66

The apocryphal pieces which have thus been considered, have been in circulation for ages, as were many others of a similar kind, which have perished, leaving only their titles behind them, as a memorial that they once existed. Many of them, indeed, soon became extinct, the interest which was felt in them not af fording the means of their preservation. But we think that it is of special importance, that some of the spurious productions which either the mistaken zeal of Christians, or the fraud of persons who were in hostility to the Gospel, sent abroad in the primitive or in later times, should have been saved from destrucProt-evantion. Such books as the "Gospel of Mary," the gelion," the "Gospel of the Infancy," the "Gospel of Nicodemus," Paul and Thecla," &c. &c. are not only available as means of establishing the superior excellence of the books of the New Tes tament, in the composition of which there is the most admirable combination of majesty with simplicity, strikingly in contrast with the puerilities and irrationalities of the others :-but they are of great service in augmenting the evidences and confirming the proof of Christianity. So far, indeed, are these books from militating in any degree against the evangelical history, that on the contrary, they most decidedly corrobate it: for they are writ ten in the names of those, whom our authentic Scriptures state to have been apostles and companions of apostles; and they all suppose the dignity of our Lord's person, and that a power of working miracles, together with a high degree of authority, was conveyed by him to his apostles. It ought also to be recollected that few, if any, of these books, were composed before the beginning of the second century. As they were not composed before

Abraham is said twice to have denied his wife, viz. Gen. xii. 19. and xx. 2, &c.; as also Isaac is said to have denied his, Gen. xxvi. 7, &c.; and in the New Testament that Peter denied his Master, and declared he did not know him, Matt. xxvi. 72.; for the circumstances are in many cases different, and especially in this, that Paul appeared now in no danger if he had confessed her; or if he had been in danger might have easily delivered himself from it; to which we must add, that he had undergone a thousand more difficult trials for the sake of God and a good conscience, and never was by fear betrayed into such a crime.1 "Such are the compositions which attempted to gain credit, as the real productions of the apostles and evangelists; and so striking is the contrast between them and the genuine writings, whose style they have so successfully endeavoured to imitate. It deserves the most serious consideration of every one, who is unhappily prejudiced against Christianity, or (what is almost as fatal) who has hitherto not thought the subject worthy his attention, whether, if the canonical books of the New Testament had been the productions of artifice or delusion, they would not have resembled those which are avowedly so, in some of their defects. Supposing it, for a moment, to be a matter of doubt, by whom the canonical books were written; or allowing them the credit, which is granted to all other writings having the same external authority, that of being written by the authors whose names they have always borne; upon either of these suppositions, the writers of the New Testament could not, either in situation or attainment, have had any advantages, humanly speaking, which the authors of the apocryphal books were not as likely to have possessed as themselves: consequently, if the first books had been founded upon the basis of fiction, it is surely most probable, that subsequent attempts would have equalled, if not improved upon, the first efforts of imposture. If, however, it appears, upon a candid and close investigation, that one set of compositions betrays no proofs of a design to impose upon others, and no marks that the authors were themselves deceived; while, on the contrary, the others evince in every page the plainest that time, they might well refer (as most of them certainly do) symptoms of mistake and fraud; is it fair, is it reasonable, to ascribe to a common origin, productions so palpably and essentially different? or, rather, is it not more just, and even philosophical, to respect truth in those performances, which bear the fair stamp of her features; and to abandon those, and those only, to contempt, which have indubitable traces of imposture ?"2

IV. From the preceding view of the evidence concerning the apocryphal productions, which have lately been reprinted, the candid reader will readily be enabled to perceive how little cause there is, lest the credibility and inspiration of the genuine books of the New Testament should be affected by them. "How much soever we may lament the prejudice, the weakness, the wickedness, or the undefinable hostility of those who enter into warfare against the interests of Christ; whatever horror we may feel at the boldness or the scurrility of some anti-christian champions; we feel no alarm at the onsets of infidelity in its attempts against the Gospel. We know that the cause of Revelation has sustained already every species of assault which cunning could contrive, or power direct. It has had its enemies among the ignorant and among the learned, among the base and among the noble. Polite irony and vulgar ribaldry have been the weapons of its assailants. It has had its Celsus, and its Porphyry, and its Julian. And what were the effects of their opposition? The same as when the rulers and elders and scribes' united against it-its purification and increase. It has had its Bolingbrokes and its Woolstons, its Humes and its Gibbons: and what disadvantages has it sustained, what injuries has it received? Has it lost any of its pretensions, or been deprived of any portion of its majesty and grace, by their hatred and their hostility? Had they a system more credible, more pure, better comporting with the wants of man, and with the anticipations of everlasting existence, to enlighten and sanctify man, and to effect the regeneration of the world, for which they were able to prevail on mankind to exchange the system of Jesus of Nazareth? We gain but little from our reading, but little from our observation, if we shake with the trepidations of fear when truth and error are combatants. All facts connected with the history of the Christian religion are confirmations of a Christian's faith, that the doctrine which he believes, will resist every attack, and be victorious through all opposition. No new weapons can be forged by its enemies; and the temper and potency of those which they have so often tried, they will try in vain. They may march to battle; but they will never raise their trophies in the

