relate to the mode and terms of salvation, however clear and convincing the evidence of them may be. It is under the influence of worldly desires and passions to that degree, that if a voice from heaven should utter the doctrine of grace, its ingenuity would be tasked to discover some way of rendering them unintelligible, or contradictory.

Even in the regenerate man, reason is often clouded by prejudice, and weakened by remaining corruptions, and biassed by the influence of the flesh, as we see in the apostle Peter, who, although he had been long a disciple, and doubtless a subject of renewing grace, was, on one occasion so far misled by his selfish feelings, and so savored of the things of men rather than the things of God, that the Saviour called him Satan, and pronounced him a very dangerous adviser in relation to the sufferings of which he spoke. Math. 16: 23.

Reason, then, must not be elevated into an infallible tribunal for the decision of all questions which pertain to our spiritual welfare. Its true place is with Mary at

the feet of Jesus. It must receive the truth that comes down from heaven, and not decide upon what it is proper for God to do, or what is necessary for man to believe. It must search the Scriptures for that eternal life which they profess to reveal. It must not make the consistency of any doctrine with personal feelings or long cherished views, a condition of faith, but subject every opinion and principle to the judgment of the word of God.

While reason thus humbles itself before the superior light of revelation, and strives to be merely a learner in the school of Christ, it will find every where helps in studying and illustrating Divine truth. Every faculty of the mind, and all the works of God, and all the treasures of science, will lend their aid in unfolding the sense of the sacred oracles; and under the influence of that spirit of wisdom who comes into a world of ignorance and error to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation, its path will be that of the shining light, shining more and more unto the perfect day.

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CHAPTER IV.

THE BIBLE ITS OWN INTERPRETER.

SINCE from what has been said it is evident that neither the authority of the church, nor the immediate inspiration of the Holy Ghost, nor the dictates of human reason, can be relied on as a rule of interpretation, it concerns us to inquire whether there is any general principle by which the common reader, who has access to few books, and who cannot devote himself to sacred criticism as a science, nor solve all the literary difficulties which occupy the attention of scholars, may be so guided and enlightened, that he shall not be in danger of losing sight of any essential truth, nor of adopting any opinion subversive of the faith once delivered to the saints.

It would be strange indeed if God, who has not left himself without witness in nature, which speaks to all hearts, and reveals his eternal power and Godhead to all

who have eyes to see, had given to the world a volume containing a higher revelation of his character and will, without at the same time furnishing some criterion by which all who are able to read it, may not only recognize it as his work, but, with suitable diligence, ascertain all those truths which are essential to the present and eternal peace of man. We find the principle that is needed in the following passage: "If any man prophecy," says the Apostle, "let him prophecy according to the proportion, (or analogy,) of faith." Rom. 12: 6. Where he obviously refers, not to the gift of foretelling future events, (for the prophets spoke according to immediate Divine inspiration,) but to the ordinary gift of explaining or interpreting the Scriptures, whether publicly or in the privacy of the family, which is a frequent meaning of the expression and by faith he means, not the inward exercise of faith in the believer, (because this is liable to many infirmities and imperfections, and must itself be tried by the word, so that it cannot be a rule,)—

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nor any confession of faith which a church may have adopted, (because this must be gathered from, and justified by, the Scriptures,) but the object of faith, that is, the Bible itself, which it is our duty to study and believe.

The great principle of interpretation, then, according to the Apostle, is to be found in the Scripture itself, and the whole volume is to be understood and explained by the light which shines from its own pages. In other words the Bible is its own interpreter, and is, of itself, able to make every reader wise unto salvation.

This principle is based upon the acknowledged fact, or rather the fact which every reader must acknowledge as the condition of his success, that the Scriptures, although consisting of many books, written by different persons, at periods far distant from each other, treating of an infinite variety of subjects, and embracing the biography of the world from its creation to the final consummation of all things, is nevertheless the work of one mind, forming a