"vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision,' he directs Titus to "rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth."*

Nor were all these declarations merely negative; serving only to contradict the authority of the Scribes and Pharisees and their traditions. It was not the object of the Saviour and his apostles to overthrow one mass of error in order to set up another in its place. They never claimed themselves to be interpreters of the Word of God to others. That Holy Word was free to all; it was known and read of all men; and to it Christ and his apostles ever appealed, against the objections of the Jews, as the supreme authority, before which all human cavils must be dumb. Yea, even the opponents themselves were to be the interpreters and judges. "Search the Scriptures," says our Lord, " for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me." The apostles, too, in their preaching, appealed always to the Scriptures, enforcing the study of them upon their hearers; and it is recorded as a trait of nobleness in the Bereans, to whom Paul and Silas preached the gospel, "that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so." They went not to the Scribes and Pharisees, as the authoritative expounders of the Scriptures; but searched for themselves, in the light of God's truth and with the aid of his Spirit, which is ever vouchsafed to those who seek aright. The same great principle is inculcated by Paul, when in addressing Timothy, he reminds him," that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus ;" and then proceeds to enforce the thought more generally and strongly: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God; and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."§ This, according to the apostle, is the fruit of the Scriptures to those who search them for themselves; and thus become rooted and grounded in the Christian faith. He says not one word of their being interpreted by or according to the authority of the church. Acts xvii. 11.

Tit. i. 10-14.

† John v. 39.
§ 2 Tim. iii. 15-17.

Indeed, the only occasion on record, in which the apostolic church, as such, exercised an authority in any way paramount to the Scriptures of the Old Testament, was in the final decision of the great question relative to the binding power of the Jewish ceremonial law upon Gentile converts. Many of the Jewish Christians still venerated their ritual, and believed that other converts should be subject to its ordinances. This tendency Paul labored long and vehemently to counteract, as contrary to the spirit of the gospel; and at length the authority of the assembled church and elders at Jerusalem was called in, to determine between the opposing views. This they did; not of themselves, but as the ambassadors and representatives of Christ, expressly acting by inspiration from on high: "For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things."* Thus was abrogated in form the Jewish ceremonial law; not by the church acting on its own authority, but from the authority of Christ himself. Their decree was neither an interpretation of Scripture, nor a tradition claiming to be of equal weight with Scripture; but it was a part and parcel of Scripture itself, resting upon the same divine authority and sanction, and promulgated under the direct influence of the same Holy Spirit.

The main argument of the church in every age, in favor of its assumed authority, has been the fear lest "the unlearned and unstable should wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction." Such was already the complaint of Peter in respect to the epistles of Paul and other Scriptures; yet he suggests no interposition of ecclesiastical authority to prevent such a result. He merely exhorts those whom he was addressing, to greater caution not to fall from their own steadfastness, seeing they were thus forewarned.† And why should more than this be necessary ? Because a few of the "unlearned and unstable" abuse their liberty, shall that liberty be wholly taken away from the steadfast and the intelligent? Far better were it for the church, for her ministers and her members, to instruct and enlighten these "unlearned and unstable," and so bring them willingly to the truth; and not at once to shut them up in the prisonhouse of human authority.

Let me not be misunderstood. I am not calling in question the propriety, nor even the necessity of creeds and confessions.

* Acts xv. 28. See the whole chapter. 2 Pet. iii. 15—17.

I hold that every religious community has a right to prescribe the system of doctrines, conscientiously drawn from the Bible, which shall be the bond of its existence and the condition of membership. It follows as a matter of course, that when a member discards, or acts contrary to, the profession he has made, such a community has the right to call him to an account, and even to exclude him from its pale. But it does not follow, nor can it ever be justified, that where there is merely a conscientious difference of opinion in respect to Scriptural doctrine, denunciation and persecution should be let loose upon their prey, or an individual be injured in his good name, or deprived of civil or social rights and privileges. This can never be otherwise than wrong in itself; directly opposed to the great and fundamental principle of Protestantism; and contrary to the whole spirit and tenor of the gospel of Christ.

