As

would guard against a practice so pregnant with mischief--so dishonourable to God-so destructive of their own highest and best interests! An authoritative message has been sent from the throne of God, accredited by the most ample and convincing evidence. What, therefore, is our duty? suredly it is not to prejudge the contents of this revelationto decide upon its propriety-to find fault with its claims. "Our simple business is to interpret fairly and without prejudice its various parts, and then to submit without any reserve to its paramount authority. Having been visited with the light of revelation, the formation of our religious creed is no longer left to the dreams of imagination or the speculations of philosophy, but it is to be deduced fairly and honestly from the written record alone. And the same principle is to govern equally the learned and the unlearned. It is the office of a translator to give a faithful representation of the original. And now this faithful representation has been given, it is our part to peruse it with care, and to take a fair and faithful impression of it. It is our part to purify our understanding of all its previous conceptions. We must bring a free and unoccupied mind to the exercise. It must not be the pride or the obstinacy of self-formed opinions, or the haughty independence of him who thinks he has reached the manhood of his understanding. We must bring with us the docility of a child, if we want to gain the kingdom of Heaven. It must not be a partial, but an entire and an unexpected obedience. There must be no garbling of that which is entire, no darkening of that which is luminous, no softening down of that which is authoritative or severe. The Bible will allow of no compromise. It professes to be the directory of our faith, and claims a total ascendancy over the souls and the understandings of men. It will enter into no composition with us, on our natural principles. It challenges the whole mind as its due, and it appeals to the truth of heaven for the high authority of its sanctions. "Whosoever addeth to or taketh from the words of this book is accursed," is the absolute language in which it delivers itself. This brings us to its terms, There is no way of escaping after this. We must bring every thought into captivity to its obedience, and, as closely as ever lawyer stuck to his document or his extract, must we abide by the rule and the doctrine which this authentic memorial of God sets before us." *

Having thus ascertained the revealed will of God, it must be our determination and aim to fulfil it. "Not every one,"

*Chalmers on the Evidence and Authority of the Christian Revelation, p. 269, The whole of the chapter will amply repay the labour of a careful perusal.

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says our Lord, that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven," Matt. vii. 21. It were better for us to be placed beyond the light and influence of the Divine Revelation, than to enjoy its advantages and yet withhold our obedience. For while the servant who knoweth not his Lord's will, and consequently errs in his duty, shall be beaten with few stripes; he that knoweth it, but doeth it not shall be beaten with many, Luke xii. 47, 48.

Such appears to be the preparation of mind and the disposition of heart which are required in those who would derive from the study of the Scriptures those benefits which it is the intention of the Divine Being to impart through their medium. The Bible is the ordinary channel through which he conveys his blessings to man, and it is only by placing ourselves in a proper situation and providing ourselves with suitable means that we can rationally expect to become partakers of the stream of the water of life.

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CHAPTER II.

RULES FOR READING THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.

The Literal Meaning to be sought after-Of Method in ReadingOf the Scope Of the Context-Of Parallel Passages-Of the Analogy of Faith-Cautionary Rules for Practical Reading.

HAVING treated of the preparation of mind which is requisite in order to read the Holy Scriptures with advantage, we proceed to consider the method by which this duty may be so prosecuted as to secure the benefits for the reception of which we have been thus prepared.

It would be a mere waste of time to detain the reader from the immediate subject of this chapter, for the purpose of directing his attention to its high importance. Upon this there is no room for diversity of opinion. In every study, an object and method in its prosecution are indispensably requisite to the progress of the student: without these he may, indeed, obtain a superficial knowledge, but he will never gain an accurate and extensive acquaintance with his subject. Unless some specific object be proposed, some previous plan be formed, some mode of study be laid down, from which the student will not suffer himself to be diverted, he cannot rationally hope to secure a great acquisition of scientific or historical knowledge. And should not the same reasons influence and regulate our conduct in all our pursuits after scriptural truth? Though the intellect is not the only, nor even the most material part of the man, that is concerned in the study of the Scriptures, yet, that there must be a right apprehension of the truths of the Bible, in the letter thereof, before the heart can be rightly affected, or the affections suitably influenced, must be sufficiently obvious to all upon the slightest reflection. We therefore proceed to lay down some rules which should regulate our conduct in prosecuting the study of the Bible.

