not 
 defiled with women, for they are virgins" [but not necessarily in the Roman 
 Catholic sense :] " these are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he 
 goeth : these were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits to God 
 
 * Ch. iii. 7. ; xxii. 2, 14. f Ch. ii. 17. t Ch. iii. 7 : (compare Isa. xxii. 22.) 
 § The turning of the waters into blood, ch. xvi. 3, 4 : The plague of frogs (allu- 
 sion to,) ver. 13 : The plague of boils, ver. 2 : The plague of hail mingled with 
 fire, ch. viii. 7 : The plague of locusts, ch. ix. 3 : The plague of darkness, ch. 
 vm. 12. || Ch. ix. 13, 11. IT Ch. xvi. 12. ** Ch. xi. 8. 
 
 ft Ch. xiv. 1. . J* John i. 47. 
 
NO. I. APPENDIX. V 
 
 and to the Lamb : and in their mouth was found no guile ; fur they are with- 
 out fault before the throne of God."* 
 
 The Jews were carried captive to Babylon ; and the judgments which after- 
 wards befel that proud city, are repeatedly foretold in Isaiah and Jeremiah, 
 whose predictions are considered to have received a complete fulfilment in the 
 total desolation which that metropolis has experienced. But two whole chap- 
 ters of the Revelation, and parts of three others, are occupied with accounts 
 of Babylon and her fall, as if she were still standing, and her fall still to come, 
 at the late period to which those parts of the book evidently reler : and what 
 is equally remarkable, much of the language used on the occasion by John, 
 is the same, or nearly so, as was before used, in reference to Babylon, by Isaiah 
 and Jeremiah. An angel says in the fourteenth chapter of the Revelation, 
 ' ; Babylon is fallen, is fallen ;"t in the eighteenth chapter, another angel cries 
 mightily, saying, " Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen ."t in the twenty-first 
 of Isaiah a watchman says, " Babylon is fallen, is fallen ."§ and Jeremhih 
 says. •' Babylon is suddenly fallen, and destroyed. *'|| The angel in the Reve- 
 lation adds, — " and is become the habitation of demons, and the hold of every 
 foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird :'U Isaiah says, 
 ' ; Wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of 
 doleful creatures ; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there:'"-* 
 So it is said in Jeremiah, " The wild beasts of the desert with the wild bensts 
 of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein. "ft The 
 Apocalyptic angel proceeds to say, '' For all nations have drunk of the wine of 
 the wrath of her fornication ;£t and when Babylon was seen under the rigutte 
 of a woman, she had " a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and 
 tilthiness of her fornication :"§ § Jeremiah says, " Babylon has been a golden 
 cup in the Lord's hand, that hath made all the earth drunken ; the nations 
 have drunken of her wine ; therefore the nations are inad."|||| Another voice 
 was heard by John, saying, <; Come out of her, my people, that ye be not par- 
 takers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues : for her sins h;ive 
 reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities :"1f1T Jeremiah 
 says, u Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul : be 
 not cut oft* in her iniquity ; for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance ; he 
 will render her a recompense :"*** and again, " Forsake her, and let us go 
 every one into his own country : for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and 
 is lifted up even to the skies : ! 'tlt and again : " My people, go ye out of the 
 midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the 
 Lord."":^ The voice heard by John proceeds to say, " Reward her, even as 
 she hath rewarded you. and double unto her double according to her works : § § § 
 Jeremiah says, •• Recompense her according to her works ; according to all 
 that she hath done, do unto her."jj || || The voice in the Revelation describes 
 
 * Rev. xiv. 4, 5. f Ver. 8. ^ Ver. 2. § Ver. 9. || Ch. li. 8. 
 
 IT Ch. xviii. 2. ** Ch. xiii. 21. ft Ch. 1. 39. XX R «v. xviii. 3. 
 
 §§ Ch. xvii. 4. III! Ch. li. 7. Tf Rev. xviii. 4, 5. *** Ch. li. 6. 
 
 ttt Ver. 9. \XX Ver. 45. §§§ Rev. xviii. 6. HUH Ch. 1. 29. 
 
VI APPENDIX. NO I. 
 
 her pride afcd its consequences thus: " She snith in her heart, I sit a queen, 
 and ;ini no widow, and shaft] sec no sorrow : tliereibre shall her plagues come, 
 in one day, death, and mourning, and (amine :'** which is thus paralleled in 
 Isaiah : '' Thou saidst, I shall he a lady for ever; — J shall not sit ;is a widow, 
 neither shall I know the loss of children : hut these two things shall come 
 unto thee in a moment, in one day ; the loss of children ;ind widowhood. "t 
 Much then tollows in the Revelation which closely resembles what is said of 
 the destruction of Tyre in the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh chapters of 
 Ezekiol ; atler which it is written, " And a mighty angel took up a stone like 
 a great mill-stone, and cast it into the sea. saying. Thus with violence shall 
 that greal city Babylon he thrown down, and shall he found no more at all :"t 
 What was thus done by an angel in the sight of John, resembles what was 
 done by a messenger sent by Jeremiah to ancient Babylon r he directed him, 
 when he arrived there, to read the prophecy against it ; and he concludes his 
 injunctions in these words : " And it shall be, when thou hast made an end 
 of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it,, and cast it into the 
 midst of Euphrates : and thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall 
 not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her."§ 
 
 Now it is evident that the Babylon of the Apocalypse is altogether a spirit- 
 ual Babylon ; as also, that the sublime images by which her judgment is de- 
 scribed are all a series of pure symbols, having none but a spiritual significa- 
 tion. But the very same things are said respecting the judgment on Babylon 
 pronounced by the old prophets : is it not then evident, that the Babylon of 
 the Old Testament, though a real city, was nevertheless a typical one ? as 
 likewise, that the language in which the old prophets announced its destruc- 
 tion, was equally symbolic with the same language when used by the Apoca- 
 lyptic divine, and that although, with them, it had a literal sense, it had a 
 spiritual sense also ? Are we not thus plainly taught by the Revelator, what is 
 the nature of the prophetic style of the Old Testament ? When he uses the 
 same language, and treats of the same places, as they do ; and this long after 
 the places had ceased to exist ; does he not clearly inform us, that the places 
 treated of by litem had a typical character, and that the language in which 
 they spoke of them had a meaning beyond that which appears on the surface ? 
 
 There remains but one other place to notice, which is Jerusalem. It is 
 allowed by commentators in general, that Jerusalem is a type of the church ; 
 which principle is freqqently recognised by the translators of the English 
 Bible, in tin; summaries of the contents prefixed to the chapters. There arc. 
 hdwever. various passages in the Old Testament, in which, under the name of' 
 Jrruxalew. the church is treated of as being in a state of desolation or corrup- 
 tion : and many in which, on account of their plain applicability to the cir- 
 cumstances of the actual or carnal Jerusalem, there might be room to doubt 
 whether any thing further is intended, were it not foil other passages which do 
 not admit of such limitation. Bill in the Apocalypse. Jeras<i!. m is never 
 
 * Ch. xviii. 1, 8. f Cli. xlvii. 7, S, 9. X C>. xviii. 21. § Jcr. li. 63, 64. 
 
NO. I. APPENDIX. VII 
 
 mentioned in a way that will admit of an application to the carnal Jerusalem 
 at all. In the only passage where, an allusion is made to the carnal .Jerusalem, 
 as the place " where our Lord was crucified,"* it is called, not Jerusalem, but 
 " Sodom and Egypt.'' Whenever " Jerusalem" is mentioned, it is always in 
 a manner that fully establishes its meaning to be, the true church of the Lord ; 
 thus completely establishing, at the same time, the symbolic or typical charac- 
 ter of the city Jerusalem under the Jewish dispensation. To guard against its 
 being referred to the mere city Jerusalem, it likewise is always called either 
 the " neic Jerusalem") or the " holy Jerusalem ;"J and it is spoken of as 
 " coming down from God out of heaven :"§ just as Paul, to preserve the same 
 distinction, calls the carnal Jerusalem, or Jerusalem taken as a type of the 
 Jewish church, the " Jerusalem which now is, and is in hondage with her 
 children ;"|| and he terms the true church " the Jerusalem above," or the 
 heavenly Jerusalem : thus he says, continuing the sentence of which a part is 
 just quoted, " But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us 
 all i'/IT and again, " Ye are come unto Mount Sion,and to the city of the living 
 God, the heavenly Jerusalem."** So when the Revelator speaks of a new 
 Jerusalem, such a one as cometh down from God out of heaven, — while he 
 clearly predicts by the sublime symbol a future glorious state of the church 
 among men, (" Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men ;"ft) he distinctly 
 points to the typical character of the ancient Jerusalem, as designating the 
 church in general : and, to reverse the proposition, the acknowledged typical 
 character of the ancient Jerusalem, points out what is meant by the new 
 Jerusalem here. To adopt the words of one of the most learned and esteem- 
 ed commentators, Dr. Hammond : " The true meaning of the New Jerusa- 
 lem mentioned here (ch. xxi. ver. 2,) and again with the addition of holy, and 
 the glory of God upon it, (ver. 11,) will be a key to the interpreting of this 
 chapter." [He might have added, and of all the passages in the Old Testa- 
 ment where Jerusalem is mentioned. He proceeds to say] tl That it signifies 
 not the state of glorified saints in heaven, appears by its descending from 
 heaven in both places, (and that, according to the use of the phrase, ch. x. 1, 
 and xviii. 1, as an expression of some eminent benefit and blessing in the 
 church ;) and so it must needs be here on earth : and being here set down, 
 with the glory of God upon it, it will signify the pure Christian church, join- 
 ing Christian practice with the profession thereof ; and that in a nourishing 
 condition, expressed by the new heaven and new earth. In this sense we, have 
 the supernal Jerusalem, (Gal. iv. 26,) the Neic Jerusalem, (Re\\ iii. 12.) 
 where, to the constant professor is promised, that God will write upon him the 
 name of God, and the name of the city of God, the New Jerusalem, which 
 there signifies the pure, catholic, Christian Church" Filled with this view of 
 the subject, which is so evidently the true one, the pious Watts, in a hymn 
 
 * Ch. xi. 8. t Ch. iii. 12, xxi. 2. t Ver. 10. § Ch. iii. 12, xxi. 2. 
 
 II Gal. iv. 25. IT Ver. 26. ** Heb. xii. 22. ft Rev. xxi. 3. 
 
Vlll APPENDIX. NO. II. 
 
 entitled :: A Vision of the Kingdom of Christ among men,'* has these raptur- 
 ous stanzas : 
 
 H From the third heaven, where God resides, 
 That holy, happy place, 
 The New Jerusalem comes down, 
 Adorned with shining grace. — 
 
 How long, dear Saviour, O how long 
 
 Shall this bright hour delay 1 
 Fly swifter round, ye wheels of time, 
 
 And bring the welcome day." 
 
 Altogether, then, I trust, it is perfectly evident, that had the Revelation of 
 John been written by that Apostle as an express commentary upon the Old 
 Testament, it could not have taught us more clearly than it does, that every 
 thing relating to the history of the Jews, to their worship, and to the coun- 
 tries and cities inhabited by them and by the nations with whom they had 
 intercourse, as recorded by the pen of inspiration, had a symbolic and spiritual 
 meaning. Had the Revelation been an express commentary, we might in- 
 deed have been informed more explicitly what tJiat meaning is : but the gene- 
 ral principle, that there is such a meaning, — that all the inspired writings do 
 positively contain a sense beyond that which is extant on the surface, — could 
 not have been more decisively established. If we deny this principle, we 
 deny to the whole of the Revelation of John any meaning at all : we convert 
 his sublime symbols into a senseless jargon : and, if we still admit his book to 
 have been written by inspiration, we charge with egregious trifling the unerr- 
 ing Spirit of God. 
 
 No. II. (Page 166. 
 
 An Attempt to discriminate between the Books of Plenary Inspira- 
 tion, CONTAINED IN THE BlBLE, AND THOSE WRITTEN BY THE INSPIRATION 
 GENERALLY ASSIGNED TO THE WHOLE. 
 
 We are advocating in this work " the Plenary Inspiration of the Scriptures ;" 
 and we are endeavouring to shew, that no writing can be produced by Plenary 
 Inspiration without including stores of spiritual and divine wisdom within the 
 outward covering of the literal expression. It must however be admitted, that 
 there are some books contained in the collection called the Bible, which, though 
 they are to be received as the productions of men endowed with an extraordi- 
 nary share of divine illumination, do not contain the spiritual sense here claim- 
 
 * Book i. Hymn 21. 
 
.NO. II. APPENDIX. It 
 
 ed for the absolute Word of God, and thus cannot be the results of that imme- 
 diate and Plenary Inspiration which is essential to such writings as are the 
 Word of God indeed. The particular examination of this subject could not 
 conveniently be introduced into the Lectures themselves ; wherefore we will 
 make some remarks upon it here. It is necessary that the distinction should 
 not be passed without notice ; since, without a knowledge of its existence, they 
 who should endeavour to interpret the Scriptures by the Rule drawn from the 
 Analogy between natural things and spiritual, or to try the validity of the Rule 
 itself, might be disappointed in. the results, in consequence of applying it to 
 those parts of the Bible which are not composed according to it, or are not 
 written by the plenary and immediate, but by the more lax and mediate spe- 
 cies of inspiration. 
 
 We have stated in our early Lectures the sentiments which are now gene- 
 rally held by the learned on the nature of the inspiration of the Word of God; 
 and we objected to them as not going far enough, and as not giving a proper 
 idea of compositions that are absolutely divine. They all proceed upon the 
 supposition, that inspiration, be it what it may, is a personal and permanent gift 
 to the man by whom an inspired book is written ; that the writers of the Scrip- 
 tures were divinely illuminated men, who, with few exceptions, wrote in their 
 own words the perceptions of their own minds, which were the constant seats 
 of the illumination of the Holy Spirit: (though some will not admit so much 
 as this.) If this definition were intended for a certain portion, only, of the 
 books commonly called the Holy Scriptures, we should be constrained to ad- 
 mit it to be correct ; but we deem it grossly defective when applied to the 
 greater part of them. The inspiration by which these were written, was, we 
 have endeavoured to shew, such as took an entire possession, for the time, of 
 the faculties of the writers ; and after they had written what was intended, it 
 again would leave them, and then they would return into their ordinary state \ 
 in which they would not necessarily understand the meaning of the things, 
 which, in their state of ecstacy, they had spoken or written. The other books 
 admitted into our Canon of Scripture, appear, for the most part, to have been 
 composed by persons, who were endowed with such a degree of illumination, 
 by the Spirit of God, as to discern, in the former class of writings, the doctrine 
 suited to the dispensation of Divine Truth under which they lived, and which 
 they were raised up to assist in establishing, — such of them as lived under the 
 Jewish dispensation, the doctrine of the Jewish church, and such of them as 
 were raised up to establish Christianity, the doctrine of the Christian Church , 
 and the writings of the latter are justly taken, by the Christian Church, as au- 
 thoritative declarations of her authentic doctrines. Beside the doctrinal writ- 
 ings of this class, there are also some historical ones. All writings of this class 
 are to be interpreted by their literal sense alone ; allowing, however, for their 
 occasional use of figurative expressions, and of words and phrases taken from 
 those Scriptures which have a spiritual sense, and which, of course, must bear 
 the same meaning when excerpted as in their original repository. In short, 
 these writings are to be explained by the same sort, of criticism as would be 
 "exercised to ascertain the meaning of other ancient authors. 
 
X APPENDIX. NO. II. 
 
 I. The assertion, that there are writings of two so distinct classes contained 
 in the sacred collection called the Bible, may at first appear arbitrary and un- 
 supported by the reason of the case : and yet when it is more attentively con- 
 sidered, I apprehend it will be discovered to be founded, not merely in reason, 
 but in absolute necessity ; for it will appear, that the designs of the Almighty 
 Father in giving a dispensation of his will to man, could not otherwise have 
 been made effectual. 
 
 1. We have endeavoured to prove, in the third, and in the preceding part of 
 this fourth Lecture, that no composition which is truly and absolutely the Word 
 of God, could be produced, the literal sense of which should not be composed 
 of natural images, and of appearances of things taken from the world of na- 
 ture : and that such is actually the case with the books of Scripture which are 
 written by the plenary inspiration, is shewn in the sequel of this, and in the 
 following Lecture. From this peculiarity of construction, it inevitably follows, 
 that the letter cannot every where present such ideas openly to the view, as 
 are proper to form the doctrine of the church founded upon it : — as remarked 
 in our second Lecture,* passages which even appear to be in opposition to 
 each other hot unfrequently occur, one of which delivers the genuine truth, 
 and the other the truth covered with the veil of a mere appearance taken from 
 human ideas. But the choice between them is not without its difficulties. It 
 is evident, for the construction of coherent doctrine, that one of these classes 
 of passages must be so explained as to be reconciled with the other : but man, 
 in his untutored, natural state, is not qualified to decide with accuracy by which 
 he ought to abide ; and when he studies the Word under the influence of an 
 unpurified heart, he is but too apt to catch at the appearance to the exclusion 
 of the reality ; he is ever disposed to kill the prophets, and to stone them that 
 are sent unto him, and he is never so well pleased as when he can destroy, 
 spiritually, the disciples of the Lord, or the pure truths of which the disciples 
 are the depositaries, under the persuasion that he is doing God service, and 
 can allege*as his authority the letter of God's Word, of the ambiguities of 
 which he avails himself for the purpose. 
 
 That the ambiguities of the letter of the Word are very numerous, — that it 
 is a sword which turns every icay, — is a fact which has become proverbial. 
 Every sect turns it in favour of its peculiar doctrines ; ami into what a multi- 
 plicity of sects the Christian Church has been divided, and what monstrous 
 sentiments have by some of them been maintained, are things well known i 
 yet the most extravagant of them all have professed to found their sentiments 
 upon the Word of God, and have produced passages from its letter which 
 might be construed in their favour. Of this fact, the writers of the Romish 
 Communion have not failed to take advantage : the Word of God, on account 
 of its admitting, as to its letter, of such a variety of interpretations, has, by 
 them, been blasphemously denominated Liber Hwresiariim ; and they invite 
 their opponents to take refuge from its uncertainties in the ever-consistent de- 
 
 * P. 81. 
 
NO. II. APPENDIX. XI 
 
 cisions of a self-constituted infallible church. If then men have thus parted 
 the Lord's garments among them, and cast lots upon his vesture, (which cir- 
 cumstances are explained in our fifth Lecture,) notwithstanding it has been 
 provided, as will presently be seen, that the books written in the language of 
 Analogy should be accompanied with others in which the leading doctrines of 
 the former are explicitly developed ; to what extremes of perversion would 
 they not have gone, had they been left, without such help, to draw their doc- 
 trines from the more mysterious books for themselves ! 
 
 It being then a demonstrable fact, that writings composed in the style which 
 belongs to the absolute Word of God, cannot be understood by the simple and 
 unenlightened, without the help of doctrine, as a lamp to direct their path, 
 drawn thence by some person or persons endowed with special illumination 
 for the purpose ; there arises a necessity, that, ever since a written Revelation 
 has been the medium of conveying the divine will to man, in every church 
 possessed of such a Revelation, divinely illuminated persons should be raised 
 up, qualified to deliver, either by oral instruction or by writing, such views of 
 doctrine, founded on that Revelation, as were adapted to the genius of the peo- 
 ple among whom they lived, and to the character of the dispensation of which 
 they were the subjects : and there can be no reasonable doubt that the Author 
 of Revelation would provide the aids necessary to render it effectual to its ob- 
 ject. Under the Jewish dispensation, which, as well as the Jews themselves, 
 was of a very external character, and in which very enlightened views of doc- 
 trine would have surpassed the comprehension of the people, little was wanted 
 beyond the literal enunciation of the Mosaic law, all the rituals of which were 
 by them to be observed according to the letter ; yet even then teachers arose, 
 who composed codes of morality, and delivered doctrinal precepts, adapted to 
 impress upon the minds of the Jews such of the truths involved in their law as 
 were more especially calculated for their state and capacities : and, under the 
 Christian dispensation, teachers, gifted with much higher illumination, were 
 raised up to discover more of the truths involved in the ancient Scriptures, and 
 to declare that :i Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one 
 that believeth ;"* and that " he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law ;"t 
 because "the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of 
 a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned. "t Nor can it be reasonably 
 doubted, that, if any further discoveries of the divine will should ever be ne- 
 cessary, they would be made in a similar manner : nay, many believe that, if 
 not further discoveries, re-discoveries of it have thus been made by Luther and 
 Calvin, to whom some ascribe a spirit of understanding in the Scriptures not 
 much inferior to that enjoyed by the Apostles : indeed, most sectaries entertain 
 a similar opinion of the leaders whom they respectively follow ; and though 
 they may be greatly mistaken as to the fact, their belief of it affords a recogni- 
 tion of the principle. So general, indeed,' is the conviction, that without sound 
 doctrine as a guide, the Word cannot be understood, that many have viewed 
 the labours of that first of modern Institutions,- 
 
 * Rom. x. 4. f Ch. xiii. 8. . i 1 Tim. i. *, 
 
Xll APPENDIX. NO. II. 
 
 Society, — in circulating the Scriptures without note or comment, as pregnant 
 with mischief, and, tacitly adopting the Roman Catholic principle, have ima- 
 gined, that thus to communicate the Word of God, is in effect to sow the seeds 
 of heresy. There would have been less room for this apprehension, had the 
 fact not been overlooked, that in the Bible, together with the books which are 
 eminently the Scriptures, are included writings which deliver the leading 
 doctrines of the former without any recondite meaning. Divine Wisdom knew 
 that books composed in the purely divine style, were liable to be misunder- 
 stood by the simple and unintelligent ; wherefore it has provided that they 
 should be accompanied with writings intended to fix their general import, and 
 to afford a clew to their safe and profitable interpretation.* 
 
 2. It may now, we would hope, in some measure appear, that there was 
 reason grounded in absolute necessity for the production of writings of this 
 second class to accompany those of the first : but perhaps it may not imme- 
 diately be seen that there was any necessity for the production of writings of 
 any other kind than these. The doctrinal purport of these being more easily 
 intelligible, they seem to have acquired, by degrees, a superior degree of esti- 
 mation : at least it is certain, that it is from these that ministers most frequent- 
 ly take the subject of their discourses in the pulpit ; and probably many would 
 wish that the whole Bible consisted of such compositions, and are somewhat 
 scandalized that it does not. But to this it may be sufficient to answer, that 
 had not the Scriptures of plenary inspiration first been given, the others would 
 never have been composed. They were all written by men to whom the com- 
 positions which are the Word of God, absolutely, were previously familiar ; 
 and the kind of inspiration by which they were produced, consisted in endow- 
 ing the writers with the faculty of discerning the doctrines contained 
 in that Word ; to which, therefore, as higher authority, they continually refer. 
 Indeed, it is a fact, on which something is said in the fifth Lecture, that with- 
 out the existence of the Scriptures of plenary inspiration in the world, no illu- 
 mination in divine things could, in the present state of mankind, be afforded. 
 Accordingly, after the resurrection of the Lord, it is said respecting his disci- 
 ples, " Then opened he their understandings that they should understand the 
 Scriptures :"t And in giving the promise of the Holy Ghost, the Lord says, 
 
 * It must however be confessed, that many things in these writings also, are, as 
 must unavoidably be the case in all writings of great antiquity, " hard to be under- 
 stood ;" they being full of allusions to circumstances and opinions of which nothing 
 at all is now known, except by the learned, and but little by them, and containing 
 many words used in a sense peculiar to the writers : hence it is but too true, that 
 some of the greatest theological errors have been founded upon these very writings ; 
 as was naturally to be expected when men went to the study of ancient writers with 
 minds pre-occupied by modern idaas. 
 
 f Luke xxiv. 45. It is to be observed, that, in the Bible, no writings are ever 
 called, simply, «1 the Scriptures," but those which are written by the Plenary In- 
 spiration : to them the term is applied byway of eminence, and as an ellipsis for the 
 divine or inspired IVritings. It will hardly be maintained, that whe« Teter, (2 
 
NO. II. ArPENDIX. Xlll 
 
 u These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you : hut the 
 Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, 
 he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, ichat- 
 soever J have said unto you V* that is, he should recall all the Lord's words, 
 and teach them to understand them. One of the chief effects, then, of the 
 communication of the Holy Spirit, was to be, to enable the disciples to under- 
 stand the Lord's words, together with the Scriptures, given by plenary inspira- 
 tion, which are equally his words though communicated in a different manner, 
 — not to write new Scriptures themselves : and such of them as did write new 
 books of Scripture, must have done it by a special additional inspiration, dis- 
 tinct from that which was common to them all, and which constantly abode 
 with them. Accordingly, they began their preaching with explaining the an- 
 cient Scriptures ;t and this seems to have continued to be their usual practice : 
 and all their discourses and writings are filled with the light which this illumi- 
 nation, or this mediate and personal inspiration, brought to their minds. If it 
 can be shewn that, in their ordinary discourse or writing, they ever spoke or 
 wrote from immediate dictation, in those instances their ordinary and personal 
 was exalted into extraordinary and plenary inspiration, and their language 
 flowed according to the Laws of Analogy, and contained, what was not the 
 case at other times, a spiritual and divine meaning beyond the outward 
 expression. 
 
