11.  a!                       
* I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
















BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION.








A
BRIE F TREATISE
ON THE
CANON AND INTERPRETATION
OF THE
H OLY  SCRIP TUR E S:
FOR THE SPECIAL BENEFIT O;0
JUNIOR THEOLOGICAL STUDENTS:
BUT INTENDED ALSO FOR PRIVATE CHRISTIANS IN GENERAL.
BY ALEX., McCLELLAND,
PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL LITERATIURE IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
AT NEW BRUNSWIC::
heconuK ~britionf,  ~ cargeW
NEW  YORK:
ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS, 285 BROADWAY.
1850.








CON T ENTS.
PAGE
PREFACE                                                iX. 
INTRODUCTION.
PART  I.
GENUINENESS AND CANONICAL AUTHORITY OF THE SCRIPTURES.
CHAPTER  I.
Genuineness and Canonical Authority of the New Testament   29
CHAPTER II.
Genuineness and Canonical Authority of the Old Testament   61
PART IIT. 
HERMENEUTICS, OR THE INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
Definitions...          ~...            91
MAXIM I.
The object of interpretation is to give the precise thoughts
which the sacred writer intended to express..   93
1




vi                      CONTENTS.
MAXIM II.
The method of interpreting Scripture must be the same
which we employ in explaining any other book.   97
MAXIM III.
The senseof Scripture is (in general) ONE; in other words,
we are not to assign many meanings to a passage.   99
MAXIM IV.
The interpretation of Scripture requires suitable preparation   102
SPECIAL RULES.
RULE I.
Carefully investigate what is called the "Usus Loquendi;"
or the meaning which custom and common usage attach
to expressions.. 109
RULE II,
IExamine the parallel passages.....                115
RULE III.
Tile consideration of the Author's scope greatly facilitates
interpretation.....             122
RULE IV.
Examine the context.                                         126
AiULE V.
We must know the character, age, sect, and other peculiarities of the writer.137
RULE VI.
Let there be a constant appeal to the tribunal of common
sense.....                 143




CONTENTS.                          Vii
RULE VII.
Study attentively the tropes and figures of the Sacred Scriptures.154
RULE VIII.
Attend to Hebrew and Hebraistic idioms....  180
RULE IX.
Much of Scripture being Prophetical, we should acquaint
ourselves with the nature and laws of that kind of
composition.                                         189
RULE X.
Allow no interpretation, that will cast a shade of doubt over
the perfect purity of our Lord's teachings, or those of his
Apostles........  213
RULE XI.
We must endavor to obtain reasonable certainty, that the
printed text gives the true reading of our book; and
for this purpose, must study and apply the art of
Criticism........  227








THE following work was drawn up with exclusive refer
THE following wol-k was drawn up with exclusive refers
ence to the wants of the Junior Class in the Theological
Seminary with which the author is connected, and was
intended as a general introduction to the subject of which
it treats.  His design in publishing it, is to spare the young
gentlemen some weary hours in writing imperfect and erroneous transcripts, while he thinks that it may be useful to
others in their situation.
He has attempted to exhibit the subject he has undertaken to discuss, in a form so popular and devoid of technicality, that the student fresh from a literary institution can
comprehend the whole in a few sittings, and make an immediate use of it in reading the Scriptures.
Part I. treats of their genuineness and canonical authority. That some preparation of this kind is proper and
necessary, before entering on the study of them, will not
be questioned.  Every man, when he takes up a volume,
should know  with some degree of certainty —what it




X'                    PREFACE.
is, by whom written, and with what measure of authority
it addresses him. If this be true generally, how especially
important in reference to a volume making such lofty claims
as the Old and New Testaments! Our discussion of the
subject is necessarily brief, but it will furnish the student
with useful general ideas, on which he may at a future time,
build a more complete and extensive edifice. On one point
we may be thought needlessly diffuse, viz., the allegation of
testimonies. But it was desirable to make a full and fair
impression on the mind; and this could only be done, by
spreading before it a considerable mass of authorities, in the
very words of the writers. This has unavoidably given a
dry and unpopular cast to the discussion: but we did not
undertake to write a novel.
Part II. contains the principles and rules of interpretation. We have here also aimed at brevity, and condensation; but have not forgotten the necessity of guarding
against obscurity, by appropriate illustrations.  Young
minds are not successfully addressed by dry apothegms and
abstractions.  Cases must be adduced, to give the lessons
imparted-hue and coloring, and the form of composition
should be that of continued argument, both to satisfy the
understanding and impress the memory. Whether a happy
selection of examples has been made, others must pronounce-not the author: they are, for the most part, such
as occurred at the time of writing. With regard to the




PREFACE.                      Xi
originality of the work, lofty pretensions to new discovery
on so beaten a topic as the meaning of Scripture, would
be extremely silly, and prove that the work is, in reality,
worthless. Yet the intelligent reader will perceive, that I
endeavor to do my own thinking on the different pointsasking for the old paths, without surrendering private
judgment, or anxiously keeping my wheel in another man's
rut.
I have only to add, that there are scarcely three pages in
the whole volume, so exclusively addressed to theological
students, that the unlearned reader can derive no advantage
from them. It is hoped therefore, that private Christians
will not find their money thrown away in purchasing it. To
them as well as to the ministry, our blessed Lord addresses
the command, "Search the Scriptures;" and the manner of
their performing the duty, will be a solemn item in the account which they must render.
The first edition of this work was exhausted long before
the author determined on publishing a second. But he
found so much relief by the use of it, from the intolerable
drudgery connected with imparting orally to young men
elementary information, that its continued use became
almost neccessary. The present edition is greatly enlarged.
But our worthy publisher assures us, that he will not
greatly enlarge the price.








INTRODUC TION.
WE are about to exhibit, in brief compass, evidence
of the canonical authority of Holy Scripture, and rules
by which the Christian student should be guided in
the study of its contents. Before entering on the discussion, we are desirous of saying a few words, on the
deep responsibility which those whom  we specially
address, are under, in relation to this matter.  Mere
rules, however clearly laid down and- faithifully written
on the tablets of memory, will be oi:iti't:e avail, unless
accompanied with  earnest, vigorous, darnd  untiring
labor in reducing theml to practice." Allow us, then,
young brethren, to speak on this poiiit- withh  fraltiness
and Christian affection. As candidates for the sac:ped
office, you have a duty to perform to the word of God-,
which requires the devotion of your best faculties, the
consecration of all your time, and a fixedness of purpose which nothing cane relax.  If you doubt it, look
at the natutre of that office!
Perhaps Christianity is in nothing more strikingly
distinguished fonom  other religions, than in the func1




to       IINTRODUCTION.
tion and duties assigned to its ministers.  The priests
of heathenism, never dared to come out among the
people, as simple promulgers of truth. Indeed they
could not well give what was not in their possession,
and this they knew. Not a philosopher of the porch
or academy, laughed more heartily than themselves,
at the ridiculous impostures they were daily practising
on their votaries! What their system  wanted in
solidity, however, they made up in formn, and if it
could not speak to the understanding, it should at
least dazzle the senses, and captivate the imagination.  Hence those -magnificent structures, whose
broken fragments are still the world's admiration, in
whose sacred shrines were encased the wonderful
achievements of statuary-the all but breathing Gods
of stone, which modern virtuosos still worship with
little short of heathen idolatry. Hence the expensive
sacrificial rites by which these marble gods were propitiated, the pompous festivals and processions, the
magnificent exhibitions of poetry, dance, and song,
which in their origin were purely religious, and never
entirely lost the character of worship rendered to the
Deity. Hence the famous mysteries, in the celebration of which everything was combined to awe-to
fascinate-to bind in the chains of an abject superstition, the man who yielded himself to their bewitchmentso
But far different is the spell, which our holy religion
of light and love casts on the human. faculties! PIe



INTRODUCTION.                 11
judice itself cannot deny, that whether its principles
be true or false, they, belong to a system magnificently
intellectual.  Far, indeed, are we firom supposing, that
its exclusive aim  is to rectify speculative error: Its
astonishing power over the heart, is a fact conceded
by all. But we mean to say, that this control it exercises, through the previous mastery it has obtained
over the understanding-the conscience-the unsophisticated sense of right and wrong. It calls to deep
thoughts-grave discourse, soul-stirring contemplations. The' themes which it brings before the mind,
are so magnificent and enchained with infinity itself,
that the sublimest intellect is lost, before it has entered
on their investigation; and yet so congenial to reason,
that what we do comprehend, appear almost selfevident propositions.
It tells concerning a pure Almighty Spirit, who, by
a simple act of will, called into being the heavens and
the earth.  It imparts the most interesting details
concerning his providential government, informs us of
our primitive condition, and gives the most simple and
beautiful solution of the great problem which has
confounded the acutest minds, "whence come evils
upon men."  It tells us, when, and where; the first
notice was given of that plan of mercy, into which
angels are looking with growing wonder and delight.
It relates with accuracy the preparatory measures for
its execution, unfolding his mysterious dealings for
more than a thousand years with that singular people,




12               rMINTRODUCTION.
whom  he had  selected to be the depository of
prophecy and promise, till the advent of hint, in whom
all families of the earth should be blessed.  Thus far,
we are only in the holy place of the temple —and now
the veil is rent in twain, which concealed the glories
of the inner house, allowing us to behold the tr'ue ark
and the living personal Shechinah, "God manifested
in the flesh;" who, after he had purged our sins,
ascended on high, and sat down at the right hand of
the heavenly majesty!
In exact correspondence with so thoughtful and
suggestive a religion, is the work of its official minister. He is not a master of ceremonies, presiding over
a splendid ritual, which fills the eye, but leaves an
aching void in the heart.  He is, by divine institution,
a teacher; and in the simple, naked grandeur of this
character, he stands before the people. A  volume
has been put into his hands of rich and various contents, nay, absolutely teeming with matter  and at
the peril of his soul, he must spread it out in its iwhole
length and breadth before his hearers.  The principle
on which he must act, is this simple and obvious one,
and there is nothing in his commission which lie may
deliberately overlook.  He is not at liberty here.
Some parts of duty may perhaps be omitted without
subjecting himn to the brand of gross unfaithfulness.
But if he neglects to expound the sacred volume, if he
show no anxiety to form among his people, habits of




INTRODUCTION.                 13
carefully reading and inwardly digesting it, he may
well tremble at the thought of rendering an account.
Labor then-labor, is heaven's first law of preparation for the gospel ministry. We have seen, that
the Bible, though a popular, and in many respects an
easy book, presents serious difficulties to him  who
would become master of its treasures. Both its great
divisions, are written in languages, which have long
ceased to be vernacular. The people who spoke them,
were distinguished by remarkable  peculiarities *of
opinion, habits, laws, which influenced greatly their
modes of expression. Besides therefore, possessing a
knowledge of Hebrew  and Greek, one must be well
acquainted with Jewish and classical antiquities, including chronology, geography, civil and religious history. Yet, even this is but preliminary.  Now comes
the actual tug: the reading of verse after verse with
the accurate settling of every philological question that
arises, by aid of the dictionary and goramlnar; the examining of scope, context, parallelism, idiom  and
tropical diction; the comparing our own results with
those of somlejudicious commentator; and the careful
gathering up of the great truths, whether doctrinal or
practical, contained in every paragraph.  These.-are
the gymnastics, by which the young Christian athlete
learns to endure hardness, and becomes a skilful and
gallant soldier in the service of his master! Do you
coniplain of the arrangement? Then ask the Lord
Jesus Christ, why he ordained it; why it was not




14              INTRODUCTION.
enough to tread the "dolorous way" in his own per,son, without imposing vigils and self-denials on his
followers? Tell him plainly, that while you like his
wages, you dislike the labor; and wish to share his
kingdom without companionship in his patience and
tribulation.  Does your cheek imantle with shamne at
the suggestion?  Then be silent young man —and to
your work!! It is quite honor enough for the disciple
to be as his master, and the servant as his Lord.
But some one asks, in a tone half-apologetical,
whether, after all, much of the trouble we have spoken
of may not be spared?  Are we not blessed with
"' king James' admirable translation of the Bible," and
with most judicious commentators, in whom are reposited as much criticism and literary information, as
are necessary to a right understanding it? Why, as
the fountain is so difficult of access, not content ourselves with these delectable pipes at our very door?
We confess, that language like this, when heard, (as
it sometimes is) ruffles our good humor.  God, in
his infinite kindness to men, has preserved for them
an ample revelation of his will, by a series of dispensations falling little short of miracle. He has set apart
an order of men to be its official expounders, and the
church is generously sustaining the institution by its
munificent provision for the gratuitous education of
candidates in all stages of their progress, and when
they have entered on their work, by relieving them
fiom evely worldly care and avocation, that they may




INTRODUCTION.                 15
give themselves wholly to it, and their profiting may
appear to all men. Yet the question is seriously asked,
whether a practical acquaintance with these lively
oracles in their proper dialects, should be anxiously
cultivated by the Christian minister!
We blush to think in how many respects, the children of the world are wiser than the children of light.
The merchant's clerk, if his interest point that way,
will sit down and master French, Spanish and German, without heaving a sigh. The gentleman who
intends to travel a few years in the East, grudges no
pains to make himself acquainted with Turkish, Arabic, or Lingua Franca. Even the gill scarcely in her
teens, wearied ofthrumming on her guitar to the harsh
strains of her native English, determines, and carries
the purpose through in a way that might astonislh
many a grave student of the other sex, to achieve,
conquest over the] sweetly-flowing Italian.  But the
professed interpreter of God's holy word, the legate of
the skies, is so astounded at the thought of learning
effectively a pair of languages-than either of which,
a finer never vibrated on the human ear, that he prefers to live and die, just able to spell the letters of his
commission!
With regard to our English translation, much as
we admire that noble monument of "' English pure
and undefiled,'" vhich will last probably as long as
the world; we say to those who quote it in the present
argument, that it is an exceedingly imperfect repre



16                INTRODUCTIONI
sentation of the original.  The venerable men who
formed it, were not profoundly versed in either Greek
or Hebrew, though their attainiments were eminent
for the day in which they lived; and accordingly,
there are not a few instances in every page, where
the sense is not injured merely, but entirely lost.
Even where the signification of words is given properly, the transitive and connecting particles which
show  the relation of the different members of a
thought, have secondary meanings, so. entirely different from those of the corresponding particles in English, that a literal version is often nothing better than
a mere travesty of the original. Take St. Paul for
an example.  It is quite impossible for a mere English
reader to peruse his argumentative epistles, without
feeling tempted to suspect, that there may be a grain
of truth in the profane renmark of Dr. Priestly, that
his premises are not always sound, nor his conclusions
logical.  His reverence for inspiration, will not allow
him  to say so in express wvords. But if asked the
question, he will acknowledge his great surprise at
the little profit which he receives, froom  the decidedly
most intellectual writer of the Christian school.
Now where in this doubt and darkness shall the
interpreter go?  To expositors?  But expositors often
differ; and who shall decide when doctors disagree?
The value of this class of authors to the unlearned
reader, and to the learned also, if properly used, we
are far from denying.  But not one is to bIe ahsolutely




INTRODUCTION.                17
trusted. To none, does the remark of Mr. Locke
that "every man has a secret flaw in his cranium,
producing some extravagancy in opinion or action,
which in that particular renders him fitter for Bedlam
than ordinary conversation," apply with more force
than to commentators. The best has not only faults,
but fiequently under the influence of sectarian bias or
mental idiosyncracy, fall into perfect absurdity.  He
only therefore uses them with safety, who can compare them together, and exercise an eclectic judgment
of his own. Pitiable, most pitiable, is the condition of
that professed teacher of Christianity, the only source
of illumination to whose darkened mind, are the contradictory opinions of men-who has not the shadow
of a reason for his preference of one above another,
except that it is more agreeable to the Shibboleth of
his sect!
Can a creature thus lame, blind, and shackled, the
passive recipient of whatever the adopted lord of his
understanding and conscience may choose to impose
upon him, be called an authoritative (we grant the
" authorized ") expounder of divine truth? Impossible! and no one is more fully convinced of it than
the man himself. He may not run to the house-top
and proclaim  it: for this would greatly lower his
estimation with the people, and probably something
else. He may even join in the senseless clamor against
a learned ministry. But he feels nevertheless, that he
labors under a dreadful incompetency, that he is a




18             INTRODUCTION.
blind leader of the blind, right only by chance, and
without even enjoying the happiness of knowing it;
that the noblest part of him, his understanding, is
prostrate before a miserable creature as blind perhaps
as himself, whom he often suspects, but always follows-with the servility of a dog, not daring to move
a hand-breadth from his track. In a word, he cannot
help despising himself, and takes refuge probably fiom
the shame of his own thoughts, in the entire neglect
of scriptural inquiries-limiting his ambition to ringing peals from Sabbath to Sabbath, on a few topics of
general exhortation!
These remarks may be thought more applicable to
those already in the sacred office, than persons who
are in a course of preparation. But it is not so.
Though the evil is developed in the ministry, its birthplace and cradle are our seminaries of learning. Hele,
those habits are formed both for good and evil, which
mould the character beyond the reach of change, except by the sovereign grace of God. We fear that
they are often formed badly; and that many of our
young candidates for the ministry need the application
of a little stimulus to their reason and conscience.
The general sincerity of their purpose to serve God
faithfully inl the Gospel of his Son, we do not intend
here to question. But that they are far from being
awake to the necessity of vigorous and untiring effort,
in making biblical preparation for their work, is too
evident:. They entered the Theological seminary,




rNTRODUCTrIoN.                19
perhaps, full of life and ardor. But alas! in one
short month,  a chilling frost came over them, nipping
the tender buds of promise, and infusing a deadly torpor through all their faculties. They became fatigued
— alarmed-and  are  evidently  disappointed  men.
They seem to have expected, that after passing
through the strait gate of conversion, they should
be put on a road strewed with flowers, bordered with
groves of citron —and couches of ease at every turn,
inviting the traveller to sweet repose.'Tis hard, they
think —passing hard, that gentlemen of talent and
piety, so devoted to the great work of converting siln
ners, that if the church permitted it, they would gladly
mount the pulpit at once, should be treated almost as
harshly as a galley-slave at the oar; condemned to
disinter a thousand Hebrew roots, analyze a legion of
Hellenistic idioms, pore over Latin, Greek, Oriental
Antiquities; and be told that when all this is accomplished, preparation for their work may be considered
fairly begun!
The effect of such reflections is apparent.  They
have become listless, inert, melancholy.  Study does
not agree with their constitution; producing dyspepsia, palpitations of the heart,'incipient bronchitis,"
and a determination of blood to the head. A hundred
times in the day they exclaim, what a weariness is it!
and gladly seek relief in dull vacuity of thought, idle
miscellaneous reading, or talking pretty nothings in
a lady's parlor.  Perhaps to make time pass less




-?0               >~%n~o~aINt RODUCTION,
heavily, they offer their preaching services to a neighboring  prayer-meeting, where the plaudits rleceived,
give precious omen of more extensive triumphs, and
prove, that genius like theirs, may safely despise the
uncouth  adornments of Greek and Hebrew.  Many
of them  deem   the irksome season  of probation, an
admirable time for securing that best of earthly blessings —a good  wife; and  thus, a business in which
the wisest man is apt to play the fool, they contrive to
despatch, at the  period  when  every faculty, every
affection of. their being, should be engrossed by the
one great object which  has received their consecration!  This impatience of labor, this morbid desire to
engage in an enterprise without submitting to wholesome preparatory discipline, this voluptuous effeminacy
of character, is a blight and a curse on all our seminaries of learning.':
All, are not thus.    We attest it with pleasure, and
even fully believe, that could a census be taken, the
* Yet the evil is attributable far more to our literary institutions,
than to the young men themselves.  The truth is, they have had
no opportunity of obtaining suitable preparation, or forming  proper
habits: We speak at present of the study of languages.  They are
sent to schools, whose reputation has been established by the
magical rapidity with which they turn out finished scholars to the
various colleges in their neighborhood; and when in college, they
admirably succeed in losing the scanty modicum  which they
acquired in school. The writer has heard scores of iingeluous youth
confess with bitter regret, that their' whole course in Alma Mater
was a regular business of fobgetting the little Greek they had previously acquired,




INTRODUCTION.                21
class described above, would be found in a decided
rminority. There are many, however, who cherish an
honest wish and purpose to do their duty, yet are not
a little daunted by the prospect before them. It seems
to stretch out into immensity! Is adequate preparation, they ask, feasible? Are they capable of attaining by conscientious exertion, such a real acquaintance
with the languages and literature of Scripture, that on
their entering the ministry and applying to the work
of exposition, the painful thoughtwill not obtrude, that
they have been laboring to no valuable purpose?
Assuming, that those who put the question, commence
their theological course, possessing that amount of
learning which ought to be obtained in a literary college, we answer, Yes  With the ordinary blessing of
HIim, whose you are, and whomr you serve, it depends
entirely on. yoerselves.  We do not affect to conceal
the difficulties which are in the way. The elementary
exercises of learning the grammar and vocabulary of
a strange language, of impressing on the melnory the
genders, cases, and other accidents of nouns, of hunting verbs through all the mazes of conjugation, we admit., were not exactly the form, in which Satan presented the temptation to aspire after knowledge in
Paradise.  But what then?  Would you  expect
young men to he placed above the universal law of
heaven, that every thingf truly valuable, is purchased
by strenuous exertion?
Far however be the thought, that Preparation is in




'22              INTRODUCTION.
all its stages a painful drudgery. Only let the student
sit down, and make a fair trial: he will be astonished
to find how soon light rises out of darkness, and the
impediments which seemed insurmountable disappear,
until his path becomes agreeable, and even delightful.
The forms of words, with their significations, gradually rivet themselves in his imemory, so that be can
recall them with ease and pleasure.  His dictionary
enjoys longer intervals of rest; the beauties of thought
and expression begin to show themselves, like modest
daisies in spring-and what a blessed rapture pours
its tide through his soul, when he discovers that he can
draw the water of salvation directly fiom the limpid fountain, and with his own hand pluck the healing leaves
fiom the tree of life! Then his work goes on pleasantly indeed!  A  field  of delightful employment
stretches before him-a garden of the Lord, lovelier
than Eden ever was, which he cultivates without pain,
whose fruit he gathers without fatigue, while the God
who placed him there, walks amid the foliage, and converses with him face to face.
This is no fancy sketch.  Those who have gone
through the process, will certify to the truth of every
word, and say that after a certain stage of progress,
the critical reading of Holy Scripture became one of
the most pleasant occupations of their life. Witness
the beautiful recital of the learned and pious Bishop
Horne of his state of mind, while preparing his Commentary on the Psalms.-" Could the author flatter




INTRODUCTION.               23
himself," he says "that any one would take half the
pleasure in reading the following exposition, which he
has taken in writing it, he would not fear the loss of
his labor.  The employment detached him from the
bustle and hurry of life, the din of politics, and noise
of folly. Vanity and vexation flew away for a season,
care and disquietude came not near his dwelling. He
arose fresh as the morning to his task, the silence of
night invited him to pursue it, and he can truly say
that food and rest were not preferred before it. Happier hours than those which have been spent on these
meditations on the songs of Zion, he never expects to
see in this world. Very pleasantly did they pass, and
moved smoothly and swiftly along; for when thus engaged he counted no time, They are gone, but have
left a relish and fragrance on the mind, and the remembrance of them is sweet."  Will you not feel encouraged, young friends and brethren, by this experience of the venerable bishop, to enter on your work
like men? Away with despondency and forebodings
of defeat. Away with that ingenuity, which, bribed
by indolence, sees monsters and lions in the way.
Listen not to those evil spies, those lazy, worthless
cowards, who would tell you that the good land which
flows with milk and honey, is beset with giants, sons
of Anak; that the Amalekites dwell in the south,
Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites, in the mountains,
the Ca.naanites by the sea; and that you cannot go
against this people! Hear them not, but say in the




24              INTRODUCTION.
strength of the Lord, and your own firm purpose, " Let
us go up to possess it, for we are fully able to overcome them."  You will not be uttering a vain boast.
Victory is certain, and when it comes, you will be more
than recompensed for all your toils.
Pardon us, if we dwell a moment longer on this subject, and remind you what the recompense will be.
Are you anxious that one day you may cover with
confusion the bold infidel, who defies the armies of the
living Nod, and by calm convincing demonstrations,
which shall come home to the honest understandings
of men, show the groundlessness of his objections?
This, you will be able to do, by displaying the truth,
beauty and moral dignity of that blessed volume
against which his violence is directed-in order to
which, you must have studied it.  Without study,
you will scarcely be able to avert the baneful influence
of scepticism firom your own soul, much less build your
hearers on their most holy faith. Do you wish to become vivid, interesting, various preachers, who make
their hearers feel the commanding energy of truth,
and whom they never tire of hearing, as every sermon
blrings forlth new evidences of apostleship? Study your
Bible! There, you will find inexhaustible resources of
pleasing, impressing, profiting. Prepare yourselves for
expounding the word of God, firom Sabbath to Sabbath.
Prepare yourselves for bringing before the people,
Moses and the Prophets, Christ and his Apostles, to
unfold its instructive histories, analyze its charming




INTRODUCTION.                 25
parables, disentangle and develop its sublime reasonings. If such be the character of your exhibitions, we
venture to promise you imnnunity against one sore evil
under the sun —that of being waited on by a church
session or consistory, in the second year of your
labors, and affectionately informed, that there is no
farther call for your services.
Do you wish to be eminently successful in winning
souls to Christ? Study THE BOOK. This, is the twoedged sword, that pierces to the dividing asunder of
soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 5Machinery
has been invented, which, worked by skilful hands,
can furnish to order a greater number of nominal
converts, manufactured in a given period; but "the
trutlh" alone, nmakes children of God and heirs of immortality!
Have you regard to personal comfort and enjoyment?  What an inexhaustible source of amusement
— yes, amusement, high and holy as that of angels,
will you possess, when you have acquired the taste,
skill, and habit, of reading in its originals, the holy
Word. To this mount you will be able to retire at
any:imoment, like the pious Horne, fomn the cares and
turmoils of life, and see more than the three disciDles
saw, on the hallowed summit of Tabor.  When
afflicted and almost repining at the ways of Heaven,
let your old JHebrew  Bible introduce you to the bedside of venerable Job, with whom and his friends, you




26            INTRODUCTION.
may speculate on the mysteries of Providence, until
convicted of your folly, you join with him in his humble acknowledgment, " I have uttered what I understood not, things too wonderful which I knew not!"
Are you suffering under hypochondriac depression?
you may order the sweet singer of Israel to strike his
lyre: If its music does not expel the evil spirit, as it
did firom Saul, your case is indeed melancholy.
But the study we recommend, will be far more
than an occasional solace. The preparation of a
series of expository remarks on an important portion
of Scripture, which he knows his people look for on
the ensuing Sabbath, furnishes to a pastor a delightful
regular employment, that rouses the faculties, gives
elasticity to every muscle, fillips the blood, and is
more conducive to health than all the medicine of the
dispensatory. We are not ignorant, that mental application is considered by many unfavorable to a good
condition of the physical system, and that by this supposed fact, they explain the meagre and hectic looks
of clergymen.  Nothing  is more absurd.  Look
through the world, and you will find no class of men
more vigorous and long-lived than active thinkers.
The truth is, clergymen do not study enough. That
they sit much, and are more sequestered fiom the hunl
and tumult of society than members of other professions, is fully granted. But sitting is not studying,
nor are we willing to bestow this respectable name on
the mechanical operation of transposing a few stale




INTRODUCTION.                27
thoughts, repeated a thousand times, on certain common-places of Didactic Theology. What the ministry need, is an employment bringing them in contact
with a succession of new as well as interesting objects, which will produce an agreeable tension of the
faculties, never wearying, or followed by reaction, because sustained by a constant and pleasing variety.
Such, you will find to be the regular study and exposition of sacred Scripture. It will do thee good like a
medicine, and be " marrow to thy bones."
In view of all these motives, we pray you, as a
friend and brother, as one who every day looks back
with regret to his own misimprovement of youthful
privileges, to exert untiring diligence in biblical preparation for your work. Systems of human concoction have their use: but they are of secondary importance. As such, must you view them. You must
get close up to the pure c;rystal fountain, that issues
from the heavenly throne. There, you must dwell;
thence must you draw, for your own souls, and the
souls of those committed to your charge.' Blessed is
the servant, who, when the Master comes, shall be
found so doing."








PART I.
GENUINENESS AND CANONICAL AUTHORITY OF
THE SCRIPTURES,
CHAPTER I.
OF THE NEWT TESTAMENT.
THE divine Author of our religion, intending that
it should be a perpetual blessing to the human race,
among other provisions for accomplishing his purpose,
took care that it should be committed to writing. Had
this not been done, the most fatal consequences would
have ensued. It is absurd to.suppose, that oral tradition could preserve so great a numrber of doctrines
and facts as Christianity is made up of, in their original integrity. They would have been lost, or disguised and altered; and nothing but an interposition
like that which raised Lazarus from the grave, would
have saved our holy and beautiful temple fi'om being
utterly desecrated, and perhaps (as the Catholic experiment has proved) made the cage of every hateful




30               CANON OF THE
and unclean bird. It was therefore essential, that the
great objects of faith should be recorded on enduring
tablets, accessible to all mankind.  The scattered
rays of truth thus became collected into a focus, and
religion received that fixed and unchangeable character, which became a revelation from God.
To this, and this alone, it. owes its continued exists
ence. It survived  the furious assaults of Pagan
Rome; which crushed the persons of its disciples, but
was utterly foiled in the attempt, to exterminate its
writings. The volume of volumes continued to circulate.  It entered the hovel and the palace, it stole
into the camp, it might be found stowed away under
the senatorial robe; and history tells us, that long
before the time of Constantine-while Paganism sat
enthroned without even thinking of a rival, it had
forced its way into the imperial palace.  It is this, too,
which gives our religion that wonderful power of
reproduction, by which it can emerge to light and liberty, after ages of declension. When the mighty
man of Wirternberg, with his fiiends and coadjutors,
undertook to purify the church firom those corruptions,
which she had suffered so long, that the knowledge of
a better state had passed away from the memory of
man-all necessary to be done, was the emancipation
of the written word.  The moment an appeal was
made to its decisions, and men learned to compare
them with the sad realities that surrounded themPopery received a wound, which, though not irame,




NEW TESTAMENT,                31
diately fatal, doomed it to a lingering decay, and certain death, when the purposes of God shall be completed.
It is called by various names; which we pass over,
to consider that which more immediately concerns the
present discussion.
DEFINITION OF THE WCORDS " CANON"n AND; CANONICAL.?
The word " Canon," is derived fiom the Greek KaoI,
-which properly denotes the beam of a balance, and
also a rule by which anything is tried and determined. At an early period, it was employed to signify a
catalogue of articles belonging to the church; all
questions of property being decided by an appeal to
such catalogues. Soon, it became yet more restricted
in its meaning; being applied almost exclusively, to
a publicly approved catalogue of the books which
were received by Christians, as the productions of
inspired men. "' They fall into great absurdities," says
Chrysostom, " who will not follow the Canon of Scripture, but trust to their own reasoning."  " Only in the
Canonical writings," says Athanasius, " is the instruction which blesses imparted; they only are the fountains of saving knowledge."
It will be proper to define, with a little more precision, the ideas attached by the Christian Fathers to
this word, and the kind of writing to which it was
appliedo




32               CANON OF THE
In the first place, they required that a book be the
production of an Apostle, or Apostolic man. To Apostles only, did our Lord promise the Spirit of revelation. As to Mark and Luke, who were not of the
number-the former was the kinsman and pupil of
Peter, who communicated all the facts recorded in his
Gospel. Luke was the friend and associate of Paul,
who exercised over him an inspection like that which
Peter exercised over Mark.  They were therefore
from the earliest period recognized as men " apostolical," and their works universally received as part of
the Canon.
The second distinction of a canonical book, was its
being publicly read in the assemblies of the faithful.
This was done in imitation of the Jews; whose synagogue worship mainly consisted in reciting portions of
their Scriptures, to which they gave the name of " Paraschoth" and " Haplhtaroth."  The meanest Christian,
thus became acquainted with the great truths of his
religion.  The names and number of the books, became as familar to all, as the names and number of
the members of their families, and the strongest safeguard that can be imagined, was provided against unauthentic productions.  Indeed  it seemed  hardly
possibles under such  circumstances, to  impose a
spurious composition..-The third peculiarity of these writings, was their
binlding authority as a rule of faith and practice.
This followed from the first, by necessary consequence:




NEbW'TESTAbMENT.               33
For if they were truly the productions of men to whom.
Christ had promised the inspiring Spirit, they could
not but express the will of the divine Being, without
any mixture of error.  Accordingly, they were universally appealed to as the fountains of all saving truth.
" Our assertions and discourses," says Origen, "are
unworthy of credit. We rnmust receive the Scripture as
witnesses."  "In all doubtful cases,'; says Cyprian,
w' e must go to the fountain.  If the truth has in any
way been shaken, recur to the Gospels, and apostolic
writings." Even the Arians appealed to this touchistone; arguing against the phrases used by the Orthodox concerning the Trinity, that they were not in the
Scriptures: and one of them thus addresses St. Augustine:  "If you say what is reasonable, I must submit.
If you allege anything from  the divine Scripture, I
must hear-but unscriptural expressions deserve no
regard."
These, are the ideas comprehended in the word
Canon, or Canonical writing; the first of which, is
doubtless the primary and fundamental one. Let the
fact be establis.hed, that the books of the New Testamnent proceeded fiom inspired and apostolic men, and it
is explained at once, why they were publicly read in the
churches, and regarded as the infallible rule of faith
and practice.




