SUSPENSE REQUESTED. 139 tive of the deluge. It is a painful position in which I stand. I seem to be taking the part of an enemy, adducing materials for skepticism, and doing nothing to remove them. But this situation for me is inseparable from the plan of these lectures; the only plan that appeared practicable. The apparent discrepancies, between the facts of science and the words of Scripture, must be understood, before we can make any attempt at their removal. I confide in the candour of my friends, that they will suspend their judgment till I am enabled to lay before them the way, in which I conceive that independent and unforced philological evidence will enable us satisfactorily to dispose of those difficulties. LECTURE VI. PART I. 1 THESSALONIANS v. 21. Prove all things: hold fast that which is good. WE are born for great and noble purposes. The object of existence, to every rational creature, is to enjoy a conscious union, in approbation, delight, and conformity, with the Being who is supreme in all ́excellence. To love and obey him is to secure our own happiness, and to acquire the best means of promoting that of every other being within our influence. If our minds be not dead to just feeling, we must be sensible that this is a necessary truth and its undeniable concomitants are accountableness and retribution, stretching out into immortality. To that immortality of moral purity and happiness, the Revelation from GOD, contained in the Scriptures, is our only guide. Clearly then, it is the duty of every man to apprehend, with the most complete intelligence and satisfaction that he can attain, the contents and evidences of that Revelation; and to remove out of the way every obstacle to a complete "assurance of faith." Among the Christians of the apostolic age, there was a variety of talents for the understanding of sacred subjects, their explication, and their communication to others. Some of these were of an extraordinary kind, depending for their existence and exercise upon