 If then there are, in the collection called the Bible, writings or books of 
 these two very different classes, it becomes a matter of great importance to 
 discriminate between them. This, therefore, we will attempt ; first, in regard 
 to the books of the Old Testament ; and then of the New. 
 
 Ep. iii. 16,) in contradistinction to the writings of Paul, mentions " the other Scrip- 
 tures," (t*? Koi7rx.; ypxpxs), he means to admit that the Epistles of that Apos- 
 tle are writings of the same kind. It is to be remembered, that the term " Scrip- 
 tures" simply means Writings, and that the Greek name for them is the common 
 name for writings : when, therefore, the Apostle Peter, after mentioning the Epis- 
 tles of Paul, speaks of" the other writings" the fair inference is, that he means 
 to advert to the ptenarily inspired Scriptures as writings of another kind, — of that 
 kind which are usually called the Writings by way of eminence. Believing this 
 to be the" Apostle's meaning, I do not think the interpretation is to be accepted 
 which understands by " the other writings," the other writings of Paul, beside 
 those which treat of the specific subject here under discussion : though Schleusner 
 seems to adopt this meaning, which he gives as that " plerorumaue interpretum." 
 If this is the true meaning, there is not left a shadow of pretence for the notion, 
 that Peter puts his brother Apostle's writings on the same footing with those which 
 are eminently the Scriptures. Schleusner also shews, that the word here translat- 
 ed " other," is as frequently used in the New Testament in reference to other 
 things of other kinds as to other things of the same kind. Peter's accurate discri- 
 mination on the subject of inspiration is noticed below, p. xix. 
 
 * John xiv. 25, 26. t Acts ii. 16, &,c. 
 
XIV APPENDIX. NO. II. 
 
 II. The existence of writings in the Old Testament, written under two spe- 
 cies of inspiration, is expressly affirmed by the Jews themselves: they, indeed, 
 have placed in the second class some which belong to the first ; hut the error 
 is easily rectified by the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, who quotes no 
 hooks, and acknowledges none as the Scriptures, but those which are written 
 by the Plenary Inspiration, or those in which, in the language of the Apostle 
 Peter," the Holy Ghost spake by the mouth ftf men"* or wrote by their hands. 
 
 1. The Jews divided their sacred books into the Law, the Prophets, and the 
 Ketubim or Hagiographa, (Writings, or Holy Writings.) (1.) The Law in- 
 cludes the five books of Moses, so called from the preceptive character of 
 great part of their contents : though Moses is to be considered as a prophet, 
 and the greatest of prophets ; as indeed he is expressly called. i (2.) The 
 division denominated by them the Prophets, contained all the books which we 
 call the historical ones, written before the Babylonian captivity, viz. those of 
 Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings ; with all those, one only excepted, which 
 we commonly call the prophets. The former of these they called the Prior 
 or Anterior Prophets, and the others the Later or Posterior; and the\ s-> 
 named them, not, as Hornet and others have affirmed, " with regard to the 
 time when they respectively flourished ;" for it is certain that the writings of 
 some of the later prophets were composed before, those of some of the prior ; 
 but. doubtless for another reason assigned by Leusden : " Quia Anteriores, &c. 
 Because the anterior prophets relate affairs transacted before, or anterior to, 
 the time of narrating them ; whereas the posterior prophets treat of things to 
 happen after, posterior to, or later than, the delivery of the prophecy.'' § (3.) 
 The division styled Hagiographa contains, according to the modern Jews, 
 the books of Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesi- 
 astes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles. But it appears cer- 
 tain, by the testimony of Josephus.|| that Daniel, in his time, was reckoned, as 
 he so clearly ought to be, among the Prophets ; and he seems to have been 
 transferred to the Hagiographa, because those books were not regularly read 
 in the Synagogue, and the Rabbins, after the time limited by his prophecy of 
 the seventy weeks for the coming of the Messiah had undeniably expired, 
 became unwilling to read before the people so plain a proof of their error in 
 rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ ; and because, also, by placing him among 
 books not regarded as possessing prophetic authority, the weight of his testi- 
 mony would be diminished. It also appears well established, that the'Lanien- 
 tations and the other writings of Jeremiah were anciently reckoned as one 
 book; and equally stationed, as is so evidently necessary, among the 
 Prophets. 
 
 2. Before we proceed further, it appears necessary to ascertain what is the 
 idea properly belonging to a Prophet and his writings. 
 
 It seems extraordinary that so learned a writer as Leusdcn*hould pronounce 
 it improper to call all the books so denominated by the Jews — thr Propluts, 
 
 * Acts i. 16. f Deut. xviii. 15; xxxiv. 10. % Introduction, vol. ii. p. 149, 
 
 vol. iv. p. 27. (Ed. 1822.) § Phil. Heb. Dis. ii. § vm. || Ant. B. x. Ch. xi. § 7. 
 
NO. II. APPENDIX. XV 
 
 u because some of them are in reality historical books, and differ much from 
 prophetical writings properly so called ;"* when it is certain that the seeming 
 impropriety only arises from our attaching the modern idea to the term prophet, 
 and forgetting that of the ancients, and particularly of the Jews. We now 
 generally think of a Prophet as a foreteller of future events ; but this idea is 
 not at all conveyed by the Hebrew name for the character, which properly 
 implies an utterer or enunciator of communications from God ; or, as Park- 
 hurst gives it, more generally, an interpreter of God's will, to whom he freely 
 and familiarly revealed himself : in which sense alone is it applicable to 
 Abraham ; [Gen. xx. 7 ;] or to Aaron : " And the Lord said unto Moses, 
 See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy 
 prophet : thou shalt speak all that I command thee, and Aaron thy brother 
 shall speak unto Pharaoh," — not a prediction, observe, but a command, — 
 H that he send the children of Israel out of his land." [Ex. vii. 1, 2.] This is 
 illustrated in another place, where the Lord says to Moses, " Thou shalt speak 
 unto him, [Aaron,] and put words inhis mouth ; — and he shall be thy spokesman 
 unto the people : and he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be 
 to him instead of God:' [Ch. iv. 15, 16.] If then Moses was to Aaron what 
 God is to a prophet, and Aaron was to Moses what a prophet is to God, it is 
 perfectly evident that, in the original sense of the term, a prophet is one who 
 receives icords from God, and declares them to man : he is an enunciator of 
 a divine message, let the subject of that message be what it may : and it is 
 only because it frequently happened that divine communications related to 
 things future, that the word at last acquired the signification of a predicter of 
 future events. As the above is the idea constantly attached in the Scriptures 
 of plenary inspiration to the word prophet, the Jewish phildlogers have en- 
 deavoured to find it in the word itself. The Hebrew root is n*bba (frOJ) > 
 which the celebrated Solomon Jarchi says is formed from another root, nowb or 
 NaB »03), b>" tne addition of an aleph (tf) taken out of the name of God 
 (DV7 /N) : now tbe word n«b radically signifies to put forth as a plant its 
 buds or fruit, whence, transferred to human speech, it means to titter, which is 
 another kind of putting forth: when therefore from this verb is formed the 
 verb n£bba, by the addition of an aleph taken from the name of God, it means 
 to utter from divine, dictation. The signification thus given to the word for 
 prophesying is equally clear and weighty : nor does it suffer any detraction 
 from the fancifulness of the etymology : for the meaning of the word is not 
 dependent upon the etymology, but the etymology was invented to account 
 for the well-known meaning of the Word.f That the ancient Greeks, from 
 whom we have received the word prophet, understood it in a similar sense, is 
 abundantly proved by Schleusner. 
 
 It is quite evident then, that the word prophet, in the Scriptures, does not 
 merely signify a foreteller of future events, but may be as applicable to Anterior 
 as to Posterior Prophets. It is also evident, that when the Jews gave this name 
 
 * Phil. Heb. Dis. ii. § hi. + See Gusset. Comm.in voce. 
 
XVI APPENDIX. NO. II. 
 
 to their sacred writings, they meant to affirm that they were written hy imme- 
 diate divine dictation : and as the propriety of the application is recognised, 
 as will presently be seen, by the Lord Jesus Christ, we have, in this name 
 alone, no contemptible evidence, that the books to which it is applied are the 
 productions of plenary and verbal inspiration. 
 
 3. Such being the character of the Prophets, what is that of the Hagio- 
 grapha ? 
 
 (1.) Among the books of the Hagiographa, when the catalogue is corrected 
 as above, it is certain that the Lord Jesus Christ only acknowledges as divine 
 the book of Psalms ; for when speaking of the whole Scripture, he calls it the 
 Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms : " All things must be fulfilled, 
 which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the 
 Psalms, concerning me :"* and, doubtless, there is no book among those writ- 
 ten by plenary inspiration, which does not, either in its literal or mystical 
 sense, treat at all of him. At other times, when he intends to speak of the 
 whole Word of God, he calls it, more compendiously, " the Law and the 
 Prophets,"t or " Moses and the Prophets ;"t and then he evidently includes 
 among " the Prophets" the book of Psalms, much of which is palpably, and the 
 whole of it really, of a prophetical character : accordingly, David, the chief 
 author of the Psalms, is expressly denominated by Peter " a prophet ;"§ which 
 title is never conferred on the writers of the other books called Hagiographa. 
 Ezra himself, whom the Jews hold in such honour, has no higher rank given 
 him than that of " a scribe," || " a ready scribe in the law of Moses,"TI and " a 
 scribe of the law of the God of heaven ;"** — titles which lend much support 
 to the opinion, that he restored the copies of the plenarily inspired Scriptures, 
 and in a manner republished them, but give no countenance whatever to the 
 notion that his original writings are equally inspired. On other occasions the 
 Lord Jesus Christ calls the whole of the books which are eminently the Scrip- 
 tures, " the Law,"tt and especially quotes the Psalms by that name.ft It is 
 quite certain then, that, by this infallible Authority, the Psalms are placed on 
 an equality with the Law and the Prophets, and are even recognised as a part 
 of them : — a rank which can on no pretence be claimed for the other books of 
 the Hagiographa. By the same divine authority, Daniel is taken from the 
 Hagiographa, and established in his proper grade among the Prophets : § § the 
 book of Lamentations did not require a similar recognition, if it was then reck- 
 oned as part of Jeremiah. 
 
 An objection or two here demand notice. 
 
 (2.) When I say, that this rank can on no pretence be claimed for the other 
 books of the Hagiographa, I am not ignorant that it is customary to affirm , 
 that where the Lord mentions the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, he in- 
 cludes under the latter title the whole of the Hagrographa : but really this is a 
 
 * Luke xxiv. 44. t Matt - v - 17 > xi - 13 >* xxii - 40 - $ Luke xvi * 29 > 31 '> 
 
 xxiv. 27. § Acts ii. 30. II Neh. viii. 1. et passim. IT Ezra vii. 6. 
 
 ** Ver. 12, 21. tt Matt. v. 18 ; Luke xvi. 17. $$ John x. 34. 
 §§ Matt. xxiv. 15. 
 
NO. II. APPENDIX. XVU 
 
 pure figment, invented by the schools to support the credit of books, the true 
 nature of which they did know how to estimate, and which they saw, unless 
 they could thus be tacked on to the Psalms, must be confessed to be disowned, 
 by divine authority, as forming part of the proper Word of God. In behalf of 
 this fiction it is urged, that it was customary with the Jews to connect several 
 books in a volume, and to call them all by the name of the first : but no exam- 
 ple of their thus connecting so many and so different books together, and giv- 
 ing to them all the name of the first, can be produced. It is urged, that it was 
 usual thus to unite the books of Judges and Ruth, and to call them both 
 " Judges :" but every one must see that this is by no means a parallel case, 
 since Ruth might, without any obvious impropriety, be considered as a sup- 
 plement to Judges. The union of Jeremiah with Lamentations, which is also 
 pleaded, is still less in point : since these are unquestionably from the pen of 
 one writer. The calling of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah the first and se- 
 cond books of Ezra, is not more to the purpose, since this originated in the 
 mistake of supposing that celebrated " scribe" to be the author of them both. 
 And to appeal to the book of the twelve minor prophets, is to produce a com- 
 parison destitute of all similitude, since this combination is not named, as the 
 case in proof of which it is cited requires, Hosea, but the Twelve. Indeed, as 
 well might the Divine Speaker, instead of " the Law" have said " Genesis," 
 and " Judges" instead of" the Prophets," as have named " the Psalms" instead 
 of the Hagiographa : and as well might the learned undertake to prove that 
 he deviated from the peculiar Jewish modes of citation in not using the two 
 first titles, as that he followed it in using the last.* 
 
 (3.) Nor is the division of the Scriptures anciently used by the Greeks, 
 which regards the books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Canticles, 
 as possessing a common poetical character, and thus proper to form a general 
 book together ; and which many have maintained to be the division alluded to 
 by the Lord Jesus Christ ; at all capable of being better accommodated to his 
 words : though it seems to have been contrived expressly for the purpose. 
 This theory assumes as its basis, that these five books are the only poetical 
 
 * An example which Home gives of" the Jewish manner of quoting," (vol. ii. p. 
 149, Note 2,) with a view to illustrate this subject, is singularly mal-a-propos, and 
 shews to what weak shifts the defenders of the notion are fain to have recourse : 
 " St. Peter," he observes, M when appealing to prophecies in proof of the gospel 
 says — * All the prophets from Samuel, and those that follow after, as many as have 
 spoken, have likewise foretold of these days,' (Acts iii. 24.) In which passage," 
 adds the learned writer, " the apostle plainly includes the books of Samuel in the 
 class of prophets." — Who doubts itl And who doubts that when Jesus Christ 
 speaks of " the prophets," he includes the books of Samuel 1 But St. Peter ought 
 only to have mentioned Samuel when he meant all the prophets, to lend any coun- 
 tenance to the inference, that when Jesus Christ mentions the Psalms he meant all 
 the Hagiographa. Peter's mentioning, beside Samuel, " all the prophets," plainly 
 shews that it was not " the Jewish manner of quoting" to cite by the lump, and to 
 destroy all intelligible meaning by palpable misnomers. 
 
 
XV1U APPENDIX. NO II. 
 
 books in the Bible, and may on that account all be included under the descrip- 
 tion of psalms or hymns : but beside that none of these, except the proper book 
 of Psalms, (unless it be that of Canticles,) is at all adapted for singing, it is in- 
 dubitably known, since the labours of Bishop Lowth, that all the prophetical 
 books have as much right to be called poetical as these, the language of them 
 all possessing quite as decided a rhythmical arrangement. Josephus, also, who, 
 beside the law and thirteen historical and prophetical books, reckons four oth- 
 ers, says of these four, that they " contain hymns to God, and precepts for the 
 conduct of human life ;"* whence it is evident, that the title of Hymns or 
 Psalms, far from being common to all the books since called the poetical one?, 
 was then, as now, limited to the single book which alone answers to the name. 
 And assuredly the language of the Lord Jesus Christ, is not less justly appro- 
 priated to its subject, or employed with less discrimination, than that of the 
 historian Josephus. 
 
 Altogether, it is perfectly evident, that the Jews never gave the name of 
 " the Psalms" to any books but the one which bears it at present, and that the 
 notion that this was a generic name for the whole Hagiographa has nothing 
 to support it but gratuitous assertion : hence it follows, that when the Lord, in 
 the passage above cited, mentions " the Psalms," he uses the title in its proper 
 and specific sense, and meant to select the book so named from those which 
 the Jews called the Hagiographa, and to place this, to the exclusion of the 
 rest, in the same rank with " the Law and the Prophets," — to claim for it 
 alone, in conjunction with the Law and the Prophets, the honour of immediate 
 and plenary inspiration. 
 
 4. Another proof that the books called the Law and the Prophets, with the 
 Psalms, are the only books of the Word in the Old Testament, and that those 
 properly named Hagiographa are not so, but merely, as the name implies, the 
 writings of holy men, is afforded by the striking fact, that the latter are never 
 quoted, or in any way referred to, by the Lord or by the Evangelists. Neither 
 are any of them, except the book of Proverbs, (four or five times,) and the 
 book of Job, (once,) cited or alluded to in the Apostolic Epistles, which so 
 abound with citations from the Law and the Prophets. We shall see present- 
 ly, that the book of Proverbs is an authentic doctrinal writing of the Jewish 
 Church ; whence it is properly acknowledged in the authentic doctrinal writ- 
 ings of the Christian Church : but as such writings, though produced under a 
 special illumination, are not absolutely divine, they are not noticed in those 
 books which are divine indeed ; being the compositions of men, though of 
 highly gifted men, they are not recognised by Him who receiveth not testimo- 
 ny from man.f If their being quoted in the Epistles proved them to belong 
 to the plenarily inspired Scriptures, we must receive as plenarily inspired 
 Scripture the apocryphal book of Enoch, quoted by Jude,i. and the comedies 
 of Menander, cited by Paul ;§ if not, also, the Phenomena of Aratus,|| and the 
 Chresmoi of Epimenides.1T / 
 
 * Against Apion, B. i. § 8. t John v. 34. t Ver. 14. § 1 Cor. xv. 33. 
 fi Acts xvii. 28. f Til. i. 12, 
 
NO. II. APPENDIX. XIX 
 
 5. The distinction, then, between the Hagiograpka and those writings 
 which the Scriptures themselves acknowledge as the Scriptures, is marked, 
 by the highest Authority, with a line sufficiently broad and impassable : and it 
 is equally admitted by the Jews themselves, who, though their ideas on the 
 subject do not seem very clear, affirm the inspiration of the Hagiograpka to 
 be essentially different in its kind from that of the Law and the Prophets. 
 Home states on this subject,* (and his statement is the same in substance with 
 that of Leusden,t) that " this third class or division of the Sacred Books has 
 received its appellation of Cetubim, or Holy Writings, because they were not 
 orally delivered, as the law of Moses was ; but the Jews affirm, that they were 
 composed by men divinely inspired, who, however, had no public mission as 
 prophets : and the Jews conceived that they were dictated not by dreams, vi- 
 sions, or voice, or in other ways, as the oracles of the prophets were, but that 
 they were more immediately revealed to the minds of their authors ." and what 
 is this but confessing, that they were not positively dictated at all, but were 
 the thoughts of the minds of the authors, the result of a certain illumination 
 which they had received ? It is true, that this is described by the Jews in 
 pretty high terms ; but not in higher than those in which they speak of their 
 Talmud and its Rabbins, all whose writings or sayings, though often avowedly 
 contradictory to each other, they equally affirm to be the productions of inspi- 
 ration.! They admit, however, this inspiration to be not the same as that of 
 Moses and the prophets. But only two general kinds of inspiration can pos- 
 sibly be conceived ; the one being that in which the inspired person is entirely 
 possessed by the inspiring power, and, no longer compos sui, is the mere organ 
 for expressing its dictations ; — in which, according to the precisely accurate 
 definition of the Apostle Peter, the prophecy, or thing enunciated, comes not at 
 the will, or pleasure, of man, but the party speaks as he is moved or actuated 
 by the Holy Ghost ;§ — and the other being that in which the speaker or writer 
 still remains his own master, and what he delivers proceeds from his own 
 mind, though from a mind illuminated by a wisdom which is the gift of God ; 
 which species of inspiration, also, the same Apostle defines with the same ac- 
 curacy, when he says, " Even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to 
 the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you."|| Now as the Jews do 
 not affirm that their Hagiographers possessed the first of these kinds of inspi- 
 ration, it follows, however they may express it, that they only mean to claim 
 for them the second. 
 
 6. A clear distinction, then, we find, between the Inspiration of the absolute 
 Word of God and that of the Hagiographa, comes out full on all hands : and a 
 slight inspection of the principal of these writings will further evince, that an 
 inferior kind of inspiration, but sometimes attended with great illumination, is 
 the highest to which they have any pretensions. 
 
 (1.) We have stated above, that, owing to the manner in which the letter 
 of the Divine Word is necessarily constructed, it is according to the order of 
 
 * Introd. Vol. ii. p. 150. t Phil. Heb. Dis. ii. § ix. % Leusd. PhiL Heb. 
 Mixt. Dis. xii. § vi. Dia. xiii. § 2 Pet. i. 21. || Ch. iii. 15. 
 
XX APPENDIX. NO. II. 
 
 Divine Providence, that, under every dispensation which derives its know- 
 ledge of divine things from a written Word, men should be raised up to de- 
 liver authoritatively, in less ambiguous language, the doctrines proper to guide 
 the faith and practice of that church ; which doctrines are all contained in the 
 Word itself, and are all capable of being confirmed by express declarations of 
 its literal sense. Now who will not readily admit, that the books of Proverbs 
 and Ecclesiastes, though not drawn up in the style that would be chosen by 
 modern composers of Bodies of Divinity, are writings of this character, de- 
 livering, in a compendious form, the authentic doctrines of the yet uncorrupt 
 church of Israel ? How many plain precepts of true wisdom are presented, 
 in the former part of the book of Proverbs, as the exhortations of Wisdom 
 personified ! In the latter part, how many dictates of prudence regarding the 
 conduct of life ! In the book of Ecclesiastes, how impressive a sermon is de- 
 livered on the unsatisfactoriness of all earthly enjoyments; — a sermon most 
 admirably adapted to the correction of the Jewish character, which is so prone 
 to place, in earthly enjoyments, the whole of its satisfactions 1 So, after the 
 author of " the Proverbs" has propounded the design of the book, and has 
 stated, almost in so many words, that he is about to deliver a body of doctrine, 
 how suitably to such a design does he begin his instructions with declaring, in 
 a quotation from the plenarily inspired Scriptures which speaks the plain 
 truth in the letter, that " the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge I"* 
 and how appropriately as well as pithily does the author of Ecclesiastes close 
 his work with the sum of all true doctrine, concisely stated in language taken 
 from the same source : " Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter : 
 Fear God and keep his commandments : for this is the whole duty of man !*'t 
 It is true that both these books contain much figurative language ; but they 
 are not written with a uniform regard to the laws of spiritual Analogy, and do 
 not, like those books which are so written, include a spiritual sense in a regu- 
 lar series : thus the words in which the sentiments are expressed were not 
 dictated, as in the other books, to the pen of the writer, but were selected by 
 himself: and though phrases borrowed from the language of Analogy are fre- 
 quently introduced, they are such as are still, for the most part, easily intelli- 
 gible, and must, among the orientals, have been quite familiar. Indeed, one 
 intention of the book of Proverbs is expressly stated to be, to enable the read- 
 er " to understand a proverb, and the interpretation ; the words of the wise, 
 and their dark sayings :"$ and thus to afford a clew to the doctrinal interpre- 
 tation of the Holy Word, according to the highest views that were capable 
 of being received under the Jewish dispensation. 
 
