here we have SCRIPTURE identified with those prophecies which we have just defined. "It came not by the will of man;" it is entirely dictated by the Holy Spirit; it gives us the true words of God; it is entirely given by the breath of God.

Who would therefore, after such declarations, dare to maintain that the expressions of Scripture are not inspired? They are the WRITTEN PROPHECIES.

Here it may be said by the objector, We admit that the written prophecy has, without contradiction, been composed by that power of the Holy Spirit which moved in the prophets; but the rest of the book-the Epistles, Gospels, Acts, Proverbs, the Books of Kings, and as much else as is purely historical-has surely no claim to be placed in the same rank.

Let us pause before replying, and ascertain how far our argument has brought us.

It ought already to be fully acknowledged that at least every part of the Scriptures termed PROPHECY, of whatever character it may be, has been entirely dictated by God; so that the very words, as well as the thoughts, have been given by him.

But now, shall we agree to a distinction between any one of the books of the Bible and all the other books? Is not all that it contains given by prophecy? Undoubtedly so; all that is contained therein has been equally guaranteed by God: this is what we shall proceed to prove.

All the Scriptures of the Old Testament are

Prophetical.

And in the first place, all the Scriptures without distinction are called THE WORD OF GOD. This title alone ought to suffice to show us, that if Isaiah has commenced his prophecies by inviting the heavens and the earth to give ear, because the Lord hath spoken, the same summons ought to be heard by us as coming

forth from all the books of the Bible, because they are collectively called "the Word of God." "Hear, O heavens! and give ear, O earth! for the Lord hath spoken !"

Not a single passage can be found which would authorise us to detach one solitary clause of the Scriptures as less Divine than the rest. Το say that the whole and entire book is "the Word of God," is to attest that even the sentences of which it is composed have been dictated by him.

Now, not only is the entire Bible called "THE WORD OF GOD," but it is called, as a whole, THE ORACLES OF GOD. (Rom. iii. 2.) Who does not know what Oracles were, in the minds of the ancients? Was there a word which could more absolutely express a verbal and complete inspiration? And, as if this term which St. Paul uses were not sufficiently significant, we hear Stephen, "full of the Holy Ghost," call them the LIVELY ORACLES. "Moses," says he, "received the lively oracles to deliver unto us." (Acts vii. 38.)

All the Scriptures are therefore without exception a continuous word of God, his miraculous voice: they. are his written prophecies, and his living oracles. Which of their various parts, then, will you venture to retrench? The apostles frequently speak of them as divided into "Moses and the Prophets." The Lord Jesus Christ distinguished three parts when he said to his apostles, "All things must be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me." (Luke xxiv. 44.) According to this division, the Old Testament would be divided into these three parts,-Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. Which of these three parts of the Old Testament would you dare to take away from the Scripture of the prophets, or from the Inspired Word?

Would it be Moses? But what is there more holy and more divine, throughout the Old Testament, than

the writings of this man of God?-He was such a prophet, that his sacred books are set above all others, and pre-eminently called THE LAW. "The law of the Lord is perfect." (Ps. xix. 7.) "The words of the Lord are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times." (Ps. xii. 6.)— He was such a prophet, that he compares himself to nothing less than the Son of God: "This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, LIKE UNTO ME; hear him." (Acts vii. 37.)—He was such a prophet, that he commonly preceded his commands with the words "Thus saith the Lord!"-He was such a prophet, that God said to him, "Who hath made man's mouth? have not I the Lord? Now therefore go; and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say." (Ex. iv. 11, 12.)-He was such a prophet, that it is written, "And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face." (Deut. xxxiv. 10.)

