by our Creator; that in withholding them he has placed us in a better situation for obeying all the words of his law than if he had revealed them, and that this is one great and not improbably the principal reason for which they are withheld. That the same valuable end is in the best manner promoted, by the things which are revealed, will probably be rarely if ever questioned by any man who believes in the existence of a divine revelation, and seriously makes the Bible the object of his study. I shall only observe, on this part of the subject, that he who, with a becoming attention and an honest heart, applies himself diligently to this book, will never want a perfect rule to direct him, nor sufficient motives to urge him to every part of his duty. What our reason thus readily perceives and laments, the wisdom and goodness of God establishes beyond debate. We know that he designed to promote the good of mankind by the revelation which he has given them. That he perfectly knew what it would be best to reveal and what to withhold, will not be doubted, nor that he was perfectly disposed to reveal and to withhold that, and that only, which was perfectly fitted to place them in the best situation to understand and to obey his will, and to obtain their own salvation. Of course the revelation which he has actually given is formed in the best manner to accomplish these great purposes. REMARKS. I. If the observations which have been made are just, it follows that the Scriptures are a perfect revelation, and are ever to be regarded as such by mankind. By this I intend that they contain, to use the language of St. Peter, all things pertaining to life and godliness, and that they contain nothing more. Whatever is necessary or useful to our faith or practice, in the attainment of our salvation, is found in them, and nothing which is not useful. Were any thing omitted or added they would be less useful, and our situation less advantageous and desirable than it now is. God disclosed and withheld all that is disclosed and withheld in them, and that as his infinite wisdom and goodness directed. They are therefore a perfect revelation, and nothing is to be added to them, nor ought to be diminished from them, according to his frequently repeated commands, commands founded wholly upon this, their absolute perfection. We are not permitted even to wish for such additions or diminutions. Every wish of this nature is a direct opposition to the divine will, and a direct impeachment of the divine wisdom. These observations are no less applicable to the manner in which the Scriptures are written, than to the matter which they contain. The manner, so far as it affects the sense of what is written, was equally an object of the divine attention with the matter, and is equally fitted to promote the good designed. The Scriptures are written for mankind at large, a great part of whom are ignorant of science and philosophy, and of the language of philosophers, and they are written therefore in plain and popular language. This language is designed to be understood in the plain and popular manner. If it were otherwise, to nine-tenths of the human race they would be unintelligible. From this mode of understanding and interpreting the Scriptures we cannot be excused, and all our attempts to interpret them in any other manner are mere perversion. Should it be said, in answer to these observations, that the different writers in the Scriptures were each of them plainly left to his own mode of expression, as is evident from the fact that they express themselves in so many different modes, and each in his own mode, I reply, that this very variety, in which each writer adopted his own style, is a part of the perfection specified. Each writer spoke his own language in this sense, that he adopted such a style as was natural to him; but in this sense he spoke the language of God, i. e. not the words which man's wisdom taught, but which the Holy Ghost taught; that he used in his own style such words as express the true pleasure of God in the best manner, most plainly, most exactly, most forcibly. In both these things combined we have, on the one hand, the pleasure of God most perfectly expressed, and on the other, a clear proof that the Scriptures were written by many hands, in different ages and circumstances; while at the same time they exhibit a perfect accordance in all concerning the great truths of revelation: an advantage plainly inestimable. II. It is equally evident that it is the great interest and duty of mankind to use the Scriptures as they are, in the most diligent and faithful manner, that the great ends for which they were intended may be accomplished. Particularly, we are required to read them daily with profound attention, great care, and unceasing constancy, that we may learn their true import, that we understand them in the same manner, learn from them the same truths and precepts, and gain by means of them the same wisdom and excellence which were designed by their author. To this employment we are, by our interest, as truly as by our duty, required to come with a spirit of entire candour, with humble submission, with a willingness that God should speak in his own manner, and the very things which he has in fact spoken, and without any desire or design to make the Scriptures speak in a different manner. The things which are contained in the Scriptures are partly truths which are objects of our faith, and partly precepts which are rules