 (2.) But a considerable portion of the books of the Hagiographa consists 
 of historical writings ; and these, if not directly useful for the doctrinal inter- 
 pretation of the Word, are yet eminently so for the elucidation of many allu- 
 sions in it, which it would be difficult to understand without a knowledge of 
 some facts, respecting which the historical books of the Word itself are silent. 
 This remark is eminently true in regard to the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and 
 
 * Prov. i. 7 : Sec Ps. cxi. 10. f Eccl. xii. 13 : Soc Deut. vi. 2. % Ch. i. 6. 
 
NO. II. APPENDIX. 
 
 Chronicles : whatever then might be the degree of the secondar^^drorfcldn, ** * ,, 
 enjoyed by the writers and compilers of those books, we can have little hesita- 
 tion in conceding to them, all that Bishop Tomline requires us to admit re- 
 specting the historical books that are absolutely the Scriptures ; when he 
 says, " It is sufficient to believe, that, by the general superintendence of the 
 Holy Spirit, they were directed in the choice of their materials, enlightened 
 to judge of the truth and importance of those accounts from which they bor- 
 rowed their information, and prevented from recording any material error ;" — 
 a description which is as honourable and just, when applied to these Hagio- 
 graphers, as it is unjust and degrading when applied to the Anterior Prophets. 
 (3.) But what shall we say of the Song of Solomon ? Doubtless the reader 
 expects that I should be glad of a plea for taking this book out of the Hagio- 
 grapha, and vindicating its title to a place among the prophets. Many who 
 will deny the Scriptures to be written in the language of Analogy, and will 
 not hear of their containing a spiritual sense throughout, will be ready enough 
 to make us a present of this book, to be thus decyphered, and proved to be 
 really an edifying performance. But we cannot avail ourselves of the boon : 
 and we think that modern expositors have erred as much in seeking for spirit- 
 ual mysteries in this amatory effusion, as in rejecting them in the greater part 
 of the books which are essentially divine. Here the interpreters are ready to 
 adopt any mode of explanation that will give a religious turn — to what ? to a 
 work which never speaks of God, nor shews by a single trait that God was 
 ever in the thoughts of the writer. Even the true principle of spiritual inter- 
 pretation has here been thought of, and endeavoured to be applied : and the 
 analogy of the marriage covenant has been beautifully deduced for this pur- 
 pose by Bishop Lowth.* Speaking of the covenant between God and his 
 church, the conditions of which are, H on the one part, love, protection, and 
 support ; on the other, faith, obedience, and worship pure and devout ;" he 
 proceeds thus : " This is that conjugal union between God and his church ; 
 that solemn compact so frequently celebrated by almost all the sacred writers 
 under this image. It is, indeed, a remarkable instance of that species of 
 metaphor which Aristotle calls analogical ; that is, when, in a proposition 
 consisting of four ideas, the first bears the same relation to the second as the 
 third does to the fourth, and the corresponding words may occasionally 
 change their places without any injury to the sense. Thus, in this form of 
 expression, God is supposed to bear exactly the same relation to the church 
 as a husband to a wife ; God is represented as the spouse of the church, and 
 the church as betrothed to God. Thus also, when the same figure is main- 
 tained with a different mode of expression, and connected with different cir- 
 cumstances, the relation is still the same : thus the piety of the people, their 
 impiety, their idolatry, and rejection, stand in the same relation with respect to 
 the sacred covenant, as chastity, modesty, immodesty, adultery, with respect 
 to the marriage contract," &c. This is a valuable testimony in favour of the 
 
 * Apud Home, Vol. iv. p. 141, 142. 
 
XX11 APPENDIX. NO. II. 
 
 principle of Analogy, the regularity which properly belongs to it, and its use 
 in the Word of God : it is also an elegant and clear elucidation of the specific 
 analogy which the marriage-union bears to the connection of God with his 
 church ; but to apply this to the erotic strains of the Song of songs, appears a 
 real prostitution. The image is truly said to be of frequent occurrence in the 
 really divine books of Scripture ; but it is there always used with the dignity 
 and gravity suited to the august Being who is the principal party in the repre- 
 sented union. It is true, also, that the image afforded by the conjugal cove- 
 nant is exactly representative of the union between God and his church : but 
 every love-song is not therefore to be gravely explained of this sacred union : 
 and it will be difficult to say, if this explanation is to be admitted in regard to 
 the Song of Solomon, why it should not be applied to the Idyls of Theocritus, 
 between which and the Hebrew poem the critics have discovered some extra- 
 ordinary points of similitude. It is true, again, that the language of the book, 
 like that of all oriental poetry, is, throughout, loaded with figures, some of 
 which, no doubt, are drawn from the language of Analogy : but it is not the 
 containing of a few, nor even of many, phrases and ideas of this kind, that 
 will impart to a book a truly spiritual sense. As hicroglyphical representa- 
 tions were applied to other subjects beside religious ones, so were the forms 
 of speech drawn from the lower analogies. Thus, of ideas connected with 
 the subject of love, numerous images may be found in inanimate and irrational 
 objects. Various significant phrases of this kind are contained in this poem ; 
 and because these give it a mystic.il air, it has been assumed to be a divine 
 composition, treating of no lower love than that between the Lord and his 
 church. As a sample of Asiatic poetry, the Song of Solomon may be very 
 beautiful ; and it certainly is very interesting, as a curious remain of antiquity : 
 but as it contains nothing that savours of holiness, any further than as all mu- 
 tual love that is sincere and pure is holy, there is room to suspect that the 
 Jews have made a mistake in putting this poem even among their Hagiogra- 
 pha. Not one reference to it can be fairly traced in the New Testament ; 
 though the commentators, sensible how much it stood in need of countenance, 
 have not failed to force a few. 
 
 Very different is the book of Job, which abounds with real spiritual analo- 
 gies, and the whole structure of which is doubtless framed to convey an impor- 
 tant spiritual lesson. Its great antiquity is acknowledged ; and indeed it 
 scarcely seems to be a writing belonging to the Mosaic dispensation : but an 
 attempt to estimate the true character of this book would demand an extended 
 discussion, and is not at all necessary to the present argument. 
 
 Perhaps we may now be permitted to consider, that the point in question, 
 as far as regards the Old Testament is established ; — that in that division of 
 the Bible the books properly called the Law and the Prophets, with the 
 Psalms, are alone written by the plenary inspiration ; and that the bulk of 
 those denominated Hagiographa consists of doctrinal, and supplementary 
 historical writings, designed to assist the interpretation of the former. 
 
NO. II. APPENDIX. XX1U 
 
 III. In regard to the smaller collection of the New Testament, the case will 
 be found to be the same : and though here we do not possess, respecting the 
 several books which compose it, the recorded testimony of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ to determine to which class they respectively belong, the internal evi- 
 dence afforded by the books themselves is sufficient to guide our judgment : 
 beside which, strong external evidence may also be offered. 
 
 Suppose then, in the New Testament, the four Gospels be considered as 
 possessing a character similar to that of the Law and Anterior Prophets of 
 the Old Testament, and the Apocalypse as belonging to the same class as the 
 Posterior Prophets ; whilst the Acts of the Apostles, and their Epistles, an- 
 swer to the ancient Hagiographa, though replete with the superior light 
 belonging to a higher dispensation : thus that the Gospels and Apocalypse 
 were written by the primary and plenary, and the Acts and Epistles by the 
 secondary and personal inspiration : in which case, in the former books the 
 very words will be inspired, and will contain a spiritual sense within them, 
 and in the latter, the doctrinal sentiments alone will partake of inspiration. 
 
 1 . We will not here offer any examples to shew, that the Gospels and 
 Apocalypse contain a spiritual sense, which is the necessary consequence of 
 plenary inspiration ; some are given in the Lectures themselves. But we 
 may observe, (1.) as some sort of external evidence, that an idea of the greater 
 sanctity, and more immediate divinity, of the Gospels than of the Epistles, 
 extensively prevailed in the early ages of Christianity. I take a few testimo- 
 nies hastily from Lardner. 
 
 Ignatius speaks of " fleeing to the Gospel as the flesh of Jesus, and to the 
 Apostles, as the presbyters of the church."* Justin Martyr says, " The Gos- 
 pels were read publicly as well as the Old Testament ;"t but he does not say 
 the same of the Epistles. Irenaeus says, " the doctrines of the Apostles are 
 agreeable to the Sacred Scriptures ;"| thus distinguishing them from the 
 Scriptures themselves. Augustine says, " In the New Testament, the four 
 Gospels have the highest authority." \ 
 
 (2.) That the Gospels are written by the plenary inspiration, is also what 
 any man would naturally expect, who reflects on the nature of the matters 
 which they contain ; for surely no language but that of plenary inspiration can 
 be worthy of recording the actions and discourses of the Incarnate God. The 
 subject is too eminently sacred, and too profoundly important, to be easily 
 compatible with the supposition, that He to whom it relates would surfer the 
 narratives of it, which have actually been received as authentic and venerated 
 as divine through all ages of the church, to be composed in any but the truly 
 divine style of writing. If the books of Moses and the Anterior Prophets, 
 which are chiefly of the historical kind, recording the dealings of God with the 
 children of Israel, were, on account of the spiritual signification of the things 
 of which they treat, delivered in the style which constitutes a writing the ab- 
 
 * Gospel History, vol. iii. p. 178, 8vo. ed» f Vol. iii. p. 262. % lb. p. 393. 
 § Vol. xii. p. 302. 
 
XXIV APPENDIX. NO. II. 
 
 solute Word of God, and were, as we have seen, acknowledged as such by 
 the Word Incarnate ; much more should we expect that the authentic accounts 
 of the Incarnation, Life, Death, Resurrection, and Glorification, of the Word 
 made Flesh, would be given by the same inspiration, and would equally be- 
 long to the written Word. All such parts of them as record the discourses of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, if they only faithfully record them, must be of this cha- 
 racter. For, as is shewn in the Lectures, all revelation of the Divine Truth 
 flows from God, who is in the inmost of all things, into the world of nature, 
 and there clothes itself with natural expressions ; whence it necessarily includes 
 spiritual and divine ideas in its bosom which do not appear upon the surface : 
 now if we believe the Lord Jesus Christ, while on earth, to have been the Di- 
 vine Truth itself personified, — to have been " the Word" which " was with 
 God," and which " was God,"* " made Flesh,"t then must all his words have 
 been divine in the most absolute sense ; they must have flowed from the Di- 
 vinity resident within him, and must have been the proper expressions, in na- 
 tural language supplied from the human part of his constitution, of the pure 
 Divine Wisdom : accordingly, as is shewn in the second Lecture,:}: he himself 
 claims for them a spiritual and divine meaning. And all the actions of this 
 wonderful Being must have been equally expressive. For, as is shewn in the 
 third Lecture, none of the objects in outward nature are arbitrary creations, — 
 mere shells of matter unconnected with any spiritual essence, but are actual 
 outbirths from things of a superior order, — developements in a lower sphere 
 of purer existences in a higher, and first originating in their prototypes in the 
 Divine Nature, for the expression of which they thus afford the proper corres- 
 ponding types. Now if this is the character of all the works of Divinity, it 
 must equally be the character of all the actions of a Being who had Divinity 
 within him. As every word which the Lord Jesus Christ spoke while on 
 earth, he spoke from the Divinity within him ; so every work which he per- 
 formed, he performed from the same Source ; and both must equally have been 
 expressions of divine affections and ideas. When he spoke, he could not but 
 communicate divine instruction ; and when he acted, he could not but com- 
 municate divine instruction also ; only, as the commentators affirm of many 
 typical events in the Old Testament, he then communicated instruction by 
 actions instead of words. Is it then to be supposed, that the just recording of 
 actions so weighty, the true import of which might be lost by the slightest 
 misstatement, or by the use, in describing them, of a single inappropriate ex- 
 pression, would not be provided for by plenary and verbal inspiration ? The 
 recording of the most wonderful of all events that have ever been transacted 
 on the theatre of the universe, and the most pregnant with eternal conse- 
 quences, is too holy an ark to be touched with unhallowed hands ; and all 
 hands must here be regarded as unhallowed, even those of the holiest of men, 
 if in any respect actuated by " the will of men," — if not entirely, to the exclu- 
 sion of all human operation, possessed and " moved by the Holy Ghost." 
 
 * John i. 1. f Ver. 14. * P. 51, 52. 
 
NO. If. APPENDIX. XXV 
 
 (3.) But proof quite demonstrative of the plenary and verbal inspiration of 
 the Evangelists, might, I am satisfied, be drawn out of the famous controversy 
 on the origin of the three first Gospels : but to do any justice to this argument 
 would require an extended discussion ; and our limits will here confine us to 
 a brief statement. 
 
 No one can have read the New Testament with any attention, without hav- 
 ing observed, that there is, among the three first Gospels, a considerahle simi- 
 larity, which extends so far, that they frequently detail occurrences in the very 
 same words. This ha* given rise to an opinion, that they, in part at least, 
 copied from each other ; and as the resemblance is greatest between Matthew 
 Mid Mark, it became usual with many to consider the Gospel of Mark as a 
 mere abridgment of that of Matthew. More accurate examination, however, 
 has shewn, that this is a mistake ; and it has even been proved to be in the 
 highest degree probable, that the Evangelists never saw each other's composi- 
 tions, and quite certain that not one of them copied from either of the others 
 in preparing his own. This being ascertained, the critics, to account for their 
 resemblances, had recourse to the supposition, that some prior document, since 
 lost, was extant before any of the Gospels was written, and that the three first 
 Evangelists, though they did not copy from each other, all drew from one 
 common source. But it was soon found that the supposition of one previous 
 document would by no means account for all the circumstances of the case : 
 and whoever wishes to see the extent of gratuitous supposition which the ad- 
 vocates of this theory are compelled to employ, before they can make it yield 
 even a possible solution of the difficulty, should consult Bishop Marsh's elabo- 
 rate Essay on the origin of the three first Gospels, appended to his translation 
 of Michaelis on the New Testament : the learned writer is obliged to conjure 
 up no fewer than ten imaginary sets of memoirs, before he can find sufficient 
 materials for the construction of these Gospels : and, after all, his hypothesis 
 has been shewn, by Bishop Randolph, Mr. Veysie, and others, not completely 
 to explain the phenomena, and, if it did, to be itself attended with difficulties 
 which render its truth impossible. Other attempts to account for the coinci- 
 dences and variations of the three first Evangelists, upon the supposition of 
 their being drawn from prior documents, have been made : but their failure 
 has been such as completely to prove, that the theory of their copying from 
 previous documents is as incapable of solving the circumstances of the case, 
 as that of their copying from one another. 
 
 What then must be the conclusion ? 
 
 The facts, be it remembered, are these : 
 
 A frequent verbal agreement occurs among the three Evangelists, and this, 
 not only when they relate the discourses of the Lord Jesus Christ, where some 
 agreement might be expected ; but when they are narrating facts. 
 
 But it is evident, that if two or three eye-witnesses of certain facts were af- 
 terwards to draw up an account of them, though they might agree in the main 
 circumstances, they would never relate them in precisely the same words. 
 D 
 
XXVI APPENDIX. NO. II. 
 
 Where, then, two or more merely human historians relate their facts in pre- 
 cisely the same words, we have a sure proof that they either copied from each 
 other, or from some common document accessible to them all. 
 
 But it appears to be certain, that the coincidences of the Evangelists cannot 
 be accounted for from either of these causes. 
 
 What solution then remains, but that they drew from a common source of 
 a different nature ; viz. from the Spirit of God, which not only inspired them 
 in regard to the facts which they were to record, (which degree of inspiration, 
 even, is totally incompatible with the picking and culling, altering and omit- 
 ting processes which the other theories involve,) but dictated to their pens the 
 very words in which they should record them ? This is, in reality, the most 
 natural solution of the difficulty ; or rather, it is a solution of the case which 
 removes all difficulty : since the circumstances are found to admit of no other, 
 it is the only possible one, also ; and, to those who admit the possibility, which, 
 I believe, none have ever denied, of plenary and verbal inspiration, it is equal- 
 ly easy and satisfactory. 
 
 And if this will account for the verbal agreements of the Evangelists, it will 
 equally account for their variations : but that is a question which we will not 
 take up here. Something is said upon it in the sixth Lecture. 
 
 There is then, unquestionably, very strong reason for supposing, that the 
 Gospels are written by plenary inspiration, and, of course, contain a spiritual 
 sense within the outward expression : and surely as much may be said of that 
 evidently symbolic and mysterious composition, the Apocalypse. We may 
 then safely assume, that these books are the plenarily inspired writings, — the 
 Law and the Prophets, — of the New Testament. 
 
 2. And it will be found, on a careful examination, that the other books of 
 the New Testament are its Hagiographa, and are to be understood, except 
 when they relate visions or prophecies, by their literal expression alone ; that 
 they contain the doctrines of the Christian religion, with the actions of some 
 of its first promoters, written by men whose minds were under a general illu- 
 mination from the Spirit of God. 
 
 (1.) In application to these books, the nature of inspiration is accurately 
 laid down by Dr. A. Clarke, in the words of Dr. Whitby, one of the most 
 learned and highly esteemed of the Commentators on the New Testament : 
 but I choose to take his testimony from Dr. Clarke, because it thus comes as 
 the decision both of Church-of-England and of Methodist orthodoxy. Dr. W., 
 indeed, applies his assertions to all the writers of the New Testament ; but it 
 is remarkable, that he finds his proofs in the Epistolary compositions alOne. 
 His words are these : 
 
 " I contend only for such an inspiration or divine assistance of the sacred 
 writers of the New Testament, as will assure us of the truth of what they 
 wrote, whether by inspiration of suggestion, or direction only ; but not for 
 such an inspiration as implies, that even their words were dictated, or their 
 phrases suggested, by the Holy Ghost. This, in some matters of great mo- 
 ment, might be so ; St. Paul declaring that ' they spoke the things which wer« 
 
NO. II. APPENDIX. XXVll 
 
 given them of God, in the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth,' (1 Cor. ii. 
 13 ;) if that relate not to what the Holy Ghost had taught them out of the Old 
 Testament. But that it was not always so, is evident, both from the conside- 
 ration that they were Hagiographers, who are suffered to be left to the use of 
 their own words ; and from the variety of the style in which they write,* and 
 from the solecisms which are sometimes visible in their compositions ; and 
 more especially from their own words, which manifestly shew, that, in some 
 cases, they had no such suggestion from the Holy Ghost, as doth imply, that 
 he had dictated those words unto them. For instance, when St. Paul declares 
 his will or purpose to do what he was hindered by the providence of God from 
 doing ; as when he says to the Romans : ' When I go into Spain, I will come 
 to you,' (ch. xv. 24.) ' I will come by you into Spain,' (ver. 28.) For though 
 he might, after his enlargement, go into the west, where St. Clement says he 
 preached ; and even into Spain, as*Cyril, Epiphanius, and Theodoret, say he 
 did ; yet it is certain he did not designedly go to Rome in order to an intend- 
 ed journey into Spain : And when he says to the Corinthians, ' I will come 
 to you when I pass through Macedonia,' (1 Cor. xvi. 5,) and yet confesses, 
 in his second Epistle, (i. 15, 16, 17,) that he did not perform that journey : for 
 it is not to be thought the Holy Ghost should incite him to promise, or even to 
 purpose, what he knew he would not perform. This also we learn from all 
 those places in which they do express their ignorance, or doubtfulness, of that 
 which they are speaking of ; as when St. Paul says, ' J know not whether I 
 baptized any other,' (1 Cor. i. 16 :) and again, l Perhaps I will abide with 
 you, and winter with you,' (1 Cor. xvi. 6 :) and when St. Peter says, • By 
 Sylvanus, a faithful brother, as I suppose, I have written unto you,' (1 Pet. 
 v. 12.) For these words do plainly shew, that in all these things they had no 
 inspiration or divine assistance. This, lastly, may be gathered from all those 
 places in which they only do express their hope, and that conditionally, of 
 doing this or that ; as in these words : ' I hope to see you in my journey ;* 
 (Rom. xv. 2.) ' I will come unto you quickly, if the Lord will ;' (1 Cor. iv. 
 19.) ' / hope to stay some time with you, if the Lord permit ;' (1 Cor. xvi. 7.) 
 * J hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy quickly to you ;' (Phil. ii. 19, 23.) 
 1 And I trust that I myself also shall come quickly ;' (24.) ' These things 
 I write, hoping to come to thee quickly ; but if I should tarry, that thou may- 
 est know how to behave thyself in the 'church of God ;' (1 Tim. iii. 14, 15.) 
 1 I hope by your prayers, to be given unto you ;' (Philem. 22.) ' This will 
 we do, if the Lord permit ;' (Heb. vi, 3.) \ J hope to come to you ;' (St. 
 John, 2 Ep. 12, 3 Ep. 14.) For spes est incerta, rei nomen ; — the word hope 
 implies an uncertainty ; whereas the Holy Spirit cannot be uncertain of any 
 thing ; nor can we think he would inspire men to speak so uncertainly ; and 
 there can be no necessity, nor even a use, of a divine assistance to enable 
 a man to express his hopes, seeing all men do, by natural reflection, know 
 them." 
 
 This however, as is shewn in the Lecture above, is not 'a conclusive reason. 
 
XXVlll APPENDIX. NO. II. 
 
 It will doubtless be admitted, that Dr. Whitby has here proved, with perfect 
 clearness, that the New Testament has its Hagiograplw as well as the Old. 
 Thus he has proved, that the Apostolical Epistles are not writings of plenary 
 inspiration, and that the personal inspiration of the first teachers of Christiani- 
 ty consisted in a general illumination and divine direction, but did not extend 
 to their very words. I will only add a few remarks upon a passage in their 
 writings, which, while it plainly declares that their inspiration was not in 
 general more immediate than this, has mistakenly been supposed to imply 
 also, that on some occasions what they delivered wa3 the absolute Word of 
 the Lord. 
 
 (2.) The Apostle Paul, when giving his advice on certain questions relating 
 to the marriage state, says, " But I speak this by permission, and not of com- 
 mandment:'* Presently he says, " And unto the married J command, yet not 
 I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband : but and if she 
 depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband : And let 
 not the husband put away his wife. But to the rest speak J, not the Lord."t 
 Again he says, " Now concerning virgins, J have no commandment of the 
 Lord : yet I give my judgment, as one |that hath obtained mercy of the Lord 
 to be faithful."}: Again, respecting a widow's remaining single, he says, " She 
 is happier if she so abide, after my judgment ; and I think also that I have 
 the Spirit of GW."§ Here he expressly gives his own judgment, as some- 
 thing distinct from, and inferior to, the positive command of the Lord, and 
 not even infallible ; and yet as the result of a certain inspiration, — of his pos- 
 sessing the Spirit of God. He plainly teaches then, that his own personal 
 inspiration consisted in a certain general illumination of the understanding : 
 but what is the commandment of the Lord, which he considers so superior ? 
 Authors tell us, " that the subject of which the Apostle here delivers his opin- 
 ion, was a matter of Christian prudence, — not a part of religious sentiment or 
 practice." " But," they say, " the Apostle's declaration, that as to this parti- 
 cular matter, he spoke by permission and not of commandment, strongly im- 
 plies, that in other things, in things really of a religious nature, he did speak 
 by commandment from the Lord. Accordingly, in the same chapter, when 
 he had occasion to speak of what was matter of moral duty, he immediately 
 claimed to be under divine direction in what he wrote : And unto the married 
 I command, yet not I but the Lord, Let not the wife depart front her hus- 
 band"\\ But the distinction between points of duty and of prudence here 
 laid down, will not hold through : for the advice which the Apostle introduces 
 with, " But unto the rest speak I, not the Lord," does relate to a question* qf 
 moral duty : it is no less than this : Whether the reception of Christianity is 
 a justificatory plea for putting away a wife or deserting a husband : and the 
 Apostle decides it thus : " If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and 
 she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away :"H &c. The <le- 
 
 * 1 Cor. vii. 6. t Ver. 10, 11, 12. X Ver. 25. § Vcr. 40. 
 
