though each of the inspired penmen has his own manner and style of writing, one and the self-same Spirit breathes through all; one grand idea pervades all. Surely, then, it becomes us to accept with reverence, gratitude, vehement desire, and teachableness, ALL AND EVERY THING which God here lays before us; and not of vain conceit to reject or strike out any portion or particle as useless. For, in the word of God, one thing ever serves to illustrate and confirm another: what God effects in individual saints, and what he effects for his people at large, are mutually and marvellously interwoven; and a single glance at that vast economy which stretches itself out over all, is of infinitely more personal consequence to us than to know the most interesting cabinet secrets of all earthly potentates.

"Many a forced interpretation of Scripture is incurred by making haste to clear up every difficulty that lies on one side of a subject, and stumbling upon greater difficulties on the other. These should be distributed, as nearly as possible, to either side alike; which would leave us certainly a narrower space between them, but would serve the more to keep us in the middle and straightforward, that is, in the safest and shortest, direction.

"Experience, especially in these times, shows how dangerous it is to contract the attention to any point of Scripture apart from the whole. Thus we may err by a factitious glorying in grace, or dwelling upon one matter of faith to the disparagement of the rest (in the way that some really christian brethren have treated the subject of our Saviour's passion); or we may attribute too much to fallen nature's light, by adopting only such Scripture statements as we can explain and vindicate by human reason. The latter of these errors distinguished a sect in Italy before the Reformation, which was then very small, but which has now fearfully extended itself over France, England, and Germany. Numbers have hereby come to deny the very existence of God; while those who would make the best of it consider religion as nothing more than decency and propriety of conduct; and will not even hear of an atoning Christ, or of our righteousness in him, or of the work of the Holy Spirit (on the heart), or of any thing taught exclusively by revelation and above natural reason. Those who have settled down into the desperate resolution of not referring to the word of God as their standard of inquiry, it is better always to let alone; not a pen should be put to paper on their account. Persons of this stamp will hardly ever be set right by argumentative deductions, however legiti

mately inferred. The great work of true illumination and conversion, when it takes place in such persons at all, begins rather by a ray from the word of God at once, or upon occasion of some sudden affliction of a temporal or spiritual nature. But we ought to guard others against them, for the preservation of those who are more worthy the name of God's human creatures. This, however, is best done by applying his written word in its own simplicity. There are others, who, with all their respect for revelation, are still for carrying the exercise of our limited reason beyond its legitimate bounds; which necessarily leads to a multitude of errors. To such persons the following plain thoughts may be of service:

"1. Reason is a noble and invaluable faculty of the soul; it is an instrument for perception of things spiritual and physical within us and around us. 2. Nevertheless, all the properties of this faculty are become most affectingly deranged and corrupted, so as now to be subject to very great ignorance; yes, to many doubts and errors. 3. But, notwithstanding this perversion and corruption of the reasoning faculty, we human beings still retain a high preeminence in the visible creation; we are not sunk to the grade of horse or mule, but remain men, and retain the capacity of perceiving and understanding things presented to us. 4. The things which reason perceives, are many and various; some of them are also of a mysterious nature, but have nevertheless been known to the wiser sort among the heathen. 5. Some truths reason perceives of itself; such, for instance, as a heathen, finding them in the Scriptures, may easily assent to, without regarding the Scriptures as Divinely inspired; others it perceives by scriptural revelation alone, and accepts them upon the authority of that revelation, by the exercise of a property which is very familiar to it upon common natural subjects, and which is called belief. 6. Therefore, in perceiving truths out of its own natural reach, but brought to it by Divine revelation, reason is to be regarded as merely instrumental whereas, in perceiving truths which are within its own natural reach, it is to be considered as principal; for in these it makes and employs its own inferences; but in the others it is to us nothing more than a transmitting medium. 7. There are some truths which, though reason can of itself perceive to a certain extent, it is helped much more clearly to perceive by the Holy Scriptures; here, then, also it is rather instrumental than principal. The truths I advert to The truths I advert to are those which relate

to the existence of God, his attributes, operations, and benefits; the existence of separate spirits, both good and evil; the existence and attributes of the human soul, and its union with the body. How far reason would conduct us of itself upon these subjects, can now no more be determined than we can determine how far the light of a lamp would reach if we had perpetual sunshine; indeed, the scanty light which the heathen have had upon many things, came originally by tradition from the Scriptures or divine revelation. 8. Human reason is most at home in things physical and material. From these it can deduce many a profitable inference and invention for the life that now is. 9. But as godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come, so this most profitable thing in the world, consists in knowing God, the Creator and Disposer of all things. 10. Good and evil are also in some measure discerned even by the natural mind and conscience. 11. But there are matters of infinite moment upon which natural reason furnishes no data whatever to proceed upon. In mathematics, natural philosophy, and logic, we may very safely acknowledge every prerogative claimed by what is called the new philosophy' (of Wolf); but upon divine subjects it is quite another thing; here we have need of the most reverential caution, lest our natural reason arrogantly assume principles of its own invention to proceed from, or measures and rules of its own to work by; for in matters of pure revelation it is, and can be, nothing more than secondary and passive; it is a mere transmitting medium (like this refracting atmosphere, for our communion with the great luminary, over which it has no control). 12. When Scripture directly testifies any thing in plain words, Reason has nothing to do with arbitrating upon its possibility; for her own comprehension is so very limited, that though she may be able sometimes, or even frequently, to say a thing is possible, it is but seldom she can pronounce a thing to be impossible, even in a physical respect, to say nothing of things supernatural. 13. Therefore we do not rightly handle divine subjects, when, borrowing from Scripture what can be learnt from Scripture only, we proceed to show its possibility by our own