34                 A NON OF THE
STATEMENT OF THE QUESTIONo
These  preliminaries being. settled-the question
fairly presents itself:  1'ave we solid grounds for believing, that our books, as founed in the common
English Testamne7Tt, were written and published to
the world eighteent hundred years ago, by the venerated founders of Christianity to whonz they are
ascribed; or were they fabricated at a later period, by
some artful irnpostor?  We assert the first position;
and. deny the second.  We say, that there is an unbroken chain of evidence, comumencing  with contelmporary writers, and extending to the present timewriters, who enjoyed every opportunity of knowilg the
truth, and whose character for veracity is unimpeach-:able, that our volume is the work of nine primlitive
disciples of Christ, and has been always received as
the complete exponent of his system, whose decisions
are final on every pointy.
It is scarcely necessary to add to thle statement, and
yet it mlay prevent some confusion of ideas, that ourt
inquiry does not regard inmmediately the credibility
of the docunment, or its divine inspiration.  The persons whom  we address, are assnumled to  be —not
infidels-but young Christian disciples; who, entering
on the study of a volunme which professes to contain
the principles of their faith, are desirous of knowing
the grounds on which it rests its clairn —-of knowing, for




NEW  TESTAMENT.                35
instance, where it came fiom, by whom it was received,
and at how early a period. Whether Christianity in
its essential principles-viewed as a power, or germ of
a new moral life, came from God, we suppose to be settled; and now the question comes up, which we desire to aid them in answering, whether there is. anything in the parentage of this little volume, and the
_manner in which it has been received and treated in
all ages, which entitles it to address believers in the
system, with commanding authority as its interpreter.
In a word, our argument goes to show, that if they
acknowledge the divine mission of Jesus-this, is
their book.
The evidence, divides itself into-the testimony of
Christians themselves, or, as some choose to express
themselves, the "' Church;' which must be supposed
to know with perfect accuracy, what she received, friom
whom, and at what period: that of heretics, and Pagan infidels: and the internal marks of genuineness,
so wonderfully striking, that were the books drawn
from the bottom of a river and exposed to view for the
first time, a cultivated scholar would pronounce them,
confidently, to be the work of their alleged authors.
It would be quite impossible to discuss the whole'of
so rich a subject, in the few pages which we can devote to it. All proposed, therefore, is to furnish the
reader with some useful information on the first, and
principal topic, viz., the early and continued attestation
of the Christian Church. The omission, however, can




36               CANON OF TIHE
be justified only by the necessity referred to; for the
testimony of heretics and infidels is exceedingly valuable. Beside the concessions of Ebionites and Gnostics of every hue, none of whom with all their fantastic
mutilations, denied the genuineness of the writings:
we have the concessions of heathen enemies, as bitter
as any that appeared before the tribunal of Pilatewho, while they denied the truth of the New Testament, fully acknowledged its Apostolic origin. This
precious confession runs through all their discourses, and
it is a confession, that more than atones for the mischief
they wrought. It has changed their spiteful calumnies and curses into positive blessings, so that our
divine religion, which commands us 1" in every thing
to give thanks," is enabled to illustrate, in the imost reMnarkable way, its own precept-by thanking God for
a Porphyry, a Julian, and a Celsus. The internal
evidence, as we have already stated, is equally overwhelming.?No volume in the world, of the same age,
has half so much. No volume can advance such
proof of its being written at the time.and place alleged, and by the men whose name it bears —fiom its
peculiar language, style, and mode of thinking on
every subject; the minute circumstantiality of its narratives; the accuracy of its political, geographical, and
historical references; the air of truth, and reality that
pervades it; and the numberless fine coincidences between its different and most Twidely separated partsall found, on careful examination, to be in perfect har



NEWV TESTAMENT.                            37
mony with each other, and yet, such, as would never
be thought of by a forger, though Satan himself were
at his elbow.  In  short, it is inimitable-resembling
that fine, delicately-tinted paper, used for certain purposes, which is of such exquisite texture, that no skill,
even of the manufacturer himself can produce the like;
and the genuineness of which, the practiced  eye can
perceive at once, by simply holding it up to the sun.
These, with their kindred topics, we wave for the
reason  mentioned, and  proceed  to  our main  object;
premising, that nothing more must be looked for, than
a meager specimen of the evidence. The quotations
are  extracted  friom   the  immense  collection  of the
learned  and  accurate Lardner, with  a few  additions
from  his German continuators.
TESTIMONIES,/  &C.
It is unnecessary to follow the subject below the fourth century,
as the existence of our Canon at that time is perfectly established
and indisputable.  In stating the evidence, we take our position in
the fourth century, and ascend to the 1st, herein differing from Dr.
L.; because it is more natural to proceed from what is certain to
what is obscure, than in a contrary direction. The notices of the
* There is a fact relative to the Canon, which readers should be acquainted
with, before they enter on the examination of witnesses, that they may not experience a disagreeable shock. From very early times, a marked distinction was
made in the Christian Church, between those books which were universally
received as genuine, and others on which opinion was divided; in consequence of
their wanting the clear, commanding evidence, possessed by the former. They
were not proscribed, nor positively branded with the name of Apocrypha, but their




38                      CANON OF THE
very early (Apostolical) fathers are so imperfect, that they would
make little impression by themselves; but when the light of the
following ages is reflected on them, they become a highly satisfactory part of the evidence.
IV. CENTURY.
COUNCIL OF NICE, A. D. 325.
This famous Assembly is introduced here, not to give its testimony, but to acknowledge that it has none to give.  The notion
that the Nicene Synod fixed the Canon of Scripture or in any way
contributed to it by its deliberations and acts, is a pure fiction which
has found favor with some, because it seemed to countenance their
theory, that we have received the Canon of Scripture ftom  the
Church; and which infidels in their turn have seized upon to
bolster up their favorite maxim, that our present catalogue is not
the work of candid investigation, but ecclesiastical enactment.
There is not the least reason to believe that the subject ever
came before the Council; most certainly, it was never acted on.
The universal reception of certain books and exclusion of others,
was the result of honest conviction, founded on a careful examination of what had been handed down from  the wise of former
times.  Their genuineness was regarded as a historical fact, to be
claim was doubted, on the ground that they were rarely quoted by the more
ancient Fathers. The following books belong to this class: The epistles of James,
and Jude, the 2d of Peter, the 2d and 3d of John, the epistle to the Hebrews, and
Revelation. They were called the "Controverted" books (avrXteyo/seva), the
others being styled the " universally acknowledged" (co6toyo/ovtlErvt). That the
hesitation felt concerning them was without solid reasons, seems probable firom the
fact that it gave way to a thorough investigation; as no trace of the distinction, is
found after the fourth century. That it should exist before the scrutiny, was
perfectly natural, and proves the anxious care with which Christians guarded their
sacred catalogues against impure mixtures. There is no reason, therefore, why we
should feel uncomfortable, at discovering in some of the testimonies quoted, what
otherwise might be thought and called a "hiatus valde deflendus." This very
hiatus, silences one of the worst calumnies of infidelity.




NEW  TEST AMENT.                       39
proved exactly as the genuineness of other documents; and so they
did prove it, without fear of Synods and Synodical fulminations.
The fact, that a majority of the witnesses were of the clerical order,
is a mere circumstance, in no way affecting the nature of their testimony. They certify the universal reception, simply as individuals who have faithfully examined the subject; and their certificate would be quite as valuable, if every one of them had belonged to the laity.  Doubtless it would have been more so, as the
charge could& not be made in this case, of interested motives and
combination.
Those persons who talk of our receiving the Canion of Scripture
from the'" Church," in some mysterious way, as if'the genuineness
could not or ought not to be proved in the same manner with any
other fact in History, seem to forget very strangely, that a most
important part of the evidence is furnished by heretics and heathen
enemies, —by men, in short, whom the church disowns and abhors.
It may seem paradoxical to some, but it is perfectly true, that if the
Lord Jesus Christ had never instituted a visible community, called
a " church," on the earth, but had left his religion to operate by
the mere force of its principles on individual minds, the evidence
for the genuineness and apostolicity of the New Testament would
scarcely be in the least affected by it.
No less than ten Catalogues of the books of the New Testament
by writers of this age, have come down to us; all perfectly agreeing with our own, except that a few omit the Hebrews and Revelation.
AUGUSTINE-FLOURISHED A. D. 395.
After enumerating the books of the Old Testament, he proceeds
thus-'-' Of the New, there are the four books of the gospel-according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, John; fourteen epistles of the
Apostle Paul to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, Ephesians, Phillipians, two to the Thessalonians, to the Colossians, two to Timothy, to Titus, Philemon, the Hebrews; two epistles of Peter, three of John, one of Jude, and one of James; the




40                   CANON OF THE
Acts of the Apostles in one book; and the Revelation of John in
one book. In these books, they who fear God seek his will."
" None can forbear observing," says Dr. Lardner, "how clean a
catalogue here is of the books of the New Testament."
ATHANASIUS, A. D. 326.
"The books of the New Testament are these-thefour Gospels
according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Then after them the
Acts of the Apostles, and the seven epistles of the Apostles, called
Catholic; of James, one, Peter, two, John, three, Jude, one. Besides these, there are the fourteen epistles of the Apostle Paul, the
order of which is thus: the first, to the Romans, then, two to the
Corinthians, that to the Galatians, the next, to the Ephesians, then,
to the Phillipians, to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, the
epistle to the Hebrews, two to Timothy, to Titus one, the last to
Philemon, and again the Revelation of John. These are the fountains of salvation, that he who thirsts may be satisfied with the
oracles contained in them: in these alone, the doctrine of religion
is taught: let no man add to them or take any thing from them."
In his writings, he quotes all our books.
JEROME, A. D. 322.
He names and describes all the writers of the New Testament.
" The first are Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, the chariot of the Lord,
and the true cherubim, who go wherever the spirit leads them.
The Apostle Paul writes to seven churches; for the eighth, that
of the Hebrews, by many is not reckoned among them. He likewise instructs Timothy and Titus, and intercedes with Philemon for
a runaway servant. The Acts of the Apostles, another work of
Luke the Physician, whose praise is in the Gospel, contain the history of the infancy of the thurch. The apostles James, Peter, John,
Jude, write seven epistles, of few words, but full of sense: the
Revelation of John has as many mysteries as words."' Jerome
published a Latin translation of the New Testament containing
precisely our books.




NEW TESTAMENT.                        41
EUSEBIUS, A. D. 315.
"It will be proper to enumerate here in a summary way, the
books of the New Testament which have been already mentioned.
And in the first place, are to be ranked the sacred four Gospels:
then, the Acts of the Apostles: after that, the epistles of Paul. In
the next place, that, called the first epistle of John and the [first]
epistle of Peter are to be esteemed authentic. After these, is to
be placed, if it be thought fit, the Revelation of John, about which
we shall observe the different opinions at a proper season. Of the
controverted, but yet well known or approved by the most, are that
called the epistle of James, and that of Jude, and the second of
Peter, and the second and third of John; whether they are written
by the evangelist, or another of the same name. Among the spurious, are to be placed the Acts of Paul, and the book entitled the
Shepherd, and the Revelation of Peter: and besides these that called
the epistle of Barnabas, and the book named the Doctrines of the
Apostles. And moreover, as I said, the Revelation of John, if it seem
meet, which some reject, others reckon among the books universally
received."
There is some obscurity in this statement which has given
trouble to critics, but the essential facts are clearly stated.
III. CENTURY.
Two formal catalogues have come down to us. But Dr. Lardner
quotesforty writers who give ample testimony to our present Canon.
CYPRIAN, A. D. 248.
He mentions the four Gospels by the names of their authors, comparing them  "to the four rivers of Paradise."  By them  the
"Church is watered, and her plants are enabled to bear fruit."
Dr. Lardner extracts from him at length quotations from Acts, Rom.
I. and IL. Cor. Gal. Eph. Phil. Col. Thess. Tim. Tzt.-in short,-all
Paul's epistles except the Hebrews. He also quotes 1st Peter and
1st John, and the Revelation often. There is not in Cyprian one
quotation from any apocryphal writer.
2%




42                   CANON OF THE
VICTORINUS, A. D. 290.
In his commentary on the Revelation, he speaks of the four Gospels thus —"The four living creatures (Rev. iv. 6,) are the four
Gospels.  These living creatures have different faces, which
have a meaning; for the living creature like a lion, denotes
Mark, in whom the voice of a lion roaring in the wilderness is
heard: " A voice crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of
the Lord." Matthew, who has the resemblance of a man, show sthe
family of Mary, from whom Christ took flesh. Luke, who relates
the priesthood of Zacharias offering sacrifice for the people, because
of the priesthood and the mention of the sacrifice, has the resemblance of a calf. The evangelist John, like an eagle with stretchedout wings mounting on high, speaks the Word of God.'
Dr. Lardner shows, that he must have read all Paul's epistles
except the Hebrews, of which he makes no mention. On tfhe
Revelation, he wrote a Commentary.
ORIGEN, A. D. 230.
"As I have learned by tradition concerning the four Gospels,
which alone are received without dispute by the whole church of God
under heaven. The first was written by Matthew, once a publican, afterwards an apostle of Jesus Christ. The second is that
according to Mark, who wrote it as Peter dictated it to him. The
third is that according to Luke, published for the sake of the Gentile converts. Lastly, that according to John. Paul did not write
to all the churches he had taught; and to those, to which he did
write, he sent only a few lines. Peter has left one epistle [universally] acknowledged. But let it be granted likewise that he wrote
a second; for it is doubted of. But what need I speak of John,
who leaned upon -the breast of Jesus, who has left us one Gospel.
He wrote also the Revelation. He has also left an epistle of a very
few lines. Grant also a second and a third; for all do not allow
these to be genuine."
In another place he speaks thus: "Matthew sounds first with
his priestly trumpet in his gospel; Mark also, and Luke, and John,




NEW TESTAMENT.                         43
konuLded with their priestly trumpets. Peter likewise sounds aloud
with the two trumpets of his epistles; James also, and Jude. And
John sounds again with his trumpet in his epistles, and the Revelation; and Luke also once more relating the actions of the apostles.
Last of all comes Paul, and sounding with the trumpets of his fourteen epistles, he threw down to the foundations the walls of Jericho,
and all the engines of idolatry; and the schemes of the philosophers."
Origen's quotations from the New Testament are so numerous
that they form a volume,
AN UNKNOWN WRITER QUOTED BY MURATORI IN HIS "ITALIC ANTIQUITIES."'-205.
Who he was, is unknown. Many suppose him to be Caius, a
distinguished writer who flourished at the close of the 2d century.
Muratori has inserted in his work, a Catalogue by this author of
the New Testament books. Of its extreme antiquity, there can be
no doubt. It is certainly not later, (according to Hug,) than the close
of the second century.  Being written by a member of the Roman
Church, (evidently however, from a Greek original,) the language
is Latin, and somewhat barbarous. The text also is corrupt: but
the main facts are clearly stated. It contains the four Gospels,
thirteen epistles of Paul, (omitting the Hebrews), Jude, two epistles,
of John, probably one of Peter, (though the text is here corrupt,)
and the Revelation.
tI. CENTURY.
TERTULLIAN, A. D. 200.
Of the Gospels, he says: "We lay this down for a certain truth,
that the evangelic Scriptures, have for their authors the Apostles,
to whom the work of publishing the Gospel was committed by the
Lord himself. Among the apostles, John and Matthew teach us
the faith: among apostolical men Luke and Mark refresh it."
This passage shows at once the number of the Gospels universally




44                   CANON  OF' THE
received, and the names of their authors, Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John.
Of the Epistles, he says:-" Let us then see, what milk the Corinthians received  from Paul: to what rule the Galatians were
reduced: what the Philippians read; what the Thessalonianls, the
Ephesians, and likewise what the Romans recite, who are near to
us; with whom both Peter and Paul left the Gospel sealed with
their blood. We have also churches which are the disciples of
John; for though Marcion rejects his Revelation, the succession of
bishops traced slp to the beginning will show it to have John for its
author." Accordingly, in his writings he quotes largely from
Rom. Cor. Eph. Gal. Col. Thess. Tim. Titus, 1 Peter, 1 John, Jude,
and Revelation.
There is a remarkable passage in his writings, that reads thus:
" Well, if you be willing to exercise your curiosity profitably in
the business of your salvation, visit the apostolical churches, in
which the very chairs of the apostles, still preside; in which their
very authentic letters are recited sounding forth the voice, and representing the countenance, of each one of them. Is Achaia near
you? You have Corinth. If you are not far from Macedonia, you
have Phillippi, you have Thessalonica. If you can go to Asia,
you have Ephesus. But if you are near to Italy, you have Rome,
from whence we may also be easily satisfied."
What he means by the "authentic letters" of the Apostles.
which he says have been deposited with the chnrches, is disputed.
But it certainly establishes the fact, that correct copies if not the
originals were laid up in the sacred libraries of the churches referred to, and were open to examination.
CLEMENS ALEXANDRINUS, A. D. 194.
Dr. Lardner, after an elaborate array of quotations by this writer from the New Testament, thus sums up his testimony. 6 He
has expressly owned the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John, and the Acts of the Apostles which he also ascribes to
Luke. He owns likewise all the fourteen epistles of Paul except




NEW TESTAMENT.                        45
the epistle to Philemon. He has also quoted the first epistle of Peter,
the 1st and 2d of John, Jude, and the Revelation."
After an examination of his citations from various Apocryphal
works, he adds —" On the whole, it appears there is no good
reason to suppose, that Clement received as Scripture in the
highest sense of the word, any writings besides the books of the
New Testament now commonly received by us." The remark is
important; as Clemens is the only Father against whom the charge
is made with any plausibility, of appealing to the authority of
Apocryphal writers.
IRENIEUS, A. D. 170.
His testimony to the four Gospels is most explicit. " We have
not received the knowledge of the way of our salvation by any
others than those by whom the Gospel has been brought to us;
which Gospel they first preached, and afterwards by the will of
God committed to writing; that it might be for time to come the
foundation and pillar of our faith. For after that our Lord rose from
the dead, the apostles... received a perfect knowledge of all
things. They then went forth to all the ends of the earth, declaring to men the blessing of heavenly peace, having all of them and
every one alike, the Gospel of God. Matthew then, among the
Jews, wrote a Gospel in their own language. Mark also, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, delivered to us in writing, things that
had been preached by Peter; and Luke, the companion of Paul,
put down in a book the Gospel preached by him [Paul]. Afterwards, John, the disciple of the Lord, who also leaned upon his
breast, published a Gospel while he dwelt at Ephesus in Asia.
And he who does not assent to them despiseth, indeed, those who
knew the mind of the Lord: but he despiseth also Christ himself the
Lord; and he despiseth likewise the Father, and is self-condemned,
resisting and opposing his own salvation."
That he received all the epistles of Paul, is evinced by his numerous quotations from all of them except Philemon and the
Hebrews, of which Dr. Lardner gives eighteen examples. "The
same thing Paul has explained in the Romans:" " This, Paul mani



46                   CANON OF THE
festly shows in the epistle to the Corinthians:" " As the blessed
Paul says in the epistle to the Ephesians," and other like expressions continually occur in his writings. The Revelation, he ex.
pressly ascribes to " John the disciple of Christ." Dr. Lardner
says, his testimony is so strong and full, that he seems to put it beyond all question that it is the work of John the Apostle.
JUSTIN MARTYR, A. D. 130.
The writings of this eminent man, born not long after the death
of the Apostles, and acquainted with their immediate disciples,though few and small, are rich in references to the New Testament.
He seldom names the particular books. But in these early times,
there were no controversies rendering it necessary. He often
speaks of the Gospels as " Memoirs of Christ," and says, that "the
Apostles composed them."  In his writings there are references
more or less clear (Dr. L. gives fifteen) to Acts, Rom. Cor. Gal.
Eph. Phil. Col. Thess. Heb. Peter and the Revelation, which last he
expressly ascribes to the Apostle John.
He also declares it to be a general practice, that " the Gospels are
read. at public worship in Christian assemblies every Lord's day as
the time allows, and when the reader has ended, the President
makes a discourse exhorting to the imitation of so excellent things."
This is a striking fact, proving that so early as the beginning of the
second century, they were acknowledged to be genuine, regarded
with the highest esteem, and open to all the world.
A similar testimony might have been quoted from Tertullian,
"We come together, he says, " to recollect the Divine Scriptures.
We nourish our faith, raise our hope, confirm our trust by the sacred
word."
OLD TRANSLATIONS BETWEEN 100 AND 200.
It does not admit a doubt, that the old Syriac version, which has
come down to us in a sound condition, was composed at this early
period.  The more ancient copies want 2d Peter, 2d and 3d
John, and probably James: and this circumstance probably fostered the doubts of the early fathers concering these books. But




NEW TESTAMENT.                        47
with regard to all the others, it is complete. The old Italic versions
for they were many, have also come down more or less perfect.
They were composed at the same period; and the fact that Jerome,
who in the fourth century digested them into one (the present Latin
Vulgate) which contains precisely our books, says nothing of having
added to the collection, proves satisfactorily that it was the same
with his own.
I. CENTURY.
APOSTOLIC FATHERS.
We have now reached the age of the immediate disciples and contemporaries of the Apostles. If the evidence be not so full and
overpowering as that of the following times, let it be considered1st. That exceedingly little remains of the genuine writings of
the Apostolical Fathers. The whole can be contained in a pamphlet of thirty pages.
2d. What we have, is pious exhortation, that does not require
appeals to authority.
3d. The various books had not yet been so extensively circulated, as to make it certain that every Christian church was acquainted with them, It required some time therefore, to establish
the custom of quoting them.
POLYCARP, A. D. 100.
All that remains of this holy martyr, is a short letter to the Philippians, in which he distinctly refers to the epistle of Paeld to that
church-" For neither I nor any one like me, can come up to the wisdom of blessed and renowned Paul, who when absent, wrote to you
(the Philippians) an epistle."
Occasionally he quotes passages with some formality, as



48C GANON OF THE
NEW TESTAMENT.                          POLYCARP.
1 Cor. vi, 2. Do ye not know that the   " Do we not know that the saints shall
saints shall judge the world?      judge the world?" as Paul teaches.
Eph. iv. 26. Be ye angry and sin not:   "For I trust that ye are well exercised
let not the sun go down upon your in the holy scriptures:'As inthese scripwrath.                              tures it is said: Be ye angry and sin not.
And let not the sun go down upon your
wrath.'"
Matt. v. 3. Blessed are the poor in   "But remembering what the Lord
spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of hea- said:' Be ye merciful, that ye may obven. 7. Blessed are the merciful, for- tain mercy. Blessed are the poor, and
they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousthey which are persecuted for righteous- ness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of
ness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God."'
heaven.
Luke vi. 37. Judge not, and ye shall   "The Lord said,' Judge not, that ye
not be judged.                       be not judged."'
Mark xiv. 38. The spirit indeed is   "The Lord hath said,' The spirit inwilling, but the flesh is weak.     deed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
More frequently, he only refers to passages; borrowing the sentiments and language of the sacred writers, without expressly
naming them, asN. T.                            POLYCARP.
Acts ii. 24. Whom God hath raised   "Whom  God hath raised, having
up, having loosed the pains of death.    lbosed the pains of hell."
Rom. xiv. 10. We shall all stand be-   " And must all stand before the judgfore the judgment seat of Christ. 12. So, ment seat of Christ, and every one give
then, every one of us shall give an ac- an account for himself."
count of himself to God.
1Cor. vi. 9. Neither fornicators, nor   "And neither fornicators, nor effemiidolators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nate, nor abusers of themselves with
nor abusers of themselves with man- mankind, shall inherit the kingdom  of
kind; 10. Shall inherit the kingdom of God."
God.
Eph. ii. 8. For by grace are ye'saved   " Knowing that by grace ye are saved
through faith: and that not of your- not of works, but by the will of God
selves: it is the gift of God-not of through Jesus Christ."
works.




NEW TESTAMENT.                              49
1 Thess. v. 17. Pray without ceasing.   " Praying without ceasing for all."
1 Tim. vi. 7. For we brought nothing   "The love of money is the beginning
with us into this world, and it is certain of all troubles. Knowing, therefore, that
we can carry nothing out. 10. For the as we brought nothing into the world, so
love of money is the root of all evil.  neither can we carry anything out."
1 Pet. i. 8. Whom having not seen ye   " In whom though ye see him not ye
love; in whom though now ye see him  believe, and believing ye rejoice with
not, yet believing ye rejoice with joy joy unspeakable and full of glory."
unspeakable and full of glory.
1 Pet. ii. 22. Who did no sin, neither   " Who bare our sins in his own body
was guile found in his mouth. 23. Who on the tree; who did no sin, neither was
his own self bare our sins in his own guile found in his mouth."
body on the tree.
1 John iv. 3. And every spirit, that   " For whoever confesseth not that
confesseth not that Jesus Christ has Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is
come in the flesh, is not of God: and Antichrist."
this is that spirit of Antichrist, whereof
you have heard, &c.
Nearly thirty examples of this kind are found in this brief letter;
proving the author's perfect familiarity with all the books of the
New Testament, except a few of the minor epistles.
IGNATIUS, A. D. 100.
According to Chrysostom, he personally conversed with many of
the Apostles. The only genuine remains of him are seven short
epistles.  One is a letter to the Ephesians, in which he expressly
mentions the epistle written to them. a few  years before by Paul.
" Ye are the companions (he says) in the mysteries of the Gospel of
the blessed Paul, who throughout all his epistle makes mention of
(i. e. commends) you in Christ Jesus."
This is the only book expressly named, but there are more than
forty examples in the few pages which contain his writings, of his
employing the language of the New Testament: with which he
must therefore have been acquainted, asN. T.                            IGNATIUS.
Matt. iii. 15. For thus it becomes us   " Baptised of John, that all righteousto fulfil all righteousness.       ness might be fulfilled by him."
Matt. x. 16. Be ye therefore wise as    "Be wise as a serpent in all things
serpents, and harmless as doves.   and harmless as a dove."




50                      CANON OF THE
John iii. 8. The wind bloweth where   "The spirit is not deceived, being
it listeth, and thou hearest the sound from  God: for it knows whence it
thereof: but canst not tell whence it comes, and whither it goes, and reproves
cometh and whither it goeth: so is every secret things."
one that is born of the spirit.
Acts x. 41. Who did eat and drink   " But after his resurrection he did eat
with him after he arose from the dead.   and drink with them.
1 Cor. i. 18. For the preaching of the   " Let my life be sacrificed for the doccross is to them that perish foolishness: trine of the cross, which is a stumblingbut unto us which are saved it is the block unto unbelievers, but to us salva.
power of God. 19. For it is written-  tion and life eternal. Where is the wise?
I will bring to nothing the understanding Where is the disputer? Where is the
of the prudent. 20. Where is the wise? boasting of them that are called pruWhere is the scribe? Where is the dis- dent?
puter of this world?
Eph. v. 25.  Husbands love  your   " Exhort my brethren. in the name of
wives, even as Christ also loved the Jesus Christ, to love their wives as the
Church and gave himself for it.     Lord the Church."
The reference to other books, particularly Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, 1st and 2d John, are equally
striking and unequivocal.
CLEMENS ROBIANUS, A. D. 96.
The friend and fellow-laborer of Paul, whom he specially names
in Phil. iv. 3. So the ancients positively attest, without a dissenting
voice.  He has only left a short epistle to the Corinthians.  In it,
Paul's epistle to the same church is expressly mentioned.
N. T.                            CLEMENS.
1 Cor. i. 11-12. For it hath been de-  "' Take into your hands the epistle of
dared unto me of you, my brethren,... the blessed Paul the apostle. What did
that there are contentions among you. he at the first write to you in the beginNow this I say, that every one of you ning of the Gospel? Verily he did by the
saith that I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; spirit admonish you concerning himself
and I of Cephas; and I of Christ."  and Cephas and Apollos, because that
even then, you did form parties.
This is the only instance of a book of the New Testament being
named. But there are more than forty manifest references like the
following:




NElW TESTAMENT.                                51
N. T.                             CLEMENS.
Matt. xxvi. 24. Woe to that man by   "Remember the words of the Lord
whom the Son of Man is betrayed: it Jesus. For he said,'Woe to that man
had been good for that man if he had not [by whom offences come.] It were betbeen born. Alatt. xviii 6. Whoso shall ter for him that he had not been born
offend one of these little ones which be- than that he should offend one of my
lieve in me, it were better for him that a elect. It were better for him that a millmillstone were hanged about his neck  stone should be tied about his neck, and
and that he were drowned in the depth  that he should be driowned in the sea,
of the sea.                          than that he should offend one of my
little ones."
Luke vi. 36. Be ye therefore mercifull   "Especially remembering the words
as your Father also is merciful.      of the Lord Jesus,'Be ye merciful that
ye may obtain mercy.'2"
Rom. i. 29. Being filled with all un-   " Casting off fiom us all' unrighteousrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, ness and iniquity, covetousness, decovetousness, maliciousness; full of en- bates, malignities, deceits, whisperings
vy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, baclkbitings, hatred of God, pride, boast,
whisperings, (30) backbiters, haters of ing,' and vainglory and ambition.'For
God, despiteful, proud, boasters.  32. they that do these things are hateful to
Who knowing the judgment of God (that God: and not only they that do them,
they which do such things are worthy of but they also who have pleasure in
death) not only do the same, but have them."
pleasure in them that do them.
1 Cor. 15-20. But now is Christ risen    "Let us consider, beloved, how  the
from the dead, and become the first fruits Lord does continually show  us, that
of them that slept.                  there shall be a resurrection. Of which
he has made the Lord Jesus Christ the
first fruits, having raised him from the
dead."
1 Tim. ii. 8. I will therefore, that men    " Let us therefore come to him in lhopray everywhere, lifting up holy halds liness of soul, lifting up to him chaste
without wrath and doublting.         and undefiled hands."
Eph. iv. 4. There is one body and one   "Have we not one God, and one
spirit, even as ye are called in one hope  Christ   And is there not one spirit
of your calling. 5. One Lord, one faith, poured out upon us, and one calling in
one baptism. 6. One God and Father Christ."
of all.
IHeb. iii. 5.  And AMoses verily was   "When also Moses, that blessed and
faithful in all his house.'faithful' servant in all his house."
1 Peter iv. 8. For charity shall cover   " Charity covers the multitude of
a multitude of sins.                 sins."




52                CANON OF THE
2 Peter ii. 5. And saved Noah a  Noah preached repentance, and they
preacher of righteousness.  who hearkened [to him] were saved."
Such coincidences of thought and expression, it is impossible to
consider as accidental. On the whole, it seems certain, that Clement
had in his hands at least the first three Gospels, the Acts, and the
five principal epistles of Paul.
SUMMARY.
As the mind is apt to be confused and lost in a
multitude of quotations, we shall endeavor to aid the
reader, by a brief commentary and summing up.
Commencing with the fourth century for a reason
already given, we find that no less than ten principal
writers have furnished catalogues, six of which, agree
perfectly with our collection. The others, only differ
in this; that they omit the Revelation, and one of
them the epistle to the Hebrews.  How perfectly decisive this fact!
Moving our post of observation to the third century, we do not find such a number of regular catalogues: indeed, there are but two that may be called
complete. Yet the evidence is equally satisfying.
The number of writers from whom Lardner quotes in
proof of the existence and full of recognition of our
books, is about forty, of whom it would be hardly too
bold to say, that they are of'" every nation, and kindred,
and tongue and people." Even the dark forests of Germany, send forth a trumpet voice in attestation of the
Christian verity.  We refer to the venerable martyr




NEW TESTAMENT.                53
Victorinus, bishop of Pettaw, a town on the river
Drave. He expressly quotes the four Gospels by
name. He quotes also the Acts, and speaks of the
seven churches to which Paul wrote epistles. " Afterwards (he adds) he wrote to particular persons; undoubtedly, he means, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.
On the Revelation, he wrote an elaborate-commentary.
The works of Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, overflow with citations, except from James, Jude, 2d
Peter, and the epistle to the Hebrews, to which no
reference is made. The four Gospels, he mentions
frequently. Every epistle of Paul is referred to, with
the exception specified. So, are most of the Catholic
epistles. Mark also the fact, that in that distinguished Bishop, there is not one quotation fiom any
spurious or apocryphal writer.
Of the profound and critical Origen, Dr. Mill
makes this striking remark:'<Quotations of Scripture are so thickly sown, that if we had all his works
remaining, we should have before us almost the whole
text of the Bible." His catalogue has been given in
our Synopsis. All necessary to be remembered in examining it, is the distinction made by Eusebius between the " controverted" (vTrxeyo/0vo) books, and
those "universally acknowledged" ((coMoyovs~a) to
which Origen subscribes.
Pursuing our course upward, we come to the second
century; and the first whom we meet, is the eloquent




54              CANON OF THE
Tertullian, of whom  Dr. Lardner observes: "there
are in him more and larger quotations fromn the small
volume of the New Testament, than there are of
all the works of Cicero, in writers of all characters
for several ages." Of the Gospels, he says: "we lay
this down for a certain truth, that the evangelic scriptures, have for their authors, men to whom the work
of publishing the Gospel was committed by the Lord
himself. Concerning the epistles of Paul, he says:
" let us then see what milk the Corinthians received
foro  Paul, to what rule the Galatians were subjected, what the Philippians read," &c.  The only
books not used by him, are James, 2d Peter, 2d and
3d John.
Equally ample is the testimony of Clement of
Alexandria. He asserts in various places that there
are four Gospels. He receives the Acts of the Apostles, and quotes frequently the various epistles of Paul.
The evidence of Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons in
France, is so exceedingly valuable, that we have
quoted largely from him. We find, that he received
the four Gospels, and thirteen epistles of Paul, which
he expressly cites. No apocryphal book is mentioned
by him, as having any authority.
We close the reviews of this centuly, with Justin
Martyr; one of the many in these days, who died for
their religion. The synopsis shows, that he frequently
refers to our Gospels, though he does not name their
authors, but calls them the "Memoirs of the Apos



NEW  TESTAMENT.                 55
tles." There are also distinct references to the Acts,
the Epistles to the Corinthians, Colossians &c. Justin was born, according to some, in the year 89;
some, place him a few years later.  How decisive is
this for the genuineness of olur books   When we
quoted the last two or three writers, we came within
a generation of the very men, who are alleged without a dissenting voice to have written their records;
and the light of tradition still beams forth radiant and
clear. How could these people be deceived in a matter so interesting to the Christian as the writing of
his sacred books-when their authors had not been
dead forty years?   The very  supposition  makes
them idiots.
The testimony that follows of the old Syriac and
Italic versions, speaks for itself, and needs no comment.
We come now, to the venerable men wvho lived in
the times of tbe Apostles, and were honored with their
immediate instructions; for which reason, they are
usually calledcl the  Apostolical Fathers,"  Though
we are able to present few strongly marked and formal quotations, yet that they were acquainted  witlh,
many, if not all, our sacred books, is beyond a doubt.
Let the reader examine our synopsis, marking the
identity of thought and phrase between, the extracts
from them, and the passages of the New Testament
in the opposite column, and he will find it impossible
to adopt any other conclusion. Besides, there are
express quotations by Barnabas, Clemens, Romanus,




56               CANON OF THE
Ignatius, and Polycarp, which we will not injure by
an attempt at compression.
After all, we have confessed, that the evidence of
these holy men is not so overpowering as that of their
successors. But we have also explained it. Their
works that remain, are very few and. short: all that
is authentic, could be printed on twenty octavo pages.
The subjects on which they wrote, were simple and
practical, not requiring an appeal to authorities. It
must be remembered also, that the books of the New
Testament had been freshly written, and not yet distributed through the churches, or collected into a
canon. In quoting therefore largely fiom any of them,
they ran some risk of not being understood. Strength
is given to this supposition, by the fact, that when
they knew from the circumstances of the case, that
those whom they addressed were acquainted with a
particular writing, they actually  used  it.  Thus
Clemens, writing to the Corinthians, quotes Paul's
epistle to that church; and Barnabas, writing to the
Philippians, mentions his epistle to them.
We here close the argument. Brief and imperfect
as the statement has been, we fear that some will find
it disagreeably long. But we cannot, (and we would
not, if we could,) turn an inquiry of this kind into an
Arabian tale. What is said of gold, that the richest
mines are often found in the most arid and inhospitable regions, may be applied to truth. Its most valuable treasures frequently lie concealed in the most dry




NEW TESTAMENT.                57
and uninteresting discussions; and doubtless this is
the reason, why they are so rarely discovered.
NATURE OF THE EVIDENCE.
Before leaving the subject, we shall make a reflection on the nature of the evidence adduced. It
claims no mysterious sanctity, but is simply historical-being the very same that is applied to the genuineness of any other production. Why do we receive
the Commentaries of Cwesar, and the Annals of Tacitus, as the works of these eminent men? Because
their authorship is asserted by the general voice of
antiquity. They are quoted as the authors, by writers, who, from their honesty, research, and proximity
to the time in which they lived, were fully qualified
to pronounce judgment. They are cited by enemies,
and proofs of genuineness are found in every page of
the writings themselves. We all understand such
appeals. There is a natural logic in the breast of
almost every man, which seldom fails of leading to
the right conclusion. It is true, that the evidence is
not in the strict sense of the word, (in the mathematician's sense), demonstrative: but it is the same that
guides us in all matters of fact, and common life.
How do we know the truth of any thing that is narrated to us, which we did not observe personally?
3




58              CANON OF THE
Why do we'believe that there was an ancient city
called Nineveh, or that the English John signed the
Magna Charta? Can they be proved by diagramsor evolved from an equation?  Can it be shown, that
their denial contradicts some necessary or immutable
truth?  Yet who ref: es to admit them; and what
name would we give a man, who, because their evidence belongs to the kind which logicians call probability, plays the sceptic, but that of a fool, better
qualified for BedlaDm, than to converse with his fellow
men?... To all this, we assent without difficulty, some
may reply. We are quite ready to believe without
Euclid, that Thucydides wrote the history of the
Peloponnesian war, and Cicero the orations against
Verres. But when works offer themselves to our
attention and claim our regard, as productions of men
divinely inspired, a much heavier draft is made on
the bank of faith. Far weightier proof is necessary,
to establish the origination of miraculous narratives
fiom the men who professed to have seen the facts,
than to prove that a relation of probable, every-day
occurrences, is truly his, whose name it bears. We
concede the perfect fairness of this demand; provided
the evidence required, is only greater in degree —not
different in kind. God might have made the proofs
of our religion, more overpowering tlhan the evidence
of mathematics itself: he might have uttered them in




NEW TESTAMENT.                 59
thunder; and written them with a pen of fire in the
skies. But he has not adopted this course; as he designed our present state to be imperfect and probationary, in which our faculties should be called forth by
the powerful stimulus of necessity, our principles tried,
and the moral character formed for eternity. Now,
these results could not be attained, by placing us in
the noon-tide light which many thoughtlessly desire.
Faith would cease to be a virtue, in a world so constituted: Holiness would become a service of compulsion, and man a slave. Meanwhile, if we see here
" through a glass," darkly, it is our comfort to know,
that we have light enough to direct us, if we faithfully
improve it. "Men have reason," says the sagacious
Locke, "to be well satisfied with what God has done
for them; since he has given whatever is necessary
for convenience of life and information of virtue; and
has put within their reach if they are willing to make
search, to which, however, he will not compel them, a
comfortable provision for this life, and the way that
leads to a better. We shall not have much need to
complain of the narrowness of our minds, if we will
employ them about what may be of use to us; and it
will be an unpardonable as well as childish peevishness, if we undervalue the advantages of our knowledge, and neglect to improve it, because there are
some things that are set out of its reach."
With regard to the subject discussed, our brief ex



60              CANON OF THE
amination shows with what little reason, want of evidence can be alleged. It is indeed of the same kind
with that of productions merely human. But in degree it is far more ample and satisfying, than all that
has ever been advanced for any book of equal antiquity.




