THE

CHRISTIAN PHILANTHROPIST.

DISSERTATION I.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE SCRIPTURES.

MAN, destitute of Divine direction, though formed with noble powers of body and of mind, would have been a forlorn and wretched being; incapable of providing for his wants, and ignorant of his duty. Thus considered, and considered as the creature of that Being who is infinitely benevolent, and who forms nothing in vain, he surely was not made to be abandoned to himself; nor were his faculties given him to remain unimproved. Some revelation, then, from God to him was necessary, and might be expected, at the commencement of his existence.

The fact that man is capable of being religious, and that to be religious is not only his duty, but his highest interest, is also an evidence, that God, from his infinite goodness, would furnish him with all the means requisite for this purpose. But from long experience, we have full and striking proof, that the moral precepts of Confucius, Plato, Cicero, and Seneca, those lights and ornaments of the pagan world, are insufficient to convert men, or to

make them truly religious. They ever have proved, and they ever will prove, ineffectual to the reformation of the human race. Well could a heathen say,

"I see the right, and I approve it too;

I see the wrong, and yet the wrong pursue."

But why are not the moral precepts of men effectual to reformation? Because they are essentially defective, and have not a divine sanction. Nothing but the holy and perfect precepts of Jehovah and the glorious gospel of his grace, sactioned by eternal retributions, can restrain and reform the wicked. Hence the absolute necessity of a revelation from God, declaring his existence, character, will, and ways towards men. This revelation the Sove"All reign of the universe has been pleased to grant us. Scripture is given by inspiration of God."+ The apostle here, most probably, has reference to the Old Testament exclusively, for this was commonly called by the Jews, "the Scriptures," that is, the writings most important; and the New Testament at that time, was written only in part. It is possible, however, that the apostle spoke by the spirit of prophecy, and intended to include, by this expression, the whole Sacred Canon, the Old and New Testaments.

But what is meant by the inspiration of the Sacred Scriptures, including the Old and New Testaments? That the sacred penmen were moved, directed, and assisted by God, what to write, and how to write, and when

* "Video meliora proboque deteriora sequor."

By this is not to be understood, that every speaker mentioned in the Sacred Oracles spake as moved by the Holy Spirit, or that every thing uttered was true. The serpent said to Eve, "Ye shall not surely die,' and the three friends of Job did not always speak what was true concerning God. The incorrect opinions of good men, as well as their failings, are often related in the Scriptures. All that is to be understood by this passage is, that the sacred penmen, in all that they said, were guided by the unerring inspiration of God,

to write; so that they did write exactly,* and in all respects, as they were moved, or, as Dr. Doddridge renders it, "borne on, by the Holy Ghost." They were the voice, but the Holy Spirit the speaker.

As it regards what the sacred penmen wrote, (and they wrote whatever God saw best for men to know,) the agency of the Holy Spirit was in some respects varied. Some things were written, of which the writers had personal knowledge at the time they wrote. Such, for instance, as the account of the miracles, wrought by Moses in Egypt, at the Red sea, and in the wilderness;—of the destruction of the Egyptians, and of the deliverance and journeyings of the children of Israel;-of the life, sufferings, death, and resurrection of Christ;-and of a portion of the Acts of the Apostles. Here it was necessary, and only necessary, that the Holy Spirit should move, and direct the sacred writers to select and record those necessary things, which they knew, (for it is not presumable, that they wrote all they knew,) and to assist them to do it with infallible rectitude. Other things were written, which might have been known to the writers at the time they were said or done, and of which they might then have been either ear or eye witnesses, but which, through lapse of time, might have been partially, or totally forgotten. Such, for example, as the discourses and instructions of Jesus Christ, recorded by Matthew and John, who accompanied him. Many of these must unavoidably have been forgotten, and others have been only indistinctly recollected; for Matthew wrote his Gospel more than

*The ten commandments, written upon two tables of stone by the finger of God, were most probably the first writing by letters. Moses having been taught to read them by God, and having learned to write them, would, without doubt, communicate this knowledge to the children of Israel, and would be likely from a variety of reasons to write his five books of the Old Testament by letters also. The Pentateuch, then, it is probable, was the first writing of man by letters. Before this time they wrote by pictures, hieroglyphics, and symbols.-See History of the Rise, Progress, &c. of Knowledge, by Dr. Winder.

eight, and John wrote his between sixty and seventy years after the ascension of Christ. Here it was necessary, and only necessary, that the Holy Spirit should revive, and correctly establish in the memories of the writers, those things which were to be written-once known, but forgotten-and move, direct, and assist, in writing them, with complete security from error. Other things again were written, concerning which they could not possibly have had a personal knowledge. Such, for instance, as the history of the creation of the world-the prophecies, commandments, institutions, and directions of God-what is said respecting the redemption of man-the future state, resurrection of the dead, judgment-day, and its eternal consequences. Here, in addition to moving, directing, and assisting the sacred writers in what they recorded, the Holy Spirit must have revealed to them the things to be written, if he had not before revealed them to others, from whom the sacred writers had received them; for all these things claim to be primarily matters of pure and immediate revelation by the Spirit of God.

In respect to the manner in which the sacred penmen wrote, it is to be observed, that the Holy Spirit dictated to them such language, as conveyed the things revealed, truly, exactly, and in the best possible manner to answer the designs of revelation. All this may take place, and still "the words, which the Holy Ghost teacheth,"* need

*"Every man," says Mr. Dick, on inspiration, "who hath attended to the operations of his own mind, knows, that we think in words; as that when we form a train or combination of ideas, we clothe them with words; and that the ideas which are not thus clothed, are indistinct and confused. Let a man try to think upon any subject, moral or religious, without the aid of language, and he will either experience a total cessation of thought, or, as this seems impossible, at least while we are awake, he will feel himself constrained, notwithstanding his utmost endeavors, to have recourse to words as the instrument of his mental operations. As a great part of the Scriptures was suggested or revealed to the writers; and as the thoughts or sentiments which are conveyed into their minds by the Spirit, were perfectly new to them, it is plain that they must have been accompanied with words proper to express them, and consequently that the words were dictated by the same influence on their minds which communicated the ideas. The ideas could