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• Bengel has observed elsewhere, that speculative philosophic systems have always very quickly become obsolete; whereas, practical truths have been preserved by their constant recurrence and use in common life. Yet, subjects remote from ordinary understandings are capable of frequent reappearance in a new dress; and thus it is that what are called new systems, are often nothing more than new modifications of what has appeared and disappeared again and again.

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mere reasonings; for this looks like attempting by natural knowledge to supersede faith in the Divine testimony; and when we have done all that can be done in this way, the sneering infidel can quite as readily produce his rational arguments, contradictory to and equally valid with our own; yes, and falsehood, poised against truth in such unlawful scales, may very easily be made to preponderate. If a missionary, who has brought to a heathen country truths necessarily thus borrowed from Scripture, were to attempt to render them influential upon pagans by arguments of mere reasoning, experience would soon teach him that any thing but success was to be looked for by such a method of proceeding. 14. To bring an unbelieving person to true and practical faith, is a work of Divine power. Consequently, the first thing to be done with such a person is, to set before him the great matters of faith, and the duty of his own implicit assent and consent. Here we ought to use no circumlocution, no endeavour to come at him by methods indirect; especially if he be at all disposed to acknowledge the Divine authority of holy writ.

"The moral influence experienced from any particular truth which we have embraced by mere natural reason, is weak as compared with the influence which that same truth produces when afterwards embraced by faith; for when faith cometh,' a power always accompanies it which is quite supernatural.

"Reason will even affect the most recondite subjects, as if it could do something with them; it would discover, devise, and settle every thing: but faith embraces what is plain and easy, and by her own moral simplicity she remains unperplexed at what is intellectually abstruse. Never let me think of exhausting any sacred subject. I must resolve to work on for God, calmly awaiting whatever he may be pleased to disclose. It is thus I have come by what little knowledge I possess; and have learnt by experience, that through endearing to ourselves this calm and passive submission of spirit, so as to seek it and pursue it, we attain in good time to far clearer light than ever we could have enjoyed by our own too forward and prying exertions. 15. He who in the true spirit of faith keeps himself up to the word of God, will find, as he goes on, that he is learning how to treat divine subjects appropriately and naturally. I mean, that even his natural endowments become softly and sweetly blended with the grace bestowed on him. Indeed faith, while it always communicates a teachableness and tractableness to its possessor, sheds from him upon others also the benign influence of those

qualities; so that even the advancement of learning is much indebted to influence of this sort; and it was in Christendom, and by means of Christians, that the sciences first began their present triumphant course. 16. When reason's native powers are too highly extolled, other human capabilities are of course lauded in the same proportion; one consequence of which is, that men learn to trust in themselves: and this is one among the sad signs of the present times. 17. But what is most to be lamented is, that people are insensibly sinking into deeper and deeper ignorance of the influence of divine grace, and are even learning to regard all scriptural doctrine respecting it with a suspicious eye; and this to such a degree, that could Pelagius himself appear among them, he would surely mourn over our modern Pelagianism."

The above remarks strikingly show how opposite to every thing like the rationalism and naturalism of the present day, were Bengel's sentiments upon the inspiration of the Scriptures, and their legitimate exposition. His remarks, which we shall next adduce, will inform us how far he considered it right to use the liberty of Scripture exposition, with regard to the Lutheran system of divinity as then in use, as also in reference to church confessions, and allegorical or mystical systems of interpretation.

"The truth of God must be our dearest object, whether the popular system accord with it or not. Far be it from us to wrest or force Scripture into compliance with any favourite hypothesis. It never can be right to invent dogmas, and then go to Scripture in order to prove them.

"It is better to run all lengths with Scripture truth in a natural and open manner, than to shift and twist and accommodate. Straightforward conduct may draw against us bitterness and rancour for a time, but sweetness will come out of it. Every single truth is a light of itself; and every error, however minute, is darkness as far as it goes. Though there is much Divine forbearance with human errors, every error is something contrary to the Divine glory and honour; to these, truth, and truth only, is that which conforms. Here then is an argument for prizing the most simple truths as invaluable jewels.

"He who professes nothing more than what is agreed to by his party, may proceed unopposed, though he defend it with novel arguments, stronger or weaker, of his own, or with arguments borrowed or deduced from any novel system of others.