OLD TESTAMENT.               61
CHAPTER II.
CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
~. —The Proof.
WE propose to arrive at our conclusion on this important subject, by a shorter route than that which is
frequently adopted. The Old Testament, in regard
both to its genuineness and canonical authority, shall
be built upon the New; and as believers in the Son
of God, we feel certain that it is a foundation strong
enough to sustain the whole edifice.
It is not said, that this volume possesses no independent evidence-that no appeal can be made to
national tradition; to the scrupulous care with which
the Jews guarded their sacred writings; to the support
these writings receive from the traditions of other
nations; and to their internal marks of genuineness.
It does not hang thus in the air. But this is asserted,
that a man of fair mind, whose faculties have been
sharpened by habits of critical analysis, cannot retire
from such an investigation, without a feeling of doubt
and disappointment. The main argument, that from
national tradition, is much more plausible than solid.
During the last two thousand years, indeed, the Jews
have exhibited the most intense devotion to their
sacred books: it has been, and still is their ruling




62              CANON OF THE
passion, sometimes-even rising to maniacal excitement, as could easily be shown from their history.
This, combined with the fact, that during almost the
whole of the period mentioned, they have possessed a
regular body of learned men, who watch over the
purity of their volume, is a good argument for its
existence and preservation, since the fourth or fifth
century preceding the birth of Christ. But the philosophical inquirer will remind us, that this has not
always been the case. The ruling passion, in nations
as in men, is subject to change, and the change is so
astonishing oftentimes, that the subjects of it hardly
retain a single feature of character, by which they
can be identified with what they were. What a contrast between the old Roman, and his modern descendants; between the Mexican, and the Castilian, of the
fifteenth century! That a revolution equally great
has been experienced by the Jews, is beyond dispute.
Let the single example suffice, of their return during
their captivity in Babylon to the doctrine of the
Divine Unity, which they have maintained ever since,
with a fidelity truly admirable, when before that time,
their love of idolatry was a perfect madness. Nor is
it possible to disguise another fact bearing yet more
directly on the subject —that from the reign of Solomon, to the dethronement of their last king by Nebuchadnezza,:they evinced the most stupid indifference
to their. religious writings as well as institutions.
Forgeries, therefore, might easily have taken place.




OLD TESTAMENT.                 63
If the small literary coterie, to whom  the people
blindly submitted in every thing pertaining to learning and religion, chose to impose upon them  certain
myths, fragments of song, and annals of olden time,
as the "sacred library," which had come down fiom
their remote ancestors, there was positively nothing in
the character of the nation to prevent it.
This is only a specimen of the numerous doubts
that will disturb the most honest mind, in view of the
difficulties connected with an independent demonstration of the canonical authority of the Old Testament.
Let us be thankful that we are not compelled to the
arduous task of encountering them; and that we
have a ground of certainty, from which no array of
learning or ingenuity can dislodge us. Let us accept
with gratitude, the authoritative dicta of the divine
Founder of Christianity, and not blush to acknowledge that our Bible, our whole Bible, comes fiom his
sacred hand!
With this infallible guidance, the enlightened Christian feels perfectly safe. In the many questions
raised by unbelievers, concerning the possibility of
introducing spurious writings before the advent of the
great teacher, he may take a strong literary and historical, but not a great religious. interest. Their
"Pseudo Isaiahs," and "'Pseudo Daniels," will not
disconcert him  in the least.  Their positions he
believes to be false, and incapable of being substantiated by fair argument: but even though he




64              CANON OF THE
could not prove their fallacy by positive demonstration, he has all that is needed, in the "imprimatur"
of one who never deceived himn, and on whose perfect
truth he has staked his immortality. The man who
has given his soul to Christ, can have no scruple to
trust him with settling his rule of faith.
OUR COLLECTION APPROVED BY CHRIST. TWO
METHODS OF PROOF.
What, then, is the testimony of our Redeemer and
his inspired apostles, regarding our volume? Though
they have nowhere given a formal catalogue, ample
information can be obtained from them in two different ways:
1st. By ascertaining what books they quote, or
directly refer to:
2dly. By inquiring what was the established Canon
of the Jews, at the time they lived; and whether
there is evidence that they adopted it.
FIRST METHOD: DIRECT QUOTATIONS.
1st. This point shall detain us but a moment.
The highly satisfactory statement can be made at
once, that there are in the New Testament distinct
references to all the books of the Old-(to Genesis,
Exodus, &c., &c.,) except Ruth, Ezra, Esther, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. The seal of the author of




OLD TESTAMENT.                65
Christianity is thus stamped upon our whole collection, with the exception of four or five books; and the
silence concerning these is perfectly natural. There
was no occasion of appealing to them: indeed, the
wonder is, that so small a book as the New Testament should be found to have honored its elder sister
with so many notices, (256 direct citations, and 283
references), not that a few of its smaller portions
should be passed over. Equally striking is the fact,
that with one or two exceptions, more apparent than
real, no notice is taken of any Apocryphal books.
Whenever a quotation is made, we know at once
where to find it in the Old Volume. Cruden's Concordance will direct to the book, the chapter, and the
verse. Such are the results to which we are led by
the first method. Supposing our volume to consist of
five hundred pages, we may say that four hundred
and ninety bear the legible signature of the incarnate' wisdom of God."
SECOND METHOD: CHRIST ADOPTED THE ESTABLISHED CANON OF HIS COUNTRYMEN.
After all, the evidence is not perfect. Some books,
as we have observed, are passed over. Is it not possible then, to settle the question with a little mnore
precision?  We answer, by calling the reader's attention to the 2d method-that of ascertaining whether
the Jews had an established and universally recognized collection, at the time of our Lord's appearing,
3*




66               CANON OF THE
and whether there is good reason to believe that he
adopted it.
On the latter point, which it is convenient to dispose
of first; one answer only can be given. Whatever
the Jewish collection was, Jesus Christ most certainly
approved it. We repeat the assertion, and with emphasis: Whatever the Jewish collection was-Jesus
Christ most certainly approved it. He did so, by
his uniform practice of appealing to the same books
which they made use of, and attributing to them the
same Divine -authority, without ever hinting that
there was the least discrepancy between their views
and his own. None can charge him with want of
moral courage in administering reproof. How often
did the corrupt Pharisees writhe under the lash of
his cutting denunciations! Their hypocrisy and pride,
their savage cruelty, their lust for power and riches,
their compassing sea and land to make one proselyte,
who became in their hands more a child of hell than
before, all these and other abominable traits of character, are painted as with a pencil dipt in fire; so that
while reading his discourses, we cease to wonder at
that demoniac fury, which cried in the ears of the
Roman Governor, "Not this man, but Barabbas; Crucify him, Crucify him."  Now, is it likely that this
terrible reprover was all the while conniving at a
crime, towering above every other, because more fatal
in its consequences-the crime of adulterating the pure
fountain of Divine truth?  If the Jews had admitted




OLD TEST-AMENT.              67
any spurious or apocryphal books, would he not have
upbraided them with it, and commanded his apostles
to rectify the abuse?  But not a hint of this kind is
dropped. On the subject of the sacred books, both he
and his disciples are as perfect Jews as ever trod the
floor of a Synagogue. " Search your Scriptures," was
his habitual language, "for these are they which
testify of me." If, after this, Christ did not unqualifiedly accept the canon of his countrymen, the conclusion is unavoidable: he was an arch hypocrite and
an impostor!
THE JEWISH CANON AGREES WITH OUR OWN.
But what was it? And where shall we find it?
The goodness of Divine Providence, which has never
ceased to watch over the Church, enables us to give a
solid answer to these questions. We have the testimony of learned, honest, and every way qualified
witnesses, front the times of our Lord himself, that a
collection existed, and that it was the same with that
which we hold in our hands.
TESTIMONY OF JOSEPHUS. BORN A. D. 37.
Let us hear, in the first place, the great historian of
the Jewish nation. No man could be more favorably
situated for knowing the truth. He was born about
the time when our Redeemer died, and was therefore
a contemporary of the Apostles. He was a priest, and
must have been perfectly at home in the Ecclesiastics




68               CANON OF THE
of that age; not to mention that he had constant
access to the temple, where an authentic copy of the
Scriptures was deposited.. His statement is the following:
" We have not among us innumerable books which
contradict each other; but only twenty-two which
contain the history of all past time, and are justly
held to be divine. Five of these are fiom  Moses;
they contain laws and accounts of the human race,
from its creation till the time of his death, comprehending a period of three thousand years. From the
death of Moses to Artaxerxes, who after Xerxes
reigned over the Persians, the prophets who lived
after Moses have related, in thirteen books, what
happened in their time. The other four books contain hymns to God, and rules of life to men. Since
Artaxerxes, up to our time, every thing has been
recorded; but these writings are not considered so
worthy of credit as those written earlier, (i. e. before
the time of Artaxerxes), because after that time there
was no regular succession of prophets. What faith
we attribute to our Scriptures, is manifest in our conduct. For it is innate with all Jews, to hold these
books to be the word of God, and to firmly stand by
them, nay die, if necessary, in their defence."
It is to be regretted, that in this remarkable passage
he does not enumerate the books more particularly,
But we know perfectly what the number "twentytwo" included. It was an arrangement universally




OLD TESTAMENT.               69
adopted; and from the Talmud and early Christian
writings, we discover that it comprised all the writings of our present canon. Besides, he in his writings, actually quotes from them all, excepting Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and Job. Mark
also, the judgment he pronounces on the Hellenistic
or Hebrew Greek compositions, which are now known
by the name of "Apocrypha;" for to them he undoubtedly refers, as they were all, by the acknowledgment of their warmest friends, written after the time
of Artaxerxes. "They are not of equal authority
with those before them."
PHIILO, A.D. 41. ALSO CONTEMPORARY WITH THE
APOSTLES.
Happily, we have another Jewish witness, who
lived at the same time. Philo resided in Alexandria,
the metropolis of Egypt. His testimony is most decided, in favor of our present canon. He does not indeed give a formal catalogue, but throws out in passing,
observations which clearly show his opinion. The
only books of which he makes no use, are Ruth,
Nehemiah, Chronicles, Esther, and Lamentations.
That he was acquainted with the Apocryphal books,
Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, Tobit, &c. &c., is certain; for
he borrows phrases from them. But not in a single
instance does he use them as authority, or even quote
them. This fact speaks volumes. That he should be
acquainted with these writings, aud yet studiously




70              CANON OF THE
avoid appealing to them, when he wishes to establish
his opinions,-while abounding in quotations firomn the
others, is perfectly inexplicable on every other supposition but one; viz., that he did not rank them among
the Scriptures which his nation regarded as holy, and
divine.
MELITO, FLOURISHED CENTURY II.
The next witness we cite, is a venerable Christian
Bishop, who lived fifty or sixty years after the Apostles; and travelled into the East, for the express
purpose of ascertaining fiom the Jews themselves, the
contents, and number, of their sacred books. He thus
states the-result.               4'
" Melito to his brother Onesimus, greeting: Whereas fiom your great earnestness for the Word, you
have often wished to have selections from the law and
the prophets, which relate to our faith, and to have
an accurate account of the ancient books, how many
they are in number, and what is their order: I have
endeavored to effect this. As I was journeying in the
East, I came to the place where these things were
clearly exhibited, (probably one of the Jewish Colleges
of theology), accurately ascertained the books of the
Old Testament, and send you a catalogue. They are
called as follows, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus; &c. &c.
The catalogue need not be given, as it is precisely the
same with our own, excepting, that the two smallest
portions, Nehemiah and Esther are included in Ezra,




OLD TESTAMENT.               71
to which they stand closely related in their subject
matter. Not one Apocryphal book is named.
THE TALMUD, CENTURY III.
This great body of Jewish traditional law, which
represents the opinions of the nation at the time of its
composition, and many ages previous, gives a full list
of the canonical writings. After dividing them into
three general classes, viz., " the Law-the Prophetsand the Chetubirn or Miscellaneous books," it proceeds
to name each, separately: and the list is precisely
that contained in the first page of our Bibles. It contains not a trace of any Apocryphal writing.
CONCLUSION.
We might go on, and cite the enumerations of
Origen, Jerome, Athanasius, Cyril, and others, living
within the first foul' centuries. But it would be a
wearisome repetition; for with the exception of one
careless blunder of Origen, they are the veiy same,
and agree with our own. They all reject the Apocryphal books, which Jerome expressty names, for the
purpose of excluding them. "Every one but these
(he says, referring to his catalogue) is to be placed
among the Apocrypha." Therefore, the "'Wisdom of
Solomon" as it is called, " The book of Jesus, the son
of Sirach, and Judith, and Tobit, are not in the
Canon."




72               CANON OF THE
We close with saying, that if any truth can be
established by evidence, it is, that during three hundred years subsequent to the birth of Christ, our Old
Testament, as at present acknowledged by all except
the church of Rome, was universally recognized, to be
a true and perfect collection- of the divine writings of
the ancient ceconomy. The evidence possesses a completeness, of which not many historical facts so far
removed from us in time, can boast. It. is proved also
by arguments which cannot be resisted or evaded,
that Christ and his A'postles, endorsed this collectionadopting it, without addition or alteration. Two of
their contempories, Jews by birth and religion, tell us,
what it was, and their testimony is sustained in every
part, by a succession of pious and learned men, fiom
the first century to the fourth. If any man can still
harbor a suspicion, that the Bible of our Redeemer, is
not the Bible in present use by Protestant churches
not only in our own land but throughout the world,
let him play the Sceptic on all matters, which do not
come under his personal observation.
APOCRYPHA.
In adducing the preceding testimony,-frequent
reference has been made, to certain books, for which a
claim has been set up by the Catholic church, but
which, for good reasons, Protestants have branded
with the name " Apocryphal."  They are ten in number; viz., Baruch, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom of Solomon,




OLD TESTAMENT.                73
Tobit, Judith, the two books of Maccabees, Additions
to Esther, Song of the three Children, Susannah,
Bell and the Dragon.  The utter vanity of their pretentions has been shown by the entire silence of Christ
and his Apostles-by the silence of Josephus, Philo,
and the Talmud —and by their exclusion from  the
catalogues of all the Christian fathers, of the first four
centuries.  All this, seems perfectly clear and decisive. Yet the question will naturally occur to the
student, how; under these circumstances, they obtained
such currency among Christians, as to make any claim
at all! We shall answer this inquiry, by giving, in a
few words, their history.
As to the time in which they were written, there is
proof on every page, that they belong to the latter age
of Jewish literature, which commenced a little after
the time of Alexander the Great, about three hundred
years before the advent of our Lord. In consequence
of various favorable circumstances, a new impulse
was given at this period to Hebrew genius and many
respectable efforts were made by it, in different kinds
of composition.  The language employed, was-in
Palestine, the Chaldaic dialect: but the principal seat
of this literary revival, was Alexandria, in Egypt. In
that immense city, the Jews were so numerous, that
according to some historians, they constituted nearly
half of the whole population.  All these, spoke the
Greek language, and adopted to some extent the
Greek manners, from which circumstance, they re



74              CANON OF THE
ceived the name of " Hellenists," or Grecizers. Having become somewhat refined by constant intercourse
with their polished neighbors, they contracted; as has
been already stated, a fondness for books, and writers
soon appeared to gratify their taste.
Such was the origin of the." Apocrypha."  It is
nothing more or less, than the remains of that Hellenistic or Jewish Greek literature, which flourished in
Alexandria, within the period of three hundred years
before the birth of Christ. There is not the least reason to believe, that the Jews thought of comparing
them  to Canonical Scriptures.  This blunder, was
committed by Christians, and it took place in the following manner. In the third century before Christ,
some learned men favored their countrymen in Alexandria, with a Greek translation of the Old Testament, which, from the supposed number of its authors,
was called the "Septuagint," or Version of the Seventy.  It was cordially welcomed: Every Jew would
have a copy, and for convenience sake, he would attach to it the writings of which we are giving an
account, that he might have a complete religious
library in one roll or volume.  The practice was not
Wi4thout its advantages; and in the case of the Jews
themselves, who Well knew their canon, was followed
by na bad consequences. But when the Septuagint,
thus crammed'with foreign matter, came into the
hands of Christians, the important distinction between
divine and human productions, was often overlooked:




OLD TESTAMENT.               75
as it might be with us, if the custom prevailed of binding up old Bunyan's "Pilgrim," or any other such
pious composition with the sacred volume. We need
not be surprised therefore, if even a good Christian
Bishop, is sometimes found nodding, —and quoting his
Bunyan, instead of his Bible.
In this state, things remained, until the middle of
the fourth century; the catalogues and learned opinion
being always right; while the practice was occasionally loose, and wrong. At this time, the first symptom
appears of a disposition to give them a place in the
Canon; which was actually done in the Council of
Carthage, A. D. 397. After this, they met with general acceptance; which however will excite no surprise in those who are acquainted with ecclesiastical
history. In other respects beside the corruption of her
rule of faith, was that epoch the beginning of sorrows
to the Church.
Nothing occurs, worthy of notice concerning them,
until the Reformation. We may well suppose, that
the men who led the vanguard of the great army of
witnesses for the truth, would inquire with no little
anxiety, into the purity of its fountains; and the result was what imight have been expected. They discarded the Apocrypha, and returned to the good old
Jewish canon of Christ and his Apostles.




76              CANON OF THE
~ 2. —The Religious Value of the Old Testament.
We propose to offer a few considerations on the value
of the Old Testament, as part of our Christian rule of
faith. There are many who do not scruple to express
themselves on this point, in language bordering on
profaneness; depriving it almost of every claim to our
respect, except as a venerable reminiscence of antiquity.  Even among persons who consider themselves
decidedly evangelical, a doubt is often felt, whether it
has not been entirely superceded by the more brilliant
light of Christianity-and whether any great injury
would be sustained, if, while it continued to be employed as a reading-book in the instruction of youth,
it ceased to exert authority over the conscience: a
few reflections, therefore, on the unspeakable value
and importance of our volume, will not be out of
place.
In discussing this point, we do not feel called to institute any invidious comparisons between the Old
Testament and the New. Rivalry can have no place
between two ceconomies, which differ only as to the
degree of light, in which the same blessed plan of
saving mercy has been presented to mankind: they
form one great system, and their respective books are
in the most perfect and lovely harmony with each
other. As the Old Testament cannot say to the
New, " I have no need of thee;" so the New cannot
say to the Old, "I have no need of thee." Will it be




OLD TESTAMENT.                 77
objected that the worth and necessity of the elder
revelation are impaired by the fact, that whatever it
contains of primary importance is repeated in the
younger?  We deny the assertion: it does not repeat the instructions of its predecessor, but assumnes
them. It addresses us as if they were our old and
familiar acquaintances; and proceeds to build on the
already hlalf-built edifice, what is peculiarly its own.
Perhaps the proposition we are about enouncing may
sound much like paradox: but we are certain of its
truth. It is, that the New Testament, without the
Old, is as imperfect a revelation as the Old without
the New. What immense n asses of instrulction, the
most interesting and precious, are contained in the
former, without a knowledge of which it is impossible
to understand the latter; and yet which the latter
scarcely touches, or treats only in the way of hint and
allusion! This thought deserves a full illustration.
DEPENDENCE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT ON THE
OLD.
The fundamental doctrine of the Divine Unity and
Spirituality, is a truth which faith receives, on the
authority of our volume: in the New, it is rarely stated, though of course, always recognized as the main
pillar of true religion. Why should we wonder at its
dearth of assertion, when the most ample information
was already  imparted to the world?  ";Hear, 0
Israel, the Lord thy God is one Jehovah," forms the




78              CANON OF THE
central truth of the ancient ceconomy, the maintenance of which, against a universal deluge of superstition and idolatry, is represented to be one principal
design of God's separating to himself a peculiar
people. Wonderful, indeed it must appear, that a
theology so beautiful and pure, so sublime, and agreeable to all the principles of reason, as that which adopts
as its corner stone the divine unity and immateriality, should have vanished firom the minds of men,
and given place to a foul and corrupting polytheism!
But such was the fact. Let us adore the goodness
of God in providing a remedy, by lighting up at so
early a period the lamp of truth on the sacred hills of
Palestine, where it shone with unceasing radiance, and
gradually enlarged its horizon, until it was lost in the
more dazzling splendor of the sun of righteousness.
To the same source we must betake for authentic
information concerning the creation and origin of all
things: here, also, the New Testament points back to its
predecessor, and commits us to its infallible guidance.
The light of nature, indeed, when uncorrupted, is able
to teach us that the fair variety of things around us
did not exist from eternity, but had a beginning. It
suggests, however, only the fact. On the mode, time,
order. with all the other circumstances which are
necessary to make it strike the imagination and the
heart, reason in the maturity of her powers maintains
a sullen silence. But in the midst of the general
darkness which followed the apostacy, even the fact




OLD TESTAMENT.                79
was forgotten: the Gentile world knew  as little of
the creative power of God, as his unity and spirituality.  The vulgar, blinded by their poets, thought
that the world was eternal, or the work of chance;
The philosopher either acquiesced in the absurdity,
or heating his brain with fantastic speculations, gave
birth to absurdities yet more monstrous. It was
necessary therefore, that a voice should come forth
from  the heavenly sanctuary, to teach us that "the
things which are seen, were not made of things that do
appear."  In the cosmogony of Mtoses, we have every
thing which a reasonable curiosity could desire on
this great subject; and the knowledge is communicated in such a manner as to purify the heart, and
call into action its best affections.  Who can read the
first two chapters of Genesis without prostrating himself before that great being, "who spoke and it was
done, commanded and it stood fast:" and when he
reads of the ample provision made for the happiness
of his creatures, who can forbear exclaiming, "'0
Lord, how manifold are thy works; in wisdom hast
thou made them. all; the earth is full of thy riches."
In the next place, our volume satisfies all reasonable inquiries concerning the original condition of
man-inquiries which are not formally answered in
the New Testament, for this plain reason, that the
need of it is superceded by earlier revelations. On
this, as on the two former topics, reason unassisted
by faith is dumb. There seem, indeed, to have sur



80              CANON OF THE
vived in the human mind some faint recollections of
a happier state of things than the present, of which
the heathen poets made a charming use, in their representations of a golden age: but these were dreamsfascinating to the imagination, rejected by the understanding as baseless chimeras. No man could believe
on the testimony of professed dealers in fiction, a
hypothesis so entirely at war with our actual condition; and accordingly we find, that the most grovelling ideas concerning the original state of human
nature prevailed am6ng the heathen. Man was the
child of fate, or accident, or of some capricious being
a little superior to himself; who moulded a lump of
clay, and quickened it by fire stolen from  heaven..
His soul was a finer matter; and after a few years,
both it and its grosser vehicle must return to earth,
and be dissolved into their original elements.
How  different from  such base-born, brutalizing
speculations, the authentic notices of our sacred
volume!  Man is the immediate work of that allwise and almighty Being, who gives life and happiness to every thing that lives! He was formed in his
own image-spiritual —intelligent —immortal. A high
and glorious destiny was set before him; and meanwhile, until the prize should be won, he was enthroned
vicarious monarch of creation in that magnificent
grant:'" Let him have dominion over fish of the sea,
and fowl of the air, and every living thing, that
moveth on the face of the earth." Such was human
nature, when it first appeared among the sons of God!




OLD TESTAMENT.                 81
Blessed be his name for a volume, which rescues us
so completely from all belittling views of our original
character-from the self-contemnpt, which observation
of the present state of things is apt to engender! It
reconciles man to himself, and enables him to rejoice
that lhe is a man!
In the next place, it accounts for the origin of evil,
and the existence of depravity.  N'o problem  has
engaged so much the attention of inquiring men as
this, and none has been found so difficult to solve.  A
score of theories migoht be mentioned; but they are all
equally unsatisfactory. Nothing has ever been suggested by human wit, which can for a moment stand
in comparison with the account of our venerable
Scripture —an account so perfectly rational, that the
keenest intellect finds nothing to object, and so admirably perspicuous, that a child can comprehend it.
Man was originally holy, and happy, with every bias
in favor of moral rectitude; but yet, for wise pur'poses, left to the freedom of his own will! He was
fully able to stand; yet liable to fall! Tempted by a
being of superior order, he yielded to animal appetite,
and all that train of evils succeeded, by natural and
jjust consequence, which we now  deplore!   We do
not say that this solution removes all the metaphysical difficulties wvhich attend the question of the
origin of evil; but it is perfectly satisfactory, as far
as it goes; while it administers the most instructive
and solemn lessons 
4




CANON OF THE
What an affecting representation also does our
volume give  of the extent of human  depravity!
That the doctrine referred to is contained in the
New Testament, cannot be doubted: but the Old
is the proper fountain of both proof and illustration.
Here, it is stated with an energy of expression, which
must iinpress every serious mind: here too, it is
proved by the most convincing of all argun-ientshistory, and facts. What a shocking array of crime
and calamities the fiuit of crime, passes before us,
when we follow the sacred narrative from its opening
scene to the Babylonian captivity! How  soon did
violence fill the earth; and iniquity become so rampant, that it could only be removed by an universal
deluge! After the flood, how soon did it ]reappear, so
that God was prevented from  inflicting a second
catastrophe only by the promise, that he would not
again curse the earth for man's sake. But it is needless to enlarge: every page is a commentary written
in tears and blood, on its own declaration, that " the
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked."  Some have complained, that the Old Testament should abound in so mnany tragic and revolting details: but they forget that the history of our
race could not be otherwise.  What is man, but that
very being wholm the Bible describes? It is a faithful
mirror, in which we see our own character: if the
image be foul, let us attribute it to the true cause; and
betake to the cleansing fountain Qf divine grace.




OLD TESTAMENT.                83
The doctrine of vicarious atonement is another of
the great truths contained in our volune —which the
New Testament assumes, rather than teaches. It
everywhere, indeed, represents the Son of God as dying
in the character of a substitute for the guilty; but in
such a way, as to indicate that its reader is already
familiar with the idea. Take away from Scripture
that portion which teaches the origin of sacrifices, and
the institution of them as the basis of all acceptable
worship to God, we do not hesitate to say, that you
inflict on the doctrine of salvation by the Redeemner's
blood, a mortal wound. The modern adversaries of
the truth feel this. They perceive that the doctrine
of vicarious suffering, pervades the Old Testament,
fron Genesis to Malachi; that to deny it is mockery
and folly: and their only resource is, to decry these
precious records, as crammed with Jewish fable and
superstition: a precious confession, that to get rid of
atonement, they must join hands with the open infidel.
Equally valuable are its teachings, respecting the
vital doctrine of our dependance on the Holy Spirit.
No truth is more prominently held forth in the
sublime theology of the Hebrews than this. In it,
God is all in all: he not only moves amidst the
scenes of external nature, riding on the whirlwind,
sending down his rain and fruitful seasons, and causing the grass to grow for the service of man; but he
is ever present with the souls that he has made. The




84              CANON OF THE
hearts of men are represented as being in his hand,
and he directs them like rivers of water. All excellent endowments of mind, all aspirations after the fair
and good, all eminence in wisdom, political virtue
and even secular art, are ascribed to the operation of
the ever-acting, all-pervading Ruah Jehova! When
we open the New Testament, therefore, we are fully
prepared for the same great truth: we are not surprised to hear that every good and perfect gift cometh
down from the Father of lights: we are not surprised
at being told, that " unless a man be born of water and
the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God:" nor
to find the great Apostle of the Gentiles " bowing his
knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
he would grant us according to the riches of his glory,
to be strengthened with might, by his spirit, in the
inner man."  What a comment on the Master's degaration, that "he came not to destroy the law and
the prophets-that he came not to destroy, but to
fulfil!" With what exquisite emotions must the pious
Jew have discovered, that he "in whose lips grace
was poured," but whom he had suspected of a design
to overturn the faith of patriarchs and prophets, proffered to his acceptance the same old religion so dear
to his heart, only purged from its defects, and expanded into the perfection of beauty! Such, we may
suppose, was the state of mind expressed by Andrew,
when he shouted that memorable declaration to his
brother, Simon Peter, "' We have found the Messias."




OLD TESTAMENT.                85
The discovery merited a shout: it was a Evpxca, compared with which, that of the illustrious Sicilian sage
was but an infant's babble: EvpnXateJv fov' pCrtov; Ad WE
HAVE FOUND-THE CHRIST!"
OLD. TESTAMENT PIETY.
But a question here suggests itself, which even to
well disposed and candid minds seems not a little
perplexing. If the Old Testament be so rich in the
vital and fundamental truths of our religion, how can
the fact be explained, that the writers of the New
Testament always represent the Mosaic institute to
be a hard and burdensome service, which the people
were scarcely able to bear? It consisted in bloody
sacrifices, oblations, and complicated external observances, which "could not make him that did the service, perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;" and the
writer to the Hebrews distinctly informs us that it
was abrogated on account of its "weakness and unprofitableness." As much of the prejudice concerning
our volume to which allusion has been made, is based
on this view of the subject, we shall bestow on it a
few remarks.
The whole difficulty originates in a gross misconception of the nature of the ancient ceconomy. That
the system which Moses by divine direction imposed
upon the people, for special and temporary ends, had
the character just described, is true-and that the
piety which this system, left to its native workings,




86               CANON OF THE
would generate, is very different from that produced
by the operation of a pure Christianity, is equally so:
but they who think that the members of the old
Mosaic theocracy were restricted to the former, look
only on the surface of things. They forget, or do not
understand, that long before the civil and ecclesiastical organization by Moses, they had been placed
under another dispensation of a very different nature
-that of faith, of' humble trust in the forgiving mercy
of God, evincing itself by love, self-consecration, and
holy obedience. The promise given to their father,
Abraham, had,a double aspect. It pledged the divine
veracity, that a numerous posterity should issue from
him, who should possess the land of Canaan: but
beside this, was the promise of higher blessings, and
a more glorious seed; through whom they should be
secured, not only to him personally, but to all of every
nation who would be partakers of his faith. This
constitution, the Apostle, in Galatians iii. 17, tells us,;" the law which was four hundred years after, could
not annul nor contravene, so as to render the promise
of no effect."' Here-was the religion, under whose
purifying influences that holy man "walked, as seeing
him who is, invisible, kept himself unspotted from the
world, confessed himself a pilgrim and a stranger, and
looked for a city that has foundations." This —was
the religion, too, of all those noble spirits, of whom we
have so glowing a description in the eleventh chapter
of the Hebrews —of Isaac, of Jacob, of Joseph, of Mo



OLtD TESIAMENT..            8
ses, of Gideon, of Samuel and the prophets; who,
"' through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, of whom the world was not
worthy."
If we want to know the name and nature of this
religion more definitely, the Apostle in his epistles to
the Romans and Galatians, furnishes an answer. It
was the religion of the Gospel —it was a Christianity
before Christ-differing in none of its essential principles from that which we enjoy, being characterized as
already said by the same reliance on the grace of a
pardoning God-the same peace of conscience-the
same fruits of holiness-and hope of immortality.
The law of commandments contained in ordinances,
with its ritual observances, and temporal retributions,
was a constitution superinduced for certain special
purposes —but did not supercede, nor abrogate it: like
two parallel lines, they ran together through the whole
ceconomy; never interfering with or jostling each
other; and yet so near, that the pious servant of God
could enjoy the advantages of both, while the earthly
mind saw only the earthly. As an Israelite of the
natural stock of Abraham-in other words, as a member of the visible theocracy, he had his duties to perform-and did perform them. He walked in all the
commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless,
performed his ablutions at the proper time and place,
was ready on every proper occasion, with his sin,
trespass, and burnt-offering, paid his tithes to the last




88              CANON OF THE
farthing, gazed reverently at the nation's pontiff,
while presiding over the nation's forms of worshipyet as a man, a partaker of Abraham's faith and
exalted hopes of a spiritual redemption, he knew that
he had "a more excellent way;" and gladly retired
from the garish scene to some lonely spot, where
undisturbed by the lowing of cattle, or the clash of
sacrificial knives, he could pour out his soul to Abraham's God; the God, who not on this mountain nor
on that —but everywhere, through the great cathedral
of his universe, is worshipped by the pure spirit!
Hence the observation of our pious Puritan divines,
that believers of the old covenant lived under the
law, but did not live upon the law. We mistake the
matter entirely, when in trying to form a distinct
conception of the religion of God's ancient church, we
call up the temple, with its marble courts, its stately
porticoes, and thousand priests standing in robes of
white round the brazen altar and molten sea. The
search must be made in quite another direction. We
must visit the private dwelling-steal, if possible, into
the sacred veecltov, or chamber of retirement on the
house-top, where David panted as the " hart after the
water-brooks," where Daniel "sought the Lord by
prayer and supplication with sackcloth and ashes,"
where Isaiah mingled with the seraphim  before the
great, "high throne "-or we must get to the top of
Horeb, where Elijah talked mournfully with God over
the abounding wickedness of his people!