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What other portion of the Old Testament would then exclude from the prophetic Scriptures? Would it be the second-that which is called the Prophets, and which includes all the Old Testament, with the exception of Moses and the Psalms? The apostles, and our Lord, habitually call all the authors of the Old Testament by the name Prophets. To designate the entire Scripture they usually said, "Moses and the Prophets." (Luke xxiv. 25, 27, 44; Matt. v. 17; vii. 12; xi. 13; Luke xvi. 16, 29, 31; xx. 42; Acts i. 20; iii. 21, 22; vii. 35, 37; viii. 28; xxvi. 22, 27; xxviii. 23; Rom. i. 2; iii. 21; x. 5, &c. &c.) The writers were prophets. Hence Joshua was a prophet;-the authors of the Chronicles were prophets; they, like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, and all the others down to Malachi, were prophets of Jehovah.

The knowledge of God according to his revelation of himself, and the expressing of it whether in words

or actions, seem to admit the appellation of prophesying. Hence Abel is called a prophet (Luke xi. 49, 50); and the patriarchs (Ps. cv. 14, 15). Aaron was also a prophet to Moses (Ex. vii. 1): and the Corinthians generally were allowed to prophesy; that is, I apprehend, each one who had a psalm, a doctrine, a tongue, an interpretation, could exercise it, provided all was to edification-for "He that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, exhortation, and comfort. And ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be comforted." (1 Cor. xiv.) In another sense, however, all were not prophets among those in olden or in after times. "Are all prophets?"

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They therefore all wrote prophetic Scriptures; all, words of which St. Peter tells us that none of them came by the will of man;" all, those "sacred writings," which the apostle declares to be divinely inspired. (2 Tim. iii. 16.) The Lord hath said of them all, as of Jeremiah, "Behold, I have put my words into thy mouth" (Jer. i. 9); and as of Ezekiel, "Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee, receive in

thine heart, and hear with thine ears; and go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear." (Ezek. iii. 10, 11.)

And that all the sentences and words were given unto them by God, is manifestly shown by one fact, which is repeatedly related, and which the study of their writings frequently brings to our notice, namely, they were charged to transmit to the church oracles whose signification was yet to remain veiled from themselves. Daniel, for instance, declares more than once that he could not understand the prophetic import of the words which went forth from his own lips, or were traced by his pen. (Dan. xii. 4, 8, 9.) The types imprinted by God on all the events of primitive history, were not to be understood until many centuries

after the existence of those who were charged with their first record: and the Holy Ghost declares to us that the prophets, after having penned their sacred pages, applied themselves to study them with the same reverent attention as they would the other Scriptures; "searching to understand WHAT THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST which was in them had FORETOLD concerning the sufferings and future glory of the Messiah." (1 Pet. i. 10-12.) Behold these men of God studiously bending over their own writings, pondering therein the words of God, and the mind of God: but will this excite your astonishment? since what they have just written for the elect of the earth, for principalities and heavenly powers (Eph. iii. 10, 11), is about the advent and the glory of the Son of God; "things which angels desire to look into."

So much for Moses and the Prophets: but what will you say respecting the Psalms? Would these be less than all the rest the gift of the Spirit of Prophecy? Are not the authors of the Psalms always called prophets? (Matt. xiii. 35; Ps. lxxviii. 2.) And if they are sometimes, like Moses, distinguished from the other prophets, is it not evidently to assign them a more eminent place? David was a prophet, St. Peter tells us. (Acts ii. 30.) Hear what he says of himself: "The Spirit of the Lord SPAKE BY ME, and HIS WORD was ON MY TONGUE." (2 Sam. xxiii. 1, 2.) What David wrote, even his least words, he wrote SPEAKING BY THE HOLY GHOST, says our Lord. (Mark xii. 36.) The apostles also, in quoting him (in their prayer), have been careful to say, "This Scripture must needs be fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake," &c. (Acts i. 16.) "It is thou, Lord, who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said," &c. (Acts iv. 25.) What do I say? These Psalms are so entirely dictated by the Spirit, that Jesus Christ himself calls them by the name of LAW (John x. 34; see Psa. lxxxii. 6; John xii. 34; see Psa. lxxxix. 36); all