Saviour's life, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written (s). We are therefore to conclude that the Evangelists were supernaturally enabled to make a proper selection from this great mass of materials, and that they were directed to record such things as were best calculated to convey a just idea of the Reli gion of Christ. It seems impossible that St. John, who wrote his Gospel, as will hereafter appear, more than thirty years after the death of Christ, should have been able, by the natural power of his memory, to recollect those numerous discourses of our Saviour which he has related: And indeed all the Evangelists must have stood in need of the promised assistance of the Holy Ghost to bring to remembrance the things which Christ had said during his Ministry. We are to consider St. Luke in writing the Acts of the Apostles, and the Apostles themselves in writing the Epistles, as under a similar guidance and direction. St. Paul, the only writer of the New Testament who remains to be considered, in several passages of (s) John, c. 21. V.25. of his Epistles, asserts his own Inspiration in the most positive and unequivocal terms. In his Epistle to the Galatians, he says, "I certify you, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached of me, is not after man; for I neither received of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ (t)." In his first Epistle to the Corinthians, after giving them advice concerning some points upon which they had consulted him, he adds, "I speak this by permission, and not by commandment (u);" and soon after, "to the rest. speak I, not the Lord." By thus declaring, that upon these particular subjects he only delivered his own private opinion, (though always under the superintending influence of the Holy Spirit (w),) he plainly implies, that upon other occasions he wrote under the immediate direction and especial authority of God himself; and indeed in this very chapter he says, "Unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord." Hence also it follows, that the Apostles had some certain method, although utterly unknown to us, of distinguishing that knowledge, which was the effect of Inspiration, from the ordinary suggestions and conclusions of their (t) c. I. v. 11 & 12. own "He own reason. In the same Epistle, he says, in speaking of the doctrines of the Gospel, "God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which men's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth (r)." In his first Epistle to the Thessalonians, he says, that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto his Holy Spirit (y)." Although St. Paul contends, that he was "not a whit behind the chiefest of the Apostles," yet he no where lays claim to any superior endowment or qualification, and therefore in asserting his own Inspiration, he asserts that of all the other Apostles.-Indeed, in the two last passages which have been quoted, he speaks in the plural number, and seems designedly to include the other Apostles; and in the following passage of his Epistle to the Ephesians, he expressly asserts the Inspiration both of himself and of the other teachers of the Gospel; "Ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you-ward. How that by revelation he made known unto me the .(x) c. 2. v. Io, 12, and 13. (y) c. 4. v. 8. the mystery (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby when ye read ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit (z)." The agreement which subsists between the Epistles of St. Paul, and the other writings of the New Testament, is also a decisive proof that they all proceeded from one and the self same Spirit. The argument for the Inspiration of Scripture, derived from the nature of prophecy, has been already mentioned; and as the books of the New Testament contain a great variety of predictions, many of which have been literally fulfilled, and others are now receiving their completion, this is of itself a sufficient proof that these books were written under the immediate direction of the Spirit of God. The general observations made upon the nature of Inspiration, in treating of the canon of the Old Testament, are to be considered as applicable to the books of the New. Since I wrote those observations, I have met with a short tract by Mr. William Parry, entitled, "An Enquiry into the Nature and Extent of the Inspiration spiration of the Apostles, and other Writers of the New Testament," which I desire to recommend to my young readers, as containing plain and excellent remarks upon the subject of Inspiration. I shall conclude this chapter with the following extract from that work, although it will occasion a repetition of some things which have been already mentioned. "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 necessary 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, 5 |