abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you; but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." &c.

The doctrine embodied in this article is, that the testimony of the church renders the inspiration of Scripture probable; the internal excellences of Scripture demonstrate that inspiration; still, we believe Scripture to be the word of God, because we hear the Spirit of God in our hearts telling us it is his word. A more monstrous accumulation of absurdities, of sophisms, of fanaticism, it would be difficult to condense within the same number of lines. The assertion, to be true, should run: The internal excellences of Scripture render its inspiration somewhat probable; the testimony of the church renders it certain; the Holy Ghost by his divine grace makes us assent, in a supernatural manner, and in a way conducive to salvation, to the inspiration of Scripture and the doctrine it contains. Stated in this way, the assertion would be correct. But the Westminster divines, after having disclaimed all human testimony in Art. IV., now tell us that the testimony of the church moves us to a high and reverend esteem of Scripture. Then they should at least have "a high and reverend esteem" for the books of Tobias, Judith, &c., which had, at the time of the rise of Protestantism, the testimony of the whole church both in the East and in the West. But does not the passage you quote to inculcate this high and reverend esteem for the Holy Scripture say more than you make it say? You conceive a high and reverend esteem for Scripture from "the church, which is the pillar and ground of the truth."-1 Tim. iii. 15. But if the church be the pillar and ground of the truth, and if the church tell you that these books or those are the word of God, you must not only esteem them, but believe them to be the word of God; otherwise, the church would cease to be "the pillar and ground of the truth," by telling you to receive as inspired by the Holy Ghost writings which have only a human authority. The church evidently would then be the herald and the basis of error. Presbyterians therefore adduce here a text which, fairly considered, overthrows the whole fabric of their belief in Scripture. The church is the pillar and ground of the truth: they admit this. Then, as a matter of course, they must admit what the church teaches, and admit it not only as probable, but as the very truth of which the church is the pillar and ground. By adducing this text, then, they

cut their own throat; this text, if it prove any thing, proves not only that Scripture must be esteemed, but also believed, on the testimony of the church. It proves that not only Genesis and the Gospels are Scripture, but also Tobias, Judith, &c. Calvin, who seems to have been a little keener than the Westminster divines, found himself not a little troubled to explain this text of St. Paul, that the church is the pillar and ground of the truth; and was compelled to assert that the church is the pillar and ground of the truth, not because she teaches the truth, but because she keeps the Scriptures, which are the word of God. But on this principle every man who has a Bible in his pocket is a pillar and ground of the truth, and booksellers will become not only the pillar and the ground of the truth, but its citadels, and fortresses, and spiritual Rocks of Gibraltar, because they keep in their shops hundreds and thousands of copies of the word of God, with romances and obscene books. To state such an absurdity is to confute it.

But let us pass to the consideration of the arguments by which Presbyterians contend that Scripture abundantly evidences itself to the word of God. The first is, "the heavenliness of the matter." But is every book that treats of heaven an inspired book? and what will become of the inspiration of some books, if tried by this Presbyterian touchstone? The Songs of Songs, can you determine that to be inspired from the heavenliness of the matter? If you admitted tradition and the testimony of the church, you might, perhaps, find that its subject is heavenly; but with Scripture alone, you cannot; for not even the name of God is mentioned in the whole book. The book of Ruth, from the heavenliness of its matter, will hardly produce a conviction that it is inspired, and so of some other historical books of the Old Testament. This test, applied to the Epistle of Paul to Philemon, or to the Second and Third Epistles of St. John, might give very unsatisfactory results. Hence, this test of the inspiration of a book may be a conjecture, but it will never amount to a demonstration. But if inspired books are to be tested by this mark, we say that Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, and Maccabees are far more heavenly in the matters they treat of, than most of the other books of the Old Testament. In these books we find the clearest allusions to heaven and eternal life, and the brightest examples of heavenly virtue. Is there any thing more heavenly than the conduct of Tobias?-any

thing more heavenly than this maxim, "We are the children of saints, and look for that life which God will give to those that never change their faith from him"?Tob. iii. 18. Is there any thing more beautiful and heavenly in the whole Testament than the martyrdom of the seven brethren and their heroic mother? 2 Macc. vii. We say it, then, confidently, if the heavenliness of the matter be a test of inspiration, those books which Protestants stigmatize as "apocrypha" must have the first place in the canon of Scripture. So is it with error; when its advocates try to cover one side opened to attack, they are forced to uncover another which they have equal interests in protecting; the present and the other tests of inspiration assigned by Protestants apply as well, and perhaps better, to those which they brand as spurious, than to those which they choose to retain.

