if we bring down the gospel dispensation to the previous imperfect and introductory ones, instead of elevating all the preceding portions of the Bible by that which closes and illustrates the whole. And human nature so strongly tends to deterioration, to low views of truth, to self-reliance, that the stronger guard is necessary in our study of the Scriptures, to watch the divine tract, and rise with the rising light of inspiration.

3. It follows that we must not ALLOW WHAT IS TEMPORARY, LOCAL, AND

EXTRAORDI

NARY, TO HIDE THE LUSTRE OF WHAT IS PER

MANENT AND BINDING. For the Bible was not written for one age merely, or one country, or one portion of the church; but for all times, all places, all circumstances. The Bible is not merely the inheritance of Europe in the eighteenth century, but was the guide of Asia and Africa in many preceding ages; and is to be the teacher of the whole world in some future time. The Bible contains the Patriarchal and Mosaical covenants, which have passed away ; as well as the evangelical, which remains. The Bible gives the temporary events of the first establishment of the gospel, and the extraordinary powers exercised by Moses and the prophets, and by Christ and his apostles; as well

as the permanent and ordinary doctrines and promises which are to illuminate and sustain the church in all times.

There is, therefore, an obvious distinction to be made between temporary, local, and extraordinary matters, and those which are of undeviating and paramount obligation. Human nature loves ceremonies, pomp, external appearance. Human nature soon forgets the infinite grace and power of the Christian redemption, and loses herself amidst the figures and adumbrations of the law, the enactments of the Jewish polity, the directions and rules laid down for the early churches. Human nature is especially in danger of merging the sanctifying and permanent influence of the Holy Ghost, in the temporary and extraordinary power of miraculous operations. The interpreter of Scripture must modify and elevate his views by this important consideration. Much, no doubt, is local and peculiar in the Bible, which, under the Christian dispensation, is either not binding at all, or not binding to the extent that it was under the law. The prophets have much local matter. The divine mission of our Lord has much peculiar to his office. The extraordinary powers of the apostles, and the wonderful gifts of the Spirit, which ceased after the days of the first Christians, make a considerable difference in the

mode of the doctrines delivered, in the confirmation of religion, and in the evidences of grace and faith.

Yet, in the midst of all this, there is a grand, exalted, permanent doctrine, an explication of the divine will designed for all times; manifestations of God's purposes of salvation in Christ Jesus, which remain ever the same; operations of grace on the fallen heart of man, and rules of duty for his conduct, which are similar in every age. Faith, then, must keep her eye on this capital distinction, and acquire the habit of separating, without injuring or weakening, the divine instructions.

4. It is only an extension of the same remark to say, that we must DISTINGUISH BETWEEN REAL AND VITAL CHRISTIANITY, AND WHAT CONSTITUTES MERELY NOMINAL ADHE

Α

RENCE TO ITS EXTERNAL ORDINANCES.

For

here, again, nature is ever prone to fail. To have the form of godliness, and yet deny the power thereof, is the common disease of the visible church, and will drag down all our interpretations, unless the matter of Revelation, as contained in an inspired volume, and having a character peculiar to itself, elevate and sustain our minds. When once we have imbibed, by a lively faith in God's testimony, what real

1 2 Tim. iii. 5.

Christianity is, what is the scriptural standard of sin and holiness, what is meant by a contrite heart, by pardon and justification and peace in the blood of Christ, by a life of holy love and obedience and communion by the power of the Holy Spirit, by a separation in taste and pursuit from the pomps and vanities of this wicked world. When all this is understood; and when the opposite points of the utter insufficiency of mere knowledge, of a mere adherence to the name of Christian, a mere discharge of outward duties, a mere participation in sacraments, a mere historical faith and dead works are also perceived and appreciated, then we must be governed by the mighty discovery. We must not waste our time, nor fritter down our attention, upon externals and forms, and the tithing of mint and anise and cummin, whilst we insensibly lose sight of the weightier matters of the law and gospel. We must be aware of the strong propensity of nature to lower the importance and explain away the injunctions of Revelation in its peculiar characters.

We must, therefore, not apply the language addressed to the first churches, where all, or nearly all, were true converts, to churches where scarcely any are. We must not argue from the purity of Christian bodies when few and scattered, and under persecutions, and separated from the

civil authority; to Christian bodies when numerous, and combined in nations, and enjoying external peace, and sustained by Christian governments. The nature of the case must modify the application of our principles. We must keep in mind the broad distinction between spiritual life and spiritual death; between vigorous and primitive Christianity, and feeble and worldly; between the church when persecuted and discharged of mere formalists, and the church when at peace and filled with them; between what constitutes real and vital Christianity, and what is only nominal and external.

5. We must also ever bear in mind, that THE

USE AND PLACE AND RELATIVE BEARINGS OF EVERY TRUTH, ARE TO BE DERIVED FROM THE SCRIPTURES, AS WELL AS THE TRUTH This remark differs from the preced

ITSELF.

ing ones.

Those went rather to guard the interpreter who was in danger on the side of tameness and worldly-mindedness-this and one or two following ones, are more designed for those whose perils spring from the common corruption of our nature, but in an opposite direction. The peculiar inspiration of the Bible, not only excludes cold and heartless interpretation, but excessive and rash. The place and consequences and use of each truth, are to be attended to, as well as the truth itself. We are