OLD TESTAMENT.                89
In perfect agreement with this, is a fact which cannot escape the careful reader of the Old Testament,
and is an extremely interesting one; viz. that in all
those portions which exhibit the interior religious life
of the people, there is scarcely an allusion to levitical
peculiarities: it would seem, that the moment a
pious soul felt itself alone with God, it shook off everything: low and terrestrial which belonged to that
dispensation of forms, forgot even the Jehova between
the - Cherubim, and soared away to the presence
chamber of the upper sanctuary. Look through the
Psalms-those wonderful compositions, which the infidel himself, if possessing one grain of taste or moral
discernment, can never cease admiring for the rational
and enlightened views, as well as pure seraphic devotion that breathe in every line: is it speaking too
strongly to say, that did we not know from other
sources the existence of a complicated ritual system
among the people by whom they were sung, we
would not believe it; nay would almost doubt its
possibility? No where do we find a hint, that the
least importance was attached to priest, altar, or sacrifice, except so far as they were institutions to be
honored for the sake of their author. It is not surprising then, that these old Psalms continue to be the
principal hymn-book of the church. Though mutilated and most imperfectly represented in the poetical
versions she employs, they possess a charm, which is
felt and acknowledged by every Christian heart:
4*




90      CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
Cowper, Watts, and Montgomery, may be dear to her;
but still more dear, are the harpings and hallelujahs of
the sweet singer of Israel!
To some. this elevated character of Old Testament
piety, blended as it necessarily was in practice with
so many ceremonial services, may seem difficult to
explain. But we do not think so. In every age, God
has made a revelation of himself to the human spirit;
and when he does so, the first discovery it makes, is,
that he himself is spirit, and that they who worship
him must worship him. in spirit, and in truth. The
divinely illuminated mind needs no instruction save
that which comes from  the depths of its own consciousness, that the way of acceptably approaching
Him, is not by thousands of rams and ten thousands of
rivers of oil. Something very different is required to
satisfy its felt needs, than a corporeal and local piety
-the placing on an altar the fruits of the earth, and
the beasts of the field; as if he who fills heaven and
earth with his presence, fed on lambs, or inhaled with
gratification the aroma of a slaughtered calf.
]Let us prize then the heavenly treasure which has
been committed to us, and with a deep feeling of
privilege and responsibility, make ourselves acquainted with its contents. Love to the Old Testament Scriptures is even a test of Christian character:
no man has ever drunk deep into the spirit of Jesus
and his Apostles, who does not with joy draw water
from these wells of salvation.




PART HI,
THE  INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE,
HERMENEUTICS is the Science of Interpretation.
Sacred hermeneutics has for its object, the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Exegesis is
the practical application of the Science. This, gives
us the laws - the former executes them: thus, we
speak of the Exegesis of a passage, according to
HIermeneutical principles.
Before however engaging in these studies, the conscientious reader of Scripture has another work to
perform-that of ascertaining the soundness of his
volume. Has he a text so uncorrupted, that he may
confidently rely on it as a foundation of religious belief? Has no poison been poured into the fountain?
After flowing through so many countries, and being
in constant contact with so much intellectual and moral impurity during the long period of three thousand
years, does it send forth the same healing waters as
when it first broke forth?  In answering these questions, the learned assert what is called —the Integrity




92      INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE,
of Scripture; and a thorough examination of it in all
its details and connections, is called-its Criticism.
The importance of this science can hardly be boverrated. Whether the Horace and Plutarch that lie on
our tables, faithfully represent those distinguished ancients, is a question of small practical interest; and
an argument, proving beyond all doubt, that every
second page was an interpolation, would hardly distress us so much as a badly-prepared breakfast. But
the soundness of that awful document which contains
the title-deed of our immortality, must be viewed in
a very-different light. No reasonable doubt should
exist on such a subject, nor any pains spared to know
the truth. The discussion does not however belong
to our present undertaking, though it may receive
slight notice before the close. That the text is in a
sound state shall be assumed; and we offer our aid to
the reader at the point of commencing his duties as
an interpreter.
All that we purpose to say in this brief treatise,
shall be arranged under two Heads:'I. VWe shall lay down some general Maxims, useful
to be fixed in the mind as a preparation for the study;
II. Give the rules in detail by which we should be
guided.




OBJECT OF INTERPRETATION.           93
MAXIM I.
The object of Interpretation, is to give the precise
thoughts which the sacred writer intended to express.
No other meaning is to be sought, but that which lies
in the words themselves, as he employed them: in all
cases, we should take a sense front Scripture, rather
than bring one to it. This rule is fundamental: and
yet how often is it violated! Some, will allow no
other sense but what has been baptized in their philosophy, or abstract notions of moral fitness: these,
in reading the Bible, make one as they go. Thus,
they nowhere find the doctrines of the Trinity, or
Original Sin, of Atonement, Justification by Faith, or
Divine Influence: some even, are unable to discover
Miracles.  Hence the bloody violence which they
practice on everything that comes in their way. A
Socinian can read the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah,
without perceiving any trace of Vicarious Suffering;
can turn the I' apxn in the beginning of John, into the
" commencement of the Christian dispensation;" and
refuses to the Only Begotten of the Father, any higher
diploma than that of an accomplished teacher of
morals. Nothing is too absurd or arbitrary, for one
who brings the word of God to the touchstone of his
own speculative opinions. To such a man it is no
revelation at all; for it teaches only what he knows
already.
Others, make it speak invariably according to their




94      INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
theological systems. Whey hey sit down to interpret
they think of nothing but what they call the " Analogy of Faith:" if the passage be explained in perfect accordance with this, all is well, and cannot be better,
though Philology sweat at every pore. The Analogy
of Faith is within certain limits exceedingly usefulbut it has been carried entirely too far, and made
to include all that a man thinks or guesses at
on the subject of religion.  Undoubtedly, there are
certain truths in the Bible, which we are at liberty
to assume, and by which we may reason analogically concerning the meaning of dubious passages.
Such are the doctrines of the Unity and Perfections
of God, Man's Moral Accountability, the Fall, Redemption by Grace, and Divine Influence. Any exposition of a text contradicting these, we may put
down at once as disagreeing with the Analogy of
Faith: the rule is a good one, and applied in the
interpretation of all writers. But surely, we have no
right to set up our whole system of religious belief, including the minutest of our sectarian peculiarities, as
a criterion of truth! This, is to make our creed expound the word of God, instead of letting the word of
God frame our creed, and establishes a principle as
arbitrary and odious as that of the Socinian. Our
ordinary Commentaries are greatly disfigured with
the fault just mentioned-being rather dogmatical
paraphrases, than expositions of Scripture itself. In
few do we discover an unfettelrd and liberal spirit:




0BJECT OF INTERPRETATION.            95
the Romanist, Lutheran, or Calvinist, peeping out at
the end of every line.
The injury which sacred Interpretation has received  from  this  source  (artificial  systems and
creeds) cannot be calculated.  Compared with  the
toils of philological investigation, they are so easy
to learn, the occupation of sitting beneath the instructions of an able and eloquent polemic is so agree.
able, and the preparation thus obtained for the exercises of the pulpit is so immediate and palpable, that
flesh and blood can hardly resist the temptation, to
elevate them above their proper level. The student
giving himself to them exclusively with all the ardor
of his age, is not conscious that in consequence of his
abuse of them, they are leading him rig/ht awayfrom
his Bible! But it is often really so: its direct rays
seldom  reach him; the few scattered beams which
strike his vision, being refracted and distorted in a
greater or less degree, by the very imperfect medium
through which he regards them. This is not the
fault of his teacher, whose exhibition of texts may be
copious and appropriate; but the effect of his own indolence, which dispenses with the labor of critical examination.  The dream is certain and the interpretation sure, without betaking to his dictionary and
grammar: the whole process of explaining the most
obscure and difficult passage in the word of God, is to
observe the place which it occupies in his Turretine,
and Lo!-the desert smiles.




96     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
How weak such persons must be in every thing relating to the exposition of Scripture, we need not say
What is still worse however, they contract a positive
dislike to the business. It is foreign to all their acquired habits and modes of thinking: it demands
qualifications to which they are strangers, and would
compel them to sacrifice many darling conceits, which
enjoy in their minds the undisputed dignity of
axioms.  There is no humanly constructed creed of
any length, which does not exhibit partial and contracted views.  The truths of Scripture are not
capable of exact scientific definition: they are the
ideas of the Divine Mind; and like that Mind possess
a certain boundlessness, which disdains to be cramped
by artificial moulds-resembling the sublime and
beautiful in nature, which awaken sentiment and interest the affections, but are of too delicate a texture, to
be compressed into scholastic arrangements. Accordingly, we find the sacred writers never attempting to
give a precise dialectic form to their statements. The
noble and affecting thoughts with which they are penetrated undergo no pruning process, nor are they subjected to metaphysical analysis: they are not drawn
out into regular propositions, but are poured forth w:th
the same divine negligence, with which they presented
themselves to their spiritually enlightened minds.
Nothing indeed is more remarkable than the artlessness-the charming and yet sublime simplicity, which
characterize these holy men. When they have a




EXPLAINED LIKE ANY OTHER BOOK.   97
truth to announce, there is no indication of holding
back in order to give it with philosophical exactnessno betrayal of a fear, that unless infinite care be taken,
it will not dovetail with some other truth that has
been announced previously, giving a writer the appearance of a man treading among pit-falls and springguns. They walk with a bold freedom, of which every
movement proves their consciousness; shoving aside in
their onward mnarch, the whole troop of collaterals,
trampling on contradictions, and anxious only to express themselves on the subject immediately before
them, with appropriate energy. The man who undertakes to interpret them, must catch their spirit in this
respect, or they will receive small justice at his hands.
MAXIM II.
The same method must be followed in expounding
Scripture, which we employ in searching out the meaning of other books.  It was indited to men; it speaks
to men, in the language of men; and was understood by
those to whom in ancient times it was addressed, as they
understood any other communication. The design of
God in giving it, was to communicate certain ideasin order to which, he must speak to us, just as do
others. Words call up ideas, not. by any native significance, but by compact, and every one in speaking is




98      INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
supposed to conform to the bargain. If he does not,
but employs language in a sense different from that
established by common use, he is,'to all intents and
purposes, a Covenant Breaker. In reading Scripture,
therefore, we are to use the same appliances and aids
employed in other cases.  Inspiration gives it no
special privileges: rather may we suppose, that a
revelation of God's will to the great world of mankind,
must be peculiarly susceptible of popular interpretation,
and positively require it. This rule sweeps away at
once a host of errors: we shall specify two.
1st. That of the Papists, who contend that the Exposition of Scripture is entirely suigeneris, and supernatural-being committed to Holy Mother Church,
consisting of the Pope, Decrees of Councils, and the
ancient Fathers.  The pretension is'rejected by all
sound Protestants with disgust. Whilowe say that
the Bible is the book of God, we affirm with equal
emphasis, that it is the Book of Man, and can be understood by man in the use of the ordinary means.
We also affirm that Holy Mother, with her Councils
and Fathers, has given too many proofs of something
worse than mere fallibility, to be entrusted with the
authoritative exposition of it. The Patristic interpretations of Scripture are, with a few exceptions, contemptible. Jerome, Theodoret, and Chrysostomn, are
all that a modern can quote, and absurdities of every
kind are found even in them: they were all ignorant
of Hebrew, except Jerome, and the later Fathers knew




THE SENSE IS   ONE.99
little of Greek. When they used citations in controversy, they took anything (as Jeronme himself acknowledges) which seemed likely to confound their
opponents; and there was scarcely one, who did not
prefer an allegorical explanation, or some frigid and
far-fetched conceit, to the plain sense of a passage.
2dly. The errors of Fanatics andEnthusiasts; such
as Quakers and Swedenborgians, who boast of certain
immediate revelations, which they call the " Word of
God within." This interior light is the supreme rule,
which entirely dispenses with every thing else —with
the knowledge of languages, philosophy, logic, and
common sense. With it, every shoe-black is abundantly qualified to expound all mysteries: withbout it,
" all the learning in the world," says the famous Barclay, "will only make light darkness, and turn the
truth into a lie." -lHow the Bible fares in such hands,
their writings show. Yet it would be folly to reason
with such people. They are above reason: theirs. is
the little Goshen where all true light is found: darkness blacker than that of Egypt covers the whole world
without.
MAXIM III.
The sense of Scripture is (in general) ONE: in other
words, we are not to assign many meanings to a
passage. Words indeed, have a variety of significa



100     TNTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
tions; but they cannot have this variety at the same
time. A single sense must be chosen, in doing which,
one expositor may differ from another, and it may be
dubious which is right. They cannot, however, be
both right: if we approve the one, we must, if they
really differ, disapprove the other.
The transgressors of this rule, are the Mystics and
Allegorists. Their fundamental maxim is not unlike
that of the Papists; for they consider the Bible to be
a book so different from others, that its depth of meaning can never be reached by the ordinary laws of interpretation. Being fiom God, they insist that it must
in all respects be worthy of him, and contain a richness of thought suited to his infinite understanding.
Hence their favorite  maxim;  Verba  Scripturce
tantum ubique significare, quantum significare possunt: i. e. whatever a word may mean, it does mean.
A single noun could thus have twenty different senses
in the same place, and refer to twenty different things.
This odd theory was a great favorite with the Jews
in the time of our Lord and his apostles, who occasionally allegorized  to please them, though byno
means frequently. See an instance in Gal. iv. 22;
where the Apostle makes Sarah and Hagar types of
the two covenants. So far did the Jews carry their
love of it, that their rabbis all maintained-" There
is not a letter in Scripture, or apex of a letter, which
does not contain whole mountains of meaning."
They even had a science or art, called the Caballa




THE SENSE IS 6 ONE..101
which by changing, disjoining, or transposing letters,
or by calculating their value as arithmetical signs,
elicited worlds of profound mystery.
The Jews communicated their mania to the old
Christian Fathers, whose writings abound in mystical
expositions of all kinds.  Everything in sacred history, was metamorphosed into type and symbol.O rigen denied even the literal truth of history, contending
that its whole and only meaning was allegorical.
Thus he pronounced it absolutely absurd to suppose,
that the world was created in six days: the creation
signified the renovation of the soul by the Gospel, and
the six days intimate that it is carried on by degrees.
Israel in Egypt, he makes to be the soul living in error; and the seven plagues are its purgations from
various evil habits-the frogs denoting loquacity, the
flies carnal appetites, the boils pride and arrogance,
&c. This mode of expounding continued through
the different ages of the church, and has been formally adopted by the Papists, who recognize three different senses besides the literal, viz. the allegorical,
tropological, and analogical.  Nor was it put down
by the reformation.  Cocceius, a celebrated Dutch divine, carried it almost as far as Origen did. He held
that the whole of the Old, Testament was an anticipative history of the Christian church, containing a
full recital of every thing which should happen to the
end of timne. Even the Lord's Prayer is a prophesy, and its six parts denote six great epochs in his



102     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
tory. Every good man in the Old Testament, is a
type of Christ, or his apostles: Every bad man, of
the devil, or the unbelieving Jews.
Such schemes are to be utterly rejected.  They
destroy all certainty of interpretation: taking the
ground from beneath our feet; and making Scripture
a nose of wax which every one may twist into the
shape that pleases him best. Thomas Woolston, a
celebrated English. infidel, attacked Christianity itself
with these arms, insisting that the narratives of Christ's
miracles were not designed to be histories, but are
pure allegories. Volney, a French writer, has turned
the evangelic history into a system of astronomyChrist being the sun and moon, and the twelve apostles the twelve signs of the zodiac. Without affirming that there are no secondary senses in Scripture
we believe that (the phrase being properly understood)
there are very few. Generally, the meaning is, as in
other books, one; and that lies near the surface. Who
ever heard of a man in common conversation, attaching different significations to the words he used —unless indeed he was playing a game at riddles, or double entendres?
MAXIM IV.
The interpretation of Scripture requires suitable
preparation.  The languages in which it is written,




SUITABLE PREPARATION.             103
are strange-difficult; and both are dead. In every
page, there are references to times, places. transactions,
with which we must be well acquainted. The history
of the world is given, with a few breaks and interruptions, from the beginning to the four thousandth year.
Not only are there accounts of the Hebrew nation, but
of many others with whom war or peaceful intercourse
brought them in connection; Syrians, Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans: cities, lakes, rivers,
hills, valleys, are continually mentioned.  So are
natural productions-as plants, trees, precious stones,
animals. Hence arises the necessity of being well
acquainted with1st. Hebrew and Greek: and also the cognate languages, Chaldee and Latin.
2d. History, civil and political; especially of the
Israelites, Egyptians, Phcenicians, Assyrians, and
Greeks. If the student has no time for extensive investigation, he should at least make himself master of
Josephus and Prideaux, who are accessible to all, and
full of entertainment as well as instruction.
3d. Chronology; which ascertains the dates and
order of events. There is great uncertainty and difficulty in this science, but it must not be neglected. A
general knowledge of its principles, and a clear view
of the great epochs into which sacred and profane history is divided, with an ability to refer every important
transaction to its proper time, is indispensable. Chronology is one of the eyes of history; the other is



104    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE,
4th. Geography. That of Palestine is of special
moment, for obvious reasons: but that of Egypt, Idumea, Arabia, and Mesopotamia, must not be passed
by.
5th. Customs and manners, or archaiology. These
exercise a mighty influence on the ideas of a people,
and their mode of expressing them. There is in Scripture. a constant allusion to Hebrew usages, and nearly
all its tropes are borrowed from them, in connection
with the natural features of the country.
The importance of a sound acquaintance with this
branch of knowledge, and also the last, (geography),
cannot be too deeply impressed on the mind of the
student. No man is fit to expound a paragraph in
any book whatever, unless he can bring distinctly
before his mind all the usages and historical facts, all
the circumstances of time and place, which relate to
the subject treated. This is necessary even to understand it, but much more to receive those strong impressions which excite the sensibility. Every one
who has attended to the laws of thought, knows how
wonderfully our conceptions are enlivened by association with local scenes and circumstances. A man
of general reading may, at his fire-side, call up pleasant reminiscences of Greece, and the various glorious
events recorded in her history: but how tame his
thoughts, compared with those which possess the
accomplished scholar who has trod her soil, and seen
all that remains to her, or by the constant perusal of
her writers, has made himself as familiar with every




SUITABLE PREPARATION.             105
hill and valley, as if he had seen therm with his bodily
eyes. It is a common remark of historians concerning the Christians of the middle ages, that their devotion was astonishingly increased by a pilgriimage to
Holy Laind. The must lukewarm usually returned
full of faith and fervor. This might-:be expected.
They had gone over the hallowed ground,- and were
able to form a distinct picture of it. They had walked
the streets of the city which their Divine Saviour had
honored with his ministrations, and trod the very
mount on which he had been lifted up between heaven
and earth. The vivid idea of the localities, passed by
an easy transition to all the facts and doctrines connected with them, and the felt reality of Calvary,
diffused itself over the sufferings which a thousand
years before had been endured there. In a word, tht?
sensible ideas of time and place became so incorporated with their religious belief, as to forma one complex whole-and they thought as little of questioning
the truth of their creed as the reality of their perceptions.
It is true, that few of us may be able to test the
principle just stated by visiting the sacred land in person. Much, however, can be effected by a thorough
course of reading. Let the student take into his hand
"Jahn's Archaeology," with an Ancient Geography
and Atlas, studying at the same time Robinson's
"Biblical Researches," he will be surprised to find
what a vivifying and warning influence they will
5




106      INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
exert, not only over his imagination, but his heart.
The simplest narrative of Scripture will be read with
an enthusiastic interest, of which he had previously
no conceptions; and even its doctrines be clothed with
a new attractiveness.
6th. Logic and general literature; which invigorate
the mind, and inure to habits of accurate discrimination. Every study that improves the thinking faculties
-especially the judgment, and enlarges our mental
horizon, will make its value felt in explaining the word
of God. What blunders have been committed by commentators, simply because they did not know that they
were reading poetry; and who would not have been
benefitted by the discovery, as they knew nothing of the
laws of that kind of composition-their whole reading
~l.aving been confined to the mellifluous jingle of Dr.
Watts! The remark of Cicero concerning the orator,
is quite as true of the sacred interpreter: ~ "Quod debet
omnibus disciplinis instructus esse." Let no student of
theology allow himself to think, that when he occasionally, or even frequently, opens the page of a Milton or a Locke, he is wasting time, or stealing it away
from his proper work.
7th. Above all, sincere and ardent piety. Without
this, no learning and acuteness will secure the interpreter from shamefullly blundering on the very threshhold of his undertaking, nor fiom a constant succession of blunders to the end. His heart must be attuned to his sacred employlnent-by a profound con



SUITABLE PREPARATION.           107
viction of ignorance and guilt, by sincere love to God,
and a devout longing toward every thing that is holy
and divine; by willingness to put himself absolutely
and without reserve at the feet of his great teacher;
in short, by such a sympathy between his spirit and
the spirit of Christ, that he can enter into the very
thoughts of Christ, and expound them by a sort of
divine intuition. There is a deep philosophy, (ignorance of which is the rock on which many interpreters have made shipwreck), in the promise: "I will
put my laws in their mind, and write them  in
their hearts, and they shall not teach every man his
neighbor, saying, know the Lord; for all shall know
me from the least to the greatest."  The meaning is
not, that under the new and spiritual dispensation
of the Gospel to which the promise refers, external
methods of instruction will be done awray; but that it
will be no more a hard, up)-hill work-as it always
is, when the hearts of men are not in harmony with
their employment. In consequence of the holy congeniality of the inner man with the objective revelation, the latter will be received with such ardent,
whole-souled affection at the very moment of being
presented, that the outward teaching will be scarcely
remembered.
Illustrations of this are found all around: let one
example serve. How slow to learn, is the boy whose
tastes and inclinations have no sympathy with the
object of his study! Like the ass, he needs a con



108    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
stant whip, to maintain a faint appearance of locomotion: even the tender, all-hoping mother has ceased
to plead for him, and concurs in the universal judgment that he is an incorrigible dunce. But take him
from his ungrateful toil, and task his energies with
a work which interests his affections, the almost idiot
expands into a young intellectual giant, and his proficiency astonishes all observers. So it is with the
true Christian. Before he experienced the power of
religion, nothing was more difficult than his indoctrination in those great truths that form the life and
soul of evangelical piety. He complained that they
were entirely wanting in evidence, as well as devoid
of attraction. He could not apprehend their meaning: his memory failed in the endeavor to retain
them, and a sermon in which any of them was discussed, invariably put him to sleep: no distillation
of henbane or poppy equalled it in narcotic virtue,
But how prodigious the change! All is now light,
clearness and beauty. The doctrines which occasioned him so much perplexity are now as easy and
simple to his understanding, as they are refreshing to
his heart. He scarcely needs a hermeneutical apparatus, but at once drinks them in with all the zest
and facility, with which the infant-heaven-taughtdraws its natural aliment from the mother's breast.
This is what the pious Psalmist alludes to when he
says, "I have more understanding than all my teach



USUS LOQUENDI.              109
ers: he had just before given the explanation,-" Oh
how I love thy law."
We proceed to the Special Rules which should
guide us in the interpretation of Scripture.
RULE I.
Carefuilly investigate the Usus loquendi. By this
is meant what the words literally express, the caustone
of speech. The meaning of words is for the most part
perfectly arbitrary. They call up certain ideas, because men have agreed that they shall do so, and for
no other reason: general usage, therefore, is the great
standard," quem penes arbitrium est et jus et norma
dicendi." In living languages, we ascertain the usage
from conversation and personal intercourse. In those
long since dead, as the Hebrew and Greek, we draw
on various sources:
1st. Contemporary writers. With respect to the Old
Testament, we have none such-all the Hebrew extant being contained in our volume. In place of them
we have a tolerably clear and ample Jewish tradition:
for it cannot be doubted, that the rabbis have preserved
with good fidelity much of their old national language. As to the New Testament, we have all the
Greek writers from Homer to Longinus; though they




110    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
must be used with caution, as the New Testament is
written in a Hebraistic idiom, and not in the classical
language of Demosthenes.
2d. Scholiasts and glossographers. These were men
who lived after the death of the writers; but while the
language was still living, and who must have understood the meaning of words better than we. Scholia,
were short notes inserted in the margin of the work
explained, illustrating some phrase or turn of expression. Scholia on the New Testament are very numerous, and some of them have come down fiom remote
antiquity. A noble edition of the New Testament,
containing a large collection of them, has been published by Matthai, a distinguished German professor.
Glossaries (from yxoays, a form of speech) are dictionaries, giving explanations of certain words arranged
in alphabetical order, and differing from  common
dictionaries in this, that they contain remarks on such
words only as are difficult, and obscure. The principal
works of this kind are those of Hesychius, Suidas,
Phavorinus, and Photius.
3d. Ancient translations, made when the languages
were still living. Such is the Septuagint version of
the Hebrew Bible, made nearly three hundred years
before Christ; when the language was well understood, though not spoken with perfect purity. The
value of this work to the student of the New Testament, as well as the Old, is incalculable: for without
the steady light which is cast by it on the meaning




ISUS LOQUJENDI.              111
and force of expressions, the interpreter could scarcely
advance a step. The Chaldee paraphrase, is another
venerable translation of the Old Testament. It presents the views concerning the meaning of that part
of Scripture, entertained by the learned Jews contemporary with our Lord: being composed a little before
his birth, and in the dialect spoken at that time by
the nation. The old Syriac version is also extremely
valuable.
4th. Kindred dialects. This source of aid is peculiarly useful with respect to that part of Scripture
which most needs it-the Old Testament. The Hebrew has three sisters, so like her, that there can be
no mistake as to their common parentage: they are
the Arabic, Chaldaic or East Armaean, Syriac or
West Armaean. In two of these-the Syriac and
Arabic-there are numerous writings still extant, and
the Arabic is a living language. The use of dialects
in determining the sense of words, requires skill and
judgment; as it by no means follows that the precise
signification is the same in both, because they are sisters. Yet its great value as a subsidiary, is generally confessed: proofs of it you have in every page
of Gesenius's dictionary.
5th. Etymology; or the examination of roots. —
When other expedients fail, we may sometimes derive
considerable assistance from tracing an expression to
its original element. But after all, etymology is slip_
pery ground. Words in the process of derivation or




112    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
composition, often deviate from their original import,
so that the child loses nearly all resemblance to its
parent. Thus the English word villain, in our old
writers means a slave; rascal, in Saxon, a lean
beast; hostis, in Latin, originally signified, (according to Cicero,) a stranger; pagan, which with us is
equivalent to heathen, and denoted nothing worse in
the language last mentioned fiom which we obtained it, than a farmer, or inhabitant of the country.
nr2T is a Hebrew verb signifying to be holy; the
noun /.j~ one of its derivatives, is the common
term for prostitute.  Two instances may be given
from  the New  Testament, to illustrate the danger
of reasoning firom  etymological significations. The
verb apoyvwacxo, is compounded of the preposition
crpo, before, and y&vox,o, to know.  It should therefore always denote simple foreknowledge, and many
Arminians contend that it does so; yet whoever
impartially examines the usus loquendi of the New
Testament, will see at once, that it is sometimes
fully equal in strength of meaning to our English word foreordain: see Rom. ii. 2, Acts ii. 23, 1
Pet. i. 20. The adjective ao&vto, is commonly used by
the Greeks for " eternal " or " everlasting," and is the
strongest term  they can employ: in this sense it is
constantly used in the New Testament, with perhaps
one or two exceptions. But the Universalist reminds
us that it comes from atwv an age, and must therefore
be translated "having age," or "enduring for an




USUS LOQUENDI.              113
age."  So too, caLovrs acCovcov can mean nothing more
than a " number of ages," though in every case, without a solitary exception, it expresses proper eternity.
We cannot forbear citing another example of deserting the established meaning of words or phrases
for supposed etymologies, from a Scottish Divine of
some note, who has written on the Baptist controversy.
The Rev. Mr. Ewing author of a Greek Dictionary
and Grammar, dissatisfied with the usual method of
meeting the Immersionists, undertakes to show that
the word baptize-so far firom signifying to " dip" or' merge," properly denotes the operation of "dropping"
or;" sprinkling;" and accomplishes it in the following
way. AllGreek verbs, being derived from biliteral roots
(he had probably heard of this theory without understanding it) the word uAgoa of which pa~etw is a form,
must be traced to the syllable bap or pap, which is of
course equivalent to the English pop. But pop is a
word evidently taken from nature, and expresses the
sound of a drop of water falling upon a table. paxlmer,
therefore means the same thing, and represents very
happily the sprinkling process; so that when the
Apostles were commanded to "go and disciple all
nations, baptizing them in the name," &c. they were
required in so many words to admit converts into the
visible church by bopping or popping on them —quod
erat demonstrandum! We would not take notice of
a hypothesis so unutterably ludicrous, were it not calculated by its very ludicrousness to fix in the mind an
5'




114     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
important principle of interpretation. We are far frorn
sympathizing with our Baptist friends in their strong
dislike to aspersion. On the contrary, we think that
in their zeal for carrying out the physical idea of mersion, they forget that by a not uncommon extension
of meaning, the physical act when employed as a
mere symbol, may lose much of its water, and express
religious ablution in general; of which fair examples
may be quoted fiom the New Testament.  At the
same time, we grant that some of the arguments
employed by our writers are extremely puerile, and
would try the temper of persons much more disposed
to play the amiable than our worthy brethren seem to
be, where their distinctive practice is concerned.
Nothing can be more unsafe than the modes of procedure referred to-in the three preceding examples.
Independently of the fact, that what we assign as
the original signification may be false (which the last
instance strikingly illustrates) the use of words is continually. fluctuating, and we cannot be too careful in guarding against errors from this source. Yet
they are common: whole systems of theology, and
even natural science, have been constructed on
fanciful etymologies, by men whose imaginations outran their judgment, of which we may cite Parkhurst's
Hebrew and Greek lexicons as an example. Great
aid, however, may be derived from a sober and skilful
tracing of words back to their source: if it does not




PARALLEL PASSAGES.             115
always direct to their present meaning, it seldom fails
to throw a happy light on the history of language.
These are the principal means of the'Usus Loquendi."  It would be cruel, however, to impose upon
all, the task of digging into these de-ep mines. The
labor is in a measure saved by good dictionaries,
which, if really good, contain the results of such investigations. Happily we are well supplied with Gesenius in Hebrew, and Wahl and Bretschneider in
Gleek: Professor Robinson's Lexicon is also excellent,
combining the good qualities of both.
RULE II.
Examine carefully the parallel passages.  By
these are meant, texts which relate to the same subject, teach the same doctrine, or relate the same historical fact. They should be accurately collated, that
one may supply light to the other, and fill up what is
wanting to the perspicuity of the whole. We perform this operation constantly-in reading the most
familiar letter, or the simplest story. Its value in the
study and explanation of scripture, can hardly be expressed. It not only enables us to enter into the
meaning and force of particular expressions, but
places us on a comnmandinlg eminence, where we may
survey the whole field of divine truth, and admire




116    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
the harmony of its several parts. All systematic theology should be built on this alone. " I will not scruple to assert," says the learned Bishop Horsley, "that
the most illiterate Christian, if he can but read his
English Bible, and will take the pains to read it in
this manner, (studying the parallel passages) without
any other commentary than what the different parts
mutually furnish for each other, will not only attain
all that practical knowledge which is necessary to salvation, but will become learned in every thing relating
to his religion. He may safely be ignorant of all
philosophy, and all history, which he does not find
in the sacred books."
Parallels are of two kinds, Verbal, and Real;
Verbal, are those in which the very same word or
phrase is used, though the meaning in one may be
much clearer than in the other, and consequently
give light to it. Thus in Joel ii. 28, God promises
that he "will pour cut his Spirit on all flesh." Doubtful how to understand " flesh " in this passage, I comnpare it with Gen. vi. 12, which says that "all flesh
corrupted their way." As the whole mass of mankind is here meant, I feel authorized to give the same
extent of meaning to the word in Joel. In Matt. i.
20, the angel of the Lord declares that Mary shall
"conceive of the Holy Ghost."  Struck with the peculiarity of the expression, I go to the corresponding
passage in Luke, and find him using it also, but,
adding another which is evidently intended to be exe



PARALLEL PASSAGES.              117
getical, viz,'"Power of the Highest,"  Luke i. 35:
The Holy Ghost therefore is here equivalent to the
Divine energy. In 1 Cor. vii. 1, Paul says "It is
not good for a man to marry." A little startled at
this squinting of the great apostle towards monkery,
I look further down the chapter for an explanation,
and find it in the 26th verse; "it is good for the plesent distress."  Marriage is an excellent thing, but may
be very inexpedient in times of severe persecution.
Real parallelism is a correspondence in the thought
or subject, although the words are different; and is still
more important than the other. It is two-fold, historical and doctrinal.  Historical parallelisms are
those which occur in the relation of matters of fact.
The four Gospels are full of these, and a careful collation of them is of unspeakable use in interpretation.  One evangelist fills up the outlines briefly
sketched by another, supplying some circumstance of
time, place, or occasion, which throw a flood of light
on the whole transaction. From a diligent and minute
comparison of their accounts, Harmonies are constructed, which deserve to be well studied. There are
similar coincidences in the Old Testament, ex. gr.
between the books of Chronicles and Kings.
Many of these passages offer serious difficulty to
the interpreter, in consequence of a strong appearance
of inconsistency and contradiction. The greater nutnber however, yield readily to diligent and careful scrutiny-originating in some misconception of the reader,




118     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
or in false readings of the text; which in the Old Testament are numerous. By taking a correct view of
the subject, scope, and connection of each passage, and
observing the style, with other peculiarities of the
writers, discrepancies which at first appeared with a
most fierce and threatening aspect, have turned into
lambs and doves. Some however, (especially those
found in the Gospel narratives), are really perplexing,
and have been the' crux theologorum " in all ages:
of which we cite the following as illustrations. There
seems a very decided repugnance between Matthew's
account of our Saviour's baptism, and that of John;
the former representing the Baptist as knowing Jesus
from the first, while the latter says that he did not
know him  till the descent of the Spirit.  Compare
John i. 33 and Matthew iii. 13.  There is also a
singular clashing between the narratives of Matthew
and Luke concerning the miracle wrought upon the
blind near Jericho-Matthew making the number,
two; and expressly saying that our Lord was departing "from  the city"-Luke declaring that he was
going to it, and that but one individual was restored:
Compare Matthew xx. 30 and Luke xviii. 35. In his
account of the crucifixion, John differs from the other
evangelists as to time, stating, that it took place after
the sixth hour; Mark with whom Matthew and Luke
agree, names the third. In the accounts of his unction
by Mary, the discordancy is equally marked-John
saying that it occurred six days before the Passover;