field."3

to the commonly received books of the New Testament; and, therefore, instead of invalidating the credit of those sacred books, they really bear testimony to them. All these books are not properly spurious; that is, ascribed to authors who did not com pose them: but, as they were not composed by apostles, nor at first ascribed to them, they may with great propriety be termed apocryphal: for they have in their titles the names of aposhistory of their doctrines, discourses, miracles, and travels, tles, and they make a specious pretence of delivering a true though that history is not true and authentic, and was not writ for the publication of these apocryphal or pseudopigraphal books ten by any apostle or apostolic man. Further, we may account his apostles, and the great success of their ministry. And in this as they were unquestionably owing to the fame of Christ and respect the case of the apostles of Jesus Christ is not singular: for them, of which they knew nothing, and actions imputed to many men of distinguished characters have had discourses made them which they never performed; and eminent writers have had works ascribed to them of which they were not the authors. Thus, various orations were falsely ascribed to Demosthenes and Lysias; many things were published in the names of Plautus, Virgil, and Horace, which never were composed by them. The Greek and Roman critics distinguished between the genuine and spurious works of those illustrious writers. The same laudable caution and circumspection were exercised by the first Christians, who did not immediately receive every thing that was proposed to them, but admitted nothing as canonical that did not bear the test of being the genuine production of the sacred writer with whose name it was inscribed, or by whom it professed to have been written. On this account it was that the genuineness of the Epistle to the Hebrews, of some of the Catholic Epistles, and of the Apocalypse, was for a short time doubted by some, when the other books of the New Testament were universally acknowledged. Upon the whole, the books which now are, and for a long time past have been, termed apocryphal, whether extant entire, or only in fragments,-together with the titles of such the first Christians, of their presiding ministers, and their other as are lost, are monuments of the care, skill, and judgment of learned guides and conductors. The books in question afford no valid argument against either the genuineness or the authority of the books of the New Testament, which were generally received as written by the apostles and evangelists; but, on the contrary, they confirm the general accounts given us in the Canonical Scriptures, and thus indirectly establish the truth and divine authority of the Everlasting Gospel !5

No. II.

ON THE INSPIRATION OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.

[Referred to in p. 93, of this Volume.]

I. Nature of Inspiration.—II. Observations on the Inspiration of the Old Testament.-III. And of the New Testament.— IV. Conclusions derived from these considerations.

THE necessity of the divine inspiration of the sacred Scriptures having been stated, and the proofs of that inspiration having been exhibited at considerable length in the preceding pages, it is proposed in this piace to offer to the biblical student a few additional observations on the nature and extent of such inspiration, the introduction of which would have interrupted the chain of argument in the former part of this volume.

I. Inspiration, in the highest sense, is the immediate communication of knowledge to the human mind by the Spirit of God; but, as we have already observed, it is commonly used by divines, in a less strict and proper sense, to denote such a degree of divine influence, assistance, or guidance, as enabled the authors of the Scriptures to communicate religious knowledge to others, without error or mistake, whether the subjects of such communication were things then immediately revealed to those who declared them, or things with which they were before acquainted.

