III. Equally satisfactory is the evidence for the CREDIBILITY of the writers. For they had a perfect knowledge of the subjects which they have related, and their moral character was never impeached by their keenest opponents; their accounts were published among the people who witnessed the events which they have recorded, and who could easily have detected falsehood if any such there had been, but who did not attempt to question either the reality of those facts or the fidelity of the narrators; there is an entire harmony between the Sacred Writers and profane history, both natural and civil; and the reality of the principal facts related in the Bible, is perpetuated and commemorated by monuments that subsist to this day, in every country where either Jews or Christians are to be found.

IV. And that the Scriptures are not merely entitled to be received as credible, but also as containing the revealed will of God,—in other words, that they are divinely inspired, we have evidence of various kinds amounting to moral demonstration: for, on the one hand, their sacred origin is evinced by the most illustrious external attestations, viz. miracles and prophecy, which carry with them the most manifest proofs of a divine interposition; and which it cannot reasonably be supposed that God would ever give, or permit to be given, to an imposture; And, on the other hand, the Scriptures have the most excellent internal characters of truth and goodness, in the sublimity, excellence, and sanctity of the system of doctrines and morals which they announce,—in the harmony and connexion that subsist between all the parts of which they consist, in the preservation of the Sacred Scriptures, and in their admirable tendency (which is shown by its effects wherever the Scriptures are cordially and sincerely believed) to promote the glory of God and the good of mankind, and the cause of virtue and righteousness in the world, and to prepare men, by a life of faith and holy obedience upon earth, for the eternal en

joyment of God in Heaven:- together with the peculiar advantages possessed by the Christian Religion over all other religions.

On all these accounts the Holy Scriptures are thankfully to be received and embraced as the word of God, and as the rule of Christian faith and practice. "And till I can see the evidence of them disproved, or the religion of Christ demonstrated to be irrational and absurd, I am determined, by the grace of God, to hold fast my profession to the end, seeking after the kingdom of glory by the practice of that righteousness which prepares for and leads to it, in a firm dependence upon that comfortable declaration of Jesus Christ, That God so loved the world, that WHOSOEVER believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."*

Since the Holy Scriptures contain all things necessary to salvation, it becomes the indispensable duty of all carefully and constantly to peruse these sacred oracles, that through them we may become perfect, thoroughly furnished to every good work. (2 Tim. iii. 17.) This, indeed, is not only agreeable to the divine command Search the

Scriptures, (John v. 39.) and to the design of the Sacred Writings, but is further commended by the practice of the Church in every age, and by the divine promise to all true believers, that they shall all be taught of God. (Isa. liv. 13.) The circumstances of every individual must regulate the portion of time that ought daily to be devoted to this important study; which should be undertaken with devout simplicity and humility, and prosecuted with diligence and attention, with a willingness to resort to all necessary helps for advancement in the truth, and for security against error. To these qualifications, especially, should be added prayer for divine aid and teaching, together with a sincere desire to know and perform the will of God, and, laying aside all prejudice, to follow the

* Bishop Watson's Tracts, vol. iii. p. 484.

Scriptures wherever conviction may lead our minds: for it is indubitable that persons of piety, who are anxiously desirous of the knowledge of divine truth, are aided by the Spirit of God, in searching out the meaning of Scripture, particularly in such subjects as have a special reference to faith and religious practice.

85

PART II.

ON THE LITERARY HISTORY, CRITICISM, AND INTERPRETATION OF THE SCRIPTURES.

ON THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGES IN WHICH THE OLD AND NEW
TESTAMENTS ARE WRITTEN.

SECTION I. On the Hebrew Language.

1. ORIGIN of the Hebrew Language. In this language the Old Testament is written, with the exception of a few words and passages in the Chaldæan dialect, which occur in Jer. x. 11. Dan. ii. 4. to the end of vii. and Ezra iv. 8. to vi. 19. and vii. 12-17. It derived its name from the rooty (aber) to pass over : whence Abraham was denominated the Hebrew, (Gen. xiv. 13.) having passed. over the Euphrates, to come into the land of Canaan. The shortness of its words, the descriptive character of the names of places, of animals and of nations, as well as of the names given to heathen deities, (as Jove, which is deduced from Jehovah, Vulcan from Tubal-cain, &c.) together with the traces of Hebrew which are to be found in the Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, Persian, and other languages; all combine to prove that Hebrew is the original of all the languages or dialects which have been spoken in the world. The knowledge of this language

was very widely diffused by means of the commercial connexions of the Phoenician merchants.

II. HISTORICAL SKETCH of the Hebrew Language. The Hebrew Language has had its several ages or degrees of purity. Its golden age was the period from the time of Moses to that of David; its silver age was the interval between the reigns of Solomon and Hezekiah, or Manasseh; the iron age, between that period and the 70 years' captivity in Babylon: after which the Jews for a short time spoke a mixed dialect of Chaldee and Hebrew, and ultimately lost it. The priests and Levites, however, continued to cultivate it to the time of Christ, as a learned language, that they might be enabled to expound the law and the prophets to the people: which last period has been termed the leaden age.

III. ANTIQUITY of the Hebrew characters.-The twentytwo characters now in use are of a square form, and are generally ascribed to Ezra, who transcribed the antient characters of the Hebrews into the square characters of the Chaldæans, since which time the Samaritan or antient Hebrew character has fallen into disuse. The vowel points have been proved to be of modern date and of human invention.

I. The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament was executed in the Greek language; and as every Jew, who read Greek at all, would read the Greek Bible, the style of this operated in forming the style of the Greek Testament, of which, as well as of the Old Testament, the Septuagint is an important source of interpretation.

II. The New Testament was written in Greek, because it was the language best understood both by writers and readers, being spoken and written, read and understood, throughout the Roman Empire. Its style is character