presented to man; 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 ;—it will follow, that the spiritual and divine wisdom which such a revelation must contain within 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 Biblical 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 Israelitish 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 selected; 1. The miraculous capture of Jericho ; (Josh. vi.) 2. Jephthah and his vow; (Judges xi.) David and Goliath; (I Sam. xvii.) 4. attending the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. the light which results from the application 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 Nazarite: (Numb. vi.) 4. Baptism and the Lord's Supper; which were instituted under the Christian Dispensation as an Epitome of the whole Ceremonial Law.

3. The combat of The circumstances IV. Examples of of the Rule to the

HAVING, in our last Lecture, endeavoured to shew what the truly Divine Style of Writing must necessarily

be, and to evince that the Law of that Analogy which connects 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, worthy of a Divine Author; this will prove that they are composed in the Divine Style of Writing, and that they must have been given by a Plenary Divine Inspiration. The theorem which we meant to propose may perhaps be more distinctly stated thus: A Divine Composition must be written in a peculiar Divine Style: The Divine Style must follow the Law of that Analogy, which, as was before proved, connects natural 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 inspiration, 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.

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 reason 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 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, which nothing but inspiration could have imparted to the writer. Our inference, then, remains unimpeachable; 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 spiritual, 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.

the

I. In our last Lecture, we endeavoured to give some idea of the mode of applying the rule of spiritual Analogy to the decyphering of the prophetical parts of the Scrip

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 character 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; whereas the analogies which we would point out, being between outward forms and inward essences,-between things essentially different, and yet so connected that the lower absolutely 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 consistently 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