by them, and notice was taken how often it occurred. The facts of the Scripture history teach the character of God, and the character of man. They are the history of God's providence and ways, and they point to the great event of the coming of the Son of God.

made known to them? If it be replied, that in such places the sacred writers enjoyed the inspiration of suggestion, we ask, Where is this distinction pointed out? It is a distinction unknown in the Scriptures.

The very words which are used in the prophetical parts of Scripture must necessarily have been dictated, or in some way imparted, so as to lead the writers to use them. They did not always comprehend the meaning of their own words, "into which angels desired to look;" and in this case it was impossible that, unless the words had been dictated to them, they could have written intelligibly. The writings of the prophets constitute a great portion of the Old Testament Scriptures; and God claims it as his sole prerogative to know the things that are to come. We are therefore certain they enjoyed full inspiration; and, as we have not anywhere a hint of different kinds of inspiration by which the Scriptures are written, is it not presumption to assert that there are different kinds? It is lowering the word of God, and taking something from it, without any Scriptural warrant for doing so.

The nature of the mission of the

The prophets, and even angels, had but a partial understanding of the things which were afterwards to take place. Moses, it is evident, did not know, that, as being a type of Christ, it was necessary that his death should intervene before the people of Israel were led into the promised land. We have no reason to believe that he understood the import of all he wrote. For instance; that when he recorded the history of Sarah and Hagar, he knew the design for which it was recorded, and the use that was afterwards to be made of it. We cannot doubt that the prayer of David,-"Open thou mine eyes, that I may see wondrous things out of thy law," would have been equally suitable for Moses, who wrote that law. On the ground, then, of the purpose which the historical parts of the Scriptures were intended to serve, in displaying the manifold wisdom of God, and in pointing to him who was the end of the law, we have sufficient reason to be convinced, that not only not Moses, but not all the angels in heaven, although acquainted with all the facts, and under the inspiration both of superintendence and elevation, were competent to write the historical parts of the word of God. They neither possessed foresight nor wisdom sufficient for the work. In both respects every creature is limited. The dictating of that law which is "perfect," of which every jot and every tittle was to be fulfilled, was, and necessarily must have been, the work of perfect, that is, of infinite The uniform language of the Lord wisdom. Had then the penmen of the Jesus and his apostles respecting the Scriptures been only superintended and Old Testament Scriptures shews, that elevated, we should have had a revela- without exception they were " the word tion in which there would have been of God." "The Scripture," says our no contradictions, and excellent, un- Lord, "cannot be broken." John x. 35. doubtedly, in proportion to that eleva- Here he is speaking of the figurative tion, whatever it may mean, but it use of a particular word, ("gods,") would not have been perfect. Besides, which, without verbal inspiration, might in those histories, the thoughts and not have been used; and if used improsecret motives of men are often un-perly might have led to idolatry. Jesus folded and referred to. Was any one refers to the Old Testament as of inbut the Searcher of Hearts competent fallible authority. In quoting it he to this? Could angels have revealed says, "It is written." He speaks of the them, unless they had been distinctly necessity of the law and the prophets

VOL. VIII.

prophets and apostles required the full inspiration which they assert they possessed. God never intrusted such a work as they had to perform to any man, nor any part of such work. It was God himself, "who, at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in time past, unto the fathers, by the prophets." That work, through which was to be made known "to principalities and powers in heavenly places the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus," was not a work to be entrusted to any creature.

being fulfilled in every particular. "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."" It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail."

hearts of believers, or in that inspiration by which he verbally makes known his pleasure? "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is The apostles use similar language in every one that is born of the Spirit." their many references to the Old Testa- The Lord is able to communicate his ment Scriptures, which they quote as of will in what way he pleases, although decisive authority, and speak of them in we cannot trace the manner of his the same way as they do of their own operation. In the words spoken by the writings. "That ye may be mindful of ass of Balaam, we have an example of the words which were spoken before by this communication, through an unconthe holy prophets, and of the command-scious and involuntary instrument. In ment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Saviour." 2 Peter, iii. 2. And they call them "the oracles of God." Rom. iii. 2. What God says is ascribed by them to the Scriptures: "The Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee." So much is the word of God identified with himself, that the Scripture is represented as possessing and exercising the peculiar prerogatives of God:-"The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen;" "The Scripture hath concluded all under sin"-" For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." This should teach us in what light we ought to view the historical parts of Scripture.