PARALLEL PASSAGES.             119
Matthew and Mark specifying two. The narratives of
Christ's resurrection and the circumstances which followed it seem also at variance, and in no small degree.
These examples will suffice, though we might
adduce a score of others. Now it is not allowed for a
moment that they are incapable of being harmonized:
still, it cannot be denied that they bear a strong appearance  of discrepancy.  The student therefore
should examine them carefully, with such helps as the
learned have furnished; remembering that he must occasionally fall in with the infidel —and that the infidel
is an insect of the blue bottle genus who always settles on such spots. If after his best exertions he does
not receive perfect satisfaction, let him not be frightened, as if these gentlemen had gained a fearful advantage: the truth is, they have gained a loss-the
fact of disagreement in matters of trifling moment
proving triumphantly the substantial veracity of our
writers, and the consequent truth of Christianity.
Whatever trouble it may give us in defending the
doctrine of verbal inspiration, it is a thunderbolt
against the Deist: for is it not certain, that if the
sacred historians had combined to palm a falsehood on
us, they would like fiaudulent gamesters have taken
care to play into each other's hands, and studiously'
avoided every appearance of collision? But nothing of
this kind appears.  There is no leaning on each other
-no mutual adjustment of what they have to say, nor
endeavor so to trim their statements that they shall




120    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
nicely fit those of their colleagues, and the whole
together present, like fine cabinet work, a smooth un.
broken surface to the eye. What a delightful proof of
the unbending and uncompromising honesty of these
pure-hearted men! Remember these things, Christian
student; and when any of the difficulties alluded to
rise up to harass and perplex you, take comfort from
reflecting-that the occassion of your distress is one of
the strongest guarantees for the truth of your religion.
Bless God that there are things in the Gospel which
you are called to reconcile!
Parallelism of doctrine is found, where the same
principles are taught in two or more passages. The
great business of the didactic theologian is to investigate this class of correspondencies. All sound knowledge of Christian doctrines, depends on the faithful and judicious comparison of scripture with scripture. Does the student waist clear views concerning
man's relations to his Creator, original corruption, the
person -and work of the Redeemer, justification, the
connection between it and the renewal of the soul in
]holiness, the happiness and misery of a future statehis course is plain and easy. He must find the great
classical passages on each point, and bring them in
juxtaposition: he must compare (asking no other assistance but God's grace and a good dictionary,) Isaiah
with Matthew, Paul to the Romans with Paul to the
Galatians, and both these with Jaines-the author of
the Apocalypse with Daniel and Ezekiel, the Epistle to




PARALLEL PASSAGES.                 121
the Hebrews with Genesis and Leviticus.  Let him
do this in fear of the Lord, with a single desire to
know the truth;.he will not probably conle fiom his
labor a hair splitting metaphysician or cunning rhetorician —but he will prove something more and better, " a good steward of the manifold grace of God."
Besides the coincidences above-mentioned, there is
in scripture what is called the poetic parallelism, with
which every readel of Hebrew is acquainted. It consists in a mutual correspondence of the two members
of a stanza; the one being a sort of echo to the other,
as in Isaiah i. 3:
The ox knoweth his owner,
The ass his master's crib,
Israel does not know,
My people do not consider.
Sometimes the answering clause is synonymous
with the first, as in the example just cited.
Sometimes antithetical, or opposed to it, as in Prov.
xii. 1:
A wise son makes a glad father,
But a foolish son is the grief of his mother.
At others, it contains only a farther development of
the thought, as in Psal. cxlviii. 7:
Praise the Lord upon the earth,
Ye dragons and all deeps;
Fire and hail: snow and vapour;
Stormy wind; fulfilling his will:
Mountains and all hills:
Fruit trees and all cedars,




122    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
These parallelisms are of excellent use to the interpreter. They often enable him to decide important
questicns concerning the meaning of'words and propositions, when deserted by all other hermeneutical
aids. Nor is their use confined to the Old Testament.
The same rythmrical construction everywhere prevails
in the New, which in this, as in many other respects,
has received a decided tinge from  the Hebrew writings. On this whole subject we earnestly recommend
to the student, Bishop Lowth's Lectures on Hebrew
Poetry, a book almost worthy of its theme.
RULE III.
The consideration of the author's scope or design
greatly facilitates interpretation. Every man (not a
fool,) has some definite purpose in speaking, and it is
fairly presumed that he will use such terms and arguments as are suited to it. The scope is the soul-the
vis vitwe of a work, which lives and breathes through
the whole, giving order, force and beauty to every
part It may be ascertained in various ways.
1. By marking the occasion on which the passage
or book was written. Thus the occasion of Paul's
epistle to the Galatians, was the dissemination among
them of Jewish errors concerning the way of justification: he'"marvels that they were so soon removed




SCOPE AND DESIGN.               123
from him that called them into the grace of the Gospel."
The epistles'to the Romans had a like origin.  The
inscriptions on many of the Psalms, describing the
condition of the poet when they were composed, give
them  wonderful vivacity and impressiveness: we almost seem to be reading different compositions.
Take for example the third Psalm, and in reading it,
set before you the pious monarch driven from his
throne by the machinations of an unnatural son, and
wandering among the hills of Gilead, wanting the
very necessaries of life, and in constant danger from
enemies who were thirsting for his blood; yet expressing his perfect confidence that all would be well at
last, whatever temporary triumph might be allowed
them.  How  thrilling every expression of his vic
torious faith in the power and promise of God under
such circumstances! It appears that the serene old
manr did not lose a night's rest in the darkest period of
his trial:
I lay me down and sleep
I awake for Jehovah sustains me,
I fear not ten thousands of people,
Who set themselves round about me.
The discourses of Christ receive like illustrations,
from adverting to the occasion of them. )Many were
answers to the cavils and impertinencies of the Pharisees: some were connected with occurrences which
took place in his presence: others were suggested by
questions of his disciples.  How much we should lose




124     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
of the meaning and beauty of his conversation with
the Samaritan woman, if we separated it from the
little introductory circumstances which are recorded;
viz. that the place was "Sychar," the chief city of
the most bitter enemies of his nation; that "Jacob's
well" was there; that weary with journeying he sat
upon its mouth waiting the return of his disciples,
"who had gone into the city to buy meat;" that he
excited her astonishment by asking drink of her, " for
the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans."
Every one of these apparently trifling incidents has
its use in illustrating what follows: not one could be
spared, without detracting from a composition which
measured by a standard merely literary, has nothing
to compare with it in all the ancient and modern
classics.
2. By examining whether the writer has not himself mentioned his design. Thus the Evangelist
John informs us, what his purpose was in writing his
gospel, John xx. 31. "These things are written that
ye might believe upon Jesus, and that believing ye
might have life through his name." Luke avows his
design very clearly. He seems to have been dissatisfied with some of the current accounts which had
been published of the life of Christ, and determines
to give an accurate and orderly detail, the result of his
own personal investigations.  As he intimates his
purpose to write xao;e0~, i. e. " in order "-having care
fully followed up every event, apwxoxovOxo& cavcooEv




SCOPE OR DESIGN.             125
axp&,p5 many judicious commentators infer that where
the evangelists differ as to the order of facts, his account
is to be preferred, and have accordingly made it the
basis of their schemes of harmony. The author of
Ecclesiastes is another instance of a sacred writer who
states his object. The whole work is a commentary
on the first verse, "Vanity of vanities," saith the
preacher; all is vanity."  It must be confessed that
he sticks to his melancholy text most closely, and
expounds it with a fearful energy.
Occasionally, a sacred writer gives his purpose not
at the outset, but the close of his remarks. A striking
instance is found in Paul's epistle to the Romans.
In the first three chapters, he elaborately reviews the
moral condition of mankind both Jews and Gentiles,
in all ages, and shows that the whole world was
guilty before God. In the 20th verse of the third
chapter, we see him distinctly approaching his object:
"Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be
justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge
of sin." This was one point gained, and one of
momentous interest to a mind anxiously inquiring,
"How shall man be just with God."  But he had a
much higher aim than merely to prostrate the sinner:
he kills that he may make alive; and after an eloquent
discussion through the seven verses that follow, brings
out in the 28th, the great central truth of the Gospel
with dialectic formality.  " Therefore we conclude




126     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law."
3dly. If both the expedients mentioned fail, we
should read the whole book, marking the coherence of
its various parts. Mr. Locke recommends the perusal
of it at one sitting, quoting his own experience in
favor of the plan. "I concluded it necessary," he
says, (speaking of Paul's epistles), "for the understanding of any one of them, often to read it all
through at one sitting, and to observe as well as I
could, the design of his writing it. If the first reading
gave me some light, the second gave me more; and
so I persisted on, reading constantly the whole epistle
over at once, till I came to have a good general view
of the apostle's main purpose in writing."  The advice
is excellent, suggesting the very method we employ
in ascertaining the scope of other writings. If the
title-page leave any doubt or darkness on the subject,
we instinctively turn to the table of contents, or skim
over the different chapters, before we engage in a critical perusal. We thus catch the author's drift —we
see what he would be at-without some knowledge of
which, reading is the most intolerable of all drudgery.
RULE IV.
Examine well what precedes and follows the part
to be expounded.  This is called the context; and is




CONTEXT.                 127
divided into the remote and inzmediate.  The immnediate, is that part which stands in immediate proxim-,ity to the passage; the remzote, may extend some
distance backward and forward. The mind generally
thinks in train, and connects its ideas together by
well-known laws of association. This connection of
thought, and the logical relation of one part of the series
to another, is an invaluable key to the mind of a
writer, except when he professedly deals in aphorisms;
as the author of the book of Proverbs, and Christ in part
of his sermon on the mount. It is in some respects
more important than the scope: the latter only gives
me the author's general purpose, which does not forbid the admission of episodes, and topics merely
collateral: We shall be certain to err with regard to
these, if we neglect the connection.
We must be on our guard, however, against manufacturing a connection; in other words against
putting a false construction on what precedes or follows, and then moulding the exposition in conformity
with our own gloss,-a fault often committed. Falsehood can only beget falsehood. Nor, supposing that
our construction is true, may we adjust our passage to
it by any violation of the Usus Loquendi, or rules of
grammar. In these cases, we must take what might
seem  the worst of two meanings-sacrificing contextual symmetry to the general laws of language.
Thus limited, the rule that no explanation is to be ad



128      INTERPRETATION  OF SCRIPTURE.
mitted which does not suit the context, is of constant
use.
Suppose me reading the 42d Psalm, and considering
the pathetic exclamation in the second verse:
My soul thirsteth for God, the living God,
When shall I come and appear before God-;
My tears are my meat day and night,
While it is said continually, Where is thy God?
My first impulse is to view  it as the expression of
a wish to die and enjoy the felicity of heaven; especially as the phrase " seeing God," often refers to future
blessedness. But a glance at the 4th verse, shows
that the pious monarch longed for restoration to the
services of the earthly sanctuary, of which he had
been deprived by the persecutions of his son Absalom:
When I think of this, I pour out my heart in tears,
How I went with the multitude-went to the house of God,
With jubilee and praise in a sacred happy throng.
The 110th Psalm describes the victorious progress
of an illustrious prince, greatly honored by God, and
exalted to his right hand.  The first three verses leave
me in doubt whether the poet speaks of David or
another and far greater personage, as the sitting at
God's right hand may be figurative::
Jehovah said unto my Lord,
Sit thou at my right hand,
Until I make thine enemies thy footstool,




CONTEXT.                    129
Thy powerful sceptre Jehovah sends out of Zion.
Rule in the midst of thy foes.
But the 4th verse settles the question:
Jehovah hath sworn and will not repent,
Thou art an everlasting priest,
Of the order of Melchisedec.
David was no priest, 1nor could any Hebrew monarch assume the office without heaven-daring profanity.  The strange and (to the Jew) astounding phenomenon of a "priest upon a throne," directs us at
once to David's Son and Lord. The application of
this simple test will enable the plainest Christian to
detect the Psalms called Messianic, at a glance. They
all embody in their representations such remarkable
incidents and traits of personal character, as make it
impossible to apply them without the grossest impropriety to any but the anointed of the Father. Let the
2d, 16th, 22d, 45th, and 72d be brought to this touchstone; nothing but arrant infidelity can resist the
force of the alrgument.
It m-ay admit a doubt whether the celebrated description in Rom. vii. of the struggle between the
"flesh and the spirit," refers to the true Christian
or the unregenerate.  There are some expressions in
it, which certaitnt.v agree best with the latter supposition. On the other hand, there are wvhole sentences
which cannot at all be reconciled with this hypoLhesis, and compel us to understand the apostle as describing the exercises of the Christian.  In the 1Sth
6




130     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
verse, it is clearly implied that the person described,
possesses impulses and principles superior to those of
unrenewed nature.  "In me  that is, in my flesh,
dwelleth no good thing." In the 22d verse, he is said
to " delight in the Law of God after the inner man;"
and in the 25th, he thanks God for " his deliverance
lhrough Christ Jesus." Farther, to entirely preclude
the supposition that this deliverance is a new state,
following, and not contemporary with the struggle, he
adds, " So then with the mind I serve the Law of God;
but with the flesh the law of sin." Surely it is not in
accordance with the tenor of scripture, as an excellent
commentator observes, to describe in this way the
exercises and character of unholy men.
Let us bring to the contextual touchstone another
passage-the well-known paragraph in Romans 5th,'
which seems to assert a direct causal connection, between Adarn and his posterity. "By one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death
passed upon all men, for all have sinned:"  "By one
man's offence, death reigned by one:"  By the offence
of one, judgment came upon all to condemnation:"
"By one man's disobedience, many were made sinners."  Pelagians affirm, that all intended by these
remarkable statements is, that Adam gave the first
example of sinning, and that somehow, his posterity
walked in his steps. They compare the phraseology
with expressions like these: " By Sir Robert Walpole,
bribery and corruption entered the British parlia



CONTEXT.                 131
nment:"  "By Lysander, luxury  entered  Sparta;"
which, according to them, only mean that the evils
mentioned began with these persons. Without dwelling on the violence done to the words by this gloss, or
the fact that their own phrases clearly denote not only
a chronological but a causal connection, let the student look at the whole series of discourse that follows;
in which the apostle, with an emphasis and accumu
lation of synonymous expressions, which show how in
tently his mind was working with the thought, draws
a parallel between Adam and the Redeemer. If he
does not mean to say that there was a similitude between them in official character and relations, almost
perfect, there is no meaning in language. The inference is irresistible. Christ was not the first who received salvation, but is the immediate author of it. In
the sanme sense our guilty progenitor is the immediate
author of sin and misery to our world.
This attempt to explain away the plain meaning
of scripture is sufficiently gross. That of the Socinians to evacuate the Epistle to the Hebrews of our
Redeemer's Priesthood and atonement, is yet more so.
The priesthood of Jesus, they say, is a bold figure,
merely denoting that he was a consecrated minister
of God. His sacrifice consisted in the virtuous obedience which he yielded, and which might be so called,
not properly, but in a pretty, fanciful way-because
it was crowned with a death of martyrdom! The
apostle then, through six mortal chapters, has been




132    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
hammering at a rough, uncouth figure, and the result
of all his learned  labor is-absolutely nothing!
Nowhere, in all the annals of writing, can be found
an instance to compare with it, of the " montes parturiunt, nascetur ridiculus mus." It swould be idle to
allege the context against such expounders. They
grant every thing we say concerning its entire and
perfect harmony with the doctrine of vicarious satisfaction: all they ask us to allow, is, that the whole book
may be a metaphor run mad. We would rather
doubt the sanity of some of its expositors.
These examples may suffice of the advantage derived from studying the context.  It is unhappily
much discouraged and impeded by the way in which
our modern Bibles are printed. The fiacture of great
coherent masses into verses, is an unhappy arrangement. The reader's attention is almost necessarily
carried away from the flow and current of thought,
and fixed on an isolated proposition, whose true
meaning depends upon something not distinctly before
his mind: in consequence, he is very apt to treat
revelation as an immense collection of proverbs; and
the majority of common readers actually so consider it.
The custom of reading the New Testament in this
manner, originated with Robert Stephens the famous
printer, who having published editions of it which
net with great acceptance, determined to add a Concordance: and for convenience of reference, chopped




CONTEXT.                 133
the text into its present form; making it resemble
more an auction catalogue, than a civilized-christian
book. His son Henry states, that he went through
the whole business while on horseback, (in equitando)
which we are quite disposed to believe, as the exercise
was well adapted to shake out verses without straining
violently the reader's intellect. The mischief which
it has caused in relation to the study of scripture, is
far greater than those suppose, who have never reflected on the subject. How ridiculous would a modern
letter appear, ex. gr. Washington's Farewell Address,
if mutilated in this savage manner! Yet such is the
effect of custom, that it scarcely excites notice, when
performed on a writer who least of all can bear such
an infliction-the rapid, discursive and exuberant Paul.
Nor can we approve the practice adopted by many
preachers, of running into their pulpits with a single
sentence or part of one, which they make their exclusive subject; not bestowing on the connection a word
of notice-unless they have been hurried in their
preparations, and find it convenient to talk a little
round it, in an extempore introduction. What would
we think if we heard any other book prelected on in
this way-a treatise on medicine for instance, or on
morals: or what would we think of a judge expounding in this way a legal statute? The civil law has
laid down an express canon on the subject, with some
tartness, as if indignant at the idea of such a practice:
" Turpe est de lege judicare, tota lege non inspecta."




134     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
Ministers are often heard to chide their people sharply,
for the careless and unprofitable way in which- they
read the word of God:. but they would do well to ask,
whether they are not themselves to blame in forming
them to such wretched habits of perusing it. When
his Reverence appears before the people month after
month, without in a single instance perhaps, explaining the design, coherence, and argument of a paragraph containing only six verses, it is really too much
to expect, that honest John will spend his Sabbath
evenings in supplying the pastor's lack of service.
The same evil prevails in the domain of controversial theology. Many allow themselves to be captivated by the mere sound of a phrase. It seems to
suit their purpose in an argument: incontinently they
detach it from the paragraph to which'it belongs,
dress it up in high-sounding paraphrase, and send it
forth, "to root out, pull down and destroy" every
thing that opposes. Examples without number could
be given, from the writings of all religious parties,
even our own, for that many passages which Calvinists quote are utterly irrelevant, the slightest examination shows. An instance of this is the celebrated declaration in Jeremniah xxxi. 3: "I have loved
thee with everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee," which may be more properly translated thus,
In days of old have I loved thee,
Therefore will I prolong my goodness to thee.




CONTEXT.                 135
God is here assuring the ten tribes of deliverance and
protection, on account of the love he bore them in
former times, when with outstretched arm he brought
them from the land of Egypt. Nothing is said of the
eternity of his purposes, or their accomplishment in
the conversion of the elect: if applied to this subject,
it must be in the way of pious accommodation. The
same is true of another favorite passage: Matthew
xxii. 14, "' Many are called, but few are chosen."  The
whole context and scope shows, that the Redeemer is
not speaking of sovereign election, but rather stating
the fact, that while all are invited to the Gospel feast,
there are comparatively few admitted, in consequence
of neglecting to secure the necessary qualifications.
On the other hand, our Arminian brethren quote,
with as little shadow of reason, 1 Corinthians, xii. 7,
to prove universal grace. The proposition that "a
dispensation of the spirit is given to every man to
profit withal," sounds indeed bravely. But the sound
is all: the whole argument shows that the Apostle is
speaking of supernatural gifts of the spirit, and is
addressing church members exclusively.
When we apply our Rule to interpretation, some
caution is necessary, in consequence of the context
being occasionally broken by a parenthesis. In the
New Testament these are very frequent, especially
with Paul, whose impetuous genius often starts aside
to embody a vivid conception or glowing sentiment
that suddenly kindled in his mind, and which he did




136     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
not allow himself leisure, to weave into the general
texture of his discourse. We have a beautiful example in 2 Timothy, i. 16, 18: where the short prayer
in the beginning of the 18th verse is evidently an
extempore burst of grateful emotion, and the words
must be enclosed in brackets: "But when Onesiphorus was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently and found me, (the Lord grant unto him that
he may find mercy of the Lord in that day,) and in
how many things he ministered to me at Ephesus,
thou knowest very well." A more striking instance
is in Ephesians iii. where the first and fourteenth
verses must be immediately united, the parenthesis
consisting of not less than thirteen.
Attention to this, wonderfully enlightens some of
his dark sayings; among others, that in 1 Timothy,
v. 23:'"Drink no longer water, but use a little wine
for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities."
The Apostle is in the midst of a solemn and weighty
exhortation to Timothy, in relation to ordaining candidates for the ministry. In the 22d verse, he says,
"lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker
of other men's sins, keep thyself pure." In the 24th
he carries out the thought, stating that some men's
disqualifications were open and manifest to all, others
were more secret and followed after them. There is
thus a complete connection between the 22d and 24th
verses; and the question rises, how the Apostle comes
to press the matter of wine-drinking directly between




CHARACTER, ETC. OF THE WRITERS.   137
the two, when the thought was so foreign to his whole
subject?  It is manifestly a parenthesis. In the midst
of his directions concerning ordination, he remembers
that his young friend Was of feeble constitution, and
liable to severe attacks of dyspepsia. It is in his
mind to prescribe a glass-not of syrup, but of good
generous wine, which is known to possess great virtue
in such complaints. No sooner thought, than done.
Without losing a moment, he tosses it into the middle
of his argument, where it stands a fine specimen of
the noble artlessness of the great Apostle. Dr. Paley
builds on this circumstance a strong argument for the
authenticity of the epistle. It scarcely would have
entered the mind of an impostor, to exhibit Paul as
commending wine, in a grave, apostolical epistle:
much less, would he have introduced the advice in so
strange and improbable a manner.
RULE V.
We must know the character, age, sect, nation, and
other peculiarities of the writer. Every human being
has a character-a certain something which distinguishes him from others, giving a hue to all his
thoughts and modes of expressing them. This must
be known, in order to his being understood.  The inspired writers are no exception to the rule. They who
imagine that the Holy Spirit so possessed their minds




138    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
that they became mere automata in his hands, and
poured out words and thoughts as they were successively poured in-like so many water-pipes of a cistern, betray profound ignorance of the subject. Some
such crude fancies were entertained in former times,
and are probably not extinct. They doubtless originated' in a vague notion, that the more entirely human
agency was excluded from the doctrine of inspiration, the higher honor was bestowed on the Divine
Spirit: and the etymology of the word "inspiration"
had also its effect. It originally and properly signified,
a breathing in, and suggested the dark and mysterious
conception of an effect produced on the thinking substance of a man, not unlike the inflation of a
bladder" magnam cui mentem animumque,
Delius inspirat vates."
But inspiration has nothing in common with its etymology: it simply expresses the idea of supernatural
assistance and guidance, in the communication to
mankind of truths previously unknown. Those who
were honored with it, were enabled to speak, act and
write, as divine messengers, in perfect conformity with
the will of Him who sent themn; so that nothing ploceeded from them, but what was holy and true. Yet
they were not puppets, acted on by a physical and compelling force from without. They were living, personal
agents, in full possession of all the faculties with which
they had been endowed by their Creator —with per



CHARACTER, ETC. OF THE WRITERS.  139
ception, memory, consciousness, will; and the energy
of the Holy Ghost wrought no greater violence on
their minds in the exercise of these powers, than
is wrought by his ordinary operation on the hearts of
believers in every age of the church.
It is not our business to give the philosophy of this
"pre-established harmony" between agencies so different, nor to speculate on the mode in which they were
combined for the production of a single result. As interpreters, we state the fact-not explain it: and the
fact certainly is, that no men are more distinguished
from each other by strong mental idiosyncrasies, nor
any who give nlore decided evidence, that their own
spirits performed an important office in composition.
In the author of the book of Proverbs, we see before
us the grave, sententious, dignified morarch, whose
profound knowledge of human nature, and sparkling
gems of wisdom, made his name celebrated throughout the East. Amos is always the strong, bold, but
somewhat unpolished herdsman of Tekoah. The
rough and vehement Ezekiel, standing with dishevelled hair and rolling eye, in the midst of his fantastic but expressive symbols, never suffers us to mistake him for Isaiah, the sublime, imaginative, tasteful
courtier of Hezekiah. The same with the plaintive,
tender Jeremiah —the contemplative John-the argumentative, glowing Paul. It is an old, but, with
proper explanation, perfectly true remark, originally
made by Jerome, that " revelation consists in thought,




140    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
not in words or external dress: nec putemus in verbis
scripturam evangelii esse, sed in sensu." We insult the
Holy Ghost, by supposing him unable to accommodate
himself to the mode of thinking and phraseology of
those whom he honored with his influence-that when
he made the prophet, he was forced to unmake the
man.
When we read the Epistle to the Romans therefore,
we must remember that we are conversing with a finished gentleman of the old school; a scholar brought
up at the feet of Gamalie], a powerful but a rapid
reasoner, delighting in ellipses, digressions, repetitions, bold figures, and pregnant expressions suggestingmnoree than meets the ear-fond of illustrating his
subject by Old Testament ideas, even when he intends making no use of them  in argument; and
above all, that we are conversing with him who,
more than any other apostle, was deeply penetrated
with the glorious catholicity and abounding grace of
the Gospel! In reading James, we must think of the
stern, high-souled moralist, in whom the ethical element of Christianity seems to have taken the deepest
root; who, while with adoring faith he beheld " the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." never
lost from his view the awful form of that'eternal
law," which spoke in thunder from Sinai, and yet
speaks in milder tones, though with the same commanding authority, to every child of Adam. John,
in his writings, seems to be still clinging to his mas



CHARACTER, ETC. OF THE WRITERS.   141
ter's bosom.-Love to the person of his Redeemer is
evidently  his engrossing sentiment. No one can
doubt, apart fiom every argument containing in other
parts of Scripture, that John believed him to be divine.
His glory as the uncreated Logos-that glory which
he had with the Father before the world was, a few
scattered rays of which had been seen through the
veil of his humiliation, is the great thought with
which  his soul holds constant communion, raised
above every other object-like the eagle calmly reposing in mid heaven, and gazing at the sun!  He
who gives no attention to these things, and does not
take pains to catch the distinctive peculiarities of the
sacred writers, commits the same kind of blunder with
that of the man who reads Milton's Paradise ]Lost, and
Addison's Essays in the Spectator, yet sees no difference between them except in the length of the lines.
* It is important also, to note the different kinds of
composition they employed. Some were poets, and
must be interpreted according to the laws of poetry.
Their bold tropes must not be turned into sober
matter-of-fact realities; as is done by the Millenarians,
who read Isaiah nearly as they would Blackstone's
Commentaries on the British Constitution. Ezekiel
is not Luke, nor is Matthew the publican, David,
singing one of the sweet odes of Zion to the music of
his harp. Historians are to be treated as historians,
not as poets or rhetoricians: the accounts of miracles
given in our four Gospels, must therefore be taken to




142    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
the letter. No books in the world bear more decided
evidence, that their authors intended to give simple
and perspicuous narratives of events as they actually
occurred. The principle must not be tolerated for a
moment, of explaining  them away, by doing violence to the plain meaning of language, and to all
the laws which are applied to other historical compositions. Yet it has been sanctioned by great names,
especially in Germany. Grave divines are found, who
insist that there is not one miracle in the Gospels;
the events which seem miraculous being entirely natural, but exaggerated and embellished, by the warm
fancies of the people among whom they occurred.
Only strip, they say, the Evangelists of this semipoetic drapery, and the business of exposition will go
on delightfully. Moses fares, if possible, still worse;
as they turn him into an allegorist or reciter of mythological fables. The first ten chapters of Genesis
contain about as large a body of real truth, as can
pass without inconvenience through the eye of a needle-being made up of old stories and scraps of song,
which mean nothing, or anything, that a lively fancy
may suggest.
get not the Christian student take great pains to
refute this wretched infidelity, which does not openly
avow itself infidel, merely because its advocates earn
their bread by a profession of Christianity; the most
of them, being either professors of Christian theology,
or pastors of Christian churches. Indignandunm de




COMMON SEN'SF.              143
isto; non disputandum est. Such interpretations do
not deserve the name. They are feats of jugglery and
legerdemain; and their authors are conceited sciolists,
who, pranking themselves as the high-priests of philosophy, prove by their irreverence for things sacred,
that they have not reached the portico of her temple.
The true philosopher always trembles, when he stands,
or even suspects that he stands, in the presence of
God! He cannot trifle with such a book as the Bible!
He cannot sport with a volume, the falsehood of
which, if proved, turns him over to the beasts, and
deprives him of his last stake, as a candidate for the
glories of immortality.
RULE VI.
In expounding Scripture, let there be a constant
appeal to the tribunal of common sense. Language
is not the invention of metaphysicians, or convocations of the wise and learned. It is the common
blessing of mankind, framed for their mutual advantage in their intercourse with each other. Its laws
therefore, are popular, not philosophical-being founded on the general laws of thought which govern the
whole mass of mind in the community. Now, however men may differ from each other, there are certain universal notions, plain and obvious principles of
knowledge, according to which speech is regulated:




144     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
when we try a work by these, we bring it to the
standard of "common sense."
There is occasion for it every moment. Scarcely
will we hear in a long and serious conversation between the best speakers, a sentence which does not
need some modification or limitation, in order that we
may not attribute to it more or less than was intended.
Nor is the operation at all difficult. We make the
correction instantly, with so little cost of thought, that
we would be tempted to call it instinct, if we did not
know that many of our perceptions which seem intuitive, are the work of habit and education. It would
be an exceedingly strange thing, if the Bible, the most
popular of all books, composed by men for the most
part taken fiom  the multitude, addressed to all, and
on subjects equally interesting to all, were found
written in language to be interpreted on different
principles. But, in point of fact, it is not. Its style
is eminently, and to a remarkable degree, that which
we would expect to find in a volume designed by its
gracious Au.thor to be the people's book —abounding
in all those kinds of inaccuracy which are sprinkled
through ordinary discourse, hyperboles, enallages, and
loose catechreitical expressions, whose meaning no
one mistakes, though their deviation from plumb,
occasionally makes the small critic sad.  In such
cases, we reject everything incompatible with evident
truth; assuming that the Bible could never intend to
contradict our reason, or teach in any possible case




COMMON SENSE.                145
that two and two are five. We shall give a few
illustrations.
1st. It never teaches doctrines refuted by  the
testimony of the senses.  Thus, when David says
that "he is poured out like water, and all his bones
are out of joint, that his heart is melted in the midst
of his bowels," we perceive instantly, that a literal
pouring out and melting cannot be meant, as nothing
of the kind has been ever witnessed. When the Redeemer, in the institution of the Supper, declares of the
bread, that it is his body; and of the wine, that it is
his blood, we necessarily understand him to be speaking figuiratively and symbolically. My -senses distinctly see, taste, smell, and feel, that the sacramental
elements are nothing but real bread and wine.  If
the Scriptures really taught the popish doctrine of
transubstantiation, they would declare a falsehood,
which would be quite sufficient by itself to destroy
their authority.  The principle of believing a doctrine
in direct opposition to the clear evidence of the senses,
is destructive of all evidence. If my senses may deceive me, how shall I convince nmyself that I ever saw
a book called the Bible, or read it, or ever heard of
such a being as Jesus Christ? The delusion practised
on me at the Lord's table, where I am  eating and
drinking the real body and blood of a dead man, while
tasting and smelling bread and wine, mlay be part of a
most extensive scheme of imposture, to which no
limits can be assigned.




