of the patriarchs enabled them to preserve uncorrupted what was so revealed, and to transmit it from generation to generation. Two persons might have conveyed it down from Adam to Abraham; for Methuselah lived above three hundred years while Adam was yet alive, and Shem lived almost a hundred years with Methuselah, and above a hundred years with Abraham. But after the lives of men were shortened, and revelation was greatly enlarged, it pleased God that the whole of his revealed will should be committed to writing, that the Church might have a standing rule of faith and practice, by which all doctrines might be examined, and all actions regulated; that sacred truth might be preserved uncorrupted and entire; that it might be propagated throughout the several nations of the earth, and might be conveyed down to all succeeding generations. Though, in the infancy of the Church, God taught his people without the written word, yet now that his former ways of reveal ing his will to his people have ceased, the Holy Scripture, or written word, is most necessary. Without this the Church would be left to the uncertainty of tradition and oral teach ing; but the written word is a sure test of doctrines, and a light in a dark place, both of which are most necessary. Isa. viii. 20; 2 Pet. i. 19.

SECTION II.-Under the name of Holy Scripture, or the word of God written, are now contained all the books of the Old and New Testaments, which are these:

All which are given by inspiration of God, to be the rule of faith and life."

SECTION III.-The Books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of the Scripture; and, therefore, are of no authority in the Church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved or made use of, than other human writings.8

Luke xvi. 29, 31. Eph. ii. 20. Rev. Luke xxiv. 27, 44. Romans iii. 2. xxii. 18, 19. 2 Tim. iii. 16. 2 Pet. i. 21.

EXPOSITION.

These sections relate to the true canon, and the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. In opposition to the Romish church, which reckons the apocryphal books of equal authority with the Scriptures, it is asserted that these books are no part of the canon of the Scripture; and in opposition to the Deists, who deny that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the word of God, it is affirmed that all the sacred books are given by inspiration of God.

The term Scriptures signifies writings in general, but is appropriated to the word of God, which is also, by way of eminency, called the Bible or book, because it is incomparably the best of all books. The sacred books are divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. The former includes those books which were written under the old dispensation of the covenant of grace, or prior to the incarnation of the Son of God; the latter includes those books which were written after the commencement of the new dispensation, or posterior to the advent of Christ. The apostle Paul lays a foundation for this distinction; for he uses the phrases Old Testament and New Testament, and in one instance designates the writings of Moses and the prophets by the former title. 2 Cor. iii. 14. The word canon literally signifies a rule, and was early used to designate the inspired Scriptures, which form a perfect rule of faith and life.

The sacred Scriptures are now collected into one volume, but that volume contains a considerable number of separate books, written by different persons, and in different ages. How, then, do we ascertain the authenticity and genuineness of each of these books, and why do we receive them

as canonical, to the exclusion of all others? In determining a question of this kind, we must employ the same method which we follow when the genuineness of any other book is the subject of investigation. How do we know that the books which bear the names of Homer, Horace, Tacitus, and Livy were really composed by them, but by the uniform testimony of all succeeding ages? In the same way do we ascertain that the writings of the Apostles and Evangelists are genuine; we have the testimony of their contemporaries and immediate successors, who are the most competent witnesses in this case. The task of searching the records of antiquity has been undertaken by learned men, and executed with great industry and zeal. The result of their inquiries is, that the books now included in the New Testament were received as inspired by the primitive Church, and numerous passages were quoted from them by the earliest Christian writers; that catalogues of these books, which coincide with ours, are inserted in the works of dif ferent authors who flourished in the third and fourth centuries; and that these books were publicly read in Christian congregations, and were continually appealed to by Christian writers, as the standard of faith, and the supreme judge of controversies. The canon of the Old Testament is ascertained by a short process; we know that the Jews arranged their sacred books into three classes, the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa, or holy writings. Now, our Lord, just before his ascension, thus addressed his disciples"These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me." Luke xxiv. 44. The Psalms are here put for the Hagiographa, probably because they were the principal book, or occupied the first place in that division. Our Lord, by adopting this common division of the sacred books, which comprehended all the Hebrew Scriptures, ratified the canon of the Old Testament, as it was received by the Jews. This, however, does not determine what particular books were then included in the sacred volume; but on this point we have the testimony of the Jewish historian, Josephus, who indeed does not name the books of the Old Testament, but he numbers them, and so describes them that there is scarcely room for any mistake. His testimony is corroborated by that of several of the early

