insulated beings, which chance alone has formed into a distinct volume, it must be a duty of equal necessity and importance, to view each page, however distant the date of its composition, however dissimilar in the general character of its contents, and however different the author and circumstances to which it owes its origin, as having a decided and intentional reference to the same subject, and the same end with every other page, and with the whole. We must consider every incident, every sentence, and almost every word, as the subordinate parts of a preconceived and mighty plan, beginning with the creation, and comprehending the entire period of the duration of the world and all the light which what has gone before can throw upon what follows, and what follows can throw upon what has gone before, may be freely borrowed for the purposes of illustration and defence. The second rule, therefore, is this; to regard the Scriptures as a system from beginning to end, and to interpret their different books and pages as the component and connected parts of that system.

3. If, thirdly, it be an error most disgraceful to an upright reasoner to give a false, and most unpardonable in a careful enquirer, to give an imperfect view of the design and connection of the successive portions of an extensive plan, there

rests a proportional obligation upon every honest and industrious theologian, to search impartially to discover the true, and to search diligently till he has discovered the complete motive and tendency of every obscurity, of every difficulty, and of every passage which appears either dubious or inconsistent in the Holy Scriptures. It is a third, therefore, and a most essential rule, to interpret the contents of the Bible in their true connection, in the whole of their connection, and in nothing but their connection with the system they profess to contain.

4. But the great error is that of judging the Bible upon improper or inapplicable principles, and presumptuously concluding every thing to be inconsistent with moral, or philosophical, or religious truth, which happens to be inconsistent with our moral, or philosophical, or religious theories. The great duty, therefore, to which, in consequence of that error, we are called, and the great law we have to follow in all that we venture, either to think or say upon the mysteries and difficulties of revelation, is to conceive it both possible and probable, in some instances at least, that our preconceived opinions may be false, and that, consequently, it is equally possible and probable, that the condemnation we pass upon the Scriptures, when measured by such a doubtful and

variable criterion, may be altogether unjust. We must think the writers of revelation as capable of forming a correct notion of the proceedings and attributes, and intentions of the Deity as ourselves, and never censure their moral, or ridicule their doctrinal and philosophical statements without the strictest investigation, and merely because they differ from our own. We must read the writings of the Prophets and Apostles with patience, examine them with impartiality, and correct, where it is necessary, our own views by theirs. Thus only can we hope to arrive at a full and accurate knowledge of the principles by which Scripture may be safely judged. We should remember too, that to acquire such a knowledge, requires something superior to learning, and even impartiality of mind. It asks of us humility, the last and most arduous of all intellectual attainments; a lowliness of spirit, and a modesty of thought, esteeming the judgement of the sacred writers as equal, if not better than our own, upon all matters directly belonging to the revelation of the Mosaic Law, and the purposes and proofs of Christianity, as dependant upon that previous and preparatory dispensation. It demands our acquiescence in their opinion, in that degree in which their inspiration is probable or proved, and a submission to authority wherever authority can be fairly presumed, or shewn to exist. In a word, a fourth, and perhaps the most

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important rule of all, is to distrust the absolute certainty of mere human philosophy, to doubt the accuracy of mere logical reasoning, when applied to subjects beyond the reach of experience and sight, and never to regard the fleeting, and perhaps erroneous, theories of the schools and the day, as any infallible criterion of the doctrines of a divine revelation.

5. The preceding rules are such as relate only to the subject matter of Scripture Difficulties. The manner in which that subject matter is expressed, the words and phrases, as well as "things hard to be understood," still demand our attention, and the laws of interpretation, by which they are to be explained, still require to be discussed. But as the full consideration of this point would lead me far beyond any reasonable limits, and would embrace almost the whole range of expository theology, I must content myself with referring to one particular error into which both believers and unbelievers have fallen.

The error, then, to which I allude, is that of subjecting the language of the Bible to the same narrow regulations, and expounding it upon the same restricted basis as the language of any other book. But if the doctrines and incidents recorded by the Prophets of the Lord are to be judged

on a more extended scale than those of ordinary men, surely their expressions also are to be measured by a more comprehensive and spiritual rule. Not that the common rules of criticism are to be omitted, but modified and enlarged to meet the peculiarities of the sacred writings, For it cannot be denied that the Holy Scriptures have many features in common with the rest of human productions. They were written by men, the difference of whose style and the bent of whose genius may be traced through every page in the varieties of their phraseology, the form of their sentences, and the general character of their composition. They are also written not only in the language of men, but in such language as was in use in the period and countries in which they appeared, and they consequently display the same local and national peculiarities with other contemporary works. This is a plain indication that in these respects they are to be tried by laws applicable to all similar works. But though thus far the Scriptures are like, and, therefore, to be interpreted like other writings, yet they are in part also unlike all other writings, and, therefore, subject to a different estimate. For though the Prophets and Apostles have certainly delivered their sentiments in the ordinary speech of their time and country, yet there are occasions when they unequivocally profess that they speak the things