146     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
2d. Its statements must be compared with the results of experience, and observation. No one who
reads the command, "Be perfect, even as your Father
in heaven is perfect," with reference at the same time
to the state of the world in all ages, can deny that it
is to be taken with a grain of allowance. Let us aim
at perfection,. but not dream of attaining it-experience
amply proving that there is no mnan who sinneth not.
Ill Matthew x. 34, Christ tells his disciples, that "he
came not to send peace on earth but a sword." History is the best commentary on this somewhat harsh
expression. The Gospel occasioned discords in families and nations, by inducing some to accept its
guidance, while others rejected it: these frequently
led to persecutions, which were the sword alluded to
in the text.
3. Passages must be harmonized with established
facts in science. Truth is always in accordance with
herself. Her two great books, Nature and Revelation,
cannot be at variance, though the latter seldom trims
her phraseology into conformity with the starched
definitions of science; for which every man of taste
and discernment likes her the better. The expressions
therefore which represent the earth as at rest-as being
built on the waters-as having bounds and limitsand the sun as moving round it, are not to be brought
in collision with astronomy. The representations of
God as coming to a place-deserting it-asking
questions-grieving-repenting, must be explained




COMMON SENSE.                147
consistently with the. first elements of natural religion,
which teach that he is a pure Spirit, omnipresent, allknowing, and above all change or perturbation.
Lactantius, a Latin Father, must have lost his compass entirely, when he undertook to prove from the
Scriptures, that God has passions-thus contradicting
a plain and evident principle of reason.
Whether the sacred intelprater will be required to
modify the old expositions of the first twenty verses of
the first chapter of Genesis, in conformity with the de.
cisions of Geology, is in the advanced and advancing state of that science, not difficult to answer. The
proof of our earth having existed long before the creation of man, and of a succession of mighty changes
having occurred which required ages to their completion, rests on so many well established facts, that it
would be sheer folly and absurdity to deny the conclusion-especially, when the passage admits of no less
than two constructions, in perfect harmony with it.
God never inspired men to teach their fellow men the
arts and sciences, nor did he ever furnish those whom
he inspired for other purposes, with a single scientific
fact above the level of their age. Their mission was
to impart moral and religious truth: in all other respects they thought with the vulgar, and with the
vulgar they spake. Had it been otherwise, Religion
would have suffered a calamity, instead of gaining a
vantage ground. It would have lost its virgin sanctity and elevation above the smoke and stir of earthly




148     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
pursuits; it would have been mixed up with the endless revolutions and vicissitudes, which science ha
experienced in different ages; and the human mind
chained down to a blind unreasoning faith, would
have lost every motive to the vigorous exertion of its
excellent and almost divine faculties. Nor is this all.
Had the ideas of the sacred writers been in advance oi
those entertained by their contemporaries, they would
not have been understood-or if understood, excited
only wonder and ridicule; in which case, scant favor
would have been shown to their higher revelations.
Happily, they are relieved from all responsibility by
the wise arrangement, which has committed the book
of creation into the hands of other servants. Men of
science (if it be true science) are the apostles of nature; whose announcements are entitled to the same
confidence, which wee profess toward the apostles of
grace. The expression is not too strong. We affirm
that the truths daily elicited by the crucible, the telescope, and the air-pump, the galvanic pile, and the.
geologist's hammer, are perfectly independent of anything laid down in the Bible; and must not be sacrificed to any pretended necessity of giving it a meanings
at variance with these truths. If Paul were on earth,
and asserted that water was a simple and homogeneous substance, we should not believe him, though he
accompanied his assertion with a miracle-because no
miracle would be so great as that which he requires
us to believe; viz. that a substance is simple, which




COMMON SENSE.              149
the chemist has proved to be a compound, by actually
reducing it to its elements and forming it out of them,
before our eyes! Nothing then can be more ill-judged,
than taking advantage of a few artless expressions of
the sacred writers, so redolent of their simple age, and
entirely beyond the circle of their inspired ideas, to
raise the hue and cry of " infidelity," against those,
who independently of scripture but with unfeigned respect for its religious authority, pursue their inquiries
into nature. Nothing also is more mischievous; for
it generates the very infidelity, which excites so much
apparent alarm.
Great allowance however, should be made for our
venerable order. The important and spiritual duties
of our calling allow little time for excursions into
other men's fields of labor; and consequently, in secular branches of knowledge, we are apt to be found
lagging behind the age. Now it is extremely difficult
for such, to feel the whole force of a scientific statement. We may yawningly admit it: but the belief
is not a necessity, and a fate, to which we submit as
to the great law of death. Hence, when the announcement seems to oppose some of our time-hallowed prejudices, we refuse all compromise; and proceed to denounce it with the thundering energy of a man, who
who has detected a black conspiracy to rob him of his
Bible. The remedy to this can be given in two
words: more light! Nothing dissipates panic terrors,
like acquaintance with the cause-as experience




150    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
proves in other cases. "Lead him," says an admirable little recipe which we have read somewhere,
"' close to the object, taking off his blinkers. If he
starts, and throws back his ears, pat him and speak
kindly: make him steadily look at it —leading him
round and round. In a short time he will understand
the thing, become as gentle as a lamb, and give you
no farther trouble."
4. The Bible cannot be at issue with any of our intuitive moral judgments.  If it recommends the
" cutting off a right hand and plucking out a right
eye," it must not be taken to mean bodily mutilation.
Our life and members are a sacred trust committed to
us, which we dare not trifle with. When Christ says,
" If any man hate not his father and mother and wife
and children, he cannot be my disciple," he is using a
strong hyperbole, to denote the greater love which we
should bear himself. Our moral sense revolts at the
idea of hatred to parents, and no exposition can be
tolerated, that would sanction a feeling so detestable.
In Luke x. 4, he comnlands his disciples " not to salute
(during one of their missionary journeys) any by the
way," —a precept which our Quaker Brethren obey to
the letter. But Christ could never have intended to inculcate rudeness; it must therefore mean, "! Do not lose
time by holding unnecessary intercourse with your
friends; use all expedition in journeying to th'e scene
of your labors." Equally absurd is their well known
exposition of the precept, "i Whed smitten on the one




COMMON SENSE.               151
cheek, turn the other also;" as if the Saviour disapproved of self-defence.
On a similar principle, we explain those passages,
which exhibit the prophets as doing by command of
God, things inconsistent with natural propriety. Hosea,
for example, is commanded to marry two impure women; Ezekiel to lie on his left side a year and a
month, looking at an iron pan-thien turn over to his
right side, on which he must lie forty additional dayseating during the whole period a compost of lentiles,
beans, barley, millet and fitches, prepared in a manner
most decidedly disagreeable. We affirm boldly, that
the expositors who consider these and others which
might be mentioned, as real transactions, dishonor the
word of God, while they betray a want of taste that is
astounding. Beyond all doubt, they were symbolical
representations, that passed before the Prophet's mind
in his inspired ecstasy.
The rule under our notice, requiring us to try expressions by the standard of common sense, is of great
use in explaining a class of propositions very frequent
in Scripture, which seem to have no limit in their application, but must be restricted by the mind of the
reader. They are thrown out by the writer, with the
noble carelessness of one who takes a strong view of
a subject, and determines to strike with it-not caring
fo~ the'great swarm of little buts, that invariably rise
before the mind of a feeble thinker, and darken the
principal idea. We shall add a few examples.




152    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
Absolute explressions, often denote only what usually
takes place. Solomon tells us in Proverbs xxii. 6,
"train up a child in the way he should go, and when
he is old he will not depart fiom it."  This is not
always true: Odd as it may seem, Solomon himself
was an exception. Yet it is true generally: a wise
and pious education gives good reason to expect the
divine blessing. Sometimes they only denote the tendency of a thing. Proverbs xv. 1, "a soft answer
turneth away wrath."  It is calculated to produce this
happy effect. Paul declares, that the "goodness of
God leadeth to repentance."  With submission to
the Apostle-not always. Too often, it corrupts and
hardens.
At other times, they only indicate duty-rightofficial obligation. Thus Solomon says, Proverbs
xvi. 10, "a divine sentence is in the lips of the king,
his lnouth transgresseth not in judgment."  Petel, in
like manner says of the civil magistrate, "lhe is the
minister of God for good, a terror to evil workers and
a praise to them  that do well." Such declarations
show what he is de jure: the defacto, is quite another
question, as Peter himself experienced shortly after;
being put to death by one of these divine ministers
in the most cruel manner. The same principle we
apply to those statements which exhibit the Redeemer
as dying for "all"-for "'every man"-for the;"silis
of the world."  They contain a precious charter of
privilege-right-and consequent obligation to accept




COMMON SENSE.              153
him. He is by office the world's saviour: all may
enjoy the blessings which he hath purchased, and are
excluded simply by unbelief.
Occasionally, we find assertions broadly made that
refer only to external character and profession. Paul
describes apostates as counting "the blood of the
covenant wherewith they were sanctified, an unholy
thing." They were so in appearance. Having avowed
their attachment before the church and the world,
they were recognized as true disciples and heirs of
the promise. Yet of such, another Apostle declares,
"'they went out from us because they were not of us:
for if they had been of us, they never would have
departed." So, all credible professors are called "saints "
and "holy." The sacred writers always treat them
as being what they ought to be. This practice of
naming things from their appearance is quite comrn.
mon. The impostor Hananiah for instance, is called
in Jeremiah xxviii. 1, a " Prophet."  False pretenders
to piety, are in Matthew ix. 13, called righteous: "I
am not come to call the righteous but sinners to
repentance." Paul in 1 Corinthians i. 21, names the
preaching of the Gospel " foolishness," because it was
thought such by the haughty Greek.
There are other ways in which propositions stated
absolutely, must be limited. Indeed, so various are
they, that no definite rule can be laid down which
will apply to every case: each should receive the
modification dictated Ly common sense. The precept
7




'154    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
for instance, requiring us "not to revenge ourselves,"
forbids the taking private vengeance, not judicial punishment.  Christ, in Matt. v. 33, comnmands us to
"s~rear not."  The connection shows us, that he
refers to unnecessary and extrajudicial oaths; but independently of arguments fiom the context, we might
safely assume that he never could'have intended to
nullify an institution almost coeval with the human
race, and which lie sanctioned by personal example.
We are commanded in like manner, to "take no
thought for the morrow "-to "judge not, that we be
not judged "-to 1" pray without ceasing "-expressions
which it is scarcely possible to misunderstand-though
it would not be safe to stake much on the assertion;
many betraying a perversity of thinking where Scripture is concerned, that on any other subject would be
ludicrous. The Wrongheads in theology are still a
numerous generation, though we hope decreasing.
RULE VII.
Study attentively the tropes and figures of the sacred writings. These are deviations fiom natural
simplicity of expression; one idea being substituted for
another, and made to represent it on the ground of
some relation between them; as when I call a warrior,
a lion; compare the march of an undisciplined army,




TROPES AND FIGURES.             155
to the flight of a noisy flock of cranes, or address a
dead or absent person as if possessing life.  They
abound in all languages, and in many instances are
the very language of nature. The least excitement of
feeling impels a man of ordinary fancy to express his
thought, not by the word directly appropriated to it, but
by some accessory idea, which he prefers on account
of its greater vivacity and beauty. Thus, old age is
the evening of life; youth the morning; error is
blindness; a great statesman, the pillar of the commonwealth. The fields smile-the stones cry outthe heavens weep. No one fails to perceive the superior liveliness and brilliancy of such modes of expression.
Nor will their frequent occurrence in the Bible surprise us, when we consider that much of it is poetry,
and its birth-place the imaginative East. Its figures
are not only numerous but exceediugly bold-sometimes even startling to an occidental ear and a taste
formed on classic models.  " The blood of Abel cries
fiom the ground."  " God makes drunk his arrows
with blood."' The heavens celebrate the praises of
Jehovah."  " The floods clap their hands."  " When
Israel came out of Egypt, the sea saw it and fled, Jordan was driven back, the mountains skipped like rams
and the little hills like lambs."  Such is the glowing
language that meets us in every page, and justifies the
remark that it is by far the richest volume of fancy in




156      INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
our literature. The tropes which occur most frequently, are the following:1. Metonymy. This denotes the substitution of
one word for another, where the thoughts are closely
conjoined and rise up together in the mind, though
there be no proper resemblance between them. Such
are the ideas of cause and effect-subject and attributecontainer and contained-sign and thing signified.
The cause is put for the effect. Thus the Holy
Spirit is put for the gifts and influence of the Spirit.
1 Thess. v. 19, "quench not the Spirit."  Luke xi. 13,
" how much more shall your heavenly Father give the
Holy Spirit to them that ask him."  Rev. i. 10, "'I
was in spirit on the Lord's day, i. e. a state of mind
caused by the Spirit. In the same sense Jesus was
"led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of
the devil:" he went there, under a divine prompting
and impulse. Parents are sometimes put for their
posterity, as Judah for the Jews; and in Ezek. xxxiv.
23, David is used for Messiah, his promised son and
successor to his throne: " I will set up one shepherd
over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant
David."  Frequently the converse of our rule takes
place-the effect being put for the cause. Christ is
called "our life," because he is its author.  "He is
made of God unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption:" i. e. God has constituted
him the source of all those blessings. In Hebrews vi.
1, the Apostle calls sinful works " dead." In what




TROPES AND FIGURES.             157
sense are they dead? Some reply, because they have
no moral principle or vitality in them: but this is too
weak. They are probably so called, metonymically,
because they lead to death. In Rom. vii. 7, Paul asks
"is the law sin?" he means to inquire, whether it
produces sin.
The container is put for the contained. A table,
denotes the food placed on it: " Let their table become
a snare."  A cup stands for the liquor it contains: 1
Cor. x. 16, " The cup of blessing which we bless."
Heaven, for God himself. Hence the often recurring
phrase, " kingdom of heaven," applied to the new dispensation of Messiah. There is no direct allusion in
it to the heavenly state, but simply to its divine
origin: in other places it is expressly called the kingdom of God, Matt. xix. 24, Luke xiii. 29. House,
signifies the family residing in it. Gen. vii. 1, " Enter thou and all thy house into the ark." This is its
meaning in Ex. i. 21, which states, that because the
" midwives feared God, he made them houses."  If the
idea of giving two midwives a pair of houses be a little odd, there is nothing strange in Divine Providence
rewarding their kindness to the families of his people,
by giving them large and flourishing families of their
own. On this use of the word, Peedobaptists found one
of their strongest arguments for infant baptism. It is
contended, that the " houses" which the Apostles baptized, must have included all of the family, young as
well as old-such being the way in which the term is
uniformly employed.




158    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
The sign for the thing signified; as a sceptre or
shepherd's staff for power. To "lift up the hand"
is to swear: "to bow the knee" is to do homage:
to "put on sackcloth" is to mourn. Baptism is by a
like metonymy identified with the moral renovation
which it symbolizes. The neglect of this figure led
the ancient Fathers, who are followed by many in the
present day, to hold that baptism was itself regeileration-founding their opinion on the words of Christ
to Nicodemus,' except a man be born of Water and
the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God;" and
the language of Paul, Tit. iii. 5, "' he saved us by the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy
Ghost." From these expressions they infer, that a
positive renewing grace is actually communicated to
the subject of the ordinance, and with it a complete
forgiveness of sin previously committed. Were we
believers in this doctrine, we should spend a considerable part of our time in marvelling at the singular
taste of the Apostle Paul, who declined administering
baptism, except in a few extraordinary cases; and
even thanks God that he had regenerated none but
Crispus, Gaius, and the household of Stephanus,
1 Cor. i. 16. The same Apostle, however, in another
place, expressly claims the honor of having begotten
them, though he had no agency in their baptism;
1 Cor. iv. 15, "In Christ Jesus I have begotten you
through the Gospel."  Equally strange is it, that our
blessed Lord should have declined to perform a rite,




TROPES AND FIGURES.             159
which, for the stupendous effects produced by it on the
corrupt and darkened mind, infinitely surpassed all
his miracles on the body! The doctrine seems, on
other accounts also, really incredible; and we deem it
far more reasonable to suppose, that moral renovation
is coupled with baptism in the passages quoted above,
because of the sacramental and symbolical relation
between them. As in Acts vii. 8, circumcision is
called the "Covenant," because it was the sign of the
Covenant: so baptism is the "washing of regeneration," because it is the visible token of it, on the application of which, a man becomes accredited as a citizen
of the great spiritual commonwealth, which Christ
has washed in his blood.
Frequently, a sentiment or action is used for the
object with which it is conversant. Faith signifies
not the belief, but the doctrine believed': " Contend
earnestly for the faith."  Hope stands for Christ, the
great object of hope: Col. i. 27," Christ, the hope of
glory." Desire, for the thing desired: Ezek. xxiv.
16, "'Behold I take away the desire of thine eyes [the
prophet's wife] with a stroke." Thus Christ may be
called 1" the desire of the nations," on account of the
earnest longing for a Saviour, and actual expectation
of one about to appear, which preceded his advent.
The passage in Haggai, however, where the expression is used, will hardly bear an immediate reference
to the Messiah.  The context, as well as certain
grammatical considerations, prove that the treasures




160     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
of the Gentiles are meant, which the prophet says
shall be brought in great abundance to adorn the
second temple. That the whole paragraph contains
a prophecy of Christ is almost certain; but nothing of
that kind is involved in this particular phrase.
2d. Synecdoche, is the substitution of a whole for
the part, or a part for the whole. Of the first kind,
the following are examples. "The "world," denotes
sometimes the Roman Empire, which was a very
small portion of it.  "Augustus decreed that the
whole world should be taxed."  " All," is put for a
single individual. Thus it is said of King Joash, that
his servants slew him for the blood of the sons of
Jehoida, the priest, 2 Chron. xxiv. 25. But it appears
from the 20th verse, that Joash had killed but one
son, the Prophet Zechariah. In Judges xii. 7, it is
said that Jephtha was " buried in the cities of Gilead."
He could be buried of course only in one. The
neglect of this synecdoche led some Jewish commentators to invent the strange fable, that to punish him
for the sacrifice of his daughter, his body was chopped
into pieces, and a part interred in each of the principal cities.
Sometimes, All is equivalent to Many. " All Jerusalem  went out to John the Baptist."  The devil
showed to our Redeemer " all the kingdoms of the
earth and their glory."  At others, it denotes all
kinds: Acts x. 12. Peter saw a great sheet, "in
which were [literally] all four-footed beasts of the




TROPES AND FIGURES.            161
field." Our translators have rendered the expression
more intelligible, but in so doing forsaken the original,
as they have done also in translating Matt. iv. 23;
where the Greek says that Christ "healed all sickness
and disease among the people." All manner of sickness, is undoubtedly the idea intended. On this synecdochical use of the word, those who contend that
in no sense can Christ be said to die for the non-elect,
found their explications of the numerous passages objected to their view. Nothing more is meant, they
say, than that he died for " all kinds of men." Happily, these gentlemen are themselves a synecdocheand, we trust, a. small one-of the party to which they
belong. Calvinism can boast of a different class of
expositors, among whom is found Calvin himselfthan whom few use stronger language, in describing
the magnificent fulness and universality of the gracious provisions of the Gospel.
The part is put for the whole; as in Acts xxvii.
37, " There were in the ship two hundred souls." The
soul here comprehends the entire man.  Many, is
substituted for all; Dan. xii. 2, " Many that sleep in
the dust shall awake, some to everlasting life, and
some to shame and everlasting contempt:" the prophet
certainly does not mean to describe a partial resurrection in these remarkable words.  Rom. v. 19, "By
one man's disobedience many were made sinners:"
who the many are, we find in the former verse: " By
the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to
7*




162     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
condemnation." A striking example of the figure we
have in Ex. xii. 40, which has given much trouble to
critics: "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty
years." But it can easily be proved, that four hundred
and thirty years include the entire period from the
calling of Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees: how
then are the Israelites represented as dwelling during
that whole period in Egypt? We answer, that the
part is put for the whole-Egypt, for the entire region
in which Abraham sojourned with his descendants.
Being an important part, and that in which they resided last, the writer singles it out to represent all the
other scenes of their pilgrimage. The whole thought
is given by the Septuagint translators, who insert after
Egypt, " and in the land of Canaan."
On Synecdoches of this kind, is founded a general
canon very useful to be remembered in exposition,
viz: that Scripture often exhibits a general truth in
the form of a particular case-not that it is the only
one, but that it explains the principle, and suggests
the mode of applying it to all others. The language
and education of the writers indisposed them for dealing in abstractions: everything is definite and particular, and may be almost pictured to the eye. But
we shall do them the grossest injustice, if we suppose
they rested here.  There was doubtless a great general idea distinctly before their mind, of which the
picture was the symbolical representation. When the




TROPES AND FIGURES.             163
wise man in Prov. xx. 10, says, "Divers weights and
divers measures are an abomination unto the Lord,"
who can doubt that he thought of the other innumerable frauds practised by shopkeepers on their customers? The Psalmist tells us, that "! the good man is
ever merciful and lendeth."  Accommodating a poor
and industrious man with a loan of money is true
kindness, but not the only expression of it. Christ,
ir Matt. vi. 1, forbids us to do our alms before men;"
he means that we should conceal, if possible, all our
benevolent actions. In John xiii. 14, he says, "Ye
ought to wash each other's feet:" he might equally
have said, for it is what he intended,: Be humble
and mutually affectionate."
In a like way, those who justify the practice of
granting divorce for other causes than adultery: interpret the words of Christ in Matthew v. 32: " Whosoever shall put away his wife, save for the crime of
fornication, causeth her to commit adultery, and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, committeth
adultery." The fornication here stated to be the only
ground, they view as the principal one, standing for
others equally serious, as desertion, violence, and continued ill-treatment. They contend, that the scope of
the Redeemer is to attack the doctrine of arbitrary
divorce, not to lay down in form the justificatory
causes; and appeal to the parallel passages, Mark x.
4, Luke xvi. 18, which give the prohibition, without
even specifying fornication as an exception. Why,




164    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
they ask, should the statement of Matthew be considered a complete enumeration of the justifiable causes
of divorce, when the other evangelists give none whatever? declaring, absolutely, "Whoso shall put away
his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery'"
May it not rather be viewed as a synecdochical expression of the thought, that no divorce is valid which
is not founded on the strongest reasons? We think
the argument of these gentlemen is exceedingly
plausible, if not entirely satisfactory; and remember
having so entirely convinced by it a worthy old friend,
who paid daily visits with great fear and trembling
to an equally worthy lady, divorced for causes not
laid down in St. Matthew, that he came to the point
at once, and rejoices when he hears the name of our
figure mentioned.
We have a lingering doubt, whether the example
just given be not somewhat strained. Our next is
much more clear and certain. The principle we are
illustrating, is of special use in explaining the Mosaic
law, which some have degraded into a mere civil institute, enjoining nothing but overt acts and a routine
of external observances. Nothing seems more evident
than that in the great majority of cases, the legislator
is giving examples, leaving the generalization to the
understanding of those whom he addressed. Paul
was decidedly of this opinion, as appears from his
comment on the precept: "Thou shalt not muzzle
the ox that treadeth out the corn."  He contends, that




TROPES AND FIGURES.             165
Moses designed it not so much for oxen as for men,
teaching by it, that the laborer is worthy of his hire.
Nor can it be reasonably doubted, that the command
not to "seethe the kid in its mother's milk "-not to
"plough with an ox and ass together " —not to "sow
different seeds in the same ground," with a hundred
others, must be explained on the same principle.
The good old custom, therefore, of spiritualizing, or
giving moral extent to the ten commandments, which
some modern writers object to, is a sound one, and
justified by all the laws of interpretation: the Redeemer
has given a most beautiful example of it in his sermon on the mount. This subject is well worth the
student's attention. A habit of generalizing, without
straining or doing violence to Scripture-of rising
from particulars to great catholic principles, which
come home to every man's business and bosom, is one
of the most valuable acquisitions he can make in his
theological course.
3. Metaphor, is founded on the resemblance between
objects; being the substitution of one thing for
another, which is like it. When I say, "God is my
protector," I express the thought in its simplicity:
When I say, "He is my shield," I clothe it in metaphor. In no figure are the sacred oracles so rich as
in this: but little need be said, as there is seldom any
difficulty in explaining it. The great point to be remembered is, not to press the resemblance beyond the
boundary intended by the author. When Christ de



166     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
clares, that he will come as a thief, suddenness of appearance, not wickedness of purpose is the thought
which he illustrates.
Anthropopatheia is reducible to this class, which
exhibits the Divine Being, as clothed with the attributes, and performing the actions of men. Thus he
has " eyes" and " ears "-and an " arm. that is full of
power."  "His bowels are moved;" at his coming " the
earth shook and trembled-he bowed the heavens and
came down, and darkness was under his feet, and he
did ride upon a cherub and did fly-the mountains
saw him and quaked, the deep uttered his voice, and
lifted up his hands on high." Occasionally, we find an
accumulation of these images in one description, on
which the poet expends the whole force of his genius.
Some of these passages (called " theophanies" are aw-.fully sublime-of which the 18th Psalm and the 3d
chapter of Habakkuk may be quoted as specimens; the
last of which, describing the appearance of God for the
deliverance of his people, leaves behind it at a measureless distance, the loftiest strains of the classic lyre.
In-explaining passages of an'anthropopathic character, the rule is plain.  They must be understood in a way suitable to the infinite majesty of God,
and purged fiom everything savoring of impurity or
imperfection. His <"eye" is his infinite knowledge:
his " arm." is his almighty power: the sounding of his
bowels," is his tender love and compassion: his "repentance," is his purpose to change the course of his




TROPES AND FIGURES.             167
providence for good and sufficient reasons, springing
out of moral conduct of his creatures: he is " angry,,"
when he punishes the sinner; and his "'fury," paints
the severity of their doom.
The prevalence of this figure in scripture, has given
occasion to much puerile declamation concerning the
" rude and imperfect ideas entertained of God in early
times"-as if the saints of the Old Testament really
believed in the materiality of the Divine Being! The
fancy deserves no refutation, as it is purely absurd.
The truth is —we need the same expedient, however
unwilling to own it, for imparting warmth and fixedness to our dim conceptions of the great and incomprehensible First Cause. They who maintain the
contrary-who think that they can carry on their devotions without resorting to such " unphilosophical"
methods of exciting emotion, are mistaken, and would
give us a religion entirely unfit for human nature.
Imagination must come to the aid of reason, and provide it with sensible ideas, to be a support to its feebleness. Perhaps, the whole of the magnificent scheme
of our redemption rests on the anthropopathic idea —
the incarnation of the eternal Son being a substantial,
living theophany, intended to furnish the worshipper
with a visible object, to which his contemplations may
be directed, while he attempts to leap the immense
abyss between him and the Creator. When without
this aid and on mere rationalistic principles, he undertakes the. work, how is he lost in the endeavor! He




168    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
finds in a moment, that lie has no wings for such a
flight: his affections cannot go forth to clasp a cold
and barren abstraction, and he exclaims, with a dreary
feeling of perplexity, " O that I knew where I might
find him, that I might go even to his seat!" But the
Gospel steps in with its cheering revelations. Heaven
opens-and an amiable man appears, seated on a
throne, and yet looking down upon him  with the
tender regard of an elder brother who died for his
sake. "It is my Saviour!" he exclaims —" it is my
God!!" Hisimagination is at once delightfully excited.
His scattered thoughts have something on which they
can rally and concentre; faith becomes actual vision;
and with all the feelings of a child, he can draw near
to the heavenly Majesty —for he hears that Saviour's
own declaration, "He who hath seen me, hath seen
the Father." Let us be thankful that it is so-and
bless our wise and merciful Parent that when he contrived a religion for us, he did not call in feelosofers to
his council!
Prosopopmia, is another form of metaphor, in which
human actions and life are ascribed to inanimate or
irrational objects. Examples are very frequent, and
some exceedingly beautiful: but they are all easily
understood.
4. Allegory, is a figure in which one thing is expressed, and another understood. It may be defined
a continued metaphor, or an image founded on resemblance, carried out into a variety of details, for the




TROPES AND FIGURES.              169
purpose of inculcating some moral truth. Nathan's
parable of the poor man and his ewe-lamb; the description of the vine in the 80th Psalm; Jotham's
apologue of the election of a king by the trees, in the
6th of Judges, and Paul's representation of the members of the body in 1 Cor. xii. are fine examples. All
the parables belong to this class. Their only peculiarity is, that they narrate a series of fictitious events;
other allegories are descriptive.  But this makes no
difference in their nature, or the laws of interpreting
them.
Allegories consist of two parts; the sensible image
or similitude, as drawn out into a series of imaginary
facts, which we may call the shell: and the doctrine
of moral truth illustrated, which may be called the
kernel. The latter, is of course, not expressed, being
contained in the shell, which must be broken before
we become its masters. Practice, however, and the
exercise of a little common sense, makes the operation
a very easy one. There is always something in the
connection, or the occasion, or the accompanying
remarks of the speaker, or the nature of the thing
itself, which informs us what great thought is to be
elucidated. There are two important rules which the
interpreter must observe in relation to this figure.
1. VNever seek for it; nor turn into allegory, what
admits of being understood in a plain and obvious
sense. The rage for discovering mystical significations in Scripture, is one of the worst diseases with




170    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
which a young student can be infected. It has led to
that infinite multitude of types, which disfigure the
writings of many otherwise excellent writers, and
throw a darkness, that may be felt over the sermons
of many of our preachers. A type is a person or
thing in the Old Testament, supposed to prefigure a
person or thing in the New.  It is, therefore, a
divinely appointed practical Allegory, and was designed to prepare the minds of those living in the
Theocracy, for the farther developments of truth
which should characterize the age of the Messiah.
In this point of view, a wise and well arranged system
of types was an admirable expedient. They illustrated, in a way peculiarly lively and picturesque, the
great principles of moral government, which remained
to be unfolded in the latter day; so that no shock
should be given to the pious mind by their unexpected
novelty. "Sacrifices," made the people familiar with
the idea of substitution. The "mercy seat;" on which
the Divine throne was erected, yearly sprinkled with
blood, was a speaking allegory, from which they
could not but infer something that prepared them for
the Christian doctrine of reconciliation. Their water
lustrations suggested the necessities of moral renovation. The like may be said of typical persons. The
royal David, assisted them to conceive of a great theocratic monarch, whose kingdom was to be "an everlasting kingdom, and of whose government there
should be no end." The mysterious king of Salem,




TROPES AND FIGURES.             171
so abruptly introduced in patriarchal history, and so
abruptly withdrawn, in whom the attributes of priesthood and royalty were so strangely combined, and to
whom Abraham himself paid homage, was well calculated to arrest the reflecting spirit, and induce the
suspicion at least, that a new order of things might
arise, which would exhibit the august spectacle of a
priest upon a throne. We need not suppose that they
perceived the full significance of these symbolical
representations.  It is enough that they suggested
great and important hints-seeds of truth, rather than
truth itself, which after lying buried and torpid in the
depths of the soul during the long winter of the
ancient economy, quickened into glorious life, " when
the time of the singing of birds was come, and the
voice of the turtle was heard in their land."
If now the question is asked, how far the system
may be carried out: we answer, so far as it pleases
God, and no farther. It is his prerogative to institute
ordinances for his church, and when he does, he lets
us knowv it. If Samson be an appointed emblem of
the Lord Jesus Christ, I am sure that I shall find it in
the Old or New Testament; if they be silent on the
point, all his strength shall not compel my assent. I
have no talisman given me, with which I can go into
the-simple perspicuous narratives of the book of God,
and by a presto passe, turn its men and women into
types! To prove their existence, much more must
be done, than to show that one object on some points




172    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
resembles another. Mere similitude may qualify for
office, but cannot possibly induct into it; else Capt.
Fluellen's celebrated theory of a typical connection
between Alexander the Great, and king Harry of
Monmouth, would be strictly true, being based on
indubitable facts: 1st, That the birth-place of both
commenced with an M.; 2d, that both were great
fighters; and 3d, that there was a river in Monmouth
and also a river in Macedon, though the honest
gentleman had forgotten its name. The great point
to be established, is, that the likeness was designed
in the original institution. It is the previous purpose
and intention, which constitute the whole relation of
type and antitype. Now this must be proved, and
there is only one way of doing it: show me from
Scripture the existence of such a connection. Whatever persons- or things in the Old Testament are
asserted by Christ or his Apostles to have been
designed prefigurations of persons or things in the
New, I accept: but if you only presume the fact from
a real or. fancied analogy, you are drawing on your
imagination, and assuming the dangerous liberty of
speaking for God.
Nor is it enough to quote passages from the New
Testament which refer to incidents in the Old. Many
facts of the old economy are adduced simply as happy
illustrations-to adorn or enliven a sentiment, not to
prove it, of which we have no less than two instances
in the second chapter of Matthew,-" The voice in




TROPES AND FIGURES.             173
Rama, lamentation and great mourning-Rachel
weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted,"
spoken of by Jeremiah, was the mourning of the
Jewish mothers when separated from their children on
the way to Babylon. The Evangelist alludes to that
catastrophe as resembling the murder of the infants by
Herod, and says nothing more than that the one illustrated the other. ~This use of the phrase o0t5  rxqpor
is known to every scholar. "Any thing," as Dr.
Bloomfield observes, " may be said to be fulfilled, if it
admits of being appropriately applied." The quotation in the 15th verse,'out of Egypt have I called
my son." is a like instance of accommodation. The
departure of Israel firom Egypt under Moses, of which
Hosea speaks, Hos. xi. 1, was neither a prophecy nor
type of the Redeemer's brief residence in that country.
But there was a pleasing and interesting coincidence,
which attracts the notice of the Evangelist, and induces him to.borrow the prophet's words.
The consequence of neglecting these plain and rational principles, may be seen in the writings of divines without number. Large folios have been filled
with types and antitypes, which exist only in the
brains of their authors, the facility of the operation
greatly recommending it to many. To become a good
Grecian, and skilful collator of parallelisms, is labor
indeed! Nothing more easy than to lie all day on a
sofa, tracing likenesses between Delilah and Judas Iscariot-Adam's fig-leaves and the works of the iaw.




