Moses, it would have been possible to prevent differences and schisms among His followers, for any difficulty might have been solved by an appeal to the bare letter of the commandment; but such a system would not have been the school of education that Christianity is: the very disputes about the teaching of the Bible lead to a vigorous exercise of the moral and rational faculties, and conduct man to a higher spiritual manhood than a leaden system of outward uniformity could do. A torpid uniformity in the Christian Church would have meant spiritual death; it is that which the Ultramontane party in the Church of Rome aims at it would quench the light of individual conscience, and condense all religion into a slavish submission to the Papal decrees, and we see what its effects have been in all countries that have submitted to its sway. The stifled intellect and conscience of man, after a long slumber, have burst their bonds, and, hating the very name of religion, have too often plunged into gross materialism. The constant ferment of religious opinion which the Bible is fitted to produce, and always

will produce in any country where thought is free,

is so far from being an objection against the Christian religion, that it is a proof of its divine origin. The Author of the human mind well knew that its faculties needed constant exercise to keep them bright, and that the doctrines of religion would take deepest root when they had to be received after diligent search, and defended with zeal; therefore He has seen it best to spread His truth in a large and free manner over the face of the Bible as He has spread plants and flowers over the face of nature, and there will be room in all time for theologians to classify and systematise the truths of the Bible, as there is room for botanists to group and arrange the herbs of the field; and we may add, to complete the parallel, that there will always be room for minor differences between the systems of different thinkers, while in their great outlines they will exhibit a substantial unity.

But it may be objected by some, that these arguments prove too much: if the Bible be indeed so inexact in its statements, and capable of being honestly interpreted in so many different ways, is there not danger that the inquirer may miss "the way of salvation ?" does it not throw a cloud of

doubt about all theology, and indeed disparage the Sacred Volume, for if God has not spoken clearly, then Christianity loses half its sanctions? There

is no doubt that fears like these have led good men to claim for the Bible an exactness of definition it does not possess, and it has led the various schools of theology to fight for their special renderings with a vehemence that was only justified by the plea that they possessed the whole of the truth and that their opponents taught dangerous error. But we must guard ourselves from being misunderstood. We do not allege that the Bible speaks inexactly on the great truths that it is indispensable man should know its voice is singularly clear and uniform on the essentials of religion. Man is ever represented as a sinner, and God as holy and just and good; the New Testament speaks habitually of Christ as the alone Mediator between God and man, and it holds no parley with the rejecter of Christ; it makes Him the Alpha and Omega of its teaching; it is as far apart from mere Deism as it is possible to suppose; there is not a line in the New Testament that casts doubt on the death of Christ, His resurrection and

:

ascension, on the life to come, the future judgment and the retribution awarded to all men; these great truths, and many others dependent upon them, among which we would specially mention the great doctrine of the Atonement, are written with the clearness of a sunbeam, and he that runnetli may read. There is no difficulty whatever in the honest seeker after truth finding what the Scriptures teach on the essentials of salvation. That difficulties sometimes have been found, has arisen very much from the unreasonable claims of sects who have incorporated their points of difference, often very secondary ones, with the essentials of Christianity, and demanded the reception of all alike on the peril of outlawry. But the fault is with man, not with God; He has made His will sufficiently clear to those who will study it aright, and He has promised the Holy Spirit to those who seek His blessed influence.

And this leads us to remark that something more is needed than diligence and study to understand the Scriptures. No catechisms, formularies, or creeds can lodge a system of Divine truth in the soul of man; nay, it may be for this very reason

that God has caused the Bible to be written in

so unsystematic a manner; it may be to drive man to rely on the teaching of that Spirit of Truth which Christ promised to all believers, and of whom it is testified that "He will guide you into all truth." Hardly any doctrine is set forth more copiously than this, that man needs the teaching of the Spirit of God to enable him to understand the truth of God, and it is mere bibliolatry that would divorce the Bible from its living expositor. This fact takes away much of the difficulty that has been made of the inexactness of Scriptural language. Had the New Testament been framed like the ceremonial law, there would have been little use for the guidance of the Spirit ; but written as it is, with many difficulties to the human mind, with many deep things hard to be understood, and with many simple things stated in a way that at first sight puzzles the understanding, there is abundant need for the teaching of that Spirit of whom it is said, "the deep things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God." The beautiful consequence of this law is that humility is a primary requisite to the full understanding of Scripture. The proud