 H Parry on the Inspiration of the Apostles, &c. apud Home, vol. i. p. 563. 
 U Vcr. 12 to 15. 
 
NO. II. APPENDIX. XXIX 
 
 cision is worthy of a judgment enlightened, as the Apostle affirms of his, by 
 " the Spirit of God :" again then we ask, What is that commandment of the 
 Lord which he considers so superior ? Evidently, it is the express decision of 
 the Lord himself, pronounced while in the world, and recorded in the books 
 of plenary inspiration : and we find the very commandment which Paul says 
 is not his but the Lord's in Matt. xix. 9, Mark x. 11, 12, and Luke xvi. 8 : and 
 the first Gospel was certainly written, and the others very probably, before 
 this Epistle to the Corinthians : But if it can be proved that he had not learn- 
 ed the fact in this way, then it will follow, that, as he seems to intimate in 
 Gal. i. 12, he had received by immediate revelation a knowledge of the chief 
 passages of the Lord's life and discourses in the world : and this may afford 
 countenance to the opinion which many have entertained, that he was the 
 real author of the third of the Gospels, and that it was only written by Luke 
 as his amanuensis. However he became acquainted with it, certain it is that 
 he knew that the Lord had delivered such a commandment, and that he 
 speaks of this as a different thing from his own customary and personal inspi- 
 ration. Just in the same manner he distinguishes, on other occasions, be- 
 tween his own sentiments and the authoritative declarations of the Scriptures 
 themselves ; as when he says in the next chapter but one, " Say I these 
 things as a man ? or saith not the Law the same also ?"* and quotes a passage 
 from Deuteronomy. Plainly then does this Apostle avow, what Peter affirms 
 of him, that he wrote according to the wisdom given unto him; and fairly 
 does he acknowledge that this inspiration is different from that, the subjects of 
 which spake as they toere moved by the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Altogether it appears perfectly evident, that the Epistles arc doctrinal writ- 
 ings, given through eminently illuminated men, to afford a clew to the doc- 
 trinal interpretation of the plenarily inspired Scriptures ; respecting which 
 they testify, among other things, that they are written by a more immediate 
 inspiration, and, differently from themselves, contain a spiritual sense within 
 the covering of the Letter ; some of their testimony to which effect is given 
 in our second Lecture.! 
 
 Without the slightest wish then to depreciate either the Apostolic writings 
 or the Hagiographa of the Old Testament, it must, we think, be conceded, 
 that the Gospels and Apocalypse, the Law and the Prophets, are compositions 
 of a very different order. All that is said, by modern definers of Inspiration, 
 of the sacred books in general, we readily concede to be true of the writings 
 which we have now been considering : these we leave where the critics have 
 placed them : but we would fain elevate the others far higher. Respecting 
 the character of the Apostolic writings in particular, I fully accept the defini- 
 tions of the generally approved Author last quoted : " When they acted as 
 writers, recording Christianity for the instruction of the church in all Succeed- 
 ing times, I apprehend, that they were under the guidance of the Spirit us to 
 
 * Ch. ix. 8. t P.- 38, &c. and p. 53 to 61. 
 
XXX APPENDIX. NO. III. 
 
 the subject of which they treated; that they wrote under his influence and 
 direction ; that they were preserved from all error and mistake in the religious 
 sentiments they expressed ; and that, if any thing were inserted in their 
 writings, not contained in that complete knowledge of Christianity of which 
 they were previously possessed, (as prophecies for instance,) this was imme- 
 diately communicated to them by revelation from the Spirit. But with respect 
 to the choice of words, I know not but they might be feft," — says our author, 
 who might safely have omitted the words of hesitation, — " to the free and 
 rational exercise of their own minds, to express themselves in the manner that 
 was natural and familiar to them, while at the same time they were preserved 
 from error in the ideas they conveyed."* All this is true : but it is greatly to 
 be lamented, that what is true of a part of the writings contained in the 
 Bible, — of the hagiographical compositions, only, — should inadvertently have 
 been extended to the whole. As it is obvious to every student and believer 
 of the Bible that some of its writers were under the influence of a secondary 
 and personal inspiration, it has been concluded that this was the case with 
 them all : and as it is evident that writings thus produced can have none but 
 the plain grammatical sense ; whilst the radical difference between composi- 
 tions of this character and those which are the result of an immediate divine 
 afflatus has been overlooked ; many have at length concluded, that there is no 
 real sense but the grammatical one throughout the Word of God. 
 
 No. III. (Page 178.) 
 
 The great Objects and Phenomena of the Mundane System consider- 
 ed, as they are referred to in the Language of Prophecy and of 
 the Scriptures in general. 
 
 The significations by Analogy offered in the Lecture, of the great objects of 
 what Sir Isaac Newton calls " the world natural ;" — of heaven, earth, and 
 earthquakes; of the sun, moon, and stars ; and of the darkening of the sun, 
 turning of the moon into blood, and falling of the stars ; must, it is presumed, 
 be readily perceived to be well founded. Not much argument then will be re- 
 quired to establish them. It may, however, be useful to add a few remarks upon 
 them, and to shew, by some examples, that such is actually the meaning borne 
 by these magnificent symbols in the language of prophecy, and of the Holy 
 Word ir^general. 
 
 I. When the earth or world, in a most general sense, iruluding the whole 
 " world natural," is mentioned in Scripture for the church universal, — the 
 
 * Parry apud Hornc, vol. i. p. 561. 
 
NO. III. APPENDIX. XXXI 
 
 church considered in the most general manner ; it is only by a modification of 
 a mode of expression frequent in common discourse. We constantly speak of 
 various countries, not with any allusion to the mere soil, but as a metonymy 
 for the nations that inhabit them, — for the government and people. It is in 
 this sense that we speak of the distress or prosperity of our own country ; of 
 the policy of France, Austria, or Russia; of the general aspect of the conti- 
 nent ; and of the growing power of America, or of the new world. Just so*t is 
 when particular countries, or when the earth in general, are mentioned in the 
 Word of God: the continent is put for the contents; the land for the inluibi- 
 tants. This then seems to support Sir Isaac Newton's application of " the 
 world natural" to " the world politic." But we are to remember, that, in the 
 Word of God, he who uses the figure is the Divine Being himself: and in what 
 respect can the inhabitants of the earth be supposed to be regarded by the 
 Divine Mind, but as to their reception or otherwise of the principles which 
 constitute the church ? It is not, we may be certain, as to their political, but as 
 to their spiritual relations, that the inhabitants of the world are regarded by 
 God. They are considered as belonging either to the church properly so call- 
 ed, consisting of that portion of the inhabitants of the earth who stand in a 
 nearer relation to the Author of their existence, in consequence of possessing a 
 knowledge of him by revelation ; — or to the church universal, which includes 
 the whole of mankind considered in their relation to God.' As then, when the 
 earth is mentioned in Scripture, the inhabitants of it are meant ; and as the in- 
 habitants are only regarded in their relation to God, that is, as connected with 
 his church ; it is perfectly agreeable to the use of a well-known figure of speech, 
 to name the earth to signify the church. 
 
 It is also well known, that when the earth is mentioned, it is frequently only 
 the land of Canaan that is referred to ; and this is an acknowledged symbol of 
 the church : and the meaning is similar, but more universal, when the earth is 
 named for the whole " world natural." 
 
 Now that this use of the term is frequent with the prophets, might be shewn 
 by numerous examples. Thus, in that beautiful prediction so evidently refer- 
 ring to a future glorious state of the church, when it is declared that " the wolf 
 shall dwell with the lamb," and when it is said of various noxious animals, 
 " they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain ;" the reason as- 
 signed for it is this ; " For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, 
 as the waters cover the sea."* So in that awful denunciation of judgments 
 upon the earth, in the twenty-fourth chapter of the same prophet, where the 
 word earth or land is repeated almost in every verse ; although some of the 
 calamities enumerated might seem to relate to the earth, literally, yet there is 
 much which shews that the subject really tre'ated of is the church. To what 
 else can these words be applied : ** The windows from on high are open, and 
 the foundations of the earth do shake : the earth is utterly broken down ; the 
 earth is clean dissolved ; the earth is moved exceedingly : the earth shall reel 
 
 * Is. xi. 9. 
 
XXXU APPENDIX. NO III. 
 
 to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage ; and the trans- 
 gression thereof shall be heavy upon it ; and it shall fall and not rise again" ?* 
 The last clause, in particular, is by no means predicable of the earth; but the 
 whole is most accurately descriptive, in the language of Analogy, of the utter 
 destruction of the Jewish church : and to this alone, and to the substitution of 
 pure Christianity for corrupt Judaism, can be applied what is said of the sun 
 moon at the conclusion of the prophecy : " Then the moon shall be con- 
 founded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount 
 Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously. "t 
 
 II. Without then further extending our quotations, it must, we may presume, 
 be readily seen, that the earth, when mentioned generally, is used as a symbol 
 of the church. But heaven is spoken of in the Scriptures as frequently as the 
 earth; and it often happens, that heaven and earth are mentioned together : 
 and then it may be seen with equal clearness, that by heaven is meant the in- 
 ternal of the church, or, with respect to individuals, the internal man, and by 
 earth the external of the church, or the external man. 
 
 Two states of the church, — the church militant and the church triumphant, 
 — are usually recognised by divines ; all who are members of the church on 
 earth constituting the former, and all who are enjoying the reward of victory 
 in heaven, constituting the latter : thus the church militant is that which is 
 usually called simply the church, and tjie church triumphant is but another 
 name for heaven. Now it is certainly a very remarkable circumstance, that in 
 so many languages the name for the state and habitation of the blest is the 
 same as that for the visible heavens or shy ; or rather, the name properly be- 
 longing to the latter is transferred to mean the former. In the English lan- 
 guage indeed, which has two words that signify the expanse above or around 
 the earth, we now more frequently apply the term heaven to the seats of the 
 blest, and the term sky to the visible firmament ; though we still frequently 
 use the former word in its primitive signification : 
 
 «« As from the face of heaven the scattered clouds 
 Tumultuous rove." 
 
 and we are apt to transfer the latter to the figurative sense ; thus, the soul 
 
 " Breathes hopes immortal, and affects the skies." 
 Now whence came this application, by consent of nations, of the name of the 
 visible heavens to express the invisible, but from a perception that they pnv 
 perly answer to each other by analogy, and that the lower heavens are a pro- 
 per type and symbol of the higher ? Hence in the Word of God, the one is 
 constantly described by the name of the other. 
 
 But further : As, in addition to the analogies of each taken separately, there 
 is a similar relation between the visible heaven and earth as between the 
 heavenly state, or the church in heaven, and the church on earth; therefore, 
 also, these are described by the combined phrase heaven and earth .- As, like- 
 
 * Ver. 18, 19, 20. f Ver. 23. 
 
NO. III. APPENDIX.   XXXU1 
 
 wise, there is a similar relation between the internal principles and heavenly 
 graces constituent of a church and its external order, profession and practice; 
 and between all that belongs to the internal man and all that belongs to the ex- 
 ternal ; therefore these, also, are included in the meaning of the phrase hea- 
 ven and earth. 
 
 Of the use of the terms in these significations, abundant instances are afforded 
 by the Scriptures. What else can be meant by these images, when the pro- 
 phet says, ' ; Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down 
 righteousness ; let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let 
 righteousness spring up together ?"* It is perfectly evident that the heavens 
 and shies which pour down righteousness, and the earth which opens to receive 
 it, and from which, in return, salvation and righteousness spring up, cannot 
 be the visible heavens, and the material earth : neither can they be Sir Isaac 
 Newton's " thrones and dignities'' and " the inferior people :" but they must 
 be the heavens the abodes of bliss, and the church rendered fruitful in good 
 works by the divine influences thence descending : and the same language 
 may be applied to the two principles of the human constitution recognised in 
 theology by the names of the internal and external man. So when Jehovah, 
 in reference to the establishment of the Christian dispensation, speaks of hea- 
 ven and earth as being then to be created, and says, " I have put my words in 
 thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of my hand, that I may 
 plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, 
 Thou art my people :"t and when he says again, " Behold, I create new hea- 
 vens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come into 
 mind : but be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create ; for, behold, 
 I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy :"J who can fail to see, 
 that the heavens, and neic heavens, here spoken of, arc the internal principles 
 of the Christian church, and the earth, and new earth, her corresponding ex- 
 ternal ? whence they are in both cases mentioned in connexion with Zion and 
 Jerusalem, the acknowledged types of the church ; and the creating of new 
 heavens and a new earth is actually spoken of as synonymous with creating 
 Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy. Equally easy will be the inter- 
 pretation of these symbols, drawn from * the world natural," wherever they 
 occur in the sacred writings ; understand by heaven, in relation to the church, 
 or to the man of the church, the interna! essence, and by the earth the external 
 form, and you will obtain a satisfactory and coherent meaning for every pas- 
 sage in which they are mentioned throughout the Word of God. 
 
 III. If it be admitted that the earth signifies the external of the church and 
 of man, it will easily be admitted that the lowest parts of the earth, with Hades 
 or Hell, will signify the external man when entirely separated from the inter- 
 nal, so as to be the mere abode of infernal lusts and insane follies ; with the 
 state of misery consequent thereupon hereafter: — and also, that it may some- 
 times signify a state of temptation, because then man appears to himself to be 
 
 * Isa. xlv. 8. f Isa. li. 16. X Ch. l.xv. 17, 18. 
 
 E 
 
XXXIV APPENDIX. NO III. 
 
 in danger of such a condition. In the former sense of the phrase, the Psalm- 
 ist says. " But those that seek my soul to destroy it, shall go into the lower 
 parts of the earth.'* On account, also, of the manifest analogy, the term 
 Hades or Hell, though originally signifying merely a suhterraneous region, has 
 been transferred to denote, in common use, the state and place of misery here- 
 after ; just as heaven, though originally signifying the visible firmament, has 
 come to be regarded as the proper name of the state and place of eternal bless- 
 edness. But that sometimes the term is used for a state of extreme temptation, 
 appears from the prayer of Jonah, all whose adventure with the fish was re- 
 presentative of such a state, and who says respecting it, " Out of the belly of 
 hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice."t 
 
 IV. From the signification of the earth, and of heaven and earth, as expres- 
 sive of the church, it necessarily follows, that great earthquakes, and the shak- 
 ing of heaven and earth, are put for the shaking of churches, so as to distract 
 and overthrow them, or at least to occasion a remarkable change in their state. 
 Thus in the passage quoted above from the twenty-fourth of Isaiah, in which 
 the earth so evidently signifies the church, it is said of it that its " foundations 
 shake," and that it shall " reel to and fro, like a drunkard." As no change in 
 the state of the church ever occurred so great as that consequent upon the 
 Lord's coming into the world ; therefore, in reference to that event, it is writ- 
 ten, " For thus saith the Lord of hosts : Yet once, it is a little while, and I will 
 shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land ; and I will 
 shake all nations ; and the Desire of all nations shall come."| So, that a change 
 in the constitution of the church not less extraordinary was once again to be 
 experienced, seems to be intimated by the Revelator ; when, after he heard 
 " a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is 
 done," he adds, " And there were voices and thunders, and lightnings : and 
 there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, 
 so mighty an earthquake and so great ."§ a most significant emblem, surely, 
 of such a change as must attend such a consummation as alone is worthy to be 
 indicated by the emphatic words heard from the throne of God, " It is done !" 
 
 V. We have considered already the signification of the creating of a new 
 heaven and a new earth, and, by consequence, of " the passing of an old one, 
 or of the beginning and end (or rather end and beginning) of a world." If, as 
 we have seen, the new heaven and new earth predicted by Isaiah describe the 
 Christian church, which was to be a new dispensation both as to inward es- 
 sence and outward form, of course, the former heaven and earth, which, it is 
 declared, should no more be remembered nor come into mind, must be the 
 corrupt internal and ceremonial external of the Jewish church : and, as the 
 Word of God must ever be consistent with itself, similar must be the import of 
 these portentous symbols wherever they occur in its pages. Certain it is that 
 this interpretation of them will every where yield a good and coherent sense. 
 
 VI. Sir Isaac Newton, though he interprets the sun of " the whole species 
 and race of kings," yet allows it occasionally to be Christ. : and that it is a 
 
 * Ps. lxiii. 9. f Ch. ii. 2. i Hag. ii. 6. 7. § Rev. xvi. 17, 18. 
 
NO. III. APPENDIX. v XXXV 
 
 striking representative of the Divine Being is testified by the consent of the 
 numerous nations who have worshipped him under this intake. Accordingly, 
 the Psalmist affirms that " the Lord God is a sun :"* so, Isaiah says of the re- 
 stored church, " Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon with- 
 draw itself; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light :"t and by Malachi, 
 still more directly, the Lord declares, " But unto you that fear my name shall 
 the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings." t Indeed, the ana- 
 logy between the Lord as the source of life to all creation ; — of spiritual life, 
 which consists in love and wisdom, immediately, to all intelligent creatures, — 
 and of natural life, mediately, to inanimate and irrational subjects : — and the 
 sun as his vicegerent for the communication of its life to mere matter, by dis- 
 pensing its beams of natural heat and light to this nether w r orld ; is too obvious 
 to escape the attention of any one. The analogy between the heat of the so- 
 lar beams and the ardour of divine love, between the lucidity of the sun's rays 
 and the illuminating efficacy of divine wisdom, are also most striking. It has 
 been shewn in the third Lecture, § that there is an obvious and fixed relation 
 between fire and love, between light and truth ; and this must eminently hold 
 between the solar fire and light, and the love and wisdom of the Lord. The 
 sun also, as the secondary source of existence to its dependent worlds, cannot 
 but, in the very nature of things, image forth in its properties the First Cause 
 of existence, the Creator of itself and of all things. It cannot then be doubted, 
 that in writings composed upon the principles of Analogy, the sun would often 
 be taken as a symbol of the Lord ; as we see is done in the passages above 
 quoted. 
 
 But it is not so much of the Divine Being, personally, that the sun is taken 
 as an emblem in the Scriptures, as of the first essential property of the Divine 
 Nature, which is the divine love ; whence it is often coupled with the moon, 
 and it is even said, as in the passage just cited from Isaiah, that the Lord will 
 be both a sun and moon to his people ; for the moon, as shining by a borrowed 
 light, is the apt symbol of the principle of faith, which is produced in the mind 
 by instruction in divine subjects outwardly communicated. There is also a 
 distinction made in the Scriptures between the light of the moon, and the light 
 of the sun. The light of the sun is a perception of divine truth grounded in 
 love : it is that which is experienced by those whom the Lord calls his friends, 
 or, as the original more strongly says, his lovers, and who become such by 
 doing whatsoever he commands them :\\ and of which he declares, that it consists 
 in a knowledge, communicated by him, of all things that he hath heard from 
 his Father :1T but the light of the moon is that of those whom the Lord calls 
 servants, whose faith, being not so much founded in love, is not attended with 
 so clear an illumination of the understanding ; whence the same Authority 
 says, that the servant hnoweth not what his lord doeth** Hence the one stale 
 is called in the Scriptures a state of day ; the other, respectively, a state of 
 night, — not of a dark night, but of a night irradiated by the light of the moon : 
 
 * Pa. lxxxiv. 11. f Ch. 1*. 20. % Ch. iv. 2. § Page 120. || John xv. 14. 
 IT Ver. 15. ** Ibid. 
 
   
 
XXXVI APPENDIX. NO. 111. 
 
 thus we are called upon to praise " him that made great lights ; — the sun to 
 rule by day, — the moon and stars to rule by night."* 
 
 The stars, as noticed in the third Lecture,t are apt images of heavenly 
 truths, or of specific matters of knowledge on spiritual subjects. 
 
 That such is the signification, in Scripture, of the sun, moon, and stars, may 
 sufficiently appear from this circumstance alone. John the Revelator beheld 
 " a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her 
 head a crown of twelve stars."\ Now this woman is evidently the same as 
 is elsewhere called " the bride, the Lamb's wife ;"§ that is, she is the repre- 
 sentative of the true church ; wherefore also she is a personification of the new 
 Jerusalem.^ The sun with which she appeared clothed, is a plain image of 
 the divine love by which the true church is animated, encompassed, and pro- 
 tected. The moon under her feet, forming as it were her footstool, is a suita- 
 ble image of that true faith upon which the church is represented in Scripture 
 as founded : thus when Peter avowed his faith in the Son of God, the Divine 
 Person who was the object of his belief said, "Upon this rock," — the great 
 doctrine of faith just acknowledged, — " will I build my church."H Because 
 then the church is built upon a true faith in the Lord, her personified emblem 
 was seen standing upon the moon, which is the symbol of such a faith. The 
 crown of twelve stars upon her head, was expressive of the wisdom which re- 
 sults from the possession of all the truths of the Word ; for the number twelve 
 is always mentioned as implying all the truths of the Word and of the church, 
 both those relating to faith and those relating to charity ; which is the reason 
 that there were twelve tribes of Israel, twelve apostles, that the new Jerusalem 
 had twelve foundations, and that this number, with its multiples, a hundred 
 and forty-four, and twelve thousand and a hundred and forty-four thousand, is 
 used on so very many occasions. The signification of this number, however, 
 not being requisite to the present inquiry, we will rtot turn aside to consider it. 
 But the sun and moon are sometimes mentioned, not as images of the Lord's 
 divine love, and of a true faith, but of principles diametrically opposite ; which 
 is the reason why the light of the sun and moon is sometimes put in contrast 
 with that of which the Lord is the author ; as in the passage of which a part was 
 before quoted from Isaiah : " The sun shall no more be thy light by day, nei- 
 ther for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee ; but the Lord shall be 
 unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory."** Still they retain their 
 general signification of love and faith, but denote different species of them : 
 the sun is then that self-love which rules with those who reject the love of 
 God, and the moon is that tissue of human inventions, which, in such a state, 
 men miscall faith. In this sense they are spoken of as shedding evil influ- 
 ences, from which the objects of divine protection are to be secured : " The 
 sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night :"tt — " They shall hun- 
 ger no more, neither thirst any more ; neither shall the sun light on them, nor 
 any heat."J{ 
 
 * Pg. exxxvi. 7, 8, 9. t P- 136. X Rev - xii - »• § Ch - xxu 9 > Ch - xlx - 7 * 
 
 || Ch. xxi. 2. IT Matt. xvi. 18. ** Ch. lx. 19. See also Rev. xxi. 23. 
 
 ft P«- exxvi. 6. it Rev. vii. 16. 
 