On the whole, then, we see the nature of that inspiration by which the prophets and apostles wrote. The manner of communicating the revelations might differ, as we learn from the book of Numbers xii. 6, 7, 8, but their certainty and authority was the same. "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Neither was it the apostles who spoke, but it was the Spirit of their Father who spake in, or by them. It is not for men, then, to fritter away this truth, and to introduce distinctions in the inspiration of the servants of God, unheard of in his "word," and therefore totally unwarranted and unauthorized. It is not for men to say, "How can these things be?" No man can tell how, by a simple volition, he can move a finger. And shall "vain man, who would be wise, although man be born like a wild ass's colt," stumble at the mode of the operation of the Spirit of God, either in the act of regeneration, and his effective influence on the

Balaam himself we have an example, through one who was conscious, but involuntary, in the declarations he made respecting Israel. In Caiaphas, through one who was voluntary in what he said, but unconscious of its import. And in the writers of the Scriptures, we have an example of agents, both voluntary and conscious, but equally actuated by the Spirit of God. They spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."-" If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out."-"The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.'

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Let believers be thankful for the clear, distinct revelation which God has been pleased to vouchsafe of his will, of the future condition of man, and of the principles on which that condition shall be eternally fixed. The magnitude of these objects, involving the character and the glory of God, required, as we learn from Scripture, that what was so momentous should not, in any degree whatever, be ultimately intrusted to fallible men. By the earnestness with which the apostle Paul addresses the churches of Galatia, we learn what dreadful consequences must follow from the smallest alteration or addition to the Gospel. If an angel from heaven were to preach another Gospel, he was to be held accursed. Irenæus, as we have seen, who conversed with Polycarp the disciple of John, and who himself lived but a few years after that apostle, says concerning the inspiration of the Scriptures, "Well knowing that the Scrip tures are perfect, as dictated by the Word of God, and his Spirit." And to the same purpose Origen speaks of the sacred books, as not the writings of men, but that they have been written and delivered to us from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, by the will of the Father of

all things, through Jesus Christ." This full inspiration of the book of God should teach Christians to regard it with the highest veneration. "The law of the Lord is perfect." Ps. xix. 7. The testimony to the truth of the Scriptures, and consequently to the Messiah, which arises from their inspiration, is of the strongest kind. By presenting themselves to us as inspired, they bring the truth of their contents to the most decisive test. They occupy ground which nothing but truth and perfection could enable them to maintain. Could any thing absurd, or any thing wrong, be proved in the whole book;-could the smallest flaw in the character or doctrine of the Author of Salvation-any degree of weakness, or of want of wisdom, be discovered, they must immediately be compelled to relinquish this ground. The claim of inspiration is an assertion of the infinite importance, and incomparable excellency of the matter which they contain; as what man, without them, never could have known; and also that it is delivered in a style suitable to the dignity of what they present. Has this been shewn to be otherwise? They contain many chains of prophecies, as well as multitudes of detached predictions, now fulfilling, or that have been fulfilled in different ages; and they defy the perspicacity of men to falsify a single one of them. They assert a number of facts respecting various particulars of the creation, age, and history of the world; of a general deluge; of The subject of the Millennium was, the descent of all mankind from a single about thirty years ago, a much contropair; of the original state of man, as verted point among the Baptist Churches civilized, and not savage; of the origin in Scotland. Mr. John Glas, the father of a variety of universal custoins, other- of Scotch Independency, had written an wise unaccountable, as of sacrifices, and elaborate treatise, giving a "View of of the division of time by weeks. Yet, the Book of the Revelation," in which after all the severest scrutinies of the with his usual dogmatism, he insists most enlightened, as well as most inve- on the personal reign of Christ upon terate opposers, in ancient and modern the earth, during the thousand years: times, not one fact which they assert Mr. Sandeman advocated the same view has been disproved. On the contrary, of the matter; and though he never these facts are constantly acquiring wrote professedly on the subject, yet in fresh evidence from various sources. all his writings, there are to be found, The harmony, too, of the doctrine of pungent sarcastical invectives, interthe several writers of Scripture, is par-spersed throughout his pages, against ticularly observable, and forms a striking such as maintain the opposite sentiment. contrast to the discordant opinions, and All the Sandemanians, therefore, both

frequent inconsistencies and self-contradictions of the Greek and Roman writers, on almost every subject on which they treat.