174     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
It is also very convenient; for each sect may provide
itself with its own typology, from which, as fiomn a
fortress built in air, and therefore beyond th.e reach of
human weapons, they may hurl defiance to every
enemy. In this way, Pope Innocent the third proved
to the Emperor of Constantinople, the immeasurable
superiority of his Holiness to his Majesty. God, says
he, made two great lights, i. e. he constituted two
great dignities-the Papal and the Royal. The greater
is the Papal, ruling in spirituals, or over the day: the
lesser is the Royal, ruling in temporals, or over the
night. From which it clearly follows, that as the sun
is superior to the moon, so the Pope is exalted above
Kings!
This was not bad. What his majesty replied we
cannot say —though doubtless he contrived some
method of turning the tables. The scheme, after all,
in matters of argument at least, is not so convenient as
we allowed it to be; as we can seldom bring the adversary to our own way of thinking about it, and our
best cases may be so easily retorted. The types of
theologians much resemble their little namesakes of
the printing office, in one respect; however ingeniously set, one stroke of a mischievous elbow can dash
them all into pi. Those who desire to see the way in
which the subject is treated by some of our evangelical divines, may look into " McEwen on the
Types." He is greatly commended by some; and we
would not deny him the praise of lively fancy and




'TROPES AND FIGURES.           175
sincere piety: but it is fancy run wild, and no degree
of piety can give respectability to nonsense. We hold
an interpretation not based on principles, to be an unprincipled interpretation, though endorsed by all the
saints in the calendar. That there are persons and
things in the ancient dispensation intended to be prefigurative of persons and things in the new, we have
already expressed our belief. We go on solid grounds
when we make the assertion, and appeal boldly in support of it to the'" Word." But we will not desert that
light for ignes fatui, or add our own muddy inventions
to divine ordinances. The extravagances of the advocates of typology have done more to make the
whole doctrine appear ridiculous than all the sneers
and wit of infidelity.
Yet we would not be morose to our type loving
brethren, nor refuse all compromise with them. That
every question which arises must be decided by the
word of God, is a point not to be surrendered, but
whether direct and positive assertion is necessary, may
be doubted. Even when nothing is said on the subject, the resemblance between two objects, whether
persons or things, may be so striking-and so remarkable the coincidence of the attending. circumstances,
that a devout mind profoundly convinced of the initiatory and predictive character of the ancient ceconomy, might be allowed to see in the correspondence
something more than accident.  Thus, without the
express testimony of our Saviour, it might be conjec



176    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
tured (perhaps) that the exaltation of a brazen serpent on a pole darkly pointed to his own elevation on
the cross: the resemblance being so close, and the expedients, adopted for healing the Israelites, being of so singular a character, that we are almost compelled to find
some reason for it. So also had Melchisedec not been
declared by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews
to be " made like unto the son of God," we might have
guessed (perhaps) at something of the kind, from the
abrupt and startling manner in which the book of
Genesis introduces him on the scene, the union in his
person of the sacerdotal.and' kingly offices, and the
homage which he received from the father of the
faithful.
Great care, however, as well as modesty must be
exercised, when we expatiate in the agreeable but sterile field of conjecture. The navigator who forsakes
his chart, in quest of new discoveries, should possess
extraordinary skill and caution, for he is his own underwriter; he should also have an excellent temper,
as his "'valuable discoveries" often prove to be vexatious disappointments, turning on a near approach into
-islands of ice-continents of fog-perchance, an archipelago of breakers. Facts might be adduced without travelling abroad, to piove that Hierophancy is far
from being a harmless member of the Fancy family,
but is often attended with serious danger. Walking
among the shadows which his imagination has turned
into living realities, the mystic seer is equally ready




TROPES AND FIGURES.              177
in the hour of reaction (for spite of every effort to the
contrary, reflection will occasionally step in,) to turn
realities into shadoxvs, and thus make a total shipwreck of his religious faith and hope.  We may rest
assured of this, that the last man on earth to be relied
on' for continuing in the faith grounded and settled,"
is the man so full of faith, that he sees its object
everywhere and in everything.  We advise, therefore,
every interpreter to form  habits of strict, nay severe,
exposition of the sacred text; let him always be content with what he can prove, and when the case is in
the least, dubious, prefer the too little to the too much.
2d. As we are not to seek for Allegory, so we must
consider only the parts which are connected with
the doctrine taznght-paying no regard to external
circumstances.  Having mastered the scope of the
writer, we must interpret so much of the figure as
directly relates to it, and no more.  The remark is of
special use in explaining parables, though it applies
also to types. The correspondence between them
and the antitype, must never be pressed beyond the
manifest design of God in establishing the relation.
Levitical sacrifices prefigured the great atonement of
the Redeemer; but we must not turn, as some have
done, the tongs and fire-shovels of the altar into
symbols. The High Priest typified the person of
Christ; but it would be mere trifling, to discover profound meanings in every part of the sacerdotal dress.
With regard to parables, the rule must never be lost
8




(178   INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
sight of. Many circumstances in them are only added
to give an air of probability, or render them  more
lively and interesting.  They are (t.o use the beautiful
expression of Solomon)  golden apples in silver baskets:" As interpreters, we have concern only with the
apples.  Circumstances, in short, formn what may be
called the machinery of the parable, and therefore
do not always have weight in the investigation of its
meaning.
The parable of the ten virgins for instance, is designed to teach the folly of those who neglect preparation for their Redeemer's coming. Virgins are
selected, not on account of their purity, but because
virgins in those days played an important part at
bridals; and a bridal feast was mnade the basis of the
fable.  The virginity therefore of the personages is a
mere circumstance, which teaches nothing.  So is the
distinction into 6" five wise," and "' five foolish:" nothing
can be inferred as to the comparative number of
nominal and sincere professors of religion in the world.
The two classes are equalized, to guard against all
speculations on a subject foreign to the speaker's
object. The " sleeping" of the wise virgins is another
mere circumstance, introduced to bring about the
catastrophe in a natural way-not to teach the dangerous doctrine that the best Christians fail in spiritual vigilance, and are very liable to be taken by
surprise when the Master calls them. The truth is,
that their sleeping was designed to be rather corn



TROPES AND FIGURES.            179
plinmentary than otherwise, as it brought out the
fact that they were provided and ready. They had
nothing to fear: a little refreshment therefore was not
amiss, especially as they had no duties to perform until
the arrival of the procession.
The parable of the rich man and Lazarus, is another
example. The angels who carry the soul of Lazarus
to Abraham's bosom, probably belong, as well as
Abraham's bosom itself, to the machinery, and nothing is deducible from it. The representation of the
rich man and Abraham being in the same region, and
within sight of each other, is an image taken from the
ancient idea of Hades, and must not be called upon to
prove, that the souls of the blessed hold intercourse
with those of the wicked in another world.
Gireat prudence therefore, and good taste are needful, in explaining these interesting compositions.
Without such qualifications, and foolishly ambitious
of making every thing out of any thing, interpreters
have often made them ridiculous. What'can be more
simple and intelligible than the parable of the good
Samaritan, which so beautifully inculcates universal
benevolence! It is absolutely transparent! Yet in
the hands of some, it turns out a perfect riddle, where
the true significance is not obscured. but utterly lost.
The man whofell among thieves-is the sinner; the
thieves, are the devil and his angels; the priest who
passed by on the other side, is the law; the Levite, is
legal obedience. The good Samaritan, is Christ;




180    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
the oil, is grace; the wine, comfort from the promises;
the inn-keeper, is the Christian Ministry; the coming
again, is death, judgment, and eternity. All this
may be very pious; but we repeat our maxim, that
no piety can give respectability to nonsense.
RULE VIII.
Attend carefully to Hebrew, and Hebraistic idioms.
In reading the Bible, never forget that its language,
in every thing which distinguishes one from another,
is at variance with your own. That this holds true
of the language of the Old Testament, no one doubts;
but the renmark equally applies to that of the New.
In its use of words, its grammar, and syntactical constructions, it has many of the peculiarities of its
oriental sister; so that its authors may be said without much exaggeration, while they spoke in Greek to
have thought in Hebrew. It could not be otherwise;
an impure Hebrew being their native tongue, and
their Greek style being formed by the constant reading of the Septuagint, which was an extremely literal
translation of the Old Testament into that language.
There is no reason to believe, that any of them except
Paul, had ever read a single Greek author.  The
student should be mindful of this, and keep his Old
Testament and Septuagint always before him. A few




HEBRAISMS.                 181
examples of the Hebraising style shall be given:
details would fill a volume.
One striking instance,- is the use of the Genitive,
which has a much more extensive signification than
is customary with  us; comprehending a greater
variety of relations; and often qualifying the noun
which governs them as adjectives. This often occurs
in the New Testament. In 1 Cor. i. 5, Paul says,
the "sufferings of Christ abound in us."  He means
the sufferings not undergone by Chriist; but which we
undergo for him. Sufferings for the sake of Christ,
would be the proper English expression. The same
is meant by the Apostle, when he calls himself " a
prisoner of Christ." He was a captive, on account of
him. In various chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, he speaks of the righteousness of God, by
which he plainly signifies, not the excellency of the
divine nature, but the righeousness by which the sinner is justified, and which he names "God's righteousness," because he graciously provided and accepts it.
In the same way,'"horn of salvation'" signifies a horn
(the emblem of power among the Hebrews borrowed
from their pastoral life) which is the cause of salvation; in other words, (when stripped of its orientalism,)
a mighty author of deliverance. The Hebrew mode
of employing genitives for adjectives is also common.
The Apostle addressing the Thessalonians, speaks of
their "patience of hope," he means patient hope.
"' Glory of his power," is equal to glorious power.




182     TNTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
The Hebrews were fond of giving emphasis to what
they said, by repetition. Jer. xxii. 29, "Oh earth,
earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord." Isa. vi. 3,
" Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty;" from
which many have drawn a prodigiously silly argument for the Trinity.
Hendiadys is the joining of two words by the
copulative, while a single thing is asserted; the one
being generally employed as a genitive, or adjective:
Acts xxiii. 6, "of the hope and resurrection of the
dead I am called in question."  This is a striking instatnce. He means the hope of the resurrection of the
dead. In Acts xiv. 13, it is said that the " priests of
Jupiter brought oxen and garlands to the gates." The
garlands were upon the oxen: crowned with garlands,
therefore, expresses the idea. Many judicious commentators explain'by this peculiarity the phrase in
Matt. iii. 11, "He shall baptize you with the Holy
Ghost and with fire:" i. e. with the burning Spiritwith him who is powerful, penetrating, and all-purifying, as the element of fire.
There are singular examples of disregard to the regular construction of sentences in both the Old and
New Testaments, which in a classical Greek writer
would be offensive, but in our authors is positively
agreeable; being so'redolent of primitive simplicity. In
Gal. iii. 4th, 5th, 6th verses, we have a series of propositions, which seem to defy all the efforts of interpreters
to disembroil them.-Nothing is more common, than




HEBRAISMS.                 183
for the Apostle to commence a thought in a particular
way, and conclude it in a manner en.tirely different, as
if he had forgotten his beginning. T'hus he comrnmences the well-known comparison between Adam and
Moses, in Rom. v. with the following sentence, or rather part of one' Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death
passed upon all men, for all have sinned."' He thus
gives us reason to expect a redditive or corresponding
clause to be introduced by the usual formula,'so,"
or "'thast."  None occurs; and after examining what
follows, we are obliged to conclude that in the onward
impetuosity of his movement, he has lost sight of
his starting point-without however forgetting the
thought, to which he does ample justice.
But it is in the use of verbs, that the Hebraism ot
Scripture appears most clearly. They very firequently
express not the action itself, but something approaching or allied to it-the desire or endeavor to performl
it-its commencement, or the giving occasion to itits permission, or the obligation to its performance.
We shall as usual give some examples.
Things are said to be done, where there is only
endeavor or desire.  Thus Reuben is said to "'have
delivered Joseph out of the hands of his brethren."
He attempted his deliverance, but sulcceeded very partially. —" Whoso findeth his life," says our Redeemer,
".shall lose it:" i. e. seeks to find it, is unduly anxious
for its preservation.




184      INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
Sometimes verbs only intimate that the subject
gave occasion to the action. In Jeremiah xxxviii. 23,
God says to King Zedekiah, "thou shalt be taken by
the hand of the king of Babylon, and thou shalt cause
Jerusalem to be burnt with fire."  The conduct of the
unhappy monarch should lead to this catastrophe.
" The wrath of man," says the Psalmist, " shall praise
God"-not praise him, but. be an occasion of praise.
This explains the apparent discrepancy between Matthew and Luke, in their account of the field of blood.
The former states that it was bought by the priests and
elders with the thirty pieces of silver, which Judas Iscariot had returned to them. The latter, in Acts i. 18,
says, "this man (Judas) purchased a field with the
reward of iniquity." The fact was, that he gave
occasion for the transaction, and the historian describes him as the agent.
Frequently, words expressing the power of doing
actions, only mean facility; and the denial of power
signifies nothing more than dificulty. In Ruth iv. 6,
the near kinsman of Elimelech says, "I cannot redeem his inheritance." He could have done it, for he
was evidently a man of property, but not without
considerable sacrifices. The householder in our Lord's
parable, of whom a fiiend solicits admission at midnight, replies that "the door is shut, the children with
him in bed, and that he cannot rise."  He meant that
rising was extremely inconvenient. So it is said of
our Lord, in Mark vi. 5, that he could do no mighty




HEBRAISMS.                185
works in a particular district, because of their unbelief: he could not with pleasure and satisfaction:
it was painful to him to throw his pearls before such
swine. The Pelagians appeal to this idiom, when
they attempt to explain the sinner's inability to do
what is good. He cannot; because in consequence of
the strength of animal impulses, and of bad education,
commencing at the mother's breast, it is extremely,
and in the last degree, difficult. Their enlightened
opponent meets them, not by ringing changes on the
words  can,;' and " cannot," violently torn from their
connection, but by a careful study of the passages in
which they are found, directed by the laws of sound
interpretation.
Words expressing actions, are often only declaratory —denoting the recognition of them as having
been performed, or about to be.-" Behold," says Isaac
to Esau, " I have made Jacob thy lord, and all his
brethren have I given to him for servants." The only
agency of the venerable patriarch in this transaction
consisted in announcing it. He intended to say "I
have declared Jacob thy lord."  In a like mlanner,
Jeremiah was set up by God "' over the nations to root
out, pull down, and destroy." The Prophet was not a
military conqueror; but as a divine messenger, he declared what should be accomplished by the hand of
Nebuchadnezzar. So also when the priest saw on a
man signs of leprosy, he was ordered to "',llute or
make him unclean," Levit. xiii. 3. The meaning is
8*




-185    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
plain enough. He was to pronounce him unclean, as
it is expressed in our English version, 2which very
properly rejects the grosser Hebraismns.
The 7th verse of the 2d Psalm, receives great light
fiom this declaratory use of verbs. " The Lord hath
said unto me, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee."  Most of the old divines supposed that
David is here describing the actual generation of the
son from the father; having in thought carried himself back to a point in eternity when the generation
was supposed to take place. The words " this day,"
refer to that imaginary point. The view cannot be
sustained, and among other reasons for this, that
though certain transcendental theologues of our times
have invited themselves to be present at the generation
-not only of the son, but the father from the great
bosom of Nichts; nothing of the kind is found in
sacred Scriptures. We do not believe that the most
raging delirium could have made the pious, simplehearted Psalmist imagine to himself a God beginning
to be-or a God half formed. The word " begotten,"
is to be taken declaratively. The point of time assumed by the writer in this noble Messianic ode, is the
resurrection of its subject from the dead. God is represented as addressing him on the occasion-presenting
him to the admiring gaze of the whole moral universe;
and acknowledging the endearing eternal relation of
which, ofn that day, he had given such magnificent
illustration. The clause may be thus briefly para



HEIBRAISMS.                187
phrased:' Thou art my only begotten and eternal
son. I here avow thee to be such, and require all my
subjects to honor thee as a partner of my throne."
With perfect propriety therefore, the Apostle connects
the passage with our Lord's resurrection: Rom. i. 4,
"declared to be the son of God with power by his
resurrection from the dead."
Tihe last example which we shall give, is of words
signifying action, being used to denote the pernmissiom
of it; as in the prayer of David, Psalm cxix. 31, " I
have adhered to thy testimonies, put me not to shame."
A more striking example we have in Isiah lxii. 17,'' O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from  thy
ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear."  In this
passage and some others, the English reader is startled
at discovering indications of the horrible doctrine, that
God exercises a positive agency in the production of
moral evil. Thus we are taught to priay, that he
C may not lead us into temptation:" He " hardened
Pharaoh's heart:" He "shuts the eyes of sinners, and
makes their ears heavy, lest they see with their eyes
and hear with their ears." They contain, however,
nothing alarming; the whole doctrine which they
teach, being approved by the light of reason itself;
that God, in  righteous judgment gives the presumptuous sinner up to his own evil impulses, permitting him to'"harden himself, even under those
means which lie useth for the softening of others."'
Westminster Confession of Faith.




188     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
Misapprehension of this idiom led many excellent men
in New-England, to profess without scruple or limitation, their belief, that unholy volitions were the immediate effect of divine agency. The race is nearly
extinct, having been succeeded (as might be expected
from the usual course of things in the world), by a
generation who seem afraid to trust the Supreme
Being with any agency even in good. We have always reverenced those worthy men. We especially
admire that iron intrepidity, which enabled them to
look in the face and take to their bosoms so ugly a
monster, fiom simple regard to the divine will. Men
who could sacrifice to faith the strongest moral instincts of their nature, were prepared for anything.
Yet after all-in the matter of expounding Scripture,
heroes are of less account than good hebrceans.
The student will be making small progress in the
knowledge of his Bible, who does not soon find that
we have been giving only a few specimens of its
phraseology. Let him devote his best powers of attention to it; for there is not a tree in the garden
which yields more precious fruit.  What especially
recommends it, is the fact, that in exploring the Hebraismns of the Bible, we go to the very fountain head
of knowledge concerning the meaning of those important and constantly recurring words by which the
New  Testament writers describe the fundamental
truths of Christianity; such as faith, propitiation,
redemption, atonement, church, baptism, regenera



PROPHECY.                189
tion, justification, and righteousness. Let a young
man, tolerably versed hi the languages, sit down as
ignorant as a babe of the Gospel, and study these
words carefully as he finds them in his Hebrew and
Greek Old Testament, with no other human aid but
a good dictionary and concordance; we promise him
with unbounded confidence, that he will obtain an
infinitely clearer notion of them in a single week than
by reading five hundred folios of polemic divinity.
RULE IX.
Much of Scripture being Prophetical, we should
acquaint ourselves with the nature and laws of ithat
kind of composition. This is far from easy. No
department of theology has occasioned so much perplexity to serious iuquirers, and' the subject is still
beset with difficulties, which we have little hope will
soon be removed. God has suffered clouds and darkness to rest on it for the wisest reasons, some of which
are obvious. He would not deprive his Church of
the privilege which she has enjoyed in every age and
place, of walking by faith. He would not by exhibiting a clear picture of the future, disturb the freedom
of his creatures, and the natural course of human
events: in short he would teach, that our religion
provides other business for us, than to indulge a




190     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
childish curiosity as to'"times and seasons."  We
would not therefore encourage the student to speculate much on this subject.  The predictions which
have been fulfilled, especially those accomplished in
the advent of our Redeemer, deserve all attentionbeing the strongest confirmation of the truth of our
holy religion, and arguments of resistless force against
the Infidel.  As to futurity-let the " sapphire throne,"
borne by the flaming Cherubim, take its own mighty
course. There is a "' living Spirit in the wheels," who
keeps his own counsel, and seems, if we may judge
firom the past success of Apocalyptic commentators, to
treat with very little respect the numerous attempts to
advise him.  Scan as curiously as you will, the car
of Providence in its magnificent progress tlhrough the
earth: but. choose wisely your post of observation, and
by all means mzount up behinld!
Tile following hints on the general subject of Prophecy may be of use.
Ist. Remrember, that the diction of this part of
Scripture is inttensely poetical.  Not only were its
authors poets-)in the cominon sense of tlhe word, but
in its ricliest a-nd noblest acceptation.  In splendor
of irnaginatio-n-in the gorgeous coloring which tley
throw over every thing tiley describe-in boldness of
imagery alnd enthusiastic glow of feeling, they excel
all otlher autllors. How miserably suchi noble spirits
will be explained by tlhose whlo treat their productions
as if they were discourses on History or Civil Govern



PROPHECY.                   191
ment, we need not say. Quite as little may be expected fiom those, who discover in their writings a
dark and tangled forest of hieroglyphics; insist that
every image is a definite symbol of invariable signification; and actually turn the noblest creations of
genius into an Egyptian  alphabet, of which these
great Champollions have been fortunate enough to
discover the key that enables themr to decipher the
most crabbed page in the book of destiny!
2d. They were while composing' their predictions
in a state of ecstacy or high supernatural excitemenlt,
produced inmmediately by the inspiring Spirit.  The
influence they were unde.r, we have reason to think,
was of a much more engrossing and controlling character, than that which illuminated the minds of the
Apostles. The latter, while they thought the thoughts
and spoke the words of God, retained all their mental
activity and self-command.  Their ideas seem to have
risen spontaneously, according to thle laws of association, nor do we discover any traces of a compulsory
necessity, in the election of some, and the rejection of
others.  No enlightened reader of Paul for instance,
can doubt., that Ile thought ou.t every thing lie said, as
filly as if he had not been under heavenly influence.
His personality mingles itself in every sentiment he utters.  He sends courteous salutation to private friends,
describes his feelings on hearing favorable or painful
accounts of thein, renlinds hlis young favorite Timotlhy
of his ill healthl speaks of a certain' cloak"' whichl he




192    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
had left at Troas, "as also the parchments," hopes to
visit some of them, though he is not certain; nay,
there are strong indications in one or two cases, of his
concluding a letter, and then returning to, it for the
purpose of adding something new.
With the prophets it was different. They " were
carried away," as the Apostle Peter expresses it, by the
inspiring God, and seem rather to be acted on, than
voluntary agents. Hence those various expressions
which represent " the hand of the Lord as coming upon them," and their yielding to his influence as something involuntary on their part, accompanied with a
feeling of horror and great darkness, and sometimes
a falling to the ground: Gen. xv. 12; Num. xxiv. 4;
1 Sam. xix. 20. This is, of course, to be understood
comparatively; for we have already observed, that
even prophecy did not entirely paralyze reason and
self-consciousness. But they were certainly wrought
upon in a much more powerful manner, than the other
holy men who were honored with a divine afflatus.
Though not mere machines, nor agitated with a blind
fury like the ancient Pythia of Delphos, they were yet
not entirely themselves. The powers of perception
and volition were for a time partially suspended, and
their minds became so many placid mirrors, froim
which were reflected the pure rays of heavenly truth.
3d. In this state, they saw objects as present to
them. The various incidents and transactions which
were revealed, imprinted themselves vividly on their




PROPHECY.                 193
imaginations and with all the force of living truth, so
that they possessed an ideal reality, similar to that
which objects have in dreams.  Hence the fiequency
with which they are called'" Seels," and their revelations "visions."  Thus Balaam, who was doubtless a
true prophet, describes himself; as "the man whose
eyes are opened, who heard the words of God, who
saw the vision of the Almighty, having fallen upon the
ground." Similar were tilhe revelations of Isaiah:' In
the year that king Uzziah died," he says, " I sawthe Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up,
and his train filled the temple."  On another occasion, he sees-a hero marching forward in splendid apparel, stained with the blood of conquered enemies, and exclaims in admiration, as if personally addressing himl:';  ho is this that cometh from Edom
with died garments fiom Bozrah, that is glorious in
his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength?"
Ezekiel, when the hand of the Lord was on him, " saw
and.passed through a valley of dry bones," which, after being addressed by the prophet at the divine commandment, "came together, bone to bone, and the
breath came into them, and they stood up an exceeding great army."  Habakkuk stands upon his watchtower, to see-what 4od will say and exhibit to
him. These were not rare and isolated cases. They
were of a more striking character than maney, but
they illustrate the general mode in which the prophetic
mind was affected. In short, we may consider the




194     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
future events predicted, as a large and magnificent
panorama, encom passing the sacred visionary on every
side, and becoming for a time his whole world of being,
in which he breathes, and moves; as if in his proper
home.
He did not,  however- see them in their strict relations to each other, nor in their chronologoical connection.  God did not think fit to exhibit a clear and
perfect map, for wise reasons.  Each saw pieces,
membra disjecta of the mighty whole: but in. no one
place, do we find a prophet giving a symmetrical view
of the entire compass of a subject.  Sometimes, we
find a rich delineation of the person of Christ; at
others, a description of his kingdom and the glories of
his reign.  Here, note is taken of him, as meek, gentle, compassionate, who "1will not break the bruised
reed, nor quench the smoking flax."  There, lhe is
seen strikingr throughl kings in the day of his wrath,
filling the places with dead bodies, and wounding the
head over many countries.  Sonme prophets, say not a
word of his humiliation and cruel sufferings —Malachi
for example.  Only two, advert to his remarkable forerunner.  Sometinmes the vision is sad and melancholy,
exhibiting the rejection of the Jews on account of
their unbelief, and thleir utter dissolution as a people.
At others, ail is joy and sunshine. The city is rebuilt,
the sanctuary is restored, all kings of the earth bringr
their treasures to it, and the ransomed of the Lord return with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads.




PROPHECY.                  195
This fragmentary character of prophecy, is a very
striking and important one. The want of duly considering it, is the principal cause of those complaints
we often hear, especially from infidels, concerning the
darkness of this part of revelation.  Were such to sit
down, and careftully unite the scattered pieces into a
whole, they would be astonished to find how clearly, as
well as fully and consistently, the Christian Saviour is
delineated.
Equally deserving notice: is the fact, that they
seldom perceive objects as related to each other in
time.  The reason has been already stated. They
were in the midst of what they saw, like a man in a
dream. The events of a far distant future were so
many present realities, on which they gazed with
terror or delight; unsuspicious, probably, that ages
would elapse before the  fulfilment.  Thus Isaiah,
chapter ix. 5, speaks of Messiah as if already born,
and entering into his kingdom: "~Unto us a child is
born, unto us a Son is given, and his name is called
Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God."  In chapter
xlii. 1, I-e directly points to him: "Behold my servant
whom I uphold, mine elect in whom  my soul delighteth."  Instances of this are numberless. It is
not surprising, therefore, that events most widely
separated from each other; should be blended in prophetic description, and treated as continuous. They
saw them in clusters-not in chronological succession.
Thus in the 10th chapter of Isaiah, we have a




196     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
thrilling account of the destruction of the Assyrians,
which took place at least six centuries before the
coming of Christ. Yet the prophet joins it immediately with that event, by the ordinary copulative:
"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem
of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots."
The conjunction of this great event with the return
fiom  Babylon, is so frequent, as to strike the most
careless reader. Our Redeemer's prophecies display
the same character. In the remarkable prediction
contained in the 24th of Matthew, two great objects
hovered before his mind: the destruction of Jerusalem,
to take place in less than forty years; and his final
comning in glory. Yet he passes fiom the former to
the latter at once, and even intimates the succession
by a word, (EvEOs,) which seems to exclude all interval or delay: verse 29; "Immediately after the
tribulation of those days (the destruction of Jerusalem)
shall the sign of the Son of man appear, and all the
tribes of the earth shall wail, and they shall see the
Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with
power and great glory, and he shall send his angels,"
&c. If any wonder that he should have conjoined
two events so distinct frlom each other, by the strong
adverb Evo0o5; let himl consider, that when our Redeerner assumed the prophet's mantle, he volunntarily
placed himself under the prophet's laws. He saw
objects, precisely as Isaiah would have done, and
spoke as he saw.




PROPHECY.                 197
This characteristic of the prophetic writings is inscribed on almost every page. All the Messianic
passages exhibit it in a greater or less degree: many
of them, for instance, placing the final consummation
of all things in immediate juxtaposition with the first
preaching of the Gospel. The field of sacred vision
may, in this respect, be compared to a clear midnight
sky. We see the stars above our head-star differing from star in magnitude and brightness, but
their relative distance from us, or from each other,
we are unable even to conjecture.
The subject may be illustrated by a fact in mental
philosophy. It is now well understood, that sight
gives no primary information concerning distance
in any case whatever. We obtain it firom  touch.
Having acquired by the constant handling of objects,
notions of their comparative nearness or remoteness,
we associate with them  the various impressions received by the eye, and learn to infer their distance
in the use of this organ alone. Its informations,
however, entirely depend on the previous handling.
Without experience, sight would be perfectly helpless
-as is proved by the fact, that persons born blind
who have suddenly obtained their sight, cannot for
some time even walk the streets.  Every thing appears to them fixed in a plane, till repeated trials
have taught them  to correct the i lusion.  Supposing therefore, a state of things, in which by reason of the great remoteness or inaccessibleness of




198    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
objects, experiment is impossible: it is clear that sight
would be forever at fault, and unable to form the
least notion of the relations in space, which they bear
to each other. Such was actually the state of the
prophet. He had no measure by which to judge of
the real size or proportion of the events he foresaw.
He was ushered into a new world, nothing belonging
to which he had ever touched-where all was etherial-boundless —" dark by excessive bright." Nothing
in his own experience, or that of his nation, or of
mankind at large; offered the slightest clue to guide
him through the wondrous scene; as Isaiah distinctly
commemorates, " From  the beginning of the world
men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear; neither bath the eye seen, 0 God, beside thee, what he
bath prepared for him that awaiteth on him."  No
wonder that fhe was utterly lost in the comtesmplation,
and stood amazed-like the man blind fiom his birth,
when his darkened eyeballs first open on the glories
of the visible universe!
4th. As the scenes and events described were present to him. so their dress and coloring were borrowed
from  objects, with which, as a Jew he was familiar.
The whole representation having the nature of a
picture addressed to the eye, it was necessary that a
certain system of imagery be adopted, in wlich the
great moral truths should lie enshrined, as in a beautiful casket. This imagery must be familiar to him,
and the people; otherwise it would be unintelligible.




PROPHECY.                  199
Hence we find, that the kingdom of Christ is always
exhilited by ideas taken fi'orn the national theocracy.
Messiah is not only'"Son of David," but "L)David"
himself.  Mount Zion and Jerusalem, the religious
and civil mletropolis of tile nation, signify the Church
redeemed by the blood of the only tirue sacrifice for
sin, and serving God in spirit and in truth. The aggrandizement and enlargemnent of Jerusalenm, are the
enlargeiment and increase of that church. Her enemies are called by the names of the ancient enemies
of Judah-Egypt, Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Babylon. The restoration of the Jews in latter days to the
blessings of God's covenant, is symbolized bly their rebuilding a temple on Mount Moriah: and the union
of all nations in the love and worship of God, is
shadowed forth by a universal participation in the
feast of tabernacles.  The  extinction of sectarian
feuds, and the delightful harmony prevailing among
the lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ, especially the redeemed children of Abraham, is beautifully represented
by the healing of the ancient separation between Israel
and Judah.
There is nothing strange in this. It is perfectly
natural to invest our conceptions with the hue appropriate to ouIt physical and moral condition, and the
objects with wilicil we are d(aily conversant.  Where
could the prophet have gone, if precluded from this
source of coloring?  Besides, there was a most serious
truth at the bottom. Our blessed Saviour tells us,




200     INTERPRETATION Of SCRIPTURE.
that he came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil-in
other words, that his religion is but the purification and
expansion of the faith of God's ancient people. How
entirely becoming then was it, that the spirit of prophecy should paint its future glory in those forms of
thought, to which the people were accustomed, and
which were so dear to the national heart!
These remarks have perhaps been unduly protracted. But the subject is important, and we think-not
always understood. Besides, our statement of general
principles, relieves fiom the necessity of entering into
a minute detail of rules: two only shall be specified.
1st. Be not anxioiLs to fined chronological connection and order in the prophecies.  They are all fiagmentary, and exhibit their subject in detached pieces.
We have also seen, that events the most widely separated in time, are grouped together, as if conltenmporary, or immediately following each other. Due regard to this, will enable us to dispense with many
violent expedients which have been resorted to by the
learned; especially with the irrational assumption of
a "double sense" in prophecy. That which gave it
favor with commentators, was the fact above stated,
that events far separated in time, were closely con
nected in description —to explain which, they found it
convenient to suppose two distinct fulfilments. The
first, they imagined to take place in some event which
occurred among the Jewish people, during'the existence
of their economy. The second and more perfect, was




PROPHECY.                  201
realized in the advent of the Saviour.  To give the
scheme greater respectability, it was married to Typology, who adopted the children as her own, calling
the temporal fulfilment-the type, and the other the
antitype.  A good example occurs in the 10th and
11th chapters of Isaiah already quoted. The 10th, announces the destruction of the Assyrian empire. In
the 11th, the prophet advances at once to the glories
of the Messiah's reign-when " the wolf shall dwell
with the lamb, and the leopard with the kid, and nothing shall hurt nor destroy, in all God's holy mountain."  Yet not a few contend, that this magnificent
prophecy had a primary  fulfilment in Hezekiah;
though they grant a far more complete accomplishment in our Redeemer, of whom we need rot add that
they suppose Hezekiah to have been a type!
The view is arbitrary beyond measure, and opposed
to facts. We maintain witllout fear, that whlerever
Christ is definitely spoken of at all, he is spoken of
alon.e, and where the blessedness of his rule is delineated, no other blessedness is delineated.  Even in the
Messianic Psalams, he is the entire subject.  David
may have gathered materials of his descriptions fiom
incidents in his own life and experience, but in no
proper sense does he speak of himself. His exalted
"Lord" is the all in all which occupies his mind.
When you meet therefore a passage, connecting at
once the coming of a glorious epoch with the rebuilding of the temple after the Babylonish captivity,
9




202      INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE,
dismiss all anxiety to find it partially or typically
fulfilled in Zerubbabel, or Alexander the great., or the
nM~accabees;  but instantly transport yourselves into
Messianic times, or, if necessary, to the consummation
of all things. The notion that prophecy has two
senses, a primary and secondary, throws a dark cloud
of suspicion over both-almost conceding to the infidel, that it is a kind of writing which cannot be understood by the ordinary laws of exegesis.  Above
all, it is fatal to the argument dirawn fomrn this source
in favor of the Gospel.  When we advance a prediction fiom the Old Testament to establish the divine
mission of Jesus, its whole proving force lies in thisthat a series of events is announced, which was
verified in himy, and him alone. But if we discover a
specific meaning in it which has no reference to him;
the infidel by accepting it relieves himself fiom  all
pressure-remninding us of our discovery, and waving
off the secondary and mystical senses we offer him,
with a polite but peremptory " Credat Judaeus Apella."
It is surprising to what lengthl this mlode of interpreting the Old Testament has been carried. Grotius may be quoted as an example, who does not find
more than six passages in the whole volume, which
immediately relate to the Saviour.  On the other
hand, he gives himi. the benefit of the second sense
with princely liberality-as for instance in his colnmentary on the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah.  He actually makes the wonderful personage there delineated,




PROPHECY.                  203
whose vicarious sufferings and glorious exaltation,
after redeeming his people, are described with such
strength of expression, and perfect accordance with
the New Testament portraiture of Christ, that it seems
rather history than prediction, to be the prophet Jeremiah!!  He grants, indeed, at the commencement,
that in C"a more sublime sense," it applies to the
Messiah: but that this is only a graceful bow-a " leaving his card with compliments," appears very clearly in
the fact that he scarcely mentions him again, while
"Jeremiah" stands out prominently in every verse.
We confess that in reading such' gallimatia, we can
hardly repress a feeling of contempt towards the
interpreter, or the author he expounds: and if we
believed that the latter was rightly expounded, we
would devoutly pray that he might be conveyed, as
soon as possible, to the lumber-room of the antiquary,
never again to see the light of the sun! Thus explained, the whole prophetic record, instead of being
a buttress to Christianity, would be a "'bowing wall
and a tottering fence," which its enlightened advocate
would be glad to see cleared away to the last stone!
Yet there are few errors in the world made up of
pure falsehood, and even this contains something
which entitles it to,benefit of clergy. There are
prophecies which, from  their indefinite and general
nature, admit manifold applications, and  are not
necessarily determined to one specific event. In other
words, they contain, or are based on certain great




204      INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
principles, adopted by God in the government of the
church and the world, which principles develop thenmselves in all appropriate circumstances. This is entirely different fiomr the double sense referred to. The
sense is one: but as with all general enunciations,
there is a pregnancy in it which allows its fulfilment
-not a second time merely, but a tenth, or if it please
God, a thousandth. Thus, when he promises that
after long chastising the daughter of Zion, he will
return and heal her backsliding —that he will impart
to her children true repentance for their sins, and
establish, as of old, his Throne in the midst of them —
that their enemies shall be confounded, their number
increased, the Gentile nations bow down before them,
&c., we know that they are general truths —edicts of
perpetual force; which, though spoken immediately
in connection with a single event in history, have a
far more extensive application. They will be always
verified —though more strikingly at one period than
another. The deliverance from Babylon, for instance,
was part of a comprehensive scheme of divine wisdom
and mercy, which ages before, wrought similar redemptions, and would unfold itself still more gloriously in the distant future.
We have here a beautiful feature of the divine
government, well deserving our study. It does not
proceed capriciously, or with a zigzag movement,
like the schemes of men; but steadily onward, according to a few great ideas in the bosom of God; so




PROPHECY.                205
that though a careless observer sees nothing around
him but change and accident, there is really nothing
that can be called new under the sun. The Messiah
himself lived before his coming, in dark, shadowy
resemblances —being the crowning realization of a
great thought, that has been ever present to the divine mind, and shapes all its plans and purposes-the
thouglt, that as man, by his own free will, produced
the whole mass of evil under whose heavy weight he
ceaselessly groans, so his victory over them must be
achieved by himself. Suffering humanity is to find
her deliverer in her own lacerated bosom! The
drama of redemption opened in paradise with this
proeme. In that first word of hope which cheered the
hearts of our unhappy parents, by the assurance that
their seed should "bruise the head" of their adversary, a principle was contained that did not sleep
through the long interval of four thousand years, and
then suddenly awakened, to usher in the great author
of our spiritual redemption-but it put forth its living
energy through every successive age, in those noble
spirits, whose achievements in the cause of God and
human happiness, proved that there was a power at
work in the world greater than that of evil.
In this point of view, we admit, with a feeling very
different from reluctance, that the prophecies of Messiah's day were also so many indirect pointings
to events which preceded it, and bore to it a certain
analogy, as expressions of one great law. As the




206     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
terrible cataclysms which change the face of nature
are usually introduced by strange appalling sounds
and convulsive heavings, that may be called her
sighs and notes of woe, in anticipation of the approaching catastrophe, so the jubilee of man's salvation had
its glad precursors. The anthem sung by angels on
the plains of Bethlehem at the advent of its glorious
author, was not entirely new. Ten centuries before
that memorable night, an ear open to celestial melodies might have heard its faint echo and reverberation on the same favored spot, at the birth of a
royal man-child, in the cot of Jesse! So far, we are
willing to go: all this, we lovingly embrace: but still
retaining a mortal antipathy to the doctrine, as usually
understood, of a "double sense."
2. Do not interpret Prophecy too literally.  Its
splendid imagery, and glowing pictures must not be
tortured into statements. such as a witness makes in
a court of justice, or a historian in describing the
campaigns of Wellington, or Bonaparte: they are
figures, and must be treated as figures.  Here, our
Millenarian Brethren err exceedingly. Their whole
hypothesis of the Jews becoming pre-eminent as a
nation over all the people of the earth, the actual
subjugation of the latter under their' political. sway,
the rebuilding of the temple, the resurrection of the
martyrs, and the personal residence of Christ as a
temporal monarch in Jerusalem, rests on no other
basis than the assumption, that tropes when found in