NO. III. APPENDIX. XXXV11 
 
 VII. The signification of the sun, moon, and stars, in Scripture, and the 
 ground of that signification in that positive Analogy which forms part of the 
 laws of nature, must now, we would fain hope, appear very certain : and if so, 
 the signification of the darkening of the sun, turning of the moon into blood, 
 and falling of the stars, must also be evident, and they must be seen to de- 
 note the ceasing in the professing church, or the perversion into their oppo- 
 sites, of pure love to the Lord, true faith in him, and all just knoiclcrlge of 
 spiritual subjects. Thus we read in Joel, " I will shew wonders in the hea- 
 vens and in the earth, blood, fire, and pillars of smoke : the s-un shall be tiinx d 
 into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day 
 of the Lord come."* When was this prophecy fulfilled ? Peter, at the first 
 effusion of the Holy Spirit, after the Lord's ascension, affirms that it was ac- 
 complished thenA But what sun was then darkened, but the sun of love in 
 the Jewish church ; when a Divine Teacher said of them, u I know you, that 
 ye have not the love of God in you ;"j " and this is the condemnation ; that 
 light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, be- 
 cause their deeds were evil."§ And what moon was then turned into blood, 
 but the moon of true faith ; when even the books of Moses were not believed 
 by them in any beneficial manner ; whence the same infallible Authority says 
 of them, " Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me ; for he wrote 
 of me : but if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words ;"|| 
 and they are further reproached, not only for departing from all true faith t 
 but for setting up a false one in its place, ' ; teaching for doctrines the com- 
 mandments of mew."Tf So, when it is said that the tail of the dragon " drew 
 the third part of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth,"** how strik- 
 ing an image is presented of the influence exercised by the evil upon the pure 
 truths of heaven, which arc deprived, by low interpretations, of their heavenly 
 nature, and reduced to matters of common, earth-born knowledge. 
 
 We will conclude with a word respecting the application of these grand 
 symbols to the downfal of particular nations ; as of Babylon, ft of Iduma?a,+t 
 and of Egypt. § § In the truly spiritual sense, the signification will still be the 
 same ; only then the nations also must be spiritually understood, as represen- 
 tative of some general principle, or class of persons, connected with the 
 church. Even in reference to the actual downfal of those states, as kingdoms 
 of the " world politic," it would be very difficult to shew that the sun is the 
 king, the moon- the people, and the stars the great men ; beside that they are 
 thus reduced into tautological repetitions, the heavens and earth having before 
 been explained, by Sir Isaac, to signify princes and peoplec Even then with 
 regard to " the kingdoms of the world politic," it would afford better sense to 
 interpret the sun, moon, and stars, to be those principles in the state, which 
 love and faith, with divine knowledge, are in the church ; and these will be, 
 
 * Ch. ii. 30, 31. f See Acts ii. 16 to 20. % John v. 42. § Ch. iii. 19. 
 
 || Ch. v. 46, 47. IT Mark vii. 7. ** Rev. xii. 3. ft Isa. xiii. 10. 
 
 XX Ch. xxxiv. 4. §§ Ezek. xxxii. 7. 
 
XXXV1U APPENDIX. NO. IV. 
 
 justice and judgment, civil good and political wisdom, national integrity and 
 sound maxims of state ; without the cultivation of an adequate share of 
 which, the mightiest empires hasten to dissolution. 
 
 But all applications of such symbols to natural objects or political affairs are 
 attended with great uncertainty, and it can seldom be shewn that, with respect 
 to these, they have a determinate signification : because these were not the 
 things regarded in the Divine Mind, from which the Word proceeded. In 
 giving a revelation, its Divine Author must have had eternal ends and spiritual 
 objects in view : and if we explain, of spiritual objects, the natural images 
 employed in the divine style of writing, we may always, if we possess the 
 proper key, obtain a meaning which is clear and satisfactory ; because be- 
 tween all natural objects and certain spiritual ones there exists by creation a 
 fixed analogy, which may readily be traced, when we are sufficiently acquaint- 
 ed with the properties of each. How far this has been accomplished in this 
 essay, in regard to the great objects and phenomena of the mundane system, 
 it must be left to the reader to determine. 
 
 No. IV. (Page 248: 
 
 The Signification of the Clouds, when mentioned in Scripture, 
 further illustrated. 
 
 The explanations of Scripture terms which are offered in this Work, being 
 new to most of our readers, would require, to do them justice, a more extend- 
 ed elucidation and defence than our limits will permit : However, if only one 
 explanation, clearly drawn from a fixed analogy, is firmly established, it is 
 sufficient to evince the solidity of the principle as a Rule of interpretation. 
 We have dwelt at some length, in the Lecture above, on the signification of 
 clouds, and have shewn, it is hoped, with some weight of evidence, that, 
 when mentioned in reference to the Lord, they signify the Divine Truth 
 clothed with natural ideas and images, or the Word in its literal sense, which 
 is the Divine Truth so clothed : and as this explanation, though, when first 
 propounded, it may appear unexpected and forced, seems to become, on re- 
 flection, perfectly natural and easy, and to be capable of being established 
 with a certainty which nothing but the extreme of scepticism can dispute ; 
 we will here dwell upon it a little further, and try what degree of light may 
 be drawn, by its aid, from several obscure and obviously enigmatical passages 
 of the Holy Word. We have selected this term for a detailed examination, 
 not only because it is well calculated to illustrate what we have called the 
 Science of Analogies, and to prove that in that Science must be sought the 
 key for the true interpretation of the Scriptures, but because it is also enii- 
 
NO. IV. APPENDIX. XXXIX 
 
 nently adapted to throw light upon the nature of the Scriptures themselves, — 
 to evince that they consist of a glory and its covering, and to demonstrate 
 that their literal sense is actually a cloud which veils over the supernal light 
 that beams within. 
 
 I hope, however, that whoever reads this article, will first read the part o* 
 the Lecture to which it is appended ; (from p. 240.) 
 
 I. It has been remarked above, that the signification of clouds, as being the 
 Divine Truth veiled over with the appearances of nature, or the Word in its 
 literal sense, may, when first announced, appear arbitrary and forced : yet if 
 it thus appears to any one, it must be for want of his having noticed, that this 
 is one of the analogies of which every one knows something by common per- 
 ception, and from which phrases are frequently borrowed in common dis- 
 course. I hope, for instance, that what I am now writing will not be deemed 
 a cloudy composition ; for I well know how common it is with writers to 
 cloud a clear subject by imperfect attempts at explanation. There are many 
 things respecting which the truth discovers itself to the mind by its own in- 
 herent light, and which efforts to illustrate only envelope in clouds. Such 
 phrases as these, of which every one immediately sees the meaning, and 
 which every one readily frames for himself, evince that the human mind intui- 
 tively perceives, not only the analogy between light and Truth in its clearness, 
 but also that between clouds and Truth in the shade. It is only then in com- 
 pliance with a principle which nature dictates to us all, that clouds are men- 
 tioned in Scripture as the chariot of God : for God, all knowledge, must 
 dwell in his own Divine Truth, and of Divine Truth, when shaded over with 
 
 . natural images and expressions borrowed from human ideas, as in the literal 
 sense of the Divine Word, clouds are evidently the proper symbol. 
 
 II. It being certain then that reason gives a decided testimony in favour of 
 the use of the term clouds as an appropriate emblem of the Word of God in 
 its literal sense, we proceed to consider further, how this is corroborated by 
 the instances in which the expression is used in the Scriptures in connexion 
 with the Lord. 
 
 1. We have cited in the Lecture this passage of Moses : " There is none 
 like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and 
 in his excellency in the sky ;"* where we have noted, that the word translat- 
 ed sky is one which in many other places is rendered the clouds. Jeshurun is 
 a name for Israel, which typically means the church, or the true member of 
 the church : and how is it that, in help of the member of the church, 
 God rides in heaven, and in his excellency (greatness or strength) in 
 the clouds ? how, unless these phrases mean, that he imparts to man in- 
 struction, consolation, and support, by the internal graces of his Word and 
 kingdom, signified by heaven, communicated by means of the external or 
 literal sense of his Word, signified by the clouds ? The reason of this is, 
 because it is a fact, though not always reflected on and acknowledged, that 
 
 Dent. 
 
 
Xl APPENDIX. NO. IV. 
 
 whatever n>an receives to build him up as a member of the Lord's church, he 
 receives, either immediately or remotely, by the medium of the Holy Word : 
 it is hence that he obtains all his knowledge respecting the Lord and his king- 
 dom, either drawing it thence himself or receiving it from others who have 
 drawn it from that source : it is by the truths thus acquired that he directs his 
 path : it is the promises which he hence learns that support him and enable 
 him to resist his spiritual foes : and it is even by what he thus imbibes that the 
 graces of charity, as well as those of faith, are infused into his bosom. For 
 the Holy Word, though a system of Divine Truth, is not a system of truth 
 alone. Every truth which it contains has some heavenly affection that pro- 
 perly belongs to it. When the truth is admitted into the understanding mere- 
 ly, still the affection is present and urgent to be received with it : so that 
 although man is not conscious of it, it really is by the Holy Word, and not at 
 all independently of it, that every heavenly grace of which he ever becomes a 
 partaker enters his breast. The Word of God, both as to its internal spirit 
 and life and external form and letter, is the grand medium by which the Lord 
 imparts aid to his spiritual Jeshurun, his true church ; it is thus that he rideth 
 upon the heaven to his help, and in his excellency on the clouds. If we sup- 
 pose the visible heaven and vapoury clouds to be meant, what becomes of the 
 sense of the passage ? 
 
 2. In the eighteenth Psalm we have a sublime description of the delive- 
 rance of the church, or of the member of the church, in the person of David, 
 from a state of severe temptation ; and in the description of the interference 
 of the Divine Being on the occasion occur these words : " He bowed the 
 heavens also, and came down, and darkness was under his feet. And he rode • 
 upon a cherub and did fly ; yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. He 
 made darkness his secret place ; his pavilion round about him were dark wa- 
 ters and thick clouds of the skies : at the brightness that was before him his 
 thick clouds passed : hail stones and coals of fire."* To how the heavens and 
 come down, is a phrase expressive of the Lord's presence, with the interior 
 things of his Divine Truth or Word, signified by the heavens, in its exteriors, 
 to which the former come down. The darkness under his feet is the Divine 
 Truth in its lowest form, where the light of his internal contents terminates 
 in the cloud of the letter : this appears as darkness to those who are in a state 
 of opposition, and who can discern oothing of the light which shines through 
 the letter from the pure truth within : — witness the reproaches cast upon the 
 Word by Deists and Atheists, who would fain persuade the world that it is the 
 most senseless and even pernicious book that ever was produced. A cherub 
 is used in Scripture as a personification of the Word in its letter : but to go 
 into the proof of this would lead us too far from our immediate object. " He 
 maketh darkness his secret place ; his pavilion round about him were dark 
 waters and thick clouds of the skies" — is said in amplification of the same 
 subject, and still relates to the investing of Divine Truth, in its ultimate form, 
 
 * Vex. 9 to 12. 
 
NO. IV. APPENDIX. Xll 
 
 with a clothing of appearances, within which, nevertheless, abides the Divine 
 Presence. And when it is added, " At the brightness that was before him his 
 thick clouds passed : hail-stones and coals of fire," the allusion is, to the dis- 
 persion of the false notions which are often drawn from the literal sense of the 
 Word not understood, by the manifestation of the Divine Truth contained 
 within, which is called the brightness that teas hefore him : hail-stones, being 
 frozen drops of rain, which descend indeed from the clouds, but in a form 
 which gives them a destructive instead of a fertilizing nature, are appropriate 
 symbols of truths from the letter of the Holy Word falsified by perverse inter- 
 pretations ; and coals of fire are suitable emblems of the lusts or concupis- 
 cences of the natural man, especially of his lust of perverting and misrepre- 
 senting the AVord by regarding it under the influence of his evil inclinations. 
 These are spoken of as sent forth by the Lord ; as is also the case when simi- 
 lar judgments are described in the account of the plagues of Egypt : yet we 
 are certain that he cannot be the author of the perversions of his Word by 
 mankind : the meaning then is, not that such things actually proceed from 
 him and his Word, but that their existence is discovered at his presence and 
 at that of his Divine Truth ; and that when judgment is executed upon the 
 wicked, they are left to their own false and evil imaginations, and to the 
 misery which attends such a state. 
 
 It may here be necessary to meet a difficulty which some minds may feel at 
 this representation of the Divine Truth, which we affirm to be the same as 
 the Word, as enveloping the Divine Majesty. 
 
 Whilst we think of the Word, merely as a book, there certainly is some 
 difficulty in conceiving how it can form " a pavilion" for the residence of the 
 Majesty of heaven. It is easily seen by most persons, as soon as mentioned, 
 that the most essential attributes of the Divine Nature are Love and Wisdom, 
 Goodness and Truth. It is also readily apprehended, that every grace which 
 can adorn the mind of man has reference to Love and Wisdom, Goodness and 
 Truth, under some form or combination or other. Now it is allowed on all 
 hands, that man can receive nothing, — nothing of a heavenly nature, — ex- 
 cept it be given him from above ; according to the Lord's own words, " With- 
 out me, ye can do nothing."* Yet it is also acknowledged by all, that God is 
 infinitely higher than man, or than the highest finite intelligence : how then 
 can the heavenly graces of which he alone is the Author, be imparted from 
 God to beings so much below him ? how, but, correspondingly, as heat and 
 light, the proper symbols of love and wisdom, are conveyed to the earth from 
 the Sun of Nature, the best though faint image of the Sun of Righteousness ? 
 that is, by a continual emanation of love and wisdom, goodness and truth, 
 flowing from the Lord, as heat and light continually emanate from the sun. 
 By such an emanation then, doubtless, they are communicated : and all that 
 thus proceeds from the Lord, whether it be regarded as reduced to writing or 
 not, is called in Scripture the Word of God, and*is represented by the light, 
 
 * John xv. 5. 
 
xlii APPENDIX. 
 
 NO. IV, 
 
 terminating at length in the clouds, with which, in the passage of the Psalms 
 examined in the Lecture, Jehovah is said to clothe himself as with a garment. 
 Of course, it is not the written Word of which it is said, " By the Word of 
 the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath 
 (or spirit) of his mouth ;"* and " All things were made by him (or it.)"t 
 Now this sphere of Divine Truth, (as we will continue to term it,) emanating 
 from the Lord, when it comes within the confines of the world of nature, 
 clothes itself, as is attempted to be shewn in the Lecture above, | with such 
 ideas and images as we find in the literal sense of the written Word : never- 
 theless, it may easily be conceived of separately from the writings in which 
 we possess it : it may be regarded as a chain of ideas occupying the minds of 
 a certain class of intelligent beings : or even as a sphere of perceptions, inde- 
 pendently of any minds supposed to perceive them, surrounding the Godhead, 
 but far beneath the seat of his immediate presence. But it is perfectly evi- 
 dent, that a chain or sphere of ideas of this kind might be reduced to writing 
 without at all changing its nature : accordingly, this has been done in the 
 written Word, which comprehends the sphere of Divine Truth, or the ideas 
 with which it invests itself, when it comes within the precincts of nature, re- 
 duced, further, into natural language ; and the written Word thus presents, in 
 its literal sense, the very Divine Truth rendered obvious to our senses under 
 its lowest form or manifestation. 
 
 Now although it may at first be difficult to conceive how the literal sense 
 of the Word of God, as contained in a book, can afford, as stated in the pas- 
 sage we have just been considering, a pavilion for the Most High ; it is easy 
 enough to apprehend how a sphere or emanation of Divine Truth, clothed 
 with natural ideas, may be regarded under the image of such a pavilion : and 
 yet we see also, that such a sphere of Divine Truth clothed with natural ideas 
 might easily be reduced into writing ; that is, a book or writing might be 
 framed which should convey the same ideas to the mind of its reader. Thus 
 it is perfectly evident, that all that is true of an emanation of Divine Truth 
 clothed with ideas taken from the world of nature and from human percep- 
 tions, is equally true of the written Word in its literal sense : of this also it 
 may be said, in reference to its Author, that " his pavilion round about him 
 were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies." Considered as a mere col- 
 lection of words and letters, the Holy Word, as existing in a book, would 
 indeed be nothing ; but considered as to the ideas which those words in their 
 literal sense convey to the mind of an intelligent being, the written Word is 
 the same as the Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, and forming a sphere 
 around him, when brought down to the apprehension of man regarded only as 
 an inhabitant of the world of nature : and thus both the one and the other,— ^ 
 both the written Word in its letter and the sphere of Divine Truth in its ex- 
 treme circumference, — are considered in Scripture as the clouds of heaven, — 
 as the basis in which the pure Divine Truth terminates, and as the covering 
 which shields from unprepared minds its otherwise too dazzling glories, i 
 
 * Ps. xxxiii. 6. t John i. 3. t P. 160. 
 
NO. IV. APPENDIX. 
 
 xliii 
 
 3. We will proceed to try the application of this interpretation of " tha 
 clouds" to another remarkable passage of the Psalms, which reads, " Ascribe 
 ye strength unto God ; his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the 
 clouds."* Here, as every where else where clouds are mentioned in connex- 
 ion with the Lord, the merely literal sense affords no intelligible meaning at 
 all : for what sense would there be in saying that the strength of the Lord is 
 in the clouds^if by the clouds were meant the mere unstable vapours that 
 float over our heads. But understood in the spiritual signification of the term, 
 as we have explained it, the meaning is most beautiful, and the symbol chosen 
 to express it most appropriate. For it is in the lowest or most ultimate form 
 of Divine Truth, which is what is meant by the clouds, that its strength prin- 
 cipally resides ; provided, that is, it be not separated from its interior contents ; 
 for then it becomes like a body without a soul, which is a powerless carcase. 
 It is known to all, that man's body is the covering of his soul, and that, though 
 his soul is capable of existing without the body, it quits with the body all 
 power of acting upon the solid substances of this world of nature : and so 
 the Divine Truth, as seen in heavenly light, would be without the power of 
 affecting the minds of men in this world of nature, were it not invested with 
 its literal sense for that purpose : but in this it is clothed with all its fulness 
 and with all its power. Something similar obtains in human compositions 
 and discourses. Every attentive observer of such subjects must have noticed, 
 that the more the ideas which a speaker wishes to convey are clothed with 
 natural images, provided the intended meaning is distinctly seen, the more 
 strong do the language, and the sentiment too, appear. An orator who should 
 address even a polished assembly in a chain of subtle reasoning, presenting 
 none but abstract ideas expressed in the artificial language of philosophers, 
 would make but little impression ; but he who should appeal to their natural 
 feelings, in ideas taken from their common sentiments, and conveyed in lan- 
 guage drawn from sensible images, would be esteemed a speaker of far great- 
 er power. In the same manner, the Word in its letter is always felt to possess 
 great strength and power, if there be a perception at the same time of its 
 genuine meaning ; and the same truths conveyed in abstract terms are rela- 
 tively unimpressive. Thus if we hear this sentiment, " The Lord at some 
 period will reveal himself to the church by the discovery of the spiritual sense 
 contained within the letter of his Word :" the sense intended is very clear, 
 but it does not affect the mind with any strength : but if the sentiment be 
 expressed in the language of the letter of the Word, " Then shall they see 
 the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory ;" and it be at 
 the same time seen that such is the real sense of these words ; they will then 
 be attended by a perception of power as well as clearness ; — this portion of 
 " the clouds" wijl be felt to possess strength. 
 
 Admitting then this interpretation of the symbol, as being expressive of the 
 Word in its literal sense, it perhaps will be seen with what accurate propriety 
 it is said of Jehovah, that u his strength is in the clouds." 
 
 * Pi. IxTiii. 84. 
 
Xliv APPENDIX. NO. IV. 
 
 4. There is, moreover, one passage of the Psalms, in which this interpreta- 
 tion of the clouds is given almost in express terms. Addressing the Lord, it is 
 said, " Thy mercy is great above the heavens, and thy truth reacheth unto 
 the clouds."* Is not this a plain affirmation, that the clouds are used for the 
 lowest plane or basis in which the Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord 
 terminates and closes ? and this, certainly, is in the literal sense of the written 
 Word. 
 
 5. This view of the subject will also enable us to see the reafbn why, on 
 various most important occasions, divine revelations, or enunciations of most 
 important divine truths, are said to have been made from clouds. 
 
 The ten commandments were thus delivered at Mount Sinai. For that 
 purpose " the Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud :"t 
 and accordingly " it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there 
 were thunders, and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the 
 voice of the trumpet exceeding loud."t How beautiful and expressive was 
 this, if a cloud is the symbol of the Word in its letter, from and by which it is 
 that God communicates his will to man ! 
 
 The same remark may be applied to this parallel example. When Moses 
 was afterwards called up into the mount to receive the tables on which the law 
 was written, and to have further revelations communicated to him, the same 
 symbol was repeated : " And Moses went up into the Mount ; and a cloud 
 covered the mount : and the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and 
 the cloud covered it, six days : and the seventh day he called to Moses out of 
 the midst of the cloud. 1 ' § 
 
 So, because it is by the Word in its letter that all divine instruction is im- 
 parted to man, it was customary for a cloud to appear over the mercy-seat : 
 thus the Lord says to Moses, " Speak unto Aaron thy brother that he come 
 not at all times into the holy place within the veil before the mercy-seat, that he 
 die not : for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy-seat."|| And it was 
 from over the mercy-seat, thus out of this cloud, that the Lord, after the taber- 
 nacle was erected, held his usual discourses with Moses ; " Thou shalt put the 
 mercy-seat above the ark, and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I 
 shall give thee : and there I will meet thee, and will commune with thee from 
 above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark 
 of the testimony, of all things which I will -give thee in commandment unto 
 the children of Israel. "IT How well the signification of the ark accords with 
 that of the cloud which commonly hovered over it, may appear from what is 
 said on the former subject in the fifth Lecture. We have noticed above, that 
 the cherubs also were personified emblems of the Diving Word in its letter. 
 
 When, likewise, Moses had removed his tent or tabernacle out of the camp, 
 on account of the idolatry of the Israelites in the affair of the golden calf, " it 
 came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descend* 
 
 * Pt. cviii. 4. f Ex. xix. 9. j Ver. 16. § Ex. xxv, 15, 16. 
 
 || Ley. xvi. 2. T Ex. xxv. 21, 22. 
 
NO. IV. APPENDIX. Xlv 
 
 ed, and stood at the door of the tabernacle ; and the Lord," say our transla- 
 tors, " talked with Moses :"* but as the Lord is not mentioned in the original, 
 it is actually affirmed that the cloudy pillar talked with Moses. 
 
 A cloud being the emblem of the Word in the letter ; and it being by the 
 Word, in which the Lord himself has an abode, that the Christian is guided in 
 his spiritual journey ; how beautifully and aptly was this represented in the 
 journey of the Israelites through the wilderness; when " the Lord went before 
 them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way !"t As in his darkest 
 states the Christian is still under the Divine Protection, and is led by the 
 Divine Love when his perceptions of truth are most obscure ; this was repre- 
 sented by the pillar of fire which guided the Israelites by night. 
 
 We find the same symbol employed, to teach the same lesson, upon a most 
 weighty occasion, in the Gospel. When Jesus was transfigured before the 
 three disciples, " behold a bright cloud overshadowed them : and behold a 
 voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
 pleased : hear ye him. "J 
 
 As, however, many of the images used in the Word, retaining their most 
 general signification, often take two opposite specific ones ; so are clouds 
 sometimes used as emblems of darkness and ignorance ; of a state in which 
 no light is seen from the letter of the Word, but false persuasions, adopted as 
 true, exclude the light of heaven ; as when the prophets speak of " a day of 
 darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness." § 
 
 Surely, on thus beholding how constantly the passages in which clouds are 
 mentioned in connexion with the Lord, yield a lucid and instructive sense, 
 when they are regarded as symbols of Divine Truth in its shade, or when it is 
 veiled over by a covering of appearances, or, specifically, of the Word in its 
 letter: it must be difficult to doubt that this is the true interpretation of the 
 image. This signification is grounded, we have seen, in a clear and just ana- 
 logy : and when we find that on its application to the clouds of the literal sense 
 they in so many instances lose their obscurity, and become bright clouds trans- 
 lucent with the light of heaven ; we surely have reason, not only to accept 
 this as the true interpretation, but to admit also, that the principle on which it 
 is founded affords the true key for decyphering the symbolic language of Holy 
 Writ. Such perpetual coincidences could never originate in chance. 
 
 * Ch. xxxiii. 9. f Ch. xiii. 21, &c. | Mat. xvii. 5. § Joel ii. 2. 
 
Xlvi APPENDIX. 
 