Having thus brought out to view the character and foundations of the great Protestant principle relative to the Bible, let us now trace it as applied to theological education. It follows from it, as I have already had occasion to remark, that the Bible must be the basis of all Christian theology. Our present inquiry, therefore, will have for its object the various subsidiary branches of study, which are essential for every one who would aspire to the character of an able and thoroughly furnished interpreter of the Holy Scriptures. Let it be borne in mind that only of such am I here speaking;-of interpreters who may understand and explain the Word of God, not merely in things pertaining to our duties and destiny as immortal and accountable beings; for on these points the Bible is so plain, that he who runs may read, and even in the most imperfect translation presents enough of divine truth to make all men wise unto salvation. But I speak of interpreters who may likewise enter into the full spirit of the Bible in all its other parts; in its bearings upon the history and antiquities, not only of the Jews, but of the whole human race; who may be able to clear up difficulties, illustrate what may seem obscure, and make the Scriptures in some degree as plain and simple to mankind now, as they were to the people to whom they were first addressed.

In this last remark lies the main clue, which is to guide all the efforts of the interpreter. The revelation of God's truth was made originally to the Jews, a people peculiar in their lan

guage, their modes of life, their laws, their manners and customs, their habits of thought and feeling. Perhaps in all the civilized world it would be difficult to find a nation, presenting in all these particulars a stronger contrast with ourselves. Yet to them the Scriptures were addressed, in their own tongue," and with a perfect adaptation to their character and circumstances. God addressed himself to them, intending to be understood; and he spoke in such a way, that he was understood. He spoke to Jews in the language and manner of the Jews; and as one Jew understood another Jew, so they all understood that which God uttered to them in the same tongue. Now if we too would comprehend the Scriptures fully, we must place ourselves in the situation of the Jews; hear as they heard, and understand the language as they understood it; while for the sense, especially of prophecy, we have the additional revelations of the New Testament, and the history of God's dealings with his church and with the world for many centuries later.

What then is requisite, to enable us as interpreters to stand in the position of the Jews, and at the same time grasp the further advantages resulting from the experience of centuries? The proper answer to this question resolves itself into a variety of particulars, and covers the whole ground embraced by our present inquiry.

I. The first requisite, which indeed lies at the basis of all accurate study of the Bible, is an acquaintance with the original tongues in which it has come down to us; the Old Testament in Hebrew, with a few passages of Chaldee interspersed, and the New Testament in Greek. The necessity of learning both these languages is now universally acknowledged, wherev er the importance of a thorough study of the Bible is prized; and every Theological Seminary in Christendom, which makes provision for instruction in the Scriptures, takes them up in these original tongues. It would therefore be here a waste of time, to dwell upon the importance and necessity of a regular philological study of these languages; for this is included in the very idea of a thorough critical knowledge of the Scriptures themselves. To think of such a knowledge of the Bible, to be obtained through the medium of any translation, is preposterous. The well qualified interpreter must be able himself to sit in judgment upon all translations, by comparing them in letter and in spirit with the originals. We all know how dif

ficult it is to find an exact and yet spirited translation, even from one kindred language to another; as from the French or the German into English; but this difficulty is very greatly enhanced, when the version is to be from a language so totally diverse, as is the Hebrew, from our own or any other occidental tongue.

Some minds are ready to admit the importance of studying the New Testament in the Greek original, but entertain doubts as to the propriety of a like study of the Old Testament in the Hebrew. True, the New Testament is the charter of the Christian dispensation and of our Christian hopes; and as such occupies a higher and more important place in its bearings on theological education. But it is founded upon, and presupposes, the existence and binding obligation of the Old Testament; and neither its precepts, nor its doctrines, nor its language can be fully understood, without a like thorough knowledge of the latter. The question resolves itself into another, viz. Whether the Christian interpreter shall confine his studies and his acquaintance with the Scriptures, simply to one portion of the Bible; or extend them over the whole ? If the reply be, as all will admit it ought to be, that he should embrace the whole Bible; then the importance of an acquaintance with the Hebrew tongue, rests upon the same grounds as the study of the Greek.

Nor is an adequate study of both these tongues the labor of merely a few weeks, or months, or even years. They are both to us dead languages, no longer spoken in this form; and therefore no longer to be learned by daily intercourse with those to whom they are vernacular. Herein lies at once a great drawback in respect to time and accuracy; and also the necessty of a great increase of labor and minute attention. Especially is this the case in relation to the Hebrew; since apparently the greater portion of this language itself is utterly lost. Almost its only remains are contained in the Bible; and even these are naturally only fragmentary. Take now any single volume in the English language, not larger than the Bible; and how imperfect would it be as the representative of our tongue! The speech of common life would be almost wholly wanting; and of many peculiar words, phrases, and constructions, which go to make our language what it is, what a multitude would not be found? or, if found at all, would occur but a single time, and thus be in themselves unintelligible or anomalous. Just so with the Hebrew language as exhibited in the Bible;