"The writers of the Sacred Scriptures, of whom there are between thirty and forty, succeeded each other during the term of fifteen hundred years; some of them were princes or priests, others shepherds and fishermen. Their natural abilities, education, habits, and employments were exceedingly dissimilar; and they wrote laws, history, prophecy, odes, devotional exercises, proverbs, parables, doctrines, and controversy; and each man had his distinct department: yet they all exactly coincide in the exhibition which they give us of the perfections, works, truth, and will of God; of the nature, situation, and obligation of man; of sin and salvation; of this world and the next; and, in short, of all things connected with our duty, safety, interest, and comfort, and in the whole of the religion inculcated by them. They all were evidently of the same judgment-aimed to establish the same principles and applied them to the same practical purposes. Apparent inconsistencies may indeed perplex the superficial reader, but they will vanish after a more accurate investiga tion; nor could any charge of disagreement among the sacred writers ever be substantiated."*

ON THE MILLENNIUM.

It is proper we should add, in justice to Mr. Haldane, that we have only culled a few extracts from his masterly defence of the Inspiration of the Scriptures; but they are all we can find room for. We are sensible that, in abridging, we have weakened its effect; but our readers should have recourse to the book itself. Edit.

in Scotland and England, hold the personal reign as an article of the faith; and, no doubt, the Churches would put away from their communion any individual who dissented from it. As many of the Scotch Baptist Churches had come over from the Sandemanians, and as many others of them were partial to Mr. Glas's writings, the notion of Christ's personal reign, very generally obtained among them at the period above mentioned. Mr. M'Lean, whose useful labours had been the means, in a great measure, under God, of gathering the Churches in that connection, had himself been tinctured with this doctrine at the outset of his ministry; but as he grew in the knowledge of the Scriptures, he saw many and insurmountable objections to it; and this induced him to draw up and preach the following discourse, which is now first printed from his own manuscript. Most of his brethren were brought, during his life time to change their views of the nature of Christ's reign; but there is still a portion of the Sandemanian leaven (on this point) remaining among them; and its influence is perceptible chiefly in paralyzing their exertions to extend the kingdom of Christ in the world. We print the Sermon for their benefit, and pray that it may be the means of instructing them more perfectly on this subject.

Rev. xx. 1-7.

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We ought to be very modest in explaining prophecies not yet fulfilled, especially if delivered in figurative language. We may indeed give our opinion, but we ought to beware of dogmatizing, or urging our sense of them upon others as a matter of faith. I do not think that this passage respects the personal coming of Christ, or the literal resurrection of the just, 1000 years before the resurrection of the wicked, and their reigning with Christ personally among them, over the wicked nations of this world during that space of time; because this view appears to me to clash with other passages of Scripture which are plain and literal. I look upon this passage as figuratively setting forth a prosperous state of Christ's kingdom in this world, after the destruction of Antichrist, and the restraint of Satan's power, consisting of outward

peace, the spread and success of the gospel, with the bringing in of the Jews, and he fulness of the Gentiles; concerning which there are many promises in the word of God. But as to times and circumstances, I do not profess to have any certain knowledge.

I admit that the literal view of the Millennium is very ancient. Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis was the first who broached it, in his fourth book of Tra ditionary Anecdotes, which he says, he received from those who conversed with the apostles, particularly from Aristion and the Elder John, not the Evangelist, as Eusebius shows, and who also describes Papias as a man of narrow understanding, as may be judged from his books, Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 39. This pretended tradition is mentioned by Irenæus alone as received from Papias, and it holds forth a Millennium of such gross and sensual enjoyments of earthly things, that it is impossible to believe that the apostle John ever taught such voluptuous doctrine. Irenæus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, &c. fell in with this literal view; and though some of them did not altogether adopt every absurdity of Papias's tradition, yet they maintained that after the resurrection of the flesh, the Jews would be restored to their ancient possession; that their temple would be rebuilt, enlarged and adorned with all manner of precious stones; that the nations would flow in unto them; that the earth would then teem with extraordinary increase, and men would enjoy the fruits of it. Now' in all this they were more con. sistent than most of the moderns who hold the literal sense; for the Old Testament prophecies respecting this period, if taken literally, will countenance all these opinions, see Isa. ii. 2. ch. xxvii. 13. ch. lvi. 7. ch. lx. 5, 7, 13. ch. lxvi. 18-24. ch. lxv. 17-24. But this is precisely the Jewish carnal interpretation of the prophecies.