PROPHECY.                  207
the Bible tell the literal truth.  It is the very error
committed by the carnal Jews themselves, and which
led to their rejection of the Just One. Inflated with
the most fantastic hopes and anticipations nurtured
by their mistaken interpretation of Prophetic symbols,
they crucified their prince, not because he failed itn
proving his celestial mission, but because he had
nothinc  to offer them, except a 1"kingdom, that was
righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost."
To the instances already cited, proving that the
imagery taken from the Theocracy was symbolical of
great moral and spiritual truths, we add the following,
merely as specimens: the student must pursue the
investigation for himself. In the latter part of the
11th chapter of Isaiah, we have a magnificent ac,count of the martial gathering of the Jews under the
standard of the Messiah, and their brilliant conquests
over enemies. The question is, whether we must understand it literally? Try the principle upon the 14thl
verse;' But they shall fly upon the shoulders (the
figure is taken fromn the pouncing of a ravenous bird)
of the Philistines toward the west; they shall lay
their hand upon Edomi and Moab, and the children of
Ammon shall obey them."  These were the ancient
enemies of the theocracy, and are according to our
view, selected by the Poet with great taste and appropriateness, as representatives of every thing opposed
to the peace and happiness of the covenanted people,
when they should have submitted  themselves to




208     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
Christ.  If wrong in this, we see no alternative but to
expect alontg with a resurrection of the martyrs, that
of all the savagye clans who infested Israel during her
national existence.  Try it on the 15th verse: "The
Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian
sea, and shake his hand over the river, and smite it in
the seven streams, and make nmen go over dry shod.,"
There is here, a beautiful allusion to the Exodus of
Israel fiom Egypt through the Red Sea.  On that
occasion, God brought his people safely through the
raging waters, but now-he promises that lie will
utterly destroy the sea itself. Can this mean any
thing more, ttlan that when his ancient people are to
be gathered into the Christian fold, he will remove
every obstruction; no obstacle shall be so great, that
lie will not put it out of the wvay by his almighty
power.
In Hosea ii. 14, God promises that he will bring his
church i into the wilderness, and speak comfortably
to her as in the dav when she came out of the land of
Egypt, and give her vineyards and the valley of Achor
for a door of hope."  No one surely dr'eans, that the
Jews are again to travel through Arabia Petrla,'under
the guidance of the fire and cloud. The words are
plainly allusive, and express the general idea —that
God will deliver his people from their spiritual bondage, and give them  every proof of his cordial and
tender love.
What shall be done with such a passage as that in




PROPHECY.                209
Malachi, which distinctly states that the old Prophet
Elijah is to come from heaven, and announce the advent of the Messiah?  "Behold I send Elijah the
prophet before the coming pf the great and dreadful
day of the Lord." Nothing is more express; and the
literalist would most certainly add to the accompaniments of the personal advent, a mission of this prophet,
(as some have done,) if Christ had not determined him
in Matthew xi. 14, to be John the Baptist. We are
so happy in this case, as to have not only a New Testarnent interpretationof the phrase as applied to John,
but a New Testament statement of the reason for it,
which we take leave to employ as our key, in opening
other dark chambers in ancient Prophesy. Luke i. 17:
"He shall go in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn
the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just."
The 33d chapter of Jeremiah exhibits the principle
for which we contend, in so clear and decisive a manner, that it is quite sufficient of itself to settle the question. God is promising to his people, the advent of
their great spiritual Redeemer, and the happy consequences of his reign are graphically descibed in v. 15:
"In those days will I cause the Branch to grow up
unto David. In those days shall Judah be saved, and
Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and this is the name
wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness." That the Prophet is expatiating on the
blessedness of the new economy in these words, is be9*




210      INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
yond a doubt. But what thought immediately follows?
Surely, unless I apply my key, a very singular one:
v. 18,'" Neither (in these times) shall the Priests and
Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings,
and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually."  Is it possible to consider this as any tiing
more than symbol, borrowed from the Levitical service
of the old economy? Will Aaron return from his
grave; Christian altars rise to steam with the blood of
rams, lambs, and he-goats; and the purified churches
of the Redeemer return to those weak and beggarly
elements fiom which she has been delivered? The
fantastic notion got up to evade the force of many passages resembling this, that the Jews will return to their
own land unconverted, and offer sacrifices, is of no
service here. The Levitical bondage is expressly declared to be enduring, and its continuance is represented as one of the most glorious incidents of King
Messiah's reign.
It is needless to dwell on a point so evident. The
scheme of these ingenious gentlemen cannot stand
It introduces a worldly element in our holy religion
at utter variance with its genius and spirit. By its
dazzling promises of " all the kingdoms of the earth
and their glory," it strengthens the earthly principle
within us, and greatly lowers the tone of Christian
sentiment. It dishonors the glorified person of our
Redeemer, by degrading him from the seventh heavens to our miserable earth, from the right hand of




PROPHECY.                  211
the Eternal Father, to a marble hovel in Jerusalem:
and all this it does, not only without necessity, but in
violation as we think of the plainest rules of sound
interpretation.
With regard to the Apocalypse of John, we have
made no special reference to it, as its highly figurative and allegorical character strikes every reader at
once. Indeed it is surprising, that persons sllould be
found capable even in their dreams, of putting literal
constructions on any part of a book so decidedly and
professedly enigmatical, with the exception of the first
three chapters.  Yet this is done to a certain extent
by the expositors above mentioned, though they are
far from  carrying out the principle with due consistency. They grant all we are disposed to ask, concerning the general structure of the poem; for poem,
beyond all doubt, it is. They allow, that its angels
with their trumpets, sickles and vials-its thrones,
four liv:ng creatures, and elders clothed in whiteits "locusts," like horses prepared unto the battle"its red dragon with seven heads and ten horns"
-its woman " clothed with the sun " and that other
female who "sits on many waters and is drunk with
the blood of Saints," are parts of a splendid gallery
of emblematic pictures, designed to represent certain great moral truths connected with the state
and progress of the church in different ages. But
when they come to the Martyr's corner, they suddenly wax literal-insisting that the "souls of them that




212     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
were beheaded for the witness of Jesus," are the identical men and women who died at former periods, and
are now  to rise firom  their graves and reign with
Christ in person, a thousand calendar years! This
theory, they maintain in the face of two plain and
undeniable facts; first, that the resurrection of the
martyls, stands in the very cent-re of the boldest symbolical imagery which the book contains; and secondly, that "'resurrection" is a favorite figure employed
by the Prophets, to denote any great moral renovation in general, and is used in cases where physical
resuscitation is entirely out of the question. Isa.
xxxvi. 19, Ezek. xxxvii. 13, Hos. vi. 2. Sober criticism  would draw  a conclusion dirlectly opposite to
that of these gentlemen-would infer that the phrase
in question cannot possibly receive any other than a
figurative sense, on the very rational and obvious
principle, that a symbolical document must be symbolically interpreted.
While, however, we differ from the literalists; let us
avoid the other extreme, that of turning Prophesy entirely into figure. Doubtless many things will take
place, substantially as described. Such we think is
the promised return of the Jews to their own land.
We build the opinion, not so much on expressions
used in the Prophets, which might all be symbolical
of their union to the spiritual theocracy, as on the
covenant stipulations given to the people in the land
of Moab, and recorded in the 30th and 31st chapters




THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION.          213
of Deuteronomy. This legislative edict, which I
have no right perhaps, to treat as a predictive poem,
states most emphatically, and with great variety of
phrase, that if. after being rooted out of their country
they should repent, the " Lord their God would bring
them back int othe land, which their fathers possessed,
and they should possess it." Still more confidently
do we believe in their conversion to Christ, their holy
brotherhood with the Gentiles, and the universal
reign of peace on the earth. How far the literal fulfilment will be carried, we are ignorant. God did not
give us prophecy, that we might know all things; but
might have encouragements to faith, and incentives
to holy exertion. The expositor who has not learnt
to be ignorant-and to let his ignorance sit gracefully
on him, has yet to learn the elements of his art.
RULE X.
Allow no interpretation, that will cast a shade of
doubt over the perfect purity and truth of our Lord's
teachings, or those of his Apostles. This may seem an
unnecessarily pompous enunciation of something that is
self-evident. But lamentable facts prove the contrary.
Our German fiiends give us no little trouble with certain discoveries which they profess to have made in
the Hermeneutics'of the New Testament, and have




214    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
invented or borrowed a theory; by whichl they contrive
to rid themselves of every truth contained in it, that
does not please them.
Its fundamental principle is this. Christ and his
Apostles were noble spirits, who soared far above the
level of their age, and with Plato, but more justly than
Plato, might be called'"heaven-born accidents."  In
a certain sense, but a fine and transcendental one
which we do not stop to explain, they were even inspired. But they were also Jews; lived among Jews;
their mission was to Jews, and like wise men, they took
advantage of their situation. Not wishing to displease the people, and desirous of gaining admittance
to their minds, they turned themselves into thoroughgoing Rabbis-indulging in all those fanciful opinions
and speculations, which were so admired by their
countrymen. Thus, they had a complete science of
angelology, and demonology. Christ adopted it, and
when mad  or epiletic persons were brought to
him, he said that they were possessed with "de-.mons."  They believed that when Messiah came, he
would raise the just from their graves. He humored
them  in this also, and tauglht the " Resucrrection:"
borrowing with the same freedom their notion of a
great subterranean vorago, in  whose sulphureous
flames the wicked should be eternally tormented.
This principle is unsparingly applied to the use
which he and his disciples make of the Old Testament. Indeed, it is from this source its supporters




THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION.           215
draw their arguments, almost exclusively. The mystical and allegorical mode of expounding-the wish
to find recondite meanings in the simplest passages
and even in bthe arrangement of words and letters,
had become, it is alleged, a perfect mania, to which
grammar, logic, and common sense were sacrificed
without remorse. To this mode of teaching the wise
Redeemer conformed. We are not to look therefore
for any solidity in the arguments he employs fiom the
Old Testament. It is enough, that his ultimate conclusions are found correct, after a careful siftingthe premises being nothing more than " argumenta ad
hominem," which suited the people of that time and
place, but have no force in the present day, at least
for gentlemen who have passed through the curriculum scientiarum, in the university of Leipsic or Gottingen.
This is the famous doctrine of "Accommodationl,"" Condescension,'-" Wise CEconomy," which prevails
on the European continent, and with which the neologist performs such marvels in exegesis. Its meaning
cannot be mistaken. The sacred writers of the New
Testament cared not a straw for the oceans of falsehood and nonsense they slavered forth, if they only
struck the fancy of those whom they wished to make
Christians. They were the Father Jesuits of those
days, who regarded not the means, if the end was
good, and spared no arts of chicanery that would
promote their object. It is really surprising, that men




216    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
caliling themselves Christian divines, should under
a:iy temptation resort to a scheme so fatal to all trust
ir divine revelation; and which charges our blessed
Redeemer with a policy, that would disgrace the
scurviest demagogue, that ever mounted a stump, to
entertain with bunkum  an ignorant half-drunken
mob! Had he pursued it, he would not have been a
teacher for Hottentots, and, in a short time, would
have been cast off by his warmest admirers, in consequence of finding that they could not depend on anything he said. Lie number one, they could have
endured perhaps, from grateful feelings to a teacher
who betrayed such anxiety to please them. But who
could bear a succession of lies, or attend a course of
instruction based on lying? Strange as the thing
may seem, these gentlemen could do it: for with a
recklessness that can be only explained by the tendency of certain studies exclusively pursued, to demoralize the intellect and blunt its perception of the
difference between right and wrong, they justify the
practice; contending that it is nothing more than a
fair application of the " argumenturn  ad hominem."
There is no truth in their assertion. That the " argumentum ad hominem," in other words, the assumption of the false opinion of one whom we seek to
convince is allowvable in certain cases, may be admitted; though of all modes of reasoning it is the last
which a lofty mind would resort to, unless the object
proposed was action, rather than conviction. But




THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION.            217
there is a limitation which no man of the least selfrespect  will neglect.  The person to be convinced
must understand his teacher-that he is not teaching,
but removing obstructions, and using the errors and
false opinions which darken his mind, for no other
purpose but to prepare himn for the truth. There is
not indeed always a necessity of explicit statement,
for the true intent may be gathered from attending
circumstances —or the avowal of it may be deferred to
another occasion. But sooner or later it must appear,
and certainly will appear, if the teacher has any higher object in view than to bewilder and mislead some
poor simpleton whom he has selected to be the victim
of his superior ingenuity. Above all, wve demand this
fiom a religious instructor who declares that he comes
fiom God to enlighten thle moral darkness of the soul.
To imagine the contrary-to suppose that the great
Being would allow  his amnbassador to furnish the
child of immortality with a chart full of errors and
false directions, no matter vwhat may be the pretext,
is to suppose that he has usurped the t..:one of the
Devil, and robbed him of his proper paternity: Satan
canll no more claim to be the " father of lies!"  This
may be called declamation, rather than argument;
but it is the only way of treating the subject. Morality is a thing not to be established by reasoning,
nor is false morality to be refuted by it.  Both are thle
objects of pure intuitive perception-and when a fun



218     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
damnental error is committed, all that remains is to
place it vividly, and distinctly before the mind.
We have said, that the principal support which they
find for their theory, is the way in which Christ and
his Apostles quote the Old Testament.  The remarks
that follow shall therefore be mainly directed to this
point, and will make the falsehood of their allegations
level to thie comprehension of a child.
The quotations in the Gospel from the Old Testainent, are of two kinds; first, The Rhetorical, as we
choose to call them, the design of which is to illustrate;
secondly, the Logical, which aims to instruct, and
convince.  These must be carefully separated, though
the friends of accommodation evince great care in endeavoring to confound them.
The Rhetorical use of the Old Testament, consists
in the employment by Christ and his apostles of its
ideas and expressions, to impart vivacity and force to
their own conceptions.  From  very early times, the
Jews glowed with a love and veneration for their
sacred bo0Y,;, of which we can scarcely form an idea.
They were their pride, their delight, their constant
study-combining in one, all their civil polity, history,
literature, and religious faith. They sang them, they
prayed in themn, they carried them  to their fasts and
their feasts, to their marriages, and funeral solemnities,
to their courts of law, to their temple, and their synagogues.  Let the reader imagine if he pleases, all our
books of poetry and prose, of geography, law, science,




THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION.          219
and theology fused and amalgamated into a single
volume, he will form an exceedingly faint conception of
that which his Scriptures were to a son of Abraham,
eighteen hundred years ago. Is it surprising then,
that they should become an inexhaustible treasury of
thoughts, phrases, sentiments, on which they drew
when under the influence of deep emotion?  This
they would do, without troubling themselves with nice
questions about the exact meaning of what they
quoted. Man is something more than a reasoning
machine,-a mere grinder of syllogisms. He is not
always with square in hand, taking the dimensions
of a pyramid, nor demonstrating the relation between
cosines and tangents. He feels joy and sorrow, fear
and love,-soars in hope, or creeps in despondency.
In such cases, how pleasant to the man of taste and
reading, that he can pour out his heart in the words
of some favorite author! The products of his own
mind are entirely too mean, to be the vehicle of expression for the strong emotions pent up within; and he
borrows the wings of his bard, whose glorious creations have become so entwined with every fibre of his
soul, that he scarcely recognizes them as another's,
but treats them as part of his own living self.'Thus was it with the Jew, and thus with the Jewish Saviour, and his Jewish apostles. Is it in the
least wonderfill then, that a rich poetical coloring
should be spread over all their conceptions; that
whenever they opened their mouth, there would drop




220     TNTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
lilies and roses called fiom the fair garden where they
spent their happiest hours, communing with God an&
their own pure and holy thoughts?  In such utterances, there was nothing studied or sought after. The
idea before their minds called up by natural association
some passage from the Old Testarent; which required no bidding to make its.appearance, and was
thrown out in illustration of the principal thought,
with graceful artlessness. Nor was it necessary that
the correspondence between them should be real, and
intimate.  Nothing more was required than such a
degree of resemblance, (perhaps merely verbal) as
would please the fancy, and enliven the sentiment to
be expressed.
In this way the fact is explained, that there are
in the New Testament no less than nine hundred
references to its venerable sister, most of which belong
to the class under our notice. We gave some examples in discussing our seventh Rule, and they must
not be multiplied. Let the Reader turn back to them
for a moment, and he will need no additional illustrations. The first will fully answer his purpose: "A
voice in Rama, lamentation and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be
comforted," Matt. ii. 18. Most certainly, the Prophet
Jeremiah from whom this is cited, did not predict the
massacre in Bethlehem; but describes a scene that occasioned in his own time, six hundred years before the
birth of the Saviour. Yet there was a distant resem



THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION.         221
blance, which to the mind of Matthew, steeped as it
was in Bible memories, might occur very naturailly.
Indeed, there is in the greater number of these quotations, (viewed from the rhetorical standpoint. as our
German friends would say,) a tasteful appropriateness
which must strike every mind.
But secondly, Our writers did not always employ
their Jewish recollections in this way. As ambassadors of heaven, they had a serious work to perform,
which would not allow thenm to be always walking
among flowers, or gathering shells on the sea shore.
As teachers of divine truth, expounders of the way of
salvation, they were to address frequently the pure intellect of men, convincing them  by "':sound speech
which could not be condemned," that the message
they brought was not a cunningly-devised fable.
Here too, they recur to the good old book. But the
design is different. It is no more regarded as a cabinet
of gems and golden ornaments, but a treasure-house of
arguments by which their countrymen may be
brought to the feet of the Saviour-the garden becomes
an armory, and every word of citation belongs to the
"company of valiant men standing round the bed of
Solomon, all having swords and expert in war!' In
these cases, we repel the changes of our opponents
with indignant earnestness, affirmring that in every instance the Old Testament is quoted, according to. its
true intent and meaning.
If it be asked, how we may determine the class to




222     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
which a passage belongs, we are compelled to say that
none of the formulas usually employed for marking a
quotation, will be of Inuch assistance.  The expression, " that it might be fulfilled,'  " as the scripture
saith," &c., merely point out a general correspondence
without explainiug its nature, and may undoubtedly
be prefixed to either class. though some interpreters
have attempted to make distinctions.  There is however no practical difficulty in settling questions of this
kind. After reading the passage, let the student ask
himself: Is the sacred writer reasoning' here? Is the
text part of a chain of argument which he is evidently
carrying on either to instruct a pupil, or convict a
gainsayer? Is he occupying the domain of intellect,or of fancy, and feeling?  Let him do this, and we
promise that he shall not find more than six passages
in the New Testament, that will give him  serious
trouble. Of the facility with which the principle can
be applied, take one or two examples.
In Acts ii. 17, the Apostle Peter defending himself and associates fioom the charge of drunkenness,
tells the Jews that the excitement they witnessed
(on the day of Pentecost) was really the work of God's
holy Spirit, and distinctly predicted by the prophet
Joel, " But this is that spoken by the prophet Joel;
and it shall come to pass in those days, I will pour
out my spirit," &c. There can be no doubt respecting
the class to which this belongs. Peter is arguing a
solemn and weighty point with professed unbelievers.




THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION.             223
If his appeal to Joel was a false one, and that it would
be, if Joel did not refer to the very transaction that
was going on, Peter was guilty of a fraud or a foll5,
Nlwhich deprived him of all iight to be respected as a
teacher.  That he was right, and that the prediction
does refer to Gospel times, is universally admitted by
fair and honest critics. In tile same chapter, another
striking instance occurs.  Speaking of thile resurrection
of Christ, which his unbelieving audience of course
denied, he quotes a paragraph from Psalm xvi. which
asserts concerning some one, that "God would not
leave his soul in hades, or suffer his holy one to see
corruption."  This personage, the Apostle in an elaborate argument., shows  could not be David, and concludes in the 31st verse, "David seeing this before,
spake of the resurrection of Christ., that his soul was
not left,"' &c. Here again we say, that if the passage
in the Old Testament does not mean precisely what
the apostle says it meant, his character is gone forever: we question whether miracle could have saved
it. As interpreters, therefore, we are bound to show
that the 16th1 Psalm  is prophetic of Messiah, which
can be triumphantly done.
One other example.  When we open the epistle to
the Hebrews, we find it commniences with an earnest
argument for tie divinity of Chrlist.  It begins at tile
5th verse, and consists of no less than seven allegations fioin the Old Testament.  Now it cannot be
possible that these are merely rhetorical. If, on so




224     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
grave and momentous a theme, the author put off his
readers with a motley collection of Rabbinical conceits, the credit of his whole epistle would have been
utterly ruined in the esteem of every honest man.
That he has not done so, but on the contrary, that he
has treated his authorities wit.h logical fairness and
accuracy, could easily be evinced.
Our remarks have been directed exclusively to the
use made by our Lord and his Apostles of the Old
Testament for the reason assigned, viz., that our
opponents draw their principal arguments from this
source. With regard to the sanction of other Jewish
errors, but one example can be alleged with any
plausibility: we iefer to the belief in demoniac possession. It certainly appears singular, that evil spirits
should have been allowed to exercise so terrible a
power over the bodies of men in one particular age of
the world, exclusive of all succeeding times: and the
symptoms resemble so closely those of insane and
epileptic persons, that if any safe expedient were
found for nmaintaining that Christ did not intend to
teach the doctrine, we should be tempted to adopt it.
But this seems impossible. The way in which he
always treats the subject-his conversations with the
demons-the various circumstances accompanying the
cure, and the impression uniformly made upon the
spectators, absolutely preclude the idea that he employed the Jewish notion rhetorically, or in such a
manner as to leave it doubtful whether he himself




THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION.          225
believed it. We therefore accept the doctrine as part
of his authoritative teachings-earnestly advising our
young friends not to indulge a habit of thinking in
relation to it, that may lead them to the verge of a
precipice, from which it will not be easy to retrace
their steps.
If, unfortunately, a man cannot bring himself to
unite with us in the acceptance, we would remind
him that he does far less dishonor to the character of
Jesus, by holding that he taught an error, believing it
to be truth, than by asserting that he taught itknowing its falsehood. Perhaps such a view does
not necessarily invalidate his authority as a religious
teacher. Jesus, it mi-ght be said, was a rman; and
the mysterious union with a higher nature, did not
establish such an actual communication between the
Divine and Human, that he in the latter capacity
exercised the prerogative of omniscience. The true
pathology of disease might have been hidden from
him, as the other secrets of science —those of chernistry for instance; and thus, as he changed water
into wine without being acquainted with the elementary molicules which compose the two fluids,
he might have healed diseases with the same imperfect knowledge of their causes which characterized
his age.
We have no liking to this hypothesis. The doctrine of demoniac agency has too many points of contact with fundamental questions in morality and Ie-li10




226-    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
gion, to be considered a mere scientific error; and the
supposition that our blessed Redeemer should be the
victim of delusion on a point so momentous, is abhorrent to all our Chlristian instincts.  Our only object in
suggesting it, is to affirm, that it approaches infinitely
nearer Christian faith than the villanous doctrine of
"4 accommodation." The man of piety however, stands
in no need of it. At best, the scheme is a perilous
one, however it may claim the praise of harmlessness
when compared with a worse. Let us on a subject so
entirely belonging to the invisible world, and beyond
the range of our present faculties, cast theory to the
winds-cherishing the pleasant and surely not irrational belief, that at a certain period in the world's
history, the holy Providence of God suffered a temporary unloosing of the powers of evil, to grace the advent of their mighty and divine Conqueror!
On t.Je whole, no student of his Bible has the least
reason to fear any evil consequences fioom  the most
severe and searciling examination of the topic which
we have been considering.  The assertions of our
opponents are mnuch stronger than their aigumentsand their boldness exceeds their discretion.  Deep
reverence for God-a cultivated moral sense-and
above all, a habitual contemplation of the perfect
model of purity, truth, and excellence furnished us in
the character of the great Author of our religion, with
a respectable degree of learning, will be an effectual
safeguard, unless counteracted by external influences,




ART OF CRITICSM.              227
and that greatest of all calamities, a naturally cold
and sceptical temperament.
RULE XI.L
WlVe ~mast endeavor to obtain reasonable certaintly
that the printed text gives the true reading of our
book; and for this purpose, maust study and apply
the art of Criticism.  That so ancient a volume as,the Bible should have come down to us perfectly fiee
from error, is a supposition too absurd to be reasoned
with. The fact is, no two manuscripts of the eight
hundred that have been examined, entirely agree;
and as each has a claim to be heard, we must often
be at a loss in passing judgment on their discrepancies. A knowledge, therefore, of the principles
according to which such questions should be decided,
with ability to use it, is indispensable.  We have no
right to exercise a blind and lazy faith in others,
however eminent-but in every case must be qualified, in soytme degree, to judge for ourselves. The
science which teaches these thingg is called Criticism; and thlus we say, that every interpreter must
be to a certain extent, a critic.  He must acquaint
himself with the history of the text in different ages,
with the number and probable age of the different
manuscripts, their notation and comparative value,




228     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
with the various theories of the learned concerning
their classification, with ancient versions, and with
the "canons," as they are called, by which the intrinsic excellence of r eadings is judged, in the absence
or defect of external evidence.
Unfortunately for this study, a bad odor has been
given to it by a school of thinkers in Germany, who
hiave carried their critical speculations beyond all
bounds of common sense, antd even decency.  Catching the spirit of inquiry which, sixty years ago, began
to separate truth fronm  error in classical history and
literature, they with reckless ardor directed it to the
Christian revelation.  Establishing themselves as the
Wolfs and Niebuhrs of this newv region, they soon
began to doubt the integrity of large portions of scripture, on the ground of what they called the "Eighller
Cliticism;" —this Higher Criticism  being a s(ort of
inward  light, enabling its possessor to dislinguish
bletw\een tie genuile and the spurious by simple perception-in direct opposition to manuscripls, \versions,
luniformn tradition, and every other accredited source
of evidence.  One doubt prepared the way for another,
doubt ripened into denial; and so the wvork of mutilation has been'going on, until our Bible has become
a thing of shreds and patches, the like of which has
been never seen in the shape of a written document.
But all this is no argument against the true Critical art, which consists in a searching, yet sober
examination of the text, according to fixed laws, and




ART OF CRITICISM.  2.29
with sacred regard to the maxim  laid down  by the
illustrious Griesbach, "Let nothing be changed from
conjecture."  The fear of danger fiom such studies
is unworthy of a Christian man. It implies a cowardly suspicion that something is rotten at the foundation, when examination would prove the soundness
of every beam-and that not a stone of the least importance to the building is displaced. Our religion,
blessed be God, is not a trumped-up fable! It came
to do a great work in the world, and the evidence of
that wonderful book in which it is recorded shall continue while earth endures. What a host of opposition
has it not already overcome? Judaism fell before it
in forty years. In three centuries, it rose on the ruins
of Paganism to the empire of the civilized world.
It survived the arts and oppressions of Antichrist.
The Atheistic conspiracy which rose up against it in
Europe half a century since, it laughed to scorn.
Yearly, it is extending its triumphs over new  regions. And after all, shall it fear to have its papers
searched?  Shall it quail before a score or two of
pragmatical Germans, who, whatever be their learning and one-sided acuteness, give slender proof of that
large comprehensiveness of vision which distinguished
a Bacon and a Locke, with a thousand others, who
after the most brilliant achievements in science, were
proud to lay their honors at its feet!
Had our good fathers in the seventeenth century
made these reflections, they would have avoided a
10*




230     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
sad blunder.  Instead of raising a senseless clamor
against such men as Capellus, Wetstein, Mill, and
Walton, who led the way in examining critically the
text of scripture; they would have hailed their labors
as invaluable contributions to Christianity.  We confess that we never recall their history without a feeling
of shame.  With talents, and a force of character that
would have raised them to eminence in any pursuit,
they chose-instead of roaming through the flowery
fields of the classics, to labor at the obscure task of
defecating the word of God from its numerous blots
and excrescences.  They hid themselves in their
studies as in prison cells, and delved for thirty years
among old musty half effaced manuscripts which
could not be decyphered without the aid of microscopes; collating one with another, comparing word
with word and letter with letter; occasionally, they
would devour by way of pastime the folio of an old
Greek atnd Latin  atherl, and after mnore than half a
lifetime of such druidgery, they came forth with thle
mormentous results-to be received with  universal
execration! Instead of being thanked for discovering
the many faults of the received text, they were charged
with bleing tlhemselves corrupters of the pure word of
God. Even the excellent John Owen entirely lost
his temper, and told them that:they would have
acted a wiser part if they had buried their discoveries
in the earth, and never suffered a various reading to
see the light. What a bulk and heap," he exclaims,




ART OF CRITICISM.            231
"are they swelled to! The collection of them makes
up a heap bigger than the Bible, and whither this
work may yet grow I know not. Taking them altogether, I cannot but look on them as an engine suited
to the destruction of the truth, and as a fit weapon
put into the hands of men of atheistical principles such
as this age abounds in, to oppose the whole evidence
of truth revealed in the scriptures. I fear that Romanism or Atheism will be found to lie at the door."
This is a doleful paragraph. It is really sad to
think of such a man as Owen-the prince of orthodox
polemics-the irrefragable Doctor-" glorious John,'"
making such a fool of himself-ready to give up the
ghost in mortal agony, because Brian Walton and his
associates are wearing out their very lives in the endeavor to provide him with a good New Testament!
To think of such a gallant war-horse, whose neck was
clothed with thunder in presence of an enemy, being
thrown into a perfect frenzy of terror at the sight of a
few honest friends, engaged in winnowing his provender! If the principles of such men had been adopted, it is easy to tell the consequences. There would
have been an end to fiee investigation on the most important and fundamental points in theology. Mill and'Walton would have been served with an injunction
from the Lord Chancellor! Ignorance would have ex
eluded forever enlightened certainty! Dr. Owen would
have burnt all the manuscripts to prevent their blabbing, and what in this case would the evidence be




232     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
worth, that the original documents of our faith had
come down unimpaired!
Happily, those who undertook the work of emendation were not men of straw. It advanced bravely, and
the result has been a glorious accession to the proofs
of Christianity, which its warmest fiiends could
scarcely anticipate. Of the mass of various readings
collected, not one hundredth part in the least degree
affects the sense. They consist almost wholly of
minute grammatical differences, slight transpositions or
substitutions of one particle for another, so trifling
that one is apt to wonder how they came to be noticed.
The question of substantial incorruptness is now put to
rest, and will probably never be revived. That Religion
will continue to receive benefit from critical investigations, we have not a doubt. Hutnan learning in all
its forms-even the most unsanctified, shall contribute
to strengthen the foundations of our holy and beautiful temple, and Zion shall, according to the promlise,
be enriched with the spoils of her enemies!
This is not prediction merely, for it is already true.
The lover of his Bible, when he sits down to examine
the subject, will be surprised to find how little has been
really accomplished by the bold innovators of the day.
On the contrary, many difficulties have been removed,
and dark places made plain. Certainty has been given
to what formerly was wished-and hoped, rather than
known, truth separated from error, and her friends enlightened as to the best way of defending her. Mi5any




ART OF CRITICISM.               233
of the learned who have distinguished themselves by
the looseness their speculations, are beginning to see
that they have gone too far, and are retracing their
steps. Some have even made a public recantation,
and are vigorous champions of the faith which once
they persecuted.
We dwell on this subject at some length, because
we fear that prejudices still linger among us, which
ought to be corrected.  Our desire is, to vindicate a
most inmportant branch of theological learning —and
to convince our young friends, that if disposed to prosecule it in their private reading, they smay do so without serious danger. But were the danger ever so
imminent still they nmucst prosecute it. The religious
teacher is not at liberty in the matter-more than the
soldier is at liberty to decline facing the enemy, because he may be shot! It is a proposition entirely
self-evident, that if Christianity be defended fiom those
who are scattering around fire-brands, arrows;  and
death, it can only be done by a thorough investigation
of all those topics that are employed against it. Criticism is one of those poisons, to which there is no other
antidote but the poison itself. It is like the fire of
Phoeton, which Jupiter could only extinguish by tile
fire of his thunder.' Ignes compescuit ignibus."
If a phalanx of erudite German neologists attack the




234     INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
authenticity of the Pentateuchteuch elling us that it was
forged by some obscure priest during or after the
Babylonian captivity, that the greater part of Isaiah
was written long after his death, that large portions
of Matthew, Luke, and John are interpolations, that
the epistle to the Hebrews must be stricken from
the Canon, and that the Apocalypse was written
by a half-crazed Gnostic-something more mnust be
done than groaning —knitting the brows-or hurling
at them an " exorciso te scelestissime." The Christian
minister must stand up to them and play the mannot the ostrich, who on the approach of an adversary,
shuts his eyes and runs away-screaming!
After all that has been said, truth and candor require
us to make a concession. We are far from asserting
that the study of criticism will make no change in the
views of a student nourished in the traditional belief.
Let it be remembered, that the subjects of which it
treats, have not until lately received thorough examnination; while our systems and catechisms were firamed
long before. Now it would be passing strange, if no
new light was reflected on theni by the labors of so
many learned. He must calculate therefore, on being
occasionally compelled to modify his -former opinions.
Perhaps he thinks at present, that every word contained within the two boards of the New Testament
that lies on his table, is indited by the Spirit of God,
and would look with horror on the Iman who affirLms




ART OF CRITICISM.              235
that 1 John v. 7 is an interpolation.  His notions
may not always be so severe. He is sure that Paul
wrote the epistle to the Hebrews. Perhaps he will
discover, that though certainly written by an apostolical man, yet a doubt concerning its Pauline origin
should not bring down the greater excommunication.
He will also find that some books, 2 Peter and 2d
and 3d John for instance, have not the full evidence
of, authenticity possessed by the others, and will feel
the propriety of deducting a little from that unlimited
confidence he would otherwise repose in them.
But who will say, that he ought not to change his
views when they are clearly seen to be prejudices of
education? The fear that a modification in things small
and unessential may lead to an upturning of the
whole system of belief, is most groundless. The very
contrary is the fact; for by separating truth from the
chaff which has been mingled with it, he sees more
clearly its evidence, and can defend it with greater
efficiency and success. If the writer were permitted to
give a small leaf from the book of his own experience,
he would say, that not a week passes over his head,
in which he does not find reason to correct some partial or erroneous notion, that he had received he knows
not how-and without examrination.  But so far firom
unsettling great fundamental principles, he invariably
finds that his conviction is strengthened by every successive change. The number of Christian disciples is




236    INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
very small, who would not find their advantage,
in subjecting their religious opinions to the same
course of treatment which the great lord of the vineyard adopts toward his fiuit-bearing branches: "He
purgeth them, that they imay bring forth more fruit."