Christian fathers, who have furnished us with catalogues of the books of the Old Testament, from which it appears, that the canon then existing was the same as that which we now possess. Besides, a Greek translation of the Old Testament, known by the name of The Septuagint, was made two hundred and seventy years before the Christian era, in'which are the same books that are at present found in the Hebrew copies. The books commonly called Apocrypha, were never admitted into the list of canonical books, until the council of Trent, at its fourth session, 1546, placed them in the same rank with the inspired writings. They are rejected by the Protestant churches for the following reasons:-The Jews, to whom the oracles of God were committed, and who were never blamed for unfaithfulness to their trust, never acknowledged these books to be of divine authority. They were not written in the Hebrew, but in the Greek language, and the authors of them were posterior to Malachi, in whom, according to the universal testimony of the Jews, the spirit of prophecy ceased. No part of these books is quoted by Christ or his apostles, nor a single word found in all the New Testament from which it can be inferred that such books were in existence. These books contain many things erroneous, superstitious, and immoral; and some of the writers, instead of advancing a claim to inspiration, acknowledge their own weakness, and apologize for their defects. The Church of England, though she does not receive the apocryphal books as canonical Scripture, and therefore does not "apply them to establish any doctrine," yet directs certain portions of them to be read in the church, "for example of life, and instruction of manners." Now, as these portions are read promiscuously with the lessons taken from the canonical books, and no notice is given to the people that they are selected from the Apocrypha, they are in reality undistinguished from the inspired writings; and however good and instructive these apocryphal lessons may be, it never can be justified that they should thus be put on a level with the word of God.

The Holy Scripture is called the word of God, because it is given by inspiration of God. "The possibility of inspi ration seems to be granted by all who profess to be Christians, though there is a great diversity of opinion with respect to its nature and degrees, as applied to the Scriptures. Some are of opinion that the inspiration of the Scriptures amounted

to nothing more than a mere superintendence over the minds of the sacred writers, so as to prevent them from publishing gross errors. Others go a little further, and maintain that, besides superintendence, the understandings of the several writers were enlarged; that their conceptions were elevated above the measure of ordinary men; and that with their minds thus elevated, they were left to their own judgment both as to matter and words. The advocates of plenary inspiration, again, maintain that the Holy Spirit suggested to the minds of the persons inspired not only the matter to be communicated, but also the words in which the communi. cation was to be made. A fourth party are for taking in all these supposed kinds of inspiration now mentioned; and they maintain that the sacred writers sometimes wrote under mere superintendence, sometimes under superintendence accompanied with a high elevation of conception, and at other times under a divine suggestion, or what is called plenary inspiration, according to the nature of the subject on which they wrote."*

At no remote period, the plenary and verbal inspiration of the Scriptures was very generally abandoned. Events, however, have occurred of late years, which have occasioned a more thorough investigation of the subject; and the most eminent writers who have treated of it more lately, maintain the plenary inspiration of the sacred books in opposition to those who hold that it was merely partial and occasional; and their verbal inspiration, in opposition to those who hold that only the sentiments or matter, and not the words, are inspired. "We are humbly of opinion,' says Dr. Stevenson, "that inspiration, as employed in communicating the sacred oracles to men, is only of one kind, and that is the inspiration of suggestion, according to which not only the matter, but the words also, were communicated to the minds of the sacred writers. 1. The Scriptures themselves take notice of only one kind of inspiration, and represent it as extending to all the parts of Scripture-to those which are historical and moral, as well as to those which are prophetical and doctrinal. 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17; 2 Pet. i. 21. 2. There must have been more than an enlargement of the understanding, and an elevation of conception in inspiration, since a great many of the things were such as could not have entered into the hearts of men or of

* Stevenson on the Offices of Christ, p. 50-51.