Origen warmly opposed this literal sense, as "a wicked doctrine, are-proach to Christianity; the heathens, saith he, having better sentiments than those. After this, Nepos, an Egyptian, endea voured to restore this gross and literal sense of the Millennian; but Dionysius of Alexandria, stopt the progress of that opinion by two learned and judi cious dissertations concerning the divine promises. Sometime after this, Epi

phanius informs us, "that the most, and those pious men, look upon the Millennium, mentioned by St. John, as true indeed, but to be taken in a spiritual sense."

I should have taken no notice of these things, were it not that the modern Millennarians have recourse to them, to show the antiquity of their literal scheme; though it is certain that they differ in many things both from the opinions of the ancient Millennarians, and also among themselves, so that none of their present schemes have any just claim to antiquity.

The nature of Christ's kingdom and its outward circumstances are two very different things. Though his kingdom has hitherto, for the most part, been in suffering circumstances; yet outward sufferings are not of the nature of his kingdom, but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, Rom. xiv. 17. When the Churches in Judea, Samaria, and Galilee had rest, was the nature of Christ's kingdom changed among them? quite the reverse, Acts ix. 31. Though outward persecution should cease while Satan is bound, how will this change of circumstances alter the nature of Christ's kingdom? Does the nature of his kingdom depend upon the malice and rage of Satan and his

and we bless God for it; are we therefore not of Christ's kingdom? It is said,

One of the present literal schemes of the Millennium may be shortly stated thus, "That Jesus Christ will come in person from heaven, to destroy Anti-instruments? We have present peace, christ, to bind Satan, and to raise the saints from the grave, that they may reign with him a thousand years on the earth. That at the end of that period, Satan shall be loosed, and lead on his forces of Gog and Magog against the reigning glorified saints; but that they shall be destroyed by fire from heaven. After this the wicked dead shall be raised, and the world finally judged." In examining the subject, I shall,

1. Answer the arguments brought for the literal sense of the Millennium.

II. State some objections to it.

I. The literal view has been comprized in the following proposition: "That the reign of the saints with Christ on earth, shall take place at his personal coming, and the literal resurrection of the just." In support of this it is urged,

1. "That Christ's kingdom is not of this world, but the kingdom of heaven-that it cometh not with observation-that it is a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof-that its subjects are strangers scattered abroad-a holy nation."* Ans. True; but how does all this prove that Christ's kingdom will never prosper or be extended in this life, or till Christ come personally and raise the saints? None of these texts either express or imply any such thing. Must Christ's kingdom be of this world, if it prospers in this world?

"The notion of a prosperous state of Christ's kingdom in the world is founded on a mistake about the prophecies, similar to what was entertained by the Jews, particularly those prophecies which under high metaphors held forth the spiritual grandeur of Messiah's reign, and which were understood of a worldly kingdom." Ans. The very reverse is the truth. It was the ancient Millennarians who took up the Jewish carnal sense of the prophecies, and applied them to the resurrection state, wherein they expected the most luxurious earthly enjoyments. Whereas Origen, Dionysius and others, who opposed this carnal view, explained the prophecies in a spiritual sense, and so were termed Allegorists by the other party. Christ's kingdom have no other prosperity in this world but a carnal one? Further, it is argued,

Can

2. "That the state of things on the earth, during the Millennium, is posi tively a reign of the saints with Christ over the nations; and how is this consistent with a low and depressed state? It is represented as succeeding this state, Dan. ii. 44. ch. vii. 27.' Ans. During the Millennium the kingdom of Christ will not be in a low and depressed state, and therefore there is no occasion to make it consistent with such a state. The Scriptures speak of a depressed and of a prosperous state of Christ's kingdom, and that too in this world. Its pros

But, "It is connected with affliction and patience; and it is asked, Is the nature of this kingdom to be changed before Christ's personal coming?" Ans. * The reader should be told, that here, and in what follows, Mr. M'Lean quotes and answers a paper that was drawn up by one of his own friends, in defence of the personal reign.

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