which a part only is inspired; for it is not to be supposed that
God would suffer any such errors as might tend to mislead our
faith, or pervert our practice, to be mixed with those truths which
he himself has mercifully revealed to his rational creatures as the
means of their eternal salvation. In this restricted sense it may
be asserted, that the sacred writers always wrote under the in-
fluence, or guidance, or care, of the Holy Spirit, which sufficiently
establishes the truth and divine authority of all Scripture."
II. That the authors of the historical books of the OLD TESTA-
MENT were occasionally inspired is certain, since they frequently
display an acquaintance with the counsels and designs of God,
and often reveal his future dispensations in the clearest predic-
tions. But though it is evident that the sacred historians some-
times wrote under the immediate operation of the Holy Spirit, it
does not follow that they derived from revelation the knowledge of
those things which might be collected from the common sources
of human intelligence. It is sufficient to believe, that, by the
general superintendence of the Holy Spirit, they were directed in
the choice of their materials, enlightened to judge of the truth
and importance of those accounts from which they borrowed
their information, and prevented from recording any material
error. Indeed, the historical books (as we have already shown
at considerable length) were, and could not but be, written by
persons who were for the most part contemporary with the
periods to which they relate, and had a perfect knowledge of the
events recorded by them; and who, in their descriptions of
characters and events (of many of which they were witnesses)
uniformly exhibit a strict sincerity of intention, and an unex-
ampled impartiality. Some of these books, however, were com-
piled in subsequent times from the sacred annals mentioned in
Scripture as written by prophets or seers, and from those public
records, and other authentic documents, which, though written by
uninspired men, were held in high estimation, and preserved with
great care by persons specially appointed as keepers of the genealo-
gies and public archives of the Jewish nation. It is not necessary
to be able to distinguish the inspired from the uninspired parts of
the historical books of the Old Testament. It is enough for us to
know, that every writer of the Old Testament was inspired, and
that the whole of the history it contains, without any exception
or reserve, is true. These points being ascertained and allowed,
it is of very little consequence, whether the knowledge of a par-
ticular fact was obtained by any of the ordinary modes of infor-
from God; whether any particular passage was written by the
natural powers of the historian, or by the positive suggestion of
the Holy Spirit. Whatever uncertainty may exist concerning
the direct inspiration of any historical narrative, or of any moral
precept, contained in the Old Testament, we must be fully con-
vinced that all its prophetical parts proceeded from God. This is
continually affirmed by the prophets themselves, and is demon-
strated by the indubitable testimony which history bears to the
accurate fulfilment of many of these predictions; others are
gradually receiving their accomplishment in the times in which
we live, and afford the surest pledge and most positive security for
the completion of those which remain to be fulfilled.

"When it is said, that Scripture is divinely inspired, we are not to understand that the Almighty suggested every word, or dictated every expression. From the different styles in which the books are written, and from the different manner in which the same events are related and predicted by different authors, it appears that the sacred penmen were permitted to write as their several tempers, understandings, and habits of life, directed; and that the knowledge communicated to them by inspiration on the subject of their writings, was applied in the same manner as any knowledge acquired by ordinary means. Nor is it to be supposed that they were even thus inspired in every fact which they related, or in every precept which they delivered. They were left to the common use of their faculties, and did not, upon every occasion, stand in need of supernatural communication; but whenever, and as far as divine assistance was necessary, it was always afforded. In different parts of Scripture we perceive, that there were different sorts and degrees of inspiration. God enabled Moses to give an account of the creation of the world; Joshua to record with exactness the settlement of the Israelites in the land of Canaan; David to mingle prophetic information with the varied effusions of gratitude, contrition, and piety; Solomon to deliver wise instructions for the regulation of human life; Isaiah to deliver predictions concerning the future Saviour of mankind; Ezra to collect the Hebrew Scriptures into one authentic volume: but all these worketh that one and the self-same spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. (1 Cor. xii. 11.) In like manner the apostles were enabled to re-mation, or whether it was communicated by immediate revelation cord, in their own several styles and ways, the life and transactions of Jesus Christ. The measure of assistance thus afforded to the several writers of the Old and New Testament, has been termed INSPIRATION OF DIRECTION. In some cases, inspiration only produced correctness and accuracy in relating past occurrences, or in reciting the words of others; and preserved the writers generally from relating any thing derogatory to the revelation with which it was connected. This has been termed INSPIRATION OF SUPERINTENDENCY. Where, indeed, it not only communicated ideas, new and unknown before, but also imparted greater strength and vigour to the efforts of the mind than the writers could otherwise have attained, this divine assistance has been called INSPIRATION OF ELEVATION. Further, when the prophets and apostles received such communications of the Holy Spirit, as suggested and dictated minutely every part of the truths delivered, this, which is the highest degree of divine assistance, has been termed INSPIRATION OF SUGGESTION. All these kinds of inspiration are possible to the almighty power of God; since there is nothing in any of them contradictory to itself, or which appears contradictory to any of the divine perfections. But whatever distinctions are made with respect to the sorts, degrees, or modes of inspiration, we may rest assured that one property belongs to every inspired writing, namely, that it is free from error, that is, any material error. This property must be considered as extending to the whole of each of those writings, of

III. If the books of the Old Testament, which relate to the partial and temporary religion of the Jews, were written under the direction and superintendence of God himself, surely we cannot but conclude the same of the books of the NEW TESTAMENT, which contain the religion of all mankind. The apostles were constant attendants upon our Saviour during his ministry; and they were not only present at his public preaching, but after addressing himself to the multitudes in parables and similitudes, when they were alone he expounded all things to his disciples (Mark iv. 34). He also showed himself alive to the apostles, after his passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen by them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the king1 See pp. 59, 60–62. supra.