of our duty, and both united are means of our salvation. The truths contained in the Scriptures are in some instances mysterious. In all cases of this nature, there is usually some fact, or some doctrine, declared concerning a subject incapable of being investigated by us. This fact, or doctrine, thus declared, brings up to our view some connection with some other facts or doctrines more or less obscurely shadowed forth to our apprehension. But the nature of these facts or doctrines, and the connection between them, are either very imperfectly or not at all understood. Oftentimes, the nature of the revealed fact it is either very difficult or impossible clearly to understand, and, perhaps, always, completely to comprehend. In such a case, we naturally wish to know more of the subject,-often feel dissatisfied that no more is revealed, and not unfrequently set ourselves laboriously to work, to find out something more by the employment of our own faculties. But our wishes are unbecoming, our dissatisfaction blamable,-and our labours vain. The doctrine, or fact, revealed, is true and useful; more useful than it would be if those others, which we wish for, had been revealed also. It is not all the truth respecting the subject, but it is all which would be useful to us. We are therefore to receive it in this character, and entirely to acquiesce in the existing revelation as perfectly wise and good. Thus it is declared, that Christ is God, the true God, the mighty God, Jehovah, I am; that he is Eternal, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Almighty, and Immutable; that he created all things visible and invisible; that he upholds all things; that he governs all things; that he will judge the quick and the dead, and reward the righteous and the wicked; that all things are his possession and property; that he forgives the sins of men; and that he ought to be and is worshipped by angels and men, even as the Father is and ought to be honoured. All these things are unquestionably and certainly true, and true in the obvious and popular sense of the expressions, as being written chiefly for those who cannot understand the expressions in any other sense, viz. the great body of mankind. At the same time, it is equally true and certain that Christ is in some respect or other distinct from the Father, because he says of himself I, and to and of the Father thou and he; because of the different appellations the Father and the Son; and because he is frequently styled the angel Jehovah, or Jehovah the messenger, and a messenger cannot exist unless sent by some other person. Concerning this vast and mysterious subject there are unquestionably many other things which God, if he had thought proper, might have revealed, which are true, important, and inseparably connected with these, but which are not yet revealed. Something concerning them and their relation to those which are revealed is naturally, perhaps necessarily, involved in the existing revelation, yet so obscurely, that we are not able to fasten on the unrevealed things with either knowledge or satisfaction. Some men, impatient of not knowing more concerning these subjects, have laboriously endeavoured to supply the deficiency by the fertility of their invention and the diligence of their labours; others, on the contrary, have, under the influence of the same dissatisfaction, determined that these revealed declarations are not true, or not true in the natural and proper sense of the expressions, and have therefore sedulously applied themselves to find out some other sense in which they might be true, according to their apprehensions. Both have, in my opinion, acted unhappily, and in a manner contrary to the prescription in the text, to true wisdom, and to the real interest and duty of man. That Christ is God, the true God, the mighty God, Jehovah, I am,—is true; because he who cannot deceive nor be deceived has said so. For the same reason, it is true that he possesses all these attributes; that he has done and will do all these actions; and that he is therefore to be thus worshipped and honoured. At the same time, it is equally true that he is distinct as a Son from the Father; as the person speaking from the person spoken to; and as the messenger from Him that sent him. All these things are certain, because God has revealed them; and they will stand immutably and eternally on the basis of the divine veracity. "For the truth of the Lord endureth for ever." The one class of these disputants have laboured in vain to shake these truths, and the other fruitlessly endeavoured to extend the knowledge of mankind, by adding to them inventions and opinions of their own. In spite of both, the doctrines, as they are revealed, have hitherto stood in the great body of Christian churches from the beginning, and will continue to stand. In this manner we are bound to receive them, viz. just as they are revealed. It is further declared in the Scriptures, that "Except a man "be born again, born of the Spirit, born of God, he cannot see "the kingdom of God." It is said also that he must be "created 66 anew in righteousness and true holiness." It is therefore certain, that unless we are born again, born of the Spirit, born of God, and created anew in righteousness and true holiness, we cannot see the kingdom of Gol. In other words, unless a change be made in our original moral character, such and so great as to be naturally and justly designated by such phrases as being born |