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Again, (8) "Concerning virgins, I have no command"mand of the Lord; yet I give my judgment." And once more, at the conclusion of the same chapter, "She is happier if she so abide, after my judgment; " and I think also that (in this particular) I have the Spirit of God." Is it not absurd to imagine that an apostle, who guards his readers four if not five times in one chapter against making his private judgment of equal authority with commandments dictated to him by God, would on all other occasions assume the authority of a divine and inspired teacher, without a full and perfect consciousness that he had a just claim to it? (t)

These observations will, I trust, convince you that the historical and doctrinal parts of the New Testament, and the prophetical portions of both the Old and New Testaments, contain, in the complete sense of the phrase, "the word of God." It remains that I state to you two or three cogent reasons for admitting that the whole of the received Jewish Scriptures is entitled to the same character, and of course to the same submission of intellect and of heart. In order to this I shall first lay before you the language of Dr. Doddridge in his valuable Dissertation on the Inspiration of the Scriptures: "The inspiration, and consequently the genuineness and credibility, of the Old Testament, may be certainly inferred from that of the New, be

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(s) 1 Cor. vii. 6, 10, 12, 25, 40.

(t) See also 2 Cor. viii. 8. Admitting, with Wolfius and others, that Sora, in 1 Cor. vii. 40, imports not an uncertain opinion, but conviction and knowledge, as in John, v. 39, still the argument as to the distinction made by the Apostle between the authority of his private sentiments and his inspired doctrines remains unimpaired.

66 cause our Lord and his apostles were so far from

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charging the Scribes and Pharisees (who on all

proper occasions are censured so freely) with having "introduced into the sacred volume any merely human "compositions; that, on the contrary, they not only "recommend a diligent and constant perusal of these Scriptures, as of the greatest importance to men's "eternal happiness, but speak of them as divine oracles, " and as written by the extraordinary influence of the "Holy Spirit upon the minds of the authors.

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"I desire that the following list of Scriptures may "be attentively consulted and reflected on in this ❝ view. I might have added a great many more, "indeed several hundreds, in which the sacred writers "of the New Testament argue from those of the Old “in such a manner, as nothing could have justified "but a firm persuasion that they were divinely in"spired. Now as the Jews always allowed that the "testimony of an approved prophet was sufficient to confirm the mission of one who was supported by it, 66 so I think every reasonable man will readily conclude, that no inspired person can erroneously attest "another to be inspired; and indeed the very defini❝tion of plenary inspiration absolutely excludes any "room for cavilling on so plain a head. I throw the

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particular passages which I choose to mention into "the margin below; (v) and he must be a very indo

(v) John, v. 39. Matt. iv. 4, 7, 10. Mark, xii. 24. Luke, x. 26, 27. Matt. v. 17, 18. xxi. 42. xxii. 29, 31, 43. xxiv. 15. xxvi. 54, 56. Luke, i. 67, 69, 70. xvi. 31. xxiv. 25, 27. John, vi. 31. x. 35. Acts, ii. 16, 25. iii. 22, 24. iv. 25. xvii. 11. xviii. 24, 28. xxviii. 25.

"lent inquirer into a question of so much importance, "who does not think it worth his while to turn care

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fully to them; unless he have already such a convic"tion of the argument that it should need no farther "to be illustrated or confirmed."

But, before you totally dismiss the subject, meditate upon a few important particulars, in which those portions of the Old Testament which are not altogether or principally prophetic, differ from all compositions that are merely human.

Thus 1st. They do not accommodate themselves to the tastes, inclinations, and prejudices of mankind. For, instead of fostering the voluptuousness of men, they extirpate it; at least, that is their tendency; as well as to eradicate injustice, self-love, and all unholy passions. Instead of gratifying our pride, they tend to overthrow it, by presenting a most vivid picture of our weakness, misery, and corruption. Instead of feeding the vain curiosity of those who would fain know the nature of things, that they may have the fame which accrues from the knowledge, or become wise, that they may be thought wise; the Hebrew Scriptures teach us that this knowledge is but vanity and vexation of spirit. Instead of exhibiting to us the niceties, and dwelling upon the distinctions of polished life, they present an amiable simplicity of manners, and teach us that "though a man have riches, and

Rom. iii. 2, 10. ix. 17, 25, 27, 29. x. 5, 11, 16.
Cor. x. 11. 2 Cor. iv. 13. vi. 16, 17. Gal. iii. 8.
Tim. iii. 15, 16. Heb. i. 1, 5-13. iii. 7. Jam. ii. 8.
10-12. 2. Pet. i. 19-21.

xv. 4. xvi. 26. 1 1. Tim. v. 18. 2 iv. 5, 6. 1 Pet. i.

"wealth, and honour, so that he can glut his soul with "what he desireth," yet if his wishes centre and terminate in these, "he cometh in with vanity and de

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parteth in darkness, and his name shall be covered "with darkness." Instead of exhorting us to love virtue merely for its own sake, or for some other motive taken from the glory which will redound from the practice of it; the Hebrew teachers soar much higher, and exhort us to love virtue from love to God, and to rejoice not more at the remembrance of his mercy than "at the remembrance of his holiness." Does not this argue an emanation from the "fountain of lights?"

2. They do not write to gratify their own prejudices. Thus Moses believed that God had set apart the Israelites as his chosen people, depositing his oracles in their hands, and honouring them with his covenant. What other nation, says he, has God so dealt with? Yet Moses speaks of Melchisedech, king of Salem, whom he calls a priest of the most high God, although he lived among other nations, and was not of the family of Abraham. Thus, also, what he relates of Abimelech, that he had feared God; and of Balaam, that he had received the gift of prophecy, though he had daily conversed with idolatrous nations, was equally repugnant to his prejudices. So again, Moses was a firm believer, and an unequivocal assertor of the unity of God. How is this reconcileable with Gen. iii. 22. xviii. 17— 20. Gen. xiv. xvii. xviii. xxviii. xxxi. xlv. xlix? with Exod. iii. 1, 2, 14. v. 3. vi. 2, 3, &c.? Jehovah is confounded with an angel; a man is called Jehovah ; creatures are invested with the attributes of the Creator

of the universe; and this, in the writings of Moses, a man of great natural talents, enriched with all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and whose great design was to excite the Israelites to glorify God, nor "ever give ❝his glory to another." Much that was said by Joshua and others is equally repugnant to all their opinions and prejudices: would they, could they, have thus run counter to themselves, but in consequence of an irresistible superior influence?

Then, 3dly. Not to dwell upon the repugnancies between the belief of the Jewish prophets, as to the Israelites being God's peculiar people, and their reiterated predictions of the kingdom of the Messiah, and the universal diffusion of divine truth and knowledge; let the attention be simply directed to a few predictions comprised in the Pentateuch. How, but in virtue of inspiration, properly so called, could it be announced in the time of Moses, nay, by Moses (for to ascribe his books to any other author is the refinement of absurdity), that God would raise a strange nation against the Jews, that they should be dispersed among other people, who should seduce them to idolatry during their captivity, that their cities should be razed to the ground, that in the extremity of famine some of them should feed upon their own children: but that they should be converted to God, and that God would then bring back the captives of Israel, and gather them from among other people? All these particulars, with others which I do not now enumerate, are announced, as you will recollect, in one book, that of Deuteronomy. I should quite despair of bringing any arguments to

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