dom of God. (Acts i. 3.) Yet our Saviour foresaw that these instructions, delivered to the apostles as men, and impressed on the mind in the ordinary manner, would not qualify them for the great work of propagating his religion. It was, therefore, promised, that the Holy Ghost should not only bring all things to their remembrance, which the apostles had heard from their divine Master; but he was also to guide them into ALL TRUTH, to teach them ALL THINGS, and to abide with them for ever. (John xiv. 16, 17. 26. xvi. 13, 14.)

fore, if we admit the genuineness and authenticity of the books ascribed to them, no reasonable doubt can be entertained of their inspiration. Indeed, if we believe that God sent Christ into the world to found an universal religion, and that by the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost he empowered the apostles to propagate the Gospel, as stated in these books, we cannot but believe that he would, by his immediate interposition, enable those whom he appointed to record the Gospel, for the use of future ages, to write without the omission of any important truth, or the inserThe truth into which the Holy Spirit was to lead them, means, tion of any material error. The assurance that the Spirit should undoubtedly, all that truth which, as the apostles of Jesus Christ, abide with the apostles for ever, must necessarily imply a conthey were to declare unto the world. It does not mean natural, stant inspiration, without change or intermission, whenever mathematical, or philosophical truth, and it would be absurd to they exercised the office of a teacher of the Gospel, whether refer the language of our Lord to either of these. But it means by writing or by speaking. Though Mark and Luke were not Christian Truth,-the truth which they were to teach mankind, of the twelve apostles, nor were they miraculously called, like to make them wise and holy, and direct them in the way to Paul, to the office of an apostle, yet we have the strongest heaven through our Lord Jesus Christ. The apostles knew reason to believe that they were partakers of the extraordinary something of this truth already, but they did not know it per- effusion of the Holy Spirit granted to the disciples of Christ; fectly. They were ignorant of some things, and mistaken as to and such was the unanimous opinion of the primitive Chrisothers. But the Spirit was to guide them into all truth. No tians. Besides, a perfect harmony exists between the doctrines branch of it was to be kept from them. They were to be led in- delivered by Mark and Luke, and by the other writers of the to an acquaintance with religious truth in general; with the New Testament. Indeed, we can scarcely conceive it possible, whole of that religious truth which it was necessary for them to that God would suffer four Gospels to be transmitted, as a rule teach, or for men to know. Must they not then have been pre- of faith and practice to all succeeding generations, two of served from error in what they taught and declared? The Spirit which were written under the immediate direction of his Holy was to teach them all things :-not the things of the natural or Spirit, and the other two by the unassisted powers of the civil world, but those things of the Gospel which they were as human intellect. It seems impossible that John, who wrote his yet unacquainted with. And if the Holy Spirit taught them all Gospel more than sixty years after the death of Christ, should things respecting Christianity, which they did not already know, have been able, by the natural power of his memory, to recollect then there was nothing in what they declared of the Christian those numerous discourses of our Saviour which he has related. system, but what they had received, either from his teachings, or Indeed, all the evangelists must have stood in need of the profrom the instructions of Christ, which were of equal validity, or mised assistance of the Holy Ghost to bring to remembrance the from the evidence of their senses, which could not deceive them; things which Christ had said during his ministry. We are so that they must be preserved from error or mistake concern- to consider Luke in writing the Acts of the Apostles, and the ing it. apostles themselves in writing the Epistles, as under a similar guidance and direction. Paul, in several passages of his Episties, asserts his own inspiration in the most positive and unequivocal terms. The agreement which subsists between his Epistles and the other writings of the New Testament is also a decisive proof that they all proceeded from one and the self-same Spirit. It appears, however, that the apostles had some certain method, though utterly unknown to us, of distinguishing that knowledge which was the effect of inspiration, from the ordinary sugges tions and conclusions of their own reason.'

The Spirit was also to bring all things to their remembrance, that Christ had said unto them. Their memories were naturally like those of other men, imperfect and fallible; and amidst the numerous things, which their Lord had said and done amongst them, some would be forgotten. But the Spirit was to assist their memories in such a manner, that they should have a perfect recollection of whatsoever Christ had said to them. This assistance of the Spirit implied, not merely recalling to the view of their minds the things which Christ had spoken, but also the enabling them to understand those things rightly, without that confusion and misapprehension, which Jewish prejudices had occasioned in their ideas when they first heard them. Unless they were led into such a perfect understanding of the things they were enabled to remember, the bare recollection of them would be of little use, nor would the Spirit act according to his office of leading them into all truth, unless they were enabled, by his influences, properly to understand the truths which Christ himself had taught them.

