allowed, it is of very little consequence, whether the knowledge of a particular fact was obtained by any of the ordinary modes of infor mation, or whether it was communicated by immediate revelation 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 convinced that all its prophetical parts proceeded from God. This is continually affirmed by the prophets themselves, and is demonstrated 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.

II. If the books of the Old Testament, which relate to the partial and temporary religion of the Jews, were written under the direction and superintendance 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 kingdom 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.)

The truth into which the Holy Spirit was to lead them, means undoubtedly, all that truth which, as the apostles of Jesus Christ, they were to declare unto the world. It does not mean natural, mathematical, or philosophical truth, and it would be absurd to refer the language of our Lord to either of these. But it means Christian truth, the truth which they were to teach mankind, to make them wise and holy, and direct them in the way to heaven through our Lord Jesus Christ. The apostles knew something of this truth already, but they did not know it perfectly. They were ignorant of some things, and mistaken as to others. But the Spirit was to guide them into all truth. No branch of it was to be kept from them. They were to be led into an acquaintance with religious truth in general; with the whole of that religious truth which it was necessary for them to teach, or for men to know. Must they not then have been preserved from error in what they taught and declared? The Spirit was to teach them all things. Not the things of the natural or civil world, but those things of the Gospel which they were as yet unacquainted with. And if the Holy Spirit taught them all things respecting Christianity, which they did not already know, then there

was nothing in what they declared of the Christian system, but what they had received, either from his teachings, or from the instructions of Christ which were of equal validity, or from the evidence of their senses which could not deceive them; so that they must be preserved from error or mistake concerning it.

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 therefore, 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 empow

ered 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 insertion of any material error. The assurance that the Spirit should abide with the apostles for ever, must necessarily imply a constant inspiration, without change or intermission, whenever they exercised the office of a teacher of the gospel, whether by writing or by speaking. Though Mark and Luke were not of the twelve apostles, nor were they miraculously called, like Paul, to the office of an apostle, yet we have the strongest reason to believe that they were partakers of the extraordinary effusion of the Holy Spirit granted to the disciples of Christ; and such was the unanimous opinion of the primitive Christians. Besides, a perfect harmony exists between the doctrines delivered by Mark and Luke, and by the other writers of the New Testament. Indeed we can scarcely conceive it possible, that God would suffer four Gospels to be transmitted, as a rule of faith and practice to all succeeding generations, two of which were written under the immediate direction of his Holy Spirit, and the other two by the unassisted powers of the human intellect. It seems impossible that John, who wrote his Gospel more than sixty 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. 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 Luke in writing the Acts of the Apostles, and the apostles themselves in writing the Epistles, as under a similar guidance and direction. Paul, in several passages of his Epistles, 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 suggestions and conclusions of their own reason.1 III. 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

1 Bp. Tomline's Elements of Christian Theology, vol. i. pp. 20–29. 280–289.

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. Their 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 importance 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 spake the things of the Gospel, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth.

"As the Apostles, by means of our Lord's instructions and the teaching of his Spirit, had this complete knowledge of Christianity, it follows that the most entire credit is to be given to their writings; and that they were not mistaken in what they have written concerning it, whether we suppose them to be immediately guided by the Spirit at the time they were writing or not. For, allowing only that they were honest men who completely understood Christianity, it is evident that they must give a true and faithful account of it. Honest men would not deceive, and men who had a complete knowledge of the subjects they were treating of could not be mistaken. If any errors in doctrine or sentiment were admitted into their writings, it must be either by design, or through accident. To imagine that they could be inserted designedly, would impeach the integrity of the Apostles, and consequently their credibility in general. And to imagine that they crept in accidentally, would impeach the competency of their knowledge, and supposes that the Apostles of Jesus Christ did not understand Christianity: a supposition that can never be reconciled, with the very lowest construction which can be fairly put upon our Lord's promise, that the Spirit should guide them into all truth. Allowing them therefore to be but honest men, it follows, considering the sources of information they enjoyed, that all they have recorded concerning Christianity is truth, and that they were not mistaken, in any of the positions which they have laid down respecting it, in their writings.

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 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, so that every religious sentiment they taught is true, and agreeable to the will of God.

"As to the nature of this influence and guidance, some things may be farther remarked. It was before observed, that inspiration in the highest sense, is the immediate communication of knowledge to the human mind, by the Spirit of God. In this way the Apostle Paul was taught the whole of Christianity; and this kind of inspiration the other apostles had, as to those things which they were not acquainted with, before they received the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is what some have called, the inspiration of suggestion. But as to what they had heard, or partly known before, the influence of the Spirit enabled them properly to understand it, and preserved them from error in communicating it. This has been called the inspiration of superintendency. Under this superintendency or guidance of the Spirit, the Apostles appear to have been at all times throughout their ministry, after Christ's ascension. For less than this cannot be concluded, from our Lord's declaration, that the Spirit should abide with them for ever, and lead them into all truth.

"When they acted as writers, recording Christianity for the instruction of the Church in all succeeding times, I apprehend, that they were under the guidance of the Spirit, as to the subjects of which they treated; that they wrote under his influence and direction; that they were preserved from all error and mistake, in the religious sentiments they expressed; and that, if any thing were inserted in their writings, not contained in that complete knowledge of Christianity of which they were previously possessed, (as prophecies for instance,) this was immediately communicated to them by revelation from the Spirit. But with respect to the choice of words in which they wrote, I know not but they might be left to the free and rational exercise of their own minds, to express themselves in the manner that was natural and familiar to them, while at the same time they were preserved from error, in the ideas they conveyed. If this were the case, it would sufficiently account for the very observable diversity of style and manner among the inspired writers. The Spirit guided them to write nothing but truth concerning religion, yet they might be left to express that truth in their own language.

"It may readily and justly be concluded, that men who were under the perpetual guidance of the Spirit of Truth when they preached the Gospel, were thus under his infallible direction and influence, as to all religious sentiments, when they committed the things of the Gospel to writing, for the future instruction of the church. This is the view of the inspiration of the writers of the New Testament, which seems naturally to arise, from their own account of the way in which they received the knowledge of Christianity, and from what is declared in their writings, concerning the constant agency and guidance of the Spirit, with which they were favoured." The following advantages attend this view of the subject.

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