The second test of inspiration is "efficacy of doctrine." The Bible is inspired because its doctrine is efficacious. So do our modern doctors think. But we should rather contend that the Bible is efficacious because it is divine. Will an unprejudiced man say a book is inspired because it persuades to the adoption of the doctrine it teaches? If so, immoral books would be the most certainly inspired of all; for their doctrine is terribly efficacious. The Koran also would be inspired; for it has been tolerably efficacious; and the Book of Mormon threatens to be the same. This mark of inspiration will not answer, even admitting a book to contain the best doctrine in the world. A man may write eloquent pages on the practice of virtue, and persuade others to adopt it, and we have still no voucher for his inspiration. Otherwise, all good and pious ministers of God would be inspired; which is somewhat more than anybody is prepared to admit.

"The majesty of the style" is the next evident mark of inspiration adduced by the Westminster divines,-a queer test, we must confess. This test we take to be applicable to the original languages in which the Scripture was written; for otherwise the majesty of the style would prove the inspiration of the translator rather than that of the author; and we know of very clumsy translations of the Bible. The appreciation of this test would, then, require the full knowledge of the Hebrew and Greek languages; for a smatterer in those languages would scarcely venture to decide upon the merits of the style. How many are competent to the

task may be a delicate question; but we hardly think it would be excessive rashness on our part to doubt if the Westminster divines themselves were altogether competent judges. It is not among people involved in political turmoils, it is not in our parliaments, our houses of representatives or senate-chambers, that we find such eminent Greek and Hebrew scholars. Moreover, a portion of the Presbyterians themselves-the Cumberland Presbyterians-will reject this test, since they separated themselves from the main body chiefly because they would not subject their ministers to the necessity of learning Greek and Hebrew. We may also remark that St. Paul did not insist very strenuously on this proof of his inspiration; for in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, xi. 6, he says, "Though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge." And when we reflect that many books, having no claim to inspiration, have a fine and majestic style, and that the appreciation of style presents so many difficulties, and varies so with different individuals, we can set very little, if any, value upon this test of inspiration.

Another evident mark of inspiration, according to the Westminster divines, is "the consent of all the parts." Taking this test of inspiration, we venture to say, that, assuredly, the Confession of Faith is not a work inspired,that is, from above; for, whatever else it may claim, it can claim nothing like a "consent of all the parts." We have gone over only the first five articles, and it would puzzle the reader to count the many contradictions we have found in it. If the Bible be inspired from God, surely there can be no contradictions in it. But the fact, that there are no contradictions in a book, does not prove that it is inspired; it proves, at most, only that the author speaks the truth, and is a man of sound judgment. Who ever thought of ascribing inspiration to our mathematical treatises, because there is in them a consent of all the parts? But it cannot be denied that there are in the Bible many apparent contradictions, which it often requires no small amount of learning and research to remove or reconcile; and it is this fact that supplies infidels with their arguments against our holy religion. That all these apparent contradictions are cleared up, and very satisfactorily too, we cheerfully and loudly acknowledge; but we say, that, if we did not know from other independent and infallible sources of information that the Bible is inspired, this character of the consent

of all the parts could never lead to a firm assent to its inspiration.

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The other means of arriving at the inspiration of Scripture, such as the scope of the whole (which is to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man's salvation, the many other incomparable excellences, and the entire perfection thereof," are all as little conclusive as those we have just considered. When we once know, by some positive, undeniable fact, that the Scripture is the word of God, we may find all these excellences, but not before; and to found the inspiration of Scripture upon such tottering motives is to deliver it up to the contempt of unbelievers. We say, then, that the external motives of credibility in the inspiration of Scripture assigned by Presbyterians are altogether illusory, and that the point can be settled only by recourse to the testimony and declaration of the church, whose doctrine has always received, and continues to receive, the stamp and approbation of Heaven.

But it is chiefly upon the internal motives of credibility that Presbyterians rely. They believe in Scripture because the Holy Spirit bears witness in their hearts. A man, when driven to this last resource of fanatics, visionaries, and impostors, the resource of Mahometans and Mormons, should at once own himself vanquished. This pretense is exceedingly convenient, for it supplies the place of argument and logic. I remain a Presbyterian, because God tells me in my heart that I am in the true religion. We do not think it worth while to undertake seriously to confute this assertion. All reasonable persons have an irresistible inclination to laugh at this peremptory mode of settling a controversy. Pity, disgust, or merriment, if the subject were not so grave, would be the only answers suitable to be given. We know of a deluded lady, who, fearing she had sinned the day of grace away," staid on her knees some hours, and at last obtained full forgiveness, because she felt her heart as "big as a hat." When the Lord speaks in an extraordinary manner, he gives external miraculous signs of his presence, as one may read in so many different passages of Scripture, especially in the call of Moses, Gideon, and Samson. The ordinary operation of divine grace in the hearts of the just, though supernatural, can never be a foundation for any assertion or discovery; and this divine. grace is never given as the ground for believing or main-

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