LECT. IV. under present circumstances at Corinth, one, whom, from the office, he designates diepμnvevrns, an interpreter, should convert, into the vernacular Greek, whatever might orderly be delivered in a foreign language, vv. 27, 28.

To conclude: the bestowment of these various Xapioμara being, as the term imports, purely gratuitous; and having for its object the promotion of the spiritual good of the kingdom of Christ; not only those who possessed them, but all who were brought within the sphere of their influence, were bound to cherish feelings of lively gratitude to the Triune God, from whom they proceeded, and to whom alone they owed their efficiency. And as, with all the diversity which characterised them, there existed a glorious and blessed unity, it became both the gifted and those for whose benefit they were conferred, to maintain "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

LECTURE V.

INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES.

1 COR. X. 15.

"I speak as to wise men: judge ye what I say.

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REVELATION appeals to the understanding as LECT. V. well as to the heart. It requires no man to believe without evidence. So far from shrinking from inquiry or inculcating prostration of intellect, it courts the fullest investigation, and submits its claims to be tried by the unbiassed exercise of the judging faculty. To the task of determining whether these claims are divine, it uniformly asssumes that faculty to be competent; and while it furnishes abundant criteria by which to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion respecting its celestial origin, it clearly indicates the cause to which, in all instances, its rejection is to be traced, and emphatically pronounces the doom of those who shall be found chargeable with such rejection. "This is the condemna"tion, that light is come into the world, and

"men loved darkness

rather than light, because

"their deeds were evil.” (John iii. 19.)

LECT. V.

Hitherto our attention has been directed to some of the leading questions connected with the exertion of supernatural influence in general, as it respects the various modes in which a knowledge of the will of God was imparted to those who were honoured to be its original recipients. We now proceed to bring under your notice the exertion of the same influence in regard to its operation upon such of these recipients as were divinely commissioned to deposit in writing the knowledge thus acquired, together with other points of knowledge, which they had opportunities of acquiring from ordinary sources, and which Infinite Wisdom deemed fit should be preserved for the instruction of future generations. Much of what was communicated by Jehovah to mankind in ancient times, being designed merely to answer temporary purposes, was confined within the breast of the inspired individuals, or within the narrower or more extensive circle with which they were placed in immediate contact. Of all that the holy and devoted Enoch was inspired to prophesy, nothing, that can be depended upon as genuine, remains, but the small fragment preserved in the Epistle of Jude;* of the prophecies of Ahijah the Shilonite, Shemaiah, Azariah, Hanani,† and others who were the subjects of Divine inspiration, only a few scanty portions

*See Note K.

1 Kings xi. 29-39; xii. 15, 22; 2 Chron. xi. 2; xii. 7; xv. 1; xvi. 7.

have come down to our times; and even the LECT. V. visions of Iddo, though committed to writing, doubtless most interesting in their character, and serving as a book of infallible appeal at the time the writer of the second book of Chronicles lived, have long ago irrecoverably perished. In like manner, how little comparatively do we possess of the inspired discourses of the apostles of Christ! From most of these heaven-taught ambassadors not so much as a single word has been transmitted to us. Like the holy men of God, who flourished before the birth of our Lord, some of whose names have just been specified, they laboured each in his own individual sphere; and their labours were blessed for the establishment, and promotion of the cause of God during their life-time, and, after their death, through the instrumentality of the disciples, who learned the truths of Christianity from their inspired lips, and conveyed it to the generation which followed.

It would seem unreasonable to maintain, that the documents, which compose the canon of the New Testament are the only writings that proceeded from the pens of those to whom they are ascribed. They had, in all probability, frequent occasions to send written messages or shorter epistles to individual Christians, some of which may have been inspired, and others not, according to the nature of their contents, or the

* 2 Chron. xi. 29; xii. 22.

exigency of the circumstances under which they were written; but these communications, having answered the momentary or more limited ends, which they were intended to accomplish, were never divulged-it not having been deemed proper that they should be preserved for any purposes of future and general edification. It even appears certain, that an epistle was sent by Paul to the church at Corinth prior to the first in our canon, but which now no longer exists. The point, indeed, is contested, and many respectable authorities may be produced in favour of the opinion, that the document to which the apostle refers, (1 Cor. v. 9,) is no other than that which he was then writing; but no construction can, in our judgment, be more violent, or further removed from that which the language naturally suggests. In fact, we cannot well conceive how such a construction ever could have obtained, but for the influence of a covert, if not openly avowed indisposition to admit, that any writing can possibly have been lost which was penned by an inspired apostle. But what real difficulty is there in this, or any other supposable case, more than in the universally admitted fact, that a portion only of the gracious and Divine words, which proceeded out of the mouth of the Saviour himself, has been preserved to us? How important soever may have been the instructions communicated in the lost Epistle to the Corinthian church in their bearing upon certain local and