Gospel, so that every religious sentiment they taught is true, and agreeable to the will of God." "As to the nature of this influence and guidance, some things may be farther remarked.It was before observed, that Inspiration, in the highest sense, is the immediate communication of knowledge to the human mind by the Spirit of God. In this way the apostle Paul was taught the whole of Christianity; and this kind of Inspiration the other Apostles had, as to those things which they were not acquainted with, before they received the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is what some have called the Inspiration of suggestion. But as to what they had heard, or partly known before, the influence of the Spirit enabled them properly to understand it, and preserved them from error in communicating it. This has been called the Inspiration of superintendency. Under this superintendency or guidance of the Spirit, the Apostles appear to have been at all times, throughout their ministry, after Christs's Ascension; for less than this cannot be concluded from our Lord's declaration, that the Spirit should abide with them for ever, and lead them into all truth." When they acted as writers, recording Christianity for the instruction of the church in all succeeding U 2 succeeding times, I apprehend that they were under the guidance of the Spirit as to the subjects of which they treated; that they wrote under his influence and direction; that they were preserved from all error and mistake in the religious sentiments they expressed; and that, if any thing were inserted in their writings, not contained in that complete knowledge of Christianity, of which they were previously possessed, (as prophecies, for instance) this was immediately communicated to them by revelation, from the Spirit; but with respect to the choice of words, in which they wrote, I know not but they might be left to the free and rational exercise of their own minds, to express themselves in the manner that was natural and familiar to them, while at the same time they were preserved from error in the ideas they conveyed." "Maintaining that the Apostles were under the infallible direction of the Holy Spirit, as to every religious sentiment contained in their writings, secures the same advantages as would result from supposing, that every word and letter was dictated to them by his influences, without being liable to those objections which might be made against that view of the subject. As the Spirit preserved them from all error in what they have taught and recorded, their writings are of the the same authority, importance, and use to us, as if he had dictated every syllable contained in them. If the Spirit had guided their pens in such a manner, that they had been only mere machines under his direction, we could have had no more in their writings than a perfect rule, as to all religious opinions and duties, all matters of faith and practice. But such a perfect rule we have in the New Testament, if we consider them as under the Spirit's infallible guidance in all the religious sentiments they express, whether he suggested the very words in which they are written, or not. Upon this view of the subject, the inspired writings contain a perfect and infal lible account of the whole will of God for our salvation; of all that is necessary for us to know, believe, and practise in religion: and what can they contain more than this, upon any other view of it?" "Another advantage attending the above view of the apostolic Inspiration is, that it will enable us to understand some things in their writings, which it might be difficult to reconcile with another view of the subject. If the Inspiration and guidance of the Spirit, respecting the writers of the New Testament, extended only to what appears to be its proper province, matters of a religious and moral nature, then there is no necessity U 3 necessity to ask, whether every thing contained in their writings were suggested immediately by the Spirit or not; whether Luke were inspired to say, that the ship in which he sailed with. Paul was wrecked on the Island of Melita (z); or whether Paul were under the guidance of the Spirit, in directing Timothy to bring with him the cloak which he left at Troas, and the books, but especially the parchments (a); for the answer is obvious; these were not things of a religious nature, and no inspiration was necessary concerning them." "This view of the subject will also readily enable a plain Christian, in reading his New Testament, to distinguish what he is to consider as inspired truth. Every thing which the Apostles have written or taught concerning Christianity, every thing which teaches him a religious sentiment, or a branch of duty, he must consider as divinely true, as the mind and will of God, recorded under the direction and guidance of his Spirit. It is not necessary that he should enquire, whether what the Apostles taught be true? all that he has to search after is, their meaning; and when he understands what they meant, he may rest assured, that meaning is consistent with the (z) Acts, c. 28. v. 1. (a) 2 Tim. c. 4. V. 13. |