The Holy Spirit, under whose teaching they were to be thus instructed, was to abide with them for ever, as the Spirit of truth, guiding them into all truth, teaching them all things respecting the doctrine of Christ, which they were to communicate to the world. These important promises of the effusion, assistance, direction, and perpetual guidance of the Spirit with the apostles, were most certainly fulfilled, in all their extent and meaning. They were promises given by Christ himself, the great and chief prophet of the church; and to entertain a doubt of their most complete accomplishment, would be to impeach the veracity and mission of the Son of God, and to admit a supposition that would strike at the truth of Christianity in general. From this examination, therefore, of the nature, extent, and fulfilment of our Lord's promises, concerning the gift of the Spirit to the apostles, does it not necessarily follow, that, in addition to what they previously knew of Christianity, they were led under the teachings of the Spirit into a perfect acquaintance with it; and that through his constant inhabitation and guidance, they were infallibly preserved in the truth, and kept from error in declaring it to mankind? The Spirit of truth guided them into all truth, and abode with them for ever.

It is material to remark that these promises of supernatural instruction and assistance plainly show the insufficiency of common instruction, and the necessity of inspiration in the first teachers of the Gospel; and we are positively assured that these promises were accurately fulfilled. Of the eight writers of the New Testament, Matthew, John, James, Peter, and Jude, were among these inspired preachers of the word of God; and, there

IV. From the preceding account of the inspiration of the apostles, the two following conclusions are justly drawn by a late learned and sensible writer:

1. First, that the apostles had a complete knowledge of Christianity, or of the Gospel which they published to mankind. When it is said that they had a complete knowledge of the Gospel, we mean, that they knew, and well understood, the truths which they were commissioned to preach, and the duties they were to inculcate. Having been instructed by Christ himself, having been witnesses of his works, and of his death and resurrection, and having received the Spirit to guide them into all truth, they had a competent knowledge of the various subjects, which they were to preach and publish to the world, to instruct men in the knowledge of God, the way of salvation, and the duties of holiness. They were neither insufficient nor defective preachers of the word of truth. They were at no loss to know what was true or what was false, what was agreeable to the will of God or what was not. They had a complete and consistent view of the whole system of Christian truth and duty; and there was no diversity of religious opinions amongst them. Thei knowledge of Christianity was perfect, for they were acquainted with all things which it was the will of God should be revealed unto men, to teach them the way of salvation.

"Whether, as is most probable, the apostles had this complete knowledge of the Gospel at once, on the day of Pentecost; or whether there might be some truths and duties of religion which were not revealed to them until after that time, is of no impor tance for us to determine. For it is certain, that their knowledge of Christianity was complete long before the records of it in the New Testament were written for our instruction. It is evident, also, that the apostles, in the course of their ministry, were never at a loss what doctrines they were to preach, but had at all times a perfect knowledge of the things which it was the will of God they should, at those respective times, declare. Less than this cannot be inferred from their own declaration, that they 1 Bp. Tomline's Elements of Christian Theology, vol. i. pp. 2–2. 280-289.

2. "A second and principal deduction, however, to be drawn from the account before given, and which is of most importance to the subject, is, that the apostles of Jesus Christ were under the infallible guidance of the Spirit of Truth, as to every religious sentiment which they taught mankind. Here, it may be neces-what can they contain more than this, upon any other view of it? sary to explain the sense in which this expression is used. By every religious sentiment is intended, every sentiment that constitutes a part of Christian doctrine, or Christian duty. In every doctrine they taught, in every testimony they bore to facts respecting our Lord, in every opinion which they gave concerning the import of those facts, in every precept, exhortation, and promise they addressed to men, it appears to me, that they were under the infallible guidance of the Spirit of Truth. By being under his guidance is meant, that through his influence on their minds, they were infallibly preserved from error in declaring the Gospel, so that every religious sentiment they taught is true, and agreeable to the will of God.

No. III.

ON THE ASCENSION OF JESUS CHRIST.

[Referred to in p. 114 of this Volume.]

THE Ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven, however astonish- | one saw his translation. On the contrary, Christ's ascension was ing it may appear, is a miraculous FACT, which, like every other matter of fact, is capable of proof from testimony. It is not necessary, in this place, again to prove the confidence which is due to the apostolic testimony, because we have already stated its force when treating on the resurrection of Christ. (pp. 249-258. supra.) It only remains to show that the circumstances of the fact contributed to its certainty, by removing every idea of deceit or fraud on the one hand, and of error on the other.