It is foolish, then, to speak of the Bible as in any way forbidding the use of systematic arrangement in the communication of religious knowledge. So far you see from forbidding this, it has assigned a task to a permanent order of uninspired men, which they cannot possibly execute without the aid of this instrument; thus placing them in circumstances, in which they are not only permitted to bring into operation all the resources of their uninspired reason, but absolutely constrained to do so, in order to a pro

per fulfilment of their ministry. This is the fact, and the practical result corresponds with it; for it is undeniable, not only that there are many passages of the Bible, which can, by skilful human effort, be brought nearer to the capacities of men, than they are as they lie there; but also, that, by the same means, the whole scheme of its doctrines can be so combined and exhibited to the considerate private Christian, as to give him a clearer insight into the connections of its parts, and a fuller view of its moral grandeur, than he ever could have reached by the unaided study of his Bible. In saying these things, and denying, as they show we do, that the Bible is to be taken throughout as a specimen of the best method of communicating knowledge immediately to ignorant men, we do not disparage that sacred record in any way whatever, but rescue it from the injury which a pious indiscretion has too often done to it, and to the objects which it embraces, by ascribing to it that which it clearly disowns. It is true, that the Bible, without a living instructor, is still an inestimable treasure, and may be the means of salvation to those who faithfully peruse it; but it is also true, that by itself

it is only a part, and not the whole, of heaven's gracious provision for our depraved and darkened world. The best way to judge of any production is, by comparing it with the place it was intended to fill, or with the end it was intended to serve; and not with any fancy of our own, which its Author never contemplated. The Bible is a divine revelation, and it appears in the form which best suits it as a divine revelation; but it is a revelation which was intended not to do its work alone, but to be brought into practical effect by a consecrated human agency, acting intermediately between it and the souls of men; and every thing we can mention about it which tends to give scope for this agency, or to show our need of its operations, so far from depreciating the Bible, does in fact exalt it in the adoring esteem of every enlightened inquirer.

Besides, we are far from being entitled to say, whether that form or internal structure which best becomes the Bible as a supernatural revelation, could have been made at the same time compatible with the best mode of instilling its contents into the minds of sinful men. We know that the structure actually given to it is not throughout of this description, and therefore a distinct provision has been superadded; but, for any thing we know, it could not have been otherwise, in consistency with the perfection of divine wisdom. The two kinds of excellence-that which befits a revelation, and that which best disseminates its doctrines may be so distinct, or even different in their nature, as compared with the condition of man, that they could not have co-existed in the same inspired record, without diminishing the effect in

tended by the one and by the other, on hearts and consciences depraved by sin. All this, we say, may be, and more might be said, could we prosecute the theme. But, if it be barely possible, we should beware of ascribing to the Bible a lower excellence which it does not claim, and which is not necessarily supernatural, even at the possible expense of interfering with a higher excellence which it does claim, and on which its evidence as a divine revelation to a

great extent depends. We know we are here pleading for a latitude of departure from the manner of the word of God, which may give offence to some whom we have no wish to see offended. But these persons ought to remember, that the manner of the Bible, so far as it is superhuman and affects the contexture of its revelations, is God's manner, and not ours; but, being God's, it is necessarily inimitable, and not intended to be copied by us; for it is human agency, and nothing more than human agency, religiously actuated, but proceeding after the manner of man, which God requires in him who teaches his revealed will to human beings. Any thing higher than this, would be above the sphere which he has prescribed to this office; and any thing lower, would be beneath that sphere.

These opinions, however, are usually most obnoxious to those persons who are too indolent to exercise their reason, and too obstinate to admit conviction, but wish to be hid from merited censure, under a mask of veneration for the example of the word of God: or to the yet more exceptionable class of teachers, whose pampered official vanity, or whimsical eccentricity, has led them presumptuously to

claim for themselves a kind of demi-inspiration, which entitles them, as they suppose, to construct theories, and enunciate opinions, which they dare not attempt to reconcile with the Bible, and which are utterly irreducible to systematic coherence. The displeasure of these persons we hold very cheap; and the desire of defeating their mischievous influence, we frankly confess to be one of our reasons for wishing to see the love of system revived and propagated. In the hands of the first class, the office of Christian teaching has sunk into an imbecility which conceals the wisdom, and obstructs the merciful designs, of Him who ordained it; and in the hands of the second, it would soon produce a medley of theological opinion, fortuitous and formless as original chaos, but for the happy circumstance that it is too palpably absurd, and too glaringly ridiculous, ever to come into general currency. They may have their day, and their locality, and their number of votaries -and who has not, that chooses to practise on human simplicity?—but they never can make head against the rigid consistency of revealed truth, and the disciplined soberness of sanctified reason.

II. It tends to reduce Christian sentiment to the form and power of settled principle. Christianity is obviously a religion of practice; and the more its spirit comes out into practice, as a spirit of holiness and love, the nearer it reaches to that perfection to which it is destined in the church below. But few, we believe, will dispute the maxim, that, in order to give permanence to any system of practice, whether holy or unholy, we must lay its foundations deep in principle. So long as exertion, whether single or

associated, is the result of mere feeling, however highly excited, or is left to be fostered by casual stimulants applied to the affections rather than the judgment, it is weak and fitful, and easily suppressed. But if you trace it up to ascertained principle, and thus bring it into alliance with our fundamental elements of thought, you do as much as can be done to give it identity with our powers of action; you set it on the surest footing, and place it in the fairest attitude for uniform perseverance. For it is principle, and not passion; it is the power of inward rooted conviction, and not the glare of plausible appearance, which can so overcome the torpor of our nature, as to render it regularly workable in any assignable line of activity. We cannot propose at present to account for this maxim by any illustration of that tenacity of principle, which is so manifestly a part of the human constitution, and so uniformly shows itself in human practice, according to the varieties of our moral condition, as depraved, or as renovated by the grace of God; although this we take to be the undoubted origin of the power which principle puts forth to excite or consolidate moral achievement. There is in the mind of man a veneration for principle, a strong disposition to do it homage, which sin itself has not eradicated, although it has greatly debased it; and to this disposition our appeal must be made, in all cases where we wish to keep him steady as the ally of our measures.

True indeed, there are seasons amidst the fluctuations of human affairs, when passion may be rendered available, and when the heavy artillery of principle may move too slowly to be of any use. If the leader