 No. V. (Page 301.) 
 
 NO. V. 
 
 Illustrations of the Jewish Character ; evincing its aptitude for a 
 Dispensation consisting chiefly in external Rites. 
 
 It is affirmed in the text above, that the Israelites were selected to represent 
 those spiritual things which they were incapable of inwardly perceiving and 
 feeling ; and it is observed that their genius and temper were such as rendered 
 them better adapted than any other people to this purpose ; for they were dis- 
 tinguished by a remarkable tendency to multiply ceremonial observances, even 
 beyond what was required of them, and to substitute these for the morals en- 
 joined by the Law of God. Further to prove that this was really their cha- 
 racter I have translated and abridged, from the Synagoga Judaica of Buxtorf, 
 a number of examples of the manner in which they rind, in almost every text 
 of Scripture, an authority for some trifling ceremony or custom. These exhi- 
 bit such marks of a gross and superficial turn of mind, as one would hardly 
 suspect was to be found in the history of man : but idle and ridiculous as they 
 are in themselves, they teach a lesson that is weighty and important, if they 
 establish the view offered in the Lectures, of the purpose for which the Israel- 
 ites were selected as a peculiar people : they also are not a little curious, as un- 
 folding an extraordinary chapter in the great complex volume ofhuman nature. 
 Buxtorf every where gives as his authorities the Talmud and the Rabbins. 
 
 It was the practice, says the book Colbo, and in some places is so still, when 
 a child first began to learn to read the Law, to give him some cakes made of 
 honey and milk ; because it is written, " He made him to suck honey out of 
 the rock :" [Deut. xxxii. 13 :] and again, " Honey and milk are under thy 
 tongue :" [Cant. iv. 11 :] and the letters of his horn-book, also, were smeared 
 over with honey, which he was to lick with his tongue, because the Psalmist 
 says, " How sweet are thy words unto my taste ! yea, sweeter than honey to 
 my mouth !" [Ps. cix. 103.]* — A truly devout Jew ought to rise before daylight, 
 because David says, " I will awake the morning ;" [Ps. lvii. 9 ; — in our trans- 
 lation, " I will awake early ;"] that is, they say, " I awake the morning ; not, 
 The morning awakes me." This is alleged to be necessary on account of the 
 early prayers, which are to be offered at the rising of the sun, and not after it, 
 because David teaches again, " They shall fear thee with the sun ;" [Ps. lxxii. 
 5 ;] that is, as they explain it, " They ought to praise thee, in their morning 
 prayers, at the very rising of the sun."t (It is to be observed, that in this pas- 
 sage, as in many other instances, they adhere to the letter of thy original in a 
 manner that totally destroys its sense, which is here properly given in the 
 English Version.) — They affirm, from Ps. lvi. 8, that there is great efficacy in 
 
 * Synag. Jud. Cap. vii. f Cap. vui. 
 
NO. V. APPENDIX. Xlvii 
 
 tears shed profusely ; and the book Reshzth Chocmak states, that if the forehead 
 be washed with tears, certain sins, which are written there, are blotted out ; 
 and that this is referred to when it is written, " Set a mark upon the foreheads 
 of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations," &c. [Ez. ix. 4.]* 
 
 Their superstitious practices connected with their Tzitzith, called by our 
 translators (Matt, xxiii. 5,) " the borders of their garments," being dangling 
 appendages to the corners, and their Tephillin or Phylacteries, which are little 
 boxes, containing texts of Scripture, which they fasten on their forehead and 
 arm ; and which they found on Num. xv. 38, Deut. xxii. 12, ch. vi. 6, 8, and 
 Ex. xiii. 9, 16 ; are too numerous to be recited : we will mention only one cir- 
 cumstance. Beside the passages of Scripture put in the Tephillin or Phylac- 
 teries, they represent on that which they fix on the forehead the letter ]tf . on 
 the band which fastens it the letter "\, and on the thong which binds the other 
 to the arm the letter *. Taken together, these letters make the word *"J^ 
 (Shaddai,) which is one of the names of God ; and thus they affirm is fulfilled, 
 with all its advantages, the promise which says, " And all the people of the 
 earth shall see that the name of the Lord is called (or read) upon thee, and 
 they shall be afraid of thee." [Deut. xxviii. 10.]t Instead, however, of the 
 women's wearing these phylacteries, or these talismans, (for such they consi- 
 der them,) it is sufficient for them to say " Amen" to their husbands' prayers ; 
 which, they allege, Isaiah teaches when he says, " Open ye the gates, that the 
 righteous nation, which keepeth the truth, may enter in :" [Ch. xxvi. 2.] The 
 Hebrew word for truth is Amen : hence they affirm, that to say, " the nation 
 which keepeth the truth," is the same thing as to say, " they who observe the 
 Amen, who say Amen to every thing, who believe all that is said in the prayers, 
 and respond Amen ! Selah /"$ 
 
 Respecting their Synagogues and the mode of behaving in them, they have 
 numerous precepts, consisting of similar applications of the words of Scripture 
 to external things and performances. Their doctors teach that the synagogue 
 should be built in the highest part of the town, because Solomon says that 
 Wisdom " crieth in the head or crown of those who are tumultuous" [in prayer, 
 as they interpret Prov. i. 21 :] It ought therefore to be raised above all the 
 houses in the place, according to the words of Ezra, " to exalt the house of 
 our God." [Ch. ix. 9.]§ The worshippers ought to rush violently into it like 
 soldiers who take a city by assault ; because David says, (as they understand 
 him,) " We will walk into the house of God with noise and haste ." [Ps. lv. 
 14 :] — that is, they say, " as if dogs were set at us, and we felt them fastening 
 their teeth in our hind quarters." They also ought to tremble and shake on en- 
 tering : for David says " Worship the Lord in the glory (ox beauty) of holiness j" 
 [Ps. xxix. 2 ;] where they direct us not to read JYTirO (behadrath) " in 
 glory," but mirO (bechardath) " in trembling."^ They are to recite the 
 prayers which they call Shmon'esre, standing with both feet straight ; because 
 it is said of the living creatures in Ezekiel's vision, " And their feet were 
 
 * Ibid. f Cap. ix. % Ibid. § Cap. x. || Ibid. 
 
xlviii APPENDIX. NO. V. 
 
 straight feet." [Ez. i. 7.]* When they conclude their prayers, they are to 
 leap three steps backward, bowing at the same time, and before they raise 
 themselves up they are to incline their head towards the left, because there is 
 the right hand of God, before which, when they pray, they are to consider 
 themselves as standing. Their wise men say that this is done in memory of a 
 miracle which happened at Mount Sinai when God gave the people the law. 
 On that occasion we read, that when " all the people saw the thunderings, and 
 the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they 
 removed, and stood afar off:" [Ex. xx. 18 :] and the Rabbins affirm, that their 
 terror was such, that in a single moment they fled away three miles J When 
 they go out of the synagogue, they are to walk backwai ds ; and the Talmud- 
 ists prove the necessity of doing so by the contrary example of the wicked 
 men seen by Ezekiel, " with their backs toward the temple of the Lord :" [Ch. 
 viii. 16 :] they are also to retire slowly, making very sJtort steps; for their 
 steps are counted by God, and, if numerous, obtain a great reward ; as it is 
 written, " For now thou numherest my steps." [Job xiv. 16.]} 
 
 He who prays at home must choose a convenient place, which must not be 
 an elevated, but a low one ; that he may be able to say with David, " Out of 
 the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord." [Ps. cxxx. 1 .] He must also 
 shake and twist his body in all directions ; to fulfil the words, " All my bones 
 shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee ?" [Ps. xxxv. 10.] § 
 
 The commandments which enjoin obedience to the law, they apply to the 
 mere reading or hearing of it. Thus they say, that on a man's returning from 
 morning prayers, before he goes out about his usual business, he must spend 
 some time in reading the law ; a commandment for which they find in Deut. 
 vii. 12. The word which our translators have there rendered if, — " It shall 
 come to pass if ye hearken," &e. — means, in its primary sense, the heel; 
 wherefore the Jews prefer to read the passage thus: " The heel shall be, and 
 •ye shall hear ;" the sense of which they say, is, " Before you lift up your heels 
 to go out, you must read or hear something out of the Law :" The importance 
 of this practice they illustrate by this strange perversion. While the first tem- 
 ple was standing, they state, the people practised at Jerusalem many evils, 
 indulged in heinous sins, committed all kinds of incest, and defiled themselves 
 with the vilest idolatry : all this God passed over, taking no notice of it till 
 they neglected the study of the Law ; but then he destroyed or dispersed the 
 people, and levelled the temple with the ground : according to his words in 
 Jeremiah .- " Wherefore is the land perished, and is like the burnt up wilder- 
 ness ? Because they have forsaken my Law, which I set before them." [Ch. 
 ix. 12, 13.]|| 
 
 Various trifling ceremonies are to be observed on sitting down to table, and 
 
 blessing the bread. So, in blessing the wine, the cup is first to be lifted up 
 
 with both hands, because David says, " Lift up your hands in holiness and 
 
 bless the Lord." [Ps. exxxiv. 2.] It is aflerwards to be held with the right 
 
 • 
     ..,     . . — — 
 
 * Ibid. f Ibid. % Ibid. § Ibid. |1 Cap. xi. 
 
NO. V. 
 
 APPENDIX. xliX 
 
 
 hand alone, but if too heavy, the right hand may be supported by the left ; 
 because it is written, in the singular number, " J will lift up the cup of salva- 
 tion, and call upon the name of the Lord." [Ps. cxvi. 13.]* — Salt is by all 
 means to be put upon the table, because they compare the dining table to the 
 ancient altar and the food which was offered upon it ; respecting which it is 
 said, " Every oblation of thy meat-offering shalt thou season with salt ; [Lev. 
 ii. 13 ;] hence their wise ones say, " If there be salt on the table in which to 
 dip the consecrated bread, the table becomes an altar of expiation, and a pro- 
 tection against punishment." When they give thanks, they cut deeply into 
 the loaf, but take care not quite to divide it ; because, as they choose to under- 
 stand Ps. x. 3, it is written, " The wicked boasteth of his heart's desire ; and 
 he that cutteth through when he giveth thanks, irritateth the Lord."! 
 
 Their synagogue-copies of the Law are fastened to wooden rollers, elegant- 
 ly ornamented, by which alone they are to be carried or touched. These they 
 call the tree of life, the same word in Hebrew signifying both a tree and a 
 piece of wood ; and they give this name to the handles of the books, because 
 Solomon has said, " Wisdom is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her." 
 [Prov. iii. 18.] J: 
 
 They deem it necessary to celebrate the Sabbath with much festivity, and 
 particularly to have three sumptuous meals, one on the Friday evening when 
 the Sabbath begins, another at the Saturday noon, and the third in the even- 
 ing. They find this prescribed by Moses, when, speaking of the manna to be 
 eaten on the sabbath, he says, " Eat that to-day : for to-day is a sabbath unto 
 the Lord : to-day ye shall not find it in the field :" [Ex. xvi. 25 :] where, be- 
 cause to-day is repeated three times, Moses, they say, meant to intimate, that 
 they should have, on the sabbath, three regular feasts.. They are also to wear 
 the best clothes they can afford to purchase. It is written of the sabbath, 
 " Thou shalt honour it ;" [Is. lviii. 13 :] How is it to be honoured ? The Tal- 
 mud answers, " By not suffering your sabbath-day garment to be like your 
 common garment." At dinner, the bread is first laid upon the table-cloth, and 
 then covered with a napkin, in memory of the nianna : for, in the wilderness, the 
 dew fell first, then the manna, and then dew again,' so that the manna lay in 
 the midst of the dew, just as if it were between two cloths : therefore the 
 bread should be laid upon one cloth and be covered with another. For the 
 same reason, the devout housewives make pies containing meat between two 
 layers of dough. They prove that genial indulgences are to be practised on 
 the sabbath from various texts, and among others from one in which none but 
 a Jew could discover such a meaning. The whole verse of Isaiah before cited 
 is this : " If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure 
 on my holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honour- 
 able, and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own 
 pleasure, nor speaking thine own words ; then" &c. Here the words, " call 
 the sabbath a delight" mean, they affirm, that the sabbath is to be filled with 
 all kinds of delights. Many of the Rabbins have given similar precepts, sup- 
 
 * Cap. xii. t Ibid' X Cap. xiv. 
 
I APPENDIX. NO. T. 
 
 ported by similar applications of texts of Scripture : we will conclude with one 
 by Rabbi Judah, who received it, he says, from the still older sage Rabh : 
 " Whoever spends the sabbath merrily, shall obtain from God the petitions of 
 his heart : as it is written, ' Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee 
 the desires of thy heart.' " [Ps. xxxvii. 4.]* 
 
 Respecting the feast of unleavened bread, this injunction is given in Exodus ; 
 
 II Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days ; and there shall no leavened 
 bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy 
 quarters." [Ch. xiii. 7.] This they have made the ground of various prac- 
 tices, the most remarkable of which is, a formal search, on the night but one 
 before the passover, by the master of the family, assisted by his male servants 
 and children, all with wax candles in their hands, into every corner of the 
 house, in quest of leaven. Supposing such a regular search to be intended by 
 the commandment, why conduct it by candle light ? Because it is written in 
 Zephaniah, " I will search Jerusalem with candles," [Ch. i. 12.] t — At the feast 
 of Pentecost, in memory of the Law received at that time, they strew the floors 
 of their houses, synagogues and streets, with grass, put green boughs, roses, 
 and other flowers in their windows, and wear green chaplets on their heads. 
 What has this to do with the giving of the Law ? They answer, The pas- 
 tures were green at the time when Moses went up into the mountain ; for it is 
 written, " Let not the flocks nor herds feed before that mountain." [Ex. 
 xxxiv. 3.]t 
 
 At the day of Atonement they light up candles in the synagogues, one for 
 every man who .belongs to it : for it is written, " Glorify ye the Lord in the 
 fires ;" [Is. xxiv. 14 :] which they read, " Glorify the Lord with lights." But 
 why light them up for the men only ? Take here a specimen of the ingenuity 
 of the Cabbalists, and of the kind of mysteries which they find in the Divine 
 Word. The letters of the word *")} (JS'er), which signifies a candle, stand for 
 the number 250. Now it is a received opinion with the Jews, that the mem- 
 bers of a man's body are in number two hundred and forty-eight; to .which if 
 you add two, for his soul and spirit, you have the number 250 : the word **\) 
 (Ker) therefore, whose letters make that number, stands for a man as well as 
 a candle. But a woman, according to their system of physics, has four mem- 
 bers more than a man ; so she cannot be resolved into a Ner or candle. Very 
 pious persons often light up two wax candles, one for the body and one for the 
 soul, and call the latter, which is the largest, the candle of the soul. As also- 
 the soul is called a candle by Solomon, [Prov. xx. 27,] they say that to light 
 up a candle for it, makes an atonement for the soul.§ 
 
 Respecting the mode of slaughtering and culling up animals for food, they 
 have invented so many rules, that the art of the butcher forms with them one 
 of the learned professions, and is not allowed to be practised without authori- 
 ty from the Rabbins, corn-eyed by a regular diploma. No sanction is alleged 
 for their fancies from the Scriptures, but the following passage : " If* the- 
 
 * Cap. xv. -f Cap. xvii. % Cap. xx. § Cap. xxv. 
 
NO. V. APPENDIX. ll 
 
 place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to put his name there be too far 
 from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which the Lord 
 hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates 
 whatsoever thy soul lusteth after." [Deut. xii. 21.] Now as no directions are 
 any where given respecting the mode of killing animals, they affirm that the 
 words, " as I have commanded thee," (though it is not the Lord who is here 
 the speaker, but Moses,) mean, " as I commanded thee orally in Mount 
 Sinai :" the specific directions therefore are not to be sought in the Written, 
 but in the Oral Laic, that is, in their traditions ; from which source they draw 
 them in great abundance, and have composed bulky treatises on the subject* 
 
 Of the numerous observances with which their weddings are solemnized, 
 we will mention but one. The bride is led three times round the bridcgroo-m, 
 because it is written, " A woman shall compass a many [Jer. xxxi. 22.] t 
 
 The relatives who attend the funeral of a person deceased, when they re- 
 turn, are to sit barefooted on the ground for seven days, neither eating meat 
 nor drinking wine, but exhibiting the utmost wretchedness ; and for thirty 
 days they are to wear mournful and squalid apparel, neither washing them- 
 selves nor any of their clothes. Nothing about the duration of mourning is 
 said in their Law ; but they find it clearly defined there notwithstanding. It 
 is written in Amos, " I will turn your feasts into mourning ;" [Ch. viii. 10 :] 
 hence they conclude, as the dufation of a festival was seven days, that the 
 duration of the deepest mourning must be the same. But the thirty-days neg- 
 lect of their persons, a part of which consists in not combing or dressing their 
 hair, depends for its sanction on Cabbalistic ingenuity. Aaron and his two 
 remaining sons, when his two eldest were struck dead, were commanded 
 " not to uncover their heads ;" [Lev. x. 6;] that is, the Rabbins say, not to 
 clip their hair, but to let it grow. But how does this point to the number of 
 thirty days ? Because the Nazarite was also commanded to let his hair grozo, 
 and prohibited from clipping it, all the days of his vow ; [Num. vi. 5 ;] and 
 this was a period of thirty days. How do they gather this, when still the 
 number is not mentioned ? From its being added, [ver. 8,] " All the days of 
 his separation, he shall be holy to the Lord j" where the concluding word 
 J"7\*"J*, when its letters are reckoned as numerals, makes the number 30. By 
 plain consequence, then, the days of separation were thirty ; and by a conse- 
 quence equally plain, the same should be the days of mourning \$ 
 
 Some apology may seem requisite for detaining the reader so long among 
 such a wilderness of absurdities ; which, however, cannot fail to afford him 
 some amusement : but when the object was, to establish a tendency to cere- 
 monial observances as belonging to the national character of the Jews, it was 
 necessary to produce more than a few instances, which might be regarded as 
 isolated and accidental. Enow, surely, have now been given, fully to prove 
 our position : Buxtorf furnishes a great number more. How striking a com- 
 ment do they afford upon the Lord's words ; " Laving aside the command- 
 
 *.Cap. xxxvL f Cap. xxxix. \ Cap. xlix. 
 
Hi APPENDIX. 
 
 NO. VI. 
 
 ment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups ; 
 and many other such like things ye do !" But, as observed in the Lecture, 
 44 this disposition of that people to neglect essentials and to cleave to formalities, 
 if it disqualified them from constituting an interior church themselves, emi- 
 nently adapted them to be made the representatives of such a church, and to 
 have their affairs overruled, so as to be subservient to such representation." 
 And surely the indubitable fact, that such was their distinguishing genius, 
 affords, by itself, an argument of no inconsiderable weight, that the design^ of 
 Providence in selecting them from all other nations, were purely those which 
 we have endeavoured in this Lecture to develope, and were not connected 
 with any partial favour to them, but solely regarded the general benefit of all 
 future generations of mankind. 
 
 No. VI. (Page 333. 
 
 Critical Examination of Jjephthah's Vow. 
 Judges xi. 31. 
 
 As some modern writers have thought they have succeeded in clearly estab- 
 lishing the more pleasing view of the fate of Jephthah's daughter from the 
 very words of the vow ; and I have nevertheless stated, that I think that the 
 most unforced inference from the language of the original, and from the his- 
 tory in general, is, that the sacrifice took place ; it seems necessary to give a 
 view of the progress and present state of opinion upon the subject, and criti- 
 cally to examine the various renderings which have been proposed. 
 
 Four different senses, in ages distant from each other, have been given to 
 the words of the Hebrew original. 
 
 1. The first is this : " Whosoever cometh out of the doors of my house 
 to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall be the 
 Lord's, and I will offer him up for a burnt-offering." 
 
 2. The second is that adopted in the text of the common English Bible ; 
 " Whatsoever cometh out of the doors of my house, &c. — shall be the 
 Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt-offering." • T . 
 
 3. The third is that given in the^margin of the English Bible : " Whatso- 
 ever cometh out of the doors of my house, &c. — shall be the Lord's, or 1 
 will ojfer it up for a burnt-offering." 
 
 4. The fourth was proposed about sixty years ago by Dr. Randolph, and is 
 this : "Whosoever cometh out -from the doors of^my house, &c. — shall be 
 the Lord's ; and I will offer (to) Him [namely, the LOrd,] a burnt-offering." 
 
 These shall be called, in the following remarks, the first, second, third, and 
 fourth renderings or translations. L 
 
NO. VI. APPENDIX. liii 
 
 I. How the transaction was understood by the Jews while Hebrew was 
 their vernacular language, it is impossible to determine ; but certain it is, that, 
 in the most remote period to which our means of ascertaining their sentiments 
 extend, they understood the vow in the first of the above senses: they be- 
 lieved that a human sacrifice was intended by Jephthah from the beginning, 
 and that his daughter was actually put to death. Thus the Greek version 
 commonly called that of the Septuagint, which was made by Jews between 
 two and three hundred years before the Christian era, gives the pronouns in 
 the masculine gender : o tx.7ropiuojutivos oc *v «|sx3-» tx. icev Svpw tk cikou /u.x, — 
 
 JfTSU TH KVptOV, KAt dLIOKTOt CtUTOV OXOKAUTCe/Uet I of which the FIRST RENDERING 
 
 given above is an exact translation in English. With this, also, the Latin 
 Vulgate, supposed to have been made from the Septuagint in the first cen- 
 tury, and corrected by Jerome from the Hebrew in the fourth, completely 
 coincides. 
 
 Josephus, the next ancient Jewish testimony, gives a sense agreeable to our 
 second rendering, or that of the text of the English Bible : he makes Jeph- 
 thah promise " to offer in sacrifice what living creature soever should first 
 meet him," and he affirms that the vow, in that sense, was executed by him : 
 " he sacrificed his daughter as a burnt-offering, offering such an oblation us 
 was neither conformable to the law nor acceptable to God."* The same sense 
 is given in the Targum, or Chaldee Paraphrase, which was written later. 
 One or other of these two renderings, was received, for many ages, by all who 
 read the Scriptures, both Jews and Christians. 
 
 The celebrated Rabbi, David Kimchi, who flourished in the twelfth century, 
 seems to have been the first who proposed the third translation, or that 
 given in the margin of the English Bible. This has been since adopted by 
 many commentators and translators : and the discussions on the subject were 
 for a long time confined to the question, which of these two renderings, (our 
 second and third,) should be preferred. The arguments pro and con, may be 
 seen at large in Poole's Synopsis, and in many other works : but as a speci- 
 men of the nature of the discussions which are included in this inquiry, and 
 as a remarkable instance of the great obscurity which hangs over the whole 
 question, we will give some observations of Noldius on the subject. 
 