I. DILIGENTLY LABOUR AFTER A KNOWLEDGE OF THE LITERAL MEANING OF EVERY PART OF SCRIPTURE.

The literal meaning of Scripture, though not to be rested in, is, as we have before remarked, of the utmost importance

to be understood, as it lies at the foundation of every other meaning. It has been for want of a regard to this rule, that so many wild and ridiculous notions have been entertained by really pious men. Unconscious that the words of the Spirit have any absolute or definite meaning, they have supposed that each person is at liberty to spiritualise and interpret the Scriptures according to his individual views and taste. Nay, so far have some-and men of unquestionable piety, tooproceeded in this notion, that they have regarded the literal meaning as so far subordinate to its spiritual intention, as that the letter may, and sometimes does, directly and palpably contradict the spirit!* To every intelligent mind the dangerous tendency of such principles, must, one would think, be immediately obvious, as undermining the authority and certainty of divine revelation, and rendering it void through the caprice or folly of men. We advise, therefore, that the literal meaning of every part of Scripture be first sought after, and that no interpretation of a spiritual kind be received, which is incompatible with the literal meaning, fairly and obviously deduced. When we have entered fully into the literal meaning of Scripture, it is easy to render it "profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. But there are numerous parts of the Bible relating to morality, which must be understood in the literal sense; that is, in the sense which the sacred writers have obviously given them by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, who was doubtless able to suggest to his amanuenses natural expressions, and such as were proper to express the sense. We must, therefore, search into the Scriptures with the same care with which, we endeavour to ascertain the sense of any other author. We are in no case content with guessing at the meaning of a writer, but endeavour to discover his meaning with certainty, by weighing the force of the words of which he makes use. The authors of the sacred books not only speak truth, but they speak it in a sensible and reasonable manner. When, therefore, the literal sense of their words implies no absurdity, it is the true sense -all others should be deduced from it, and recourse is to be had to allegory and metaphor only when the natural or literal sense is absurd. Then, indeed, recourse must be had to figure, because the Holy Ghost cannot inspire men with absurdities; but not otherwise, because no sensible writer always adopts improper or figurative expressions.†

*This has been avowed by Mr. Noble in his work on the Plenary Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures; indeed it is the theory that work seeks to establish. + Lamy's Apparatus Biblicus, Book ii. ch. xi.

II. LET THE SCRIPTURES BE READ METHODICALLY AND

CONNECTEDLY.

With reference to no other work than the Bible is this advice needed. To no other writings is such a perversity of intellect shewn as to those, in comparison of which all others are as the chaff to the wheat. In reading the Holy Scriptures, it too generally appears that persons conceive they are at liberty to dispense with all those rules which are regarded as indispensable in order to ascertain the meaning of any human author, on subjects of even the most trivial nature. To suggest to a person about to peruse the writings of an author, the propriety of reading them in consecutive order— that it would be improper to commence at the latter end or in the middle of his work—that in order to understand him correctly he must give his work a fair reading through—would be justly considered as offering an insult to his understanding. The thing is so obvious, and the opposite conduct so utterly insane, that none but a madman would either need or offer the advice. But, alas! how much such advice is needed with reference to the sacred volume let the too prevailing conduct of those who profess a veneration for its character, and an attachment to its disclosures, speak. Some favourite parts of the holy volume are selected from the rest, and they engage and engross that attention which is equally claimed by the whole.-"Tell it not in Gath!" With what confidence or propriety can such a Christian repel the malignant, but ignorant assaults which are made upon the sacred word by the prejudiced infidel? Never having given to that book, upon the revelations of which all his present and future hopes are founded, a careful and attentive perusal, he himself is equally ignorant with his more mischievous, but less culpable neighbour. That these things are so is a lamentable fact which loudly calls for reform; and it is with a view to promote this, that the following advice is offered.

I. Read the Bible regularly, and at stated times.

A duty so imperative, and a privilege so valuable, should not be attended to by fits and starts. This would be less censurable were the Bible what many appear to consider ita collection of moral and religious aphorisms, valuable indeed in themselves, but perfectly unconnected and independent of each other. But such is not the fact. It is a congruous and continuous history of God's moral government, in connection with his high and beneficent purposes in the salvation of man; and "the manifold wisdom of God," as displayed in the accomplishment of these purposes, is not to be perceived but