therefore, be included in the declarations made by our Lord, in what he says in his last discourse, respecting the Comforter whom he was to send. And that these declarations did refer to the same inspiration, we are not left to conjecture; for we hear the Apostle Paul, when afterwards he addresses a Christian church, asserting that Christ spake in him, 2 Cor. xiii. 3. When about to leave his disciples, Jesus said to them, John, xiv. 26, "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." The Apostles were not to trust to their memories, to repeat what Jesus had said to them; but all that he had said was to be dictated to them by the Holy Ghost. And again, John, xiv. 13, "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come." After his resurrection, Jesus Christ said to them, John, xx. 21, “Peace be unto you; as my Father has sent me, even so send I you." His last words to them on earth were these, Acts, i. 8: ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." Such were the PROMISES given to the Apostles of what they were to receive, to fit them for that great work in which they were about to engage. We shall now hear their own DECLARATIONS in respect to the fulfilment of them.

"But

On the day of Pentecost, Acts, ii. 4, "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak

with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." On that occasion, when speaking in unknown tongues, as was the case with others of the brethren in the Churches, 1 Cor. xiv. 13, 28, they must have been inspired with every word they spoke, as is asserted in the declaration, that "the Spirit gave them utterance." When, afterwards, having been brought before the Jewish rulers, they had returned to their own company and prayed, Acts, iv. 31, "The place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness." Paul begins his Epistles by designating himself an Apostle of Jesus Christ. Thus he declares his apostolic character and commission from the Lord, by whom he was qualified for his work. We see with what authority he afterwards expresses himself: "Now unto him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began; but now is made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith." " Though we," says the same Apostle, Galatians, i. 8, " or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”— " As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."—" But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. ii. 9, 10, "But as it is

VOL. I.

66

0

written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit."— "Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth," 1 Cor. ii. 13. Here, in making a general declaration of what he taught, both the matter and the words are declared to be from God. Again he says, 1 Cor. ii. 15, "For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ." 1 Cor. ii. 7, "We speak the wisdom of God." Eph. iii. 4, "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." 2 Cor. ii. 10, “ To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also; for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ." 2 Cor. xiii. 2, 3, " If I come again I will not spare, since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me." In 1 Cor. vii. 17, where some have rashly and ignorantly asserted that the Apostle concludes with expressing a doubt whether he was inspired or not, he says, “so ordain I in all churches." Such language, which is precisely similar to that of Moses, Deut. vi. 6, would have been most presumptuous, unless he could have added, as he does a little afterwards, 1 Cor. xiv. 36, "What! came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only? If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord." At the opening of the same epistle Paul

had said, "My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power."—" We speak the wisdom of God." Could any man have used such language unless he had been conscious that he was speaking the words of God? 1 Thess. ii. 13, "For this cause also thank we God, without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but (as it is in truth) the word of God." 1 Thess. iv. 8, “ He, therefore, that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit." 1 Pet. i. 12, “Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into." 1 Pet. i. 23, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." 1 Pet. i. 25, "The word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.". In referring to the instruction which they gave to the churches, the Apostles characterise it as their "commandment," and refer to it as equivalent to the authority of the Holy Ghost, as in fact it was the same. Acts, xv. 24, 28, “ It seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us." Such is the inspiration by which all the penmen of the Scriptures wrote, and God has pronounced the most solemn prohibitions against any attempt to add to, or to take from, or to corrupt, his Word. These warnings are interspersed through every part of the sacred volume; and each of them is equally applicable to the whole of it.

In this manner, that portion of the Scriptures called the Law is guarded :-" Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it," Deut. iv. 2; xii. 32.

In the next division, sometimes called the Hagiographa, it is written, "Every word of God is pure : He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar," Prov. xxx. 16. The last part of this threatening is infinitely more terrible than the first; for transgressors may be reproved, and yet find mercy, but "all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death," Rev. xxi. 8.

In the prophetical writings, a similar warning is again repeated. They are closed with an intimation, that no more prophets were to be sent, till the forerunner of Jehovah, who was to come suddenly to his temple, should appear. Israel is then commanded to regard that revelation which had been made to Moses, concerning Jesus, which the prophets had been commissioned to illustrate, but not to alter: "Remember ye the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb, for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments,” Mal. iv. 4.

As, at the conclusion of the Old Testament, where the attention of the people of Israel is called to the first appearance of the Son of God, the Saviour, they are instructed that the prophetic testimony to him is finished; so, at the conclusion of the New Testament, where the attention of all men is directed to his second coming, as the final Judge, the canon of Scripture is closed, and a solemn and most awful warning is given, neither to add to it, nor to take from it: "I testify