 This learned writer, in his Concordantiaz Particularum Ebrmo-Chaldai- 
 carum, among the instances in which the Hebrew particle \ which commonly 
 signifies and, bears the sense of or, adduces this vow of Jephthah; on which 
 he adds this- note. Kimchi in hoc loco, &c. — " Kimchi on the place, and in 
 his Michlol, says, H^HI & c - — ^ shall be sacred to Jehovah, if it be not fit for 
 sacrifice ; or J will offer it as a sacrifice, if it be fit for sacrifice. This is a right 
 distinction : for many things might be consecrated to God, (Lev. xxvii. 2 to 9, 
 11, 14, 16 ;) but only these five might be sacrificed ; viz. oxen, sheep, goats, 
 doves, and pigeons. (Lev. i. 2, 10, 14.) The meaning then is, that the daugh- 
 ter of Jephthah, as she could not lawfully be sacrificed, was consecrated to the 
 
 . * Ant. B. v. Ch, vii. § 10. 
 
liv APPENDIX. NO. VI. 
 
 peculiar worship of God. — Whether or not she was put to death, is, however, 
 a question of great difficulty. Capellus, in his Diatribe on Jephthah's vow," 
 contends for the affirmative : because it is said, (Lev. xxvii. 29.) ' Every thing 
 devoted (Cher em) shall surely be put to death :' from which he gathers, be- 
 cause (ver. 28) men, as well as other things in our power are mentioned as lia- 
 ble to be devoted by Cherem, that children might lawfully be devoted and 
 put to death by their parents, and servants by their masters. A harsh and un- 
 reasonable assertion ! nor is it much softened by Hachspan and Maimonides, 
 who only allow this right to be possessed by the Israelites over their Canaan- 
 itish slaves. For though the servitude of these was perpetual, and they were 
 not, like Hebrew servants, to be emancipated in the seventh year or in the 
 year of jubilee ; yet they were under the common protection of the laws, 
 which provided that they should not be ill-treated, (Ex. xxii. 21, and xxiii. 9, 
 Lev. xix. 33, Deut. x. 19. Zech. vii. 10 ;) and even pronounced a curse against 
 those who should oppress them i (Deut. xxvii. 19; comp. Mai. iii. 5, and Num. 
 xv. Hi, 29:) hence the Jews could not assume over them, much less over their 
 own children, the right of life and death : and the Scriptures afford no ex- 
 ample of their doing so. As to the passage, Lev. xxvii. 28, 29, by which 
 Capellus defends his opinion, Maimonides rightly distinguishes between the 
 Cherem of God and the Cherem of the priests, (Numb, xviii. 14,) which Leus- 
 den more clearly designates as the destructive and the common Cherem. The 
 former kind, includes such things as were either to be put to death in honour 
 of God, as clean animals for sacrifice, (Lev. xxvii. 28,) or to be destroyed as 
 abominable, (Num. xxi. 2, 3; Deut. vii. 26; Jos. vi. 7, 18, and vii. 12, 13 ; 1 
 Sam. xv. 3 ; 1 Ks. xx. 42 ; Is. xxxiv. 5 and 43 ; Zech. xiv. 11 ; Mai. iv. 6 ; Ezr. 
 x. 18 : This is called Anathema, Rom. ix. 3, 1 Cor. xii. 3 ; Rev. xxii. 3.) The 
 latter kind includes whatever was destined to sacred uses, never more to return 
 to its former owner, (Lev. xxvii. 28; Num. xviii. 4 ; 1 Sam. ii. &c.) It is in vain 
 that Capellus adduces the words, Every Cherem, [Lev. xxvii. 29,] to support 
 his opinion ; what is meant is, Every destructive Cherem. Thus it is said 
 [Num. xviii. 14,] ' Every Cherem shall be given to the priests ;' and yet 
 that which was killed must be excepted ; viz. that which was anathema, — the 
 hostile and the sacrificial Cherem, &c. — for this being taken out of- existence, 
 cannot be said to be given to the priests* Universal propositions are not al- 
 ways absolute, but the subject must always be such as suits the predicate. The 
 execution of Jephthah's vow was postponed for twO months : and who can be- 
 lieve, in all this time, even if the people did not interfere, as they did in the 
 similar case of Saul and Jonathan ; (1 Sam. xiv. 44, 35 ;) that the priests would 
 not have prevented the perpetration of such a parricide ? which they might 
 have done by a simple statement of the law upon the subject." Having offer- 
 ed these arguments, with so much appearance of conviction, against the idea 
 of the execution, our learned author here pauses, and then proceeds thus : 
 
 * These two kirukof Cherem are better illustrated in Dr. Randolph's discussion of 
 the subject. 
 
NO. VI. 
 
 APPENDIX. lv 
 
 li These were our first thoughts upon this question ; but upon re-examining 
 them, I am almost brought to follow the reasons advanced on the other side T 
 and to acknowledge the actual immolation. For beside that this is steadily 
 affirmed by so many Fathers, Rabbins, and Divines ; I do not see how Jeph- 
 thah, who was a pious and prudent man, could have been so deeply moved 
 (ver. 35,) for the mere consecration of his daughter to the service of God, if 
 she was to suffer nothing worse. But further: we never read of any such cus- 
 tom among the Jews, as that of vowing perpetual virginity : on the contrary, 
 to be childless was esteemed by them a reproach : (1 Sam. i. 10, 11, Luke i. 25 :) 
 wherefore this was what the daughter of Jephthah lamented (ver. 37). Nor 
 do we read that females ever undertook the Nazariteship ; and yet even the 
 Nazarites were not restricted to celibacy :* as may be seen in the cases of 
 Sampson and Samuel, [who were dedicated to God from their birth.] Finally, 
 the long continued custom of an annual assembly and lamentation of the vir- 
 gins in all Israel, seems to demand a more serious origin than a young wo- 
 man's remaining unmarried. And suppose Jephthah's wife, or some other 
 married person of Ins family, had come out to meet him ; how would de- 
 votion to celibacy then have taken place ? Such instances of living single for 
 a pious purpose as are mentioned Luke ii. 37 and 1 Cor. vii. 5, were either not 
 enforced by a vow, or were for a time only : but we no where read of vows of 
 virginity ; much less of parents making such vows for their children. And the 
 separation of David's concubines (2. Sam. xx. 3,) was not made in pursuance of 
 any vow, but on account of the incest by which they had been defiled, and in- 
 dependently of their own will ; whereas all vows must be free. From all 
 which it will follow, that Jephthah's daughter was sacrificed." 
 
 These are the reasons which led Noldius to relinquish his first sentiments : 
 but whoever wishes to see a very strong defence of the opinion that Jephthah's 
 daughter was actually immolated, by a recent author, should consult the cele- 
 brated Michaelis's Commentaries on the Laws of Moses, by Dr. Smith, vol. ii. 
 p. 276 to 279 and 2S6 to 290. For the best modern defence of the contrary 
 opinion, see Dr. Randolph's Sermon, entitled Jephthah's Vow Considered : in 
 which he proposes our fourth translation : which we are now tcnotice. 
 
 Dr. Randolph makes Jephthah's vow to include two things ; first, the conse- 
 cration to the peculiar sendee of the Lord of some person ) and, secondly, the 
 offering to Him, as a burnt-sacrifice, of some clean animal. The foundation 
 of his translation is a remark of Buxtorf's in his Thesav. Grain. L. ii. c. 17 ; 
 where, having explained the construction of the Verb with the affixed Pro- 
 noun, he adds, Denique, &c. " This construction often gives rise to a con- 
 tracted and elliptical form of speech ; the affixed pronoun serving instead of a 
 dative, accusative, or ablative, with a preposition prefixed." Dr. Randolph 
 therefore supposes the affix, V*f, which is joined to the verb of offering, 
 
 * This argument is met by Dr. Randolph with an observation which is certainly 
 of considerable weight : He remarks, that devotement of females, differently from 
 that of males, must have included abstinence from marriage, because the latter en- 
 gagement would abrogate the former, and the domestic duties of the wife and 
 mother would be incompatible with a constant attendance on the sanctuary. 
 
lvi APPENDIX. NO. VI. 
 
 ( VlW /l^»"ft) t0 De nere use( ^ msteaa " of the regular pronoun and preposition 
 *U, and construes it accordingly as a dative, referring it, as its antecedent, to 
 Jehovah, not to ichatsoever or whosoever ; which gives the sense stated above. 
 This thought so pleased Bishop Lowth, that, in his Isaiah, he speaks of it thus: 
 u A late happy application of this grammatical remark to that much disputed 
 passage, has perfectly cleared up a difficulty, which for two thousand years 
 had puzzled all the translators and expositors, had given occasion to disserta- 
 tions without number, and caused endless disputes among the learned, on the 
 question, whether Jephthah sacrificed his daughter, or not : in which both par- 
 ties have been equally ignorant of the meaning of the place, of the state of the 
 fact, and of the very terms of the vow : which now at last has been cleared up 
 beyond all doubt by my very learned friend Dr. Randolph, Margaret Professor 
 of Divinity at Oxford, in his Sermon,"* &c. 
 
 II. Such being the history of the four renderings, what is the present state 
 of opinion on the subject ? 
 
 After such a commendation, by such a judge, in a book so well known, of 
 Dr. Randolph's explanation ; and after this had been adopted also in another 
 well known work, Parkhurst's Hebrew Lexicon ; one would have expected to 
 find it received into all later comments on the Scriptures published in this 
 country : yet this is far from being the fact. Even Home, who in the Appen- 
 dix to the first Volume of his " Introduction," offers short answers to the prin- 
 cipal infidel objections, though he mentions Dr. Randolph's Sermon in a note, 
 takes no notice of his solution of the difficulty, but gives an extract from Dr. 
 Hales, who follows the third interpretation ; being one of those which are so 
 contemptuously spoken of by Dr. Lowth. Among the modern British annota- 
 tors on the Bible, D'Oyley and Mant, Brown (last edition by Raffles,) and 
 Reeve, also advocate the third rendering. Scott honestly rejects this as not 
 supported by the natural meaning of the words, and strenuously contends for 
 the second rendering and the actual sacrifice. Dr. A. Clarke, after appearing 
 to favour the third, abides, without naming Dr. Randolph, by his, or the fourth 
 translation : but as he gives it, it is adapted to have but little weight ; since he 
 does not notice the grammatical argument afforded by Buxtorf, which is its 
 chief support ; and, provided the Hebrew pronoun may be translated by the 
 English him, he seems to think it of no consequence, whether that him answers 
 to a dative or an accusative. Indeed, he here exhibits a strange hallucination, 
 but little in accordance with the high attainments in Biblical literature, for 
 which some give him credit.! Randolph's, or our fourth rendering, is ex- 
 pressly given by Hewlett alone. What is remarkable enough, D'Oyley and 
 
   
 
 * Note on Ch. xlii. 16. 
 t He supposes that, instead of the affix ^fj, it might originally have been JOfT I 
 — that is, the nominative instead of the accusative ! But for this, he says, there is 
 no absolute need, " because the pronoun }f], in the above verse, may with as much 
 propriety be translated him, as it." True : but fc$V7> understood of a person, must 
 be translated he ! 
 
NO. VI. APPENDIX. lvii 
 
 Mant give the practical reflections with which Randolph concludes his sermon, 
 but take no notice of his explanation. Altogether, it is evident, either that Dr. 
 Randolph's view is hitherto but very partially known, or that it has met with 
 but very partial approbation: I have not, however, seen any thing urged ex- 
 pressly against it. 
 
 III. Having stated the four renderings, their history, and the present state of 
 opinion respecting them, we will give a brief estimate of the probability of 
 each, as favoured or otherwise by the grammatical construction of the vow, and 
 by the thoughts which Jephthah must have had in his mind when he uttered it. 
 The first and most ancient rendering, or that of the Septuagint and the 
 Vulgate, which gives it, " Whosoever cometh out of the doors of my house, 
 &c. — shall be the Lord's, and I will offer him up for a burnt-offering ;" is liable 
 to no grammatical objection whatever, but is that which the words, if they 
 alone be considered, must naturally present : yet as it is attended with the in- 
 surmountable objection of supposing that Jephthah had a human sacrifice in 
 his thoughts when he made the vow, it has now, I believe, no advocates : it 
 found one, however, not much more than a century ago, in Seb. Schmidt, who, 
 in his Latin Translation of the Bible, gives the passage thus: " Exiens, q/ji 
 exibit extra januas domus meae, &c. — erit Jehovae, et ofteram illum (in) hoio- 
 caustum." 
 
 The second rendering, which may be called that of the translators of the 
 English Bible, being adopted by them in their text, — " Whatsoever cometh 
 forth of the doors of my house, &c. — shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it for 
 a burnt-offering ;'* is in like manner liable to no grammatical objection : but it 
 supposes Jephthah's thoughts, when he made the vow, to have been such as it 
 was scarcely possible that they could have been. It makes him intend to offer 
 in sacrifice the first living creature that came out of his house to meet him 
 when he returned in peace from the children of Ammon: but what living 
 creature could he conceive most likely to come to congratulate him on his 
 victory ? a human being or an animal ? Could he have thought of any but a 
 human being ? and, among human beings, who so likely as the one he best 
 loved ? Or if, by some strange fatality, this never entered his head, could he 
 think it probable that any animal that could be lawfully sacrificed would come 
 forth to him ? Had he a sheep, a goat, or an ox, so tame, attached, and in- 
 telligent, as to run to fawn upon him with joy on his return? As has been 
 remarked by others, the only animal likely to do this, would be a dog : but 
 this was an animal that could not be offered in sacrifice. 
 
 The third rendering, or that of Kimchi, — u Whatsoever cometh forth 
 of the doors of my house, &c. — shall be the Lord's, or I will offer it for a burnt- 
 offering ;" is liable to a very important grammatical objection It is certain 
 that the particle ^ is never used to disjoin things so completely as this transla- 
 tion supposes. It might, indeed, easily be shewn, that the particle always 
 retains its proper meaning as a copulative ; and that, even when used dis- 
 junctively, it still connects the words to which it is joined with some common 
 affirmation ; quite the contrary of which would be the case if it were used 
 disjunctively here. (See Gusset. Comm. Ling. Ebr.) Most critics have there- 
 fore felt that this rendering is extremely forced and harsh, and have only ac- 
 quiesced in it to get rid of what they esteemed a greater difficulty. It also 
 H 
 
lviii APPENDIX. 
 
 NO. VI. 
 
 makes the second clause of the vow entirely unnecessary ; for if Jephthah 
 meant to say, that whatsoever came out of his house should be consecrated to 
 the Lord in such manner as was suitable to its nature, this is fully conveyed in 
 the first clause ; and the addition of the second, separated from the former by an 
 or, instead of helping to determine his meaning, is of no use but to perplex it. 
 
 Finally, the fourth, or Dr. Randolph's rendering, " Whosoever cometh 
 out of the doors of my house, &c. — shall be the Lord's, and I will offer (to) 
 him a burnt-offering ;" seems to come within the rules of grammar, and it 
 supposes nothing that must necessarily have been foreign to Jephthah's 
 thoughts : it meets the expectation he must naturally have had, that a human 
 being would be the first to come to meet him ; and when he resolved to con- 
 secrate that person to the Lord, it is not unlikely that he should propose to 
 accompany the ceremony with a burnt-sacrifice. Dr. R.'s version is, never- 
 theless, attended with considerable difficulties ; and as I have no where seen 
 any critical remarks upon it, I will offer the following. 
 
 Although Dr. R.'s translation appears to be justified by the usage of the 
 sacred writers, it certainly does not follow their common usage ; nor, though 
 probably the true rendering, is it one which any Hebraist would have thought 
 of, if not driven, by the necessity of the case, to seek for a meaning different 
 from that first presented by the words. He, accordingly, candidly acknow- 
 ledges that it is not without difficulties ; and he chiefly relies upon moral con- 
 eiderations for its support. These, of course, lend equal support to the third 
 or Kimchi's rendering, and are much the same as the advocates of that ren- 
 dering usually offer : but against that, the grammatical objections are so great, 
 that (for this reason, I suppose,) Dr. R. has thought it unworthy of the least 
 notice. For his own, he offers, in addition to his moral arguments, two 
 philological ones ; the value of which I will endeavour to estimate. 
 
 The first, as already noticed, is founded upon an observation of Buxtorf 's. 
 But it is to be observed, that this is given, not as a grammatical rule, but as an 
 occasional exception. The Rule is, " Affixed Pronouns belong properly to 
 none but active Verbs ; and they denote the person of the patient, which those 
 Verbs express by the accusative case." They are, in fact, precisely in the 
 same predicament, as an accusative case governed by an active verb in Latin. 
 As then the construction is a deviation from the regular rule, Buxtorf, after 
 giving some instances of it, guards.it with this caution : " These and similar 
 instances, Kimchi observes in his Michlol, are to be observed and noted by 
 use ; but all verbs, promiscuously, are not to be drawn to this construction. 
 The Hebrew language does indeed frequently use this concise and contracted 
 mode of expression, where the sense, notwithstanding , remains clear : but 
 great care must be taken lest the style be rendered harsh, or ambiguous, and 
 lest any violence be offered to the meaning. It must only be resorted to 
 where the language loses by it nothing of its clearness and elegance." Here 
 the irregularity is itself limited by a rule ; and if the rule be accurate, — if the 
 affixed pronoun is never used for the regular dative where ^t would create 
 harshness or ambiguity ; then, certainly, it cannot be so used in the words 
 of Jephthah ; where, if it is, the ambiguity it occasions is such, that this acute 
 grammarian himself, who first explained this construction, never suspected its 
 existence here. It is remarkable, also, that among the instances of this con- 
 struction collected by Buxtorf and Farkhurst, are none in which it attend* 
 
NO. VI. APPENDIX. Hi 
 
 verbs of offering or sacrificing. Such verbs often have the pronoun affixed 
 to denote the thing offered, but not another example can be found, in which it 
 is used for the Being to wJwm the offering is made. 
 
 The second philological argument urged by Dr. Randolph in favour of hia 
 translation, and much insisted on by Parkhurst and A. Clarke, is, the omission 
 of the preposition U before the word for burnt-offering, — sU«. " If Jeph- 
 thah had meant," says Mr. Parkhurst, " as translated, / tcili offer it for a 
 burnt-offering , U, for, ought to have been prefixed to *-U^*», as in Gen. xxii. 
 2, 13." It is extraordinary that the author of a Hebrew Lexicon, who must 
 have been familiar with every word in the Bible, should say that there ought 
 to be a ^ in this place, when there are many similar instances of its absence. 
 In the writings of Moses, indeed, it seems to be commonly, perhaps always, 
 used ; but seldom in the other books ; I believe, never. Thus (1 Sam. vi. 14,) 
 we read, that when the ark was sent home by the Philistines, the men of 
 Bethshemesh offered the cows (for) a burnt-offering, — )-r">l>> (without the *n 
 prefixed,) — to the Lord. In the next chapter (ver. 9,) we have, in the mar- 
 ginal reading called the Keri, which is evidently right, the very same con- 
 struction as in Jephthah's vow : the affixed pronoun, — ^J"J, — is joined to the 
 verb to express the thing offered, and the U is omitted before the noun : 
 " Then Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it (for) a burnt-offering 
 (tl/)]? Yl/V^V wno ' e t0 tne Lord." For other examples, see Isa. xl. 
 16, and Jer. xix. 5. But in 2 Kings iii. 27, is a case exactly parallel to this of 
 Jephthah. What Jephthah, according to the most direct import of his words 
 and the Septuagint rendering of them, is supposed to have promised to do, 
 the king of Moab, when sore pressed by the kings of Israel, Judah and Edom, 
 is affirmed to have done ; and in precisely the same words joined in precisely 
 the same construction. Of the king of Moab it is said, " Then took he his 
 eldest son, that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him (for) a burnt- 
 offering upon the wall." The words that express, and offered him (for) a 
 
 burnt-offering, are j^y VlSj^l : Je P hthah ' s are fh)]f liTfvSym : 
 the only difference is in the mood, tense and person of the verb, and a com- 
 mon variety in the spelling of the noun : the same affix, — ^}"J, — is used in both ; 
 in both the H is omitted. 
 
 It must now, I think, be evident, that although Dr. Randolph's interpreta- 
 tion may possibly be correct, its credit must stand entirely upon the strength 
 of his first grammatical argument, the applicability of which to the case is, 
 we have seen, not indisputable : his second, we find, is destitute of any va- 
 lidity whatsoever. 
 
 And it is no less evident, that, after all the labours of the learned to fix a 
 sense upon Jephthah's vow which should exclude the idea that a human sacri- 
 fice was either intended by it or might be its unintended result, nothing satis- 
 factorypias been produced. It is still undeniable, that the old common trans- 
 lation, or rather the older one of the Septuagint, is that which naturally flows 
 from the words, if taken in their regular construction. Certain it is, that if 
 Jephthah had spoken English, and had said, " Whosoever cometh out of the 
 doors of my house, &c< — shall be the Lord's, and I will offer him up for a 
 burnt-offering ;" and these words had been translated from English into He- 
 brew ; they could not otherwise have been exactly rendered than by the very 
 words which now stand in the Hebrew Bible. 
 
IX APPENDIX. KO. VII. 
 
 Upon the whole, then, I think, it will be admitted, that the assertion in the 
 Lecture is fully made out, " that the most unforced inference from the lan- 
 guage of the original, and from the history in general, is, that the sacrifice 
 took place." But as, nevertheless, there are other considerations which 
 render it in the highest degree improbable that such a sacrifice did take place, 
 it seems to be reasonable to conclude, that the letter is so framed as appa- 
 rently to affirm it, because, otherwise, the subjects treated of in the spiritual 
 sense, for the sake of which, pre-eminently, the letter is constructed, could not 
 have been so fully represented. How important then does the doctrine of a 
 spiritual sense become, as affording the only key to a satisfactory solution of 
 such difficulties ! 
 
 No. VII. (Page 399.) 
 
 Arguments for the Literal Interpretation or the first part of 
 Genesis considered. 
 
 I have stated in the text above, that the regarding of the early part of Gene- 
 sis as a pure allegory, solves all the difficulties attending it, and is itself unat- 
 tended by any. I am aware, however, that difficulties have been attempted to 
 be raised against the allegorical interpretation ; but the arguments by which 
 they are supported appear to me to be scarcely deserving of the least conside- 
 ration, — to be such as would never have been offered but in behalf of a cause 
 altogether indefensible. We will here notice one or two that are most 
 insisted on ; being the only ones I have seen which make any approach 
 towards plausibility. 
 
 It has been urged, that the account of Adam and Eve, and of the other an- 
 tediluvian patriarchs, is referred to in the New Testament as real. But, cer- 
 tainly, nothing is any where said of them which is not as applicable to the 
 spiritual as to the literal acceptation of the history. For instance : When 
 Paul says, " that as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made 
 alive,"* the meaning is the same if we understand by Adam the first assem- 
 blage of human beings who were ever formed by God into a Church, and by 
 the departure of whom from the primeval integrity man at this day inherits a 
 corrupt nature, as if we understand by him a single individual : indeed it is 
 perfectly evident, that the Apostle uses the term Adam for man's state by 
 nature. In like manner, when the genealogy of Jesus Christ is carried up to 
 Adam, the true meaning is the same, whether some of those personages be 
 purely allegorical characters or not. For although those from Abraham, or 
 perhaps from Eber, were individual men who lived as such in the world, they 
 still were all representative characters, and they are mentioned in that gene- 
 aJogy to denote certain species of human minds, or certain principles which 
 enter into the composition of the human mind : these then are enumerated as 
 ancestors, according to the flesh, of tho Lord Jesus Christ, to inform us, that 
 
 • 1 Cor. jtv. 21 
 
NO. VIII. APPENDIX. lxl 
 
 in his human nature was concentred every thing belonging to the human 
 character, from highest to lowest, from first to last ; every thing that had ever 
 entered into it, from the primeval times, when human nature appeared in its 
 highest integrity, so as to be almost a pure, abstract essence, till the age in 
 which he was born among the Jews, who then were the most gross and car- 
 nalized race that ever existed : thus that all was assumed, and all was redeem- 
 ed, by him. 
 
 Of the same nature is the objection of Lord Bolingbroke, whose statement 
 is quoted by one of the advocates of the literal interpretation, and who intro- 
 duces it thus : " Even Lord Bolingbroke, (than whom Revelation never had a 
 more subtle opposer) justly rejects the allegorical interpretation : ' It cannot 
 (says he) be admitted by Christians ; for if it was, what would become of that 
 famous text [that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head,] 
 whereon the doctrine of our redemption is founded ?' "* But the writer who 
 has adduced this as authority, while he declares the subtilty of this opponent 
 of revelation, has here, in his own simplicity, overlooked the snake in the 
 grass. The passage he quotes is itself an example of the subtilty of the noble 
 infidel ; whose object, doubtless, was, to clog the belief of Revelation with all 
 possible difficulties ; and who therefore wished to shut out the allegorical in- 
 terpretation of this part of the Word of God, because he saw that, if this were 
 admitted, no solid objection would lie against it. Whether the woman spoken 
 of in this prophecy denote the first female of the human race, or human nature 
 in general as to its principle of affection or will, it equally was fulfilled in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who was as truly the seed of the woman in the spiritual as 
 in the literal sense of the words. 
 
 In another instance it has been attempted to overturn the whole doctrine of 
 allegorical interpretation by a quibble : it has been said, that " a figurative fall 
 would require only a figurative redemption." But it is not the fall itself which 
 the allegorical interpretation represents as figurative, but the description of it : 
 the fall itself it considers as real, and, of course, that it required a real re- 
 demption. 
 
 Altogether then, I trust, it must be seen, that every consideration which can 
 be brought to bear upon this question, confirms the fact, that the history in this 
 part of Genesis is a continued allegory ; and that no reasonable objection can 
 be raised against it. 
 
 No. VIII. 
 
 Remarks on the recent Volume or Bampton Lectures, by the late 
 
 Rev. J. J. CoNYBEARE, M. A. ; AND ON THE SUPPORT IT AFFORDS TO THE 
 
 leading Principle of the present Work. 
 
 It has yielded no small encouragement to the Author of the work now offered 
 to the public, to see issue from the press while these Lectures were in it, a 
 
 * Home's Introd. toI. i. p. 174. 
 
lxii APPENDIX. NO. VIII. 
 
 volume which, to a considerable extent, espouses and most ably maintains the 
 same argument ; a volume, also, the character and intrinsic merits of which 
 must recommend it to a large and influential body of readers : whilst it can 
 hardly fail to generate, in the minds of many who peruse it, ideas upon the 
 spiritual interpretation of Scripture, which nothing but such a consistent sys- 
 tem as the present work endeavours to develope can satisfy and fill. As was 
 to be expected, the amiable and learned author, whose sudden loss to the 
 church of which he was so decided an ornament I sincerely unite with her in 
 Inmenting, does not attempt to free the system of spiritual interpretation from 
 those incumbrances and inconsistencies, with which, as has been noticed in 
 our Lectures above, it has in modern ages been crippled. But the reason evi- 
 dently is, because he had not found in the writers on Scripture-interpretation 
 whom he had examined, any Rule of uniform and universal application. Had 
 such a regular system been presented to him, it appears reasonable to infer, 
 from the affirmative sentiments with which his mind was so strongly imbued 
 on the general question, that he would have accepted it with joy ; and there- 
 fore, beside the general grounds for regretting his premature removal, I cannot 
 but think that I have a personal one also, and that the present work has lost 
 by the dispensation, not only a well qualified and candid, but, in addition, a 
 favourable judge. 
 
 Mr. Conybeare (who was brother to the gentleman from whose valuable 
 writings on Geology an extract or two are taken in our Lecture above,*) de- 
 scribes his work as " An attempt to trace the history, and to ascertain the li- 
 mits, of the Secondary and Spiritual Interpretation of Scripture j" and the ar- 
 gument of the whole is precisely the same, though in a form so much more 
 extended, as that of the third Section of our second Lecture. Had not our 
 work been so enlarged as almost to render the single volume to which it is 
 necessarily, by its original plan, confined, a book of inconvenient bulk, I should 
 have deemed it advisable, — for certainly it would materially promote my own 
 design, — to examine these Bampton Lectures at a length proportioned to their 
 importance and interest : as it is, I must confine my notice of them to a few 
 quotations and some brief remarks. Not to notice them at all would toe doing 
 equal injustice to my readers and myself. 
 
 The first Lecture, after proposing the design of the work, is chiefly occupied 
 with arguments on the reasonableness and necessity of aftnitting the Scriptures 
 to contain, in general, a spiritual sense, and against the low principles of Scrip- 
 ture-interpretation which have become general on the continent. 
 
 In the following passage the author advances several of the principles which 
 we have endeavoured to establish in this work : " However we may scruple 
 (as many in the fair and legitimate exercise of private judgment doubtless will 
 scruple) to follow the more learned and eminent of these [the authors who 
 have enumerated several divisions and varieties of the spiritual sense] to the 
 full extent of their respective theories ; yet, that such a secondary and spiritual 
 meaning was, from the earliest period, partially at least, involved in the tradi- 
 tional and written monuments of the Jewish faith, cannot, we hold, be fairly 
 and successfully denied ; cannot even be doubted by any one who, with a belief 
 in their inspiration, and an unprejudiced and impartial frame of mind, applies 
 
 * P. 389, 390. 
 
No. viii. appendix. lxiii 
 
 himself to the study of the books of Moses. Nor can this position be reason- 
 ably objected to a priori as appearing unnatural or improbable ; for in the 
 earlier and simpler stages of society and language, such a mode of giving ut- 
 terance to the conceptions of mind, so far from seeming rare and unintelligi- 
 ble, is known to have been usually more prevalent and popular* The origi- 
 nal signification of those metaphors, which make up so large a part of all larir 
 guage both spoken and written, must then have been fresher in the memory of 
 man ; they were daily, if we may so express ourselves, in the process of being 
 increased in their number, and extended and modified in their import, as the 
 occurrence of new ideas or new associations demanded. The mind habituat- 
 ed to this process would catch and retain, with quite sufficient rapidity and 
 distinctness, the truths and instructions conveyed through the medium of those 
 images and allegories, which in fact do so largely and constantly present them- 
 selves in the literature, both sacred and profane, of the ruder ages.t It may 
 be added, that the wisdom and theology of the Egyptians, to whose customs 
 the Israelites had been so long inured, appear, from the remotest antiquity to 
 which we can trace them, to have been involved in figurative and mystical 
 representations. The whole hieroglyphical system must have been little else 
 than a tissue of metaphor and allegory addressed to the eye instead of the ear.} 
 These considerations rtiight well lead us to suspect, that even they whom we 
 regard as having needlessly and fancifully assumed or exaggerated the mysti- 
 cal sense of many parts of the Mosaic record, are at least not more unphiloso- 
 phical than they who utterly proscribe every interpretation of the kind, how- 
 ever sanctioned by the authority of the New Testament, or countenanced by 
 fair and reasonable analogies." § 
 
 The length of time during which this doctrine was that of the Christian 
 Church universal, is brought down by Mr. C. later than by me ; for he says, 
 " The truth and reasonableness of this view of the Mosaic records has been 
 acknowledged, until within the last half century, by the whole, or nearly the 
 whole, of the Christian Church."|| 
 
 He quotes and adopts, with unreserved commendation, a sentiment of a the 
 learned Spencer," in which " he acknowledges unhesitatingly the distinction 
 between the ' Scriptura exterior cujus sensus ininime difhViiis se cuivis oitert,' 
 and the ' Scriptura interior legit mirabilia continens, qua? ut planius et aper- 
 tius intueatur psalmista oculos retectos expetit.' "1T 
 
 I might add some powerful reasoning of our author in confirmation of his as- 
 sertion, that " we not only find that our Lord and his followers themselves af- 
 fixed a secondary and more exalted sense to many passages of the Old Testa- 
 ment, but that they argue as though such a principle of interpretation were ac- 
 knowledged as legitimate :"** but I will only take further, from the first Lec- 
 ture, some remarks which are exactly coincident with some of my own, res- 
 pecting those Christian teachers who would reject the spiritual sense of the 
 Scriptures altogether. " We may grant," says Mr. C, " somewhat to the in- 
 fluence of outward circumstances, somewhat more perhaps to the alleged, and, 
 
 * See our Lect. III. p. 118, &c. and p. 131, &c. f See our Lect. VI. p. 
 
 393, &c. and p. 396, &c. % See our Lect. III. p. 149, &c. § P. 13 to 16. 
 
 || P. 19. See our Lecture II. p. 63. IT P. 20. See our Lect. II. p. 49. 
 
 ** P. 24. See our Lect. II. 51, fee. and p. 56, &c. 
 
lxiV APPENDIX. NO. VIII. 
 
 we hope, sincere desire of conciliating the open adversaries of our faith ;* a 
 conciliation however seldom effected, and certainly not worth the purchasing, 
 by the surrender of nearly all that distinguishes the Gospel from the mere phi- 
 losophical creed of the deist ;t but where we are told, in a voice purporting to 
 be that of all the reasonable divines of protestant Europe, that every type, 
 every prophecy, every adumbration of the Messiah's work and kingdom, to 
 which we have been accustomed to look for the confirming our faith and the 
 invigorating our devotion, is to be at once and entirely discarded, as matter of 
 nothing better than Jewish superstition ; where we see this rejection of all 
 spiritual interpretation coupled with an undisguised anxiety to divest even the 
 historical relations of Scripture of every thing exceeding human powers and 
 attainments,^ we are assuredly tempted for the moment to inquire, Can these 
 men be Christians ?"§ 
 
 He afterwards shews that it is an unfounded error to suppose, as some would 
 have us, that the spiritual interpretation of the Scriptures, introduced into 
 Christianity from its foundation, originated with, or even prevailed among, the 
 Pharisees, or that it was borrowed from them or the other Jews. 
 
 The design of the six next Lectures is to evince, that the principles which 
 thus appear evidently proposed to us upon the face of the Scriptures themselves, 
 have accordingly been assumed and acted upon by the whole body of inter- 
 preters of Scripture till within a very recent period ; in reference to which fact 
 he observes, " It is both useful and gratifying to find, that those opinions which 
 we believe to be grounded on the firm warranty of Scripture and of reason, 
 have received the support of the wise and the pious in former ages."|| Here 
 then they who may wish to see a more detailed and complete examination of 
 this important point than could be afforded by the brief and popular view given 
 in our second Lecture,1T will find ample satisfaction : but the two accounts dif- 
 fer in nothing but their length and form ; in their tenor and conclusions they 
 exactly coincide. 
 
 Having in his second Lecture remarked upon the traces of this mode of in- 
 terpretation which are found in the Apocryphal books of the Old Testament, 
 and upon the manner in which it was cultivated by the Judaic school of phi- 
 losophy at Alexandria, and especially by the celebrated Philo ; Mr. C. com- 
 mences his third Lecture with these important remarks : " In the two former 
 Lectures it was endeavoured to shew, that there were reasonable grounds for 
 attaching a secondary and spiritual sense to much of the Law and the Prophets ; 
 and that such was, as far as we have the opportunity of ascertaining matters 
 of this nature, the opinion, if not of the whole Jewish church, yet certainly of 
 many among its most learned and pious members. That the practice of such 
 interpretation was carried by some to an unwarrantable excess,** affords no 
 proof that it was not originally founded upon just conceptions of the character 
 of the older Revelation, or that it is repugnant to the wise and benevolent in- 
 tentions of Him by whom all Scripture was ghen, and to whom icere known all 
 his works from the beginning. The course of our inquiry has now brought 
 
 * See our Lect. I. p. 7, &c. Lcct. II. p. 33 and 40. t See our Lect. I. 
 
 p. 9, 10. % See our Lect. I. p. 8, 9. § P. 30, 31. || P. 11. IT S«c. 
 
 in. § 4, p. 90, fcc. ** See our Lect. II. p. 67 and 70 ; Ler.t. III. p. 90, 91. 
 
NO. VIII. 1PPENDIX. 
 
 \xr 
 
 ue to that period, at which the preaching of a new and more perfect dispensa- 
 tion was committed by its divine Author to the apostles and ministers of his 
 choice ; committed with the express assurance, and confirmed and sanctioned 
 by the conscious and sensible presence of his informing Spirit. If we believe 
 them to have spoken and written under the guidance of that Spirit, to have 
 been led (as it was promised) into all truth ; if we hold upon any theory the- 
 proper inspiration of that which they delivered ; I do not see with what con- 
 sistency we can refuse (as some would do) to acquiesce in their interpretation 
 of the Scriptures of the Old Testament. That to these Scriptures they do affix 
 a secondary and spiritual meaning, and that they refer to them with this view, 
 not merely in a few partial and dubious instances, but repeatedly, and with a 
 distinctness only to be questioned by the most determined prejudice, seems 
 equally clear* If indeed with one school we are to deny the existence of ail 
 types and prefigurations of the Messiah and his kingdom, and to contend that 
 where the Law is said to have had a shadow of the good things to come, no 
 more is meant than that in comparison with the gospel it was as valueless as a 
 shadow when compared to a substance ;t we would answer, that such a theory 
 claims for plain and specific language a much greater laxity and licence of in- 
 terpretation than any which it objects to. If with others} we attempt to re- 
 solve the whole into one system of accommodation, we certainly do not a little 
 shake the credibility of those witnesses who could rest so much upon so sandy 
 a foundation. But the writers of the New Testament in no place appear either 
 to confess or to suspect that the secondary or allegorical sense, which they at- 
 tach to the Law and the Prophets, are [is] thus arbitrary and unreal. That 
 we are content to regard some few instances of obscure application as thus ac- 
 commodated, (and the lists usually given of such accommodations might in- 
 deed be much reduced,) does not, any more than the exceptions in various 
 other cases, invalidate the general rule." 
 
 On this subject the author introduces this highly judicious remark : " And 
 here I would venture even to submit, whether, as we consent, both from their 
 own internal evidence and from the acknowledged inspiration of those who 
 adduce them, to receive the great bulk of the Scriptural quotations so adduced 
 in the New Testament as truly and originally typical and prophetical, it may 
 not be the part of Christian humility and sober criticism rather to suspend the 
 judgment as to those few which present real difficulties, than to attempt the 
 accounting for or reconciling them by any hypothesis of accommodation, or 
 partial and individual application ; by conceding that they are no more than 
 ornaments of diction, or at best argumenta ad hominem" § The most difficult 
 of the supposed accommodations are a quotation or two in Matthew's Gospel ; 
 but from these all difficulty would vanish, if we understood the spiritual sense 
 of both the records. 
 
 The preceding remarks relate to the Old Testament ; but our author 
 equally contends for the spiritual sense of part, at least, of the New. " It 
 
 * See our Lcct. II. p. 56, &c. and Appendix, No. I. f " This is the hypo- 
 
 thesis of Sykes in his answer to Collins.'* % " This hypothesis the theologians 
 
 of modern Germany haye derived chiefly from the school of Ls Cl«rc." § P, 75 
 u> SO. 
 
 I 
 
Ixvi APPENDIX. NO. VIII. 
 
 eannot," he observes, M be denied or questioned, that even in the records of 
 the new covenant, the things which concern the renewal of the inner man, 
 and the salvation of the believer, are in more than one case shadowed out to 
 us under types and analogies, which, if we accept the testimony of those re- 
 cords, we are not only authorized but bound to understand and to apply spi- 
 ritually. To pass over much of that part of our Lord's teaching which was 
 confessedly in parables ; if we allow that there be any spiritual grace con- 
 nected with the right usage and reception of the Christian sacraments, we 
 must admit their outward elements to be the certain and pre-ordained symbol* 
 of that grace, and of the means whereby it is conveyed to us : we must (be it 
 spoken with reverence and faith) admit the material body and blood of our 
 glorious Redeemer himself to be typical of that spiritual food whereby the 
 inward life of the believer's soul, that life which, as we are expressly told, is 
 hidden with Christ in God, is produced and supported * When the apostle 
 urges, (in which our church has well and wisely followed him,) that as our 
 Saviour died and rose again for us, so should we who are buried with him in 
 baptism die unto sin and rise again unto righteousness ; when he expressly 
 exhorts the believers as those xcho are risen with Christ ; we cannot deny that 
 he 6ees in the history of thus much at least of his Master's life a spiritual as 
 well as a literal import. The luxuriance of human ingenuity may indeed, as 
 it has often done, push its imitation of these mysterious analogies much too 
 far ; the pride of scepticism may refuse to be taught at all after this manner, 
 and its votary may question the inspiration of those Scriptures which would 
 thus teach him : but neither the abuses of the one nor the perverseness of the 
 other can invalidate the truth of the general position, that the New Testament 
 does not only assert the secondary and spiritual meaning of much that is con- 
 tained in the Old, but authorizes and strengthens the legitimacy of such 
 interpretation by affixing the like to portions also of its own cohtents."t 
 
 These extracts are quite sufficient to shew, how decided is the support 
 which Mr. C.'s work lends to the doctrine of the spiritual interpretation of 
 Scripture. If it is thus certain, that " portions," at least, of the productions 
 of Inspiration possess a spiritual sense, it is equally certain that they possess 
 it universally ; as has, I apprehend, been fully proved in our Lectures above4 
 One position being granted, the other follows of course. It is most true, as 
 our author remarks, that if " the practice of such interpretation was carried 
 by some to an unwarrantable excess, this affords no proof that it was not 
 originally founded upon just conceptions of the character of revelation, or that 
 it is repugnant to the intentions of Him by whom all Scripture was given :" 
 but in what consists this excess ? Not in applying it universally, but without a 
 just knowledge of its nature : not in drawing from every part of Scripture a 
 spiritual sense, but in deducing from it, under the name of the spiritual sense, 
 notions of mere human invention ; or rather, in inventing such notions and 
 endeavouring to force them into the Scriptures. It is thus that " the luxu- 
 riance of human ingenuity may indeed, as it often has done, push its imitation 
 
 * See our Lect. V. p. 371 to 873. f P. 82, 83. % See our Lect. IV. p. 
 
 172, 173, 201, 205. Lect. V. p. 271 to 278. 
 
NO. VIII 
 
 APPENDIX. lxvii 
 
 of these mysterious analogies much too far }" being ignorant of the real 
 analogies, it substitutes for them some of its own : but this no more proves 
 that the abused passages have no spiritual analogies properly belonging to 
 them, than the personation of the Earl of Warwick, Edward Plantagenet, by 
 Lambert Simnel, proved that no such Earl of Warwick existed. Hence no 
 negative conclusion can be drawn against the affirmative principle thus estab- 
 lished, from the circumstance, that when Mr. C, after having in the six inter- 
 mediate Lectures traced the history of spiritual interpretation, and shewn that 
 it was, for many ages, universally admitted to be of universal application, 
 and never entirely denied till within a very recent period, comes, in his last 
 Lecture, to attempt to ascertain its limits, he exhibits some doubt and vacilla- 
 tion ; for doubt and vacillation must, as has been shewn in our Lectures 
 above,* ever attend on the expositor, who, while he admits the principle at all, 
 is [deterred from accepting it as universal, by the extravagances into which 
 some have run, who have been guided, in their endeavours to decipher it, by 
 no more certain clew than fancy or conjecture. This is evidently the origin 
 of Mr. C.'s attempted limitations ; and thus, instead of proving the non-uni- 
 versality of the spiritual sense, they only prove the want and necessity of such 
 a universal rule for its developement as we have endeavoured to present in 
 this work. Many of the expositions which he details, as samples of the spi- 
 ritual mode of interpretation as practised in different ages, are certainly suffi- 
 ciently capricious and unfounded : and though he gives some which he ac- 
 knowledges to be striking and beautiful, and others which he objects to only 
 because the letter is plain and intelligible without them ; (a strange objection, 
 by the by, to follow the admission, respecting the plain and intelligible history 
 of the death and resurrection of Jesus, that " thus much at least of his lite 
 had a spiritual as well as literal import ;") yet it seems as if the wading 
 through so immense a chaos of contradiction and confusion as he was com- 
 pelled to examine to obtain the materials for this learned part of his work, had 
 had rather an unfavourable effect upon his judgment, and had scarcely left it 
 proof against the effects of unavoidable disgust. His mind was evidently in a 
 state here of great indecision. The doctrine of a spiritual sense, so long as it 
 is supposed, if it exists at all, to be the consequence of arbitrary appointment, 
 is attended with difficulty ;i but when it is seen, as we have endeavoured to 
 evince is the fact, to be the result of an immutable law of nature, and abso- 
 lutely essential to, and inseparable from, the truly divine style of writing ;\ all 
 difficulty disappears. Then its universal becomes far more defensible than its 
 partial existence. Not even u the pride of scepticism" can then allege a plau- 
 sible argument against it, or for " refusing to ba taught after this manner ;" 
 and the votary of scepticism, instead of drawing from it a plea for " question- 
 ing the inspiration of the Scriptures which would thus teach him," may find 
 in it a proof demonstrative of their divinity. § I cannot, then, but believe, 
 
 * P. 274 to 278. See particularly the Note p. 278 to 281. 
 
 + See our Lect. II. p. 77. % See our Lecture IV. p. 157 to 166. 
 
 § Mr. C. frequently cites the judicious canon of the early fathers, - Arguraen- 
 tum mysticum non valet ad probanda fidei dogmata," which affirms the same prin- 
 ciple as we have urged in our second Lecture, p. 79, 80 : but he surely extends 
 
liviil APPENDIX. NO. Vilf. 
 
 that Iiad this view of the subject been presented to Mr. C, he would have 
 accepted it with eagerness : for he certainly rather considered it impracticable, 
 upon any principles with which his researches had brought him acquainted, to 
 discover the true spiritual sense of the Scriptures, except where it is pointed 
 out by the apostles, than actually denied its universal existence. I would fain 
 examine several of his positions, but my limits forbid. While he viewed the 
 subject as being as yet enveloped in much obscurity, he evidently anticipated 
 that the darkness would not be suffered to endure for ever* He decidedly 
 admits the Word of God to be still in a great measure a sealed book : but he 
 doubtless believed the prophecies which announce that this darkness shall 
 have an end : that the time will come in which he who is the Word will 
 open more of the contents of the written Word to his church ; in which it 
 shall be said, " The Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to open the 
 book, and to loose the seven seals thereof." 
 
 Altogether, the appearance of such a work at the present juncture, from such 
 a quarter, is not a little extraordinary. I have touched in these Lectures, and 
 Mr. C. also dwells in his, upon the prevalence, in the present day, not only of 
 absolute infidelity, but of low and unworthy ideas of the Scriptures among 
 those who still profess to accept them as the sources of true religion ; ideas 
 which not only reign almost universally on the continent, but have spread 
 their contagion in this country to a greater extent than Mr. C. might deem 
 it prudent to notice. The influence of such sentiments is evidently rapidly 
 increasing. According to appearance, the bulk of the Christian public is fast 
 verging into such notions of the Divine Word, as differ from open infidelity in 
 little but in name. In such a state of things, are we to regard Mr. C 's publi- 
 cation as a warning voice, raised, but raised in vain, to check the spreading 
 desolation ? as the last remonstrance, in the Anglican Church, of expiring 
 Truth ? as a monitory beacon, to gleam but for a moment, " ere universal 
 darkness bury all ?" Or may we hail it as the real harbinger of returning 
 day ? as the symptom of a new order of intelligence arising in the Christian 
 mind of this country ? as indicative of a state of preparation commencing 
 among British Christians for the reception of just views of the Word of God, — 
 for the diffusion among them of the genuine light of that Word ? Faxit Deus f 
 
 it too far, when he seems to infer, that no argument can be drawn from the spiritual 
 sense in proof of the inspiration of the Scriptures. To prove by the spiritual sense 
 a specific doctrine, is quite a different thing from proving, from the literal sense, 
 and from rational and scientific considerations, that there must be a spiritual 
 sense within, and that, if so, objections drawn from the letter not understood are 
 invalid. Mr. C. makes his remark, (p. 816, note n,) in reference to a work, dedi- 
 cated to the Sceptic, entitled " An Analytical View of Christianity :" How far that 
 work may seem to provoke such an observation, I cannot say, having never seen it. 
 * " All," he observes, (p. 2, 3,) " who profess to accept and to search the 
 Seriptures as the record and testimony of God, (without the exception even of 
 those whom we regard, not perhaps unjustly, as leaning to the side of error and 
 enthusiasm,) do uniformly admit that a partial, though not always an impenetrable 
 cloud, yet rests upon the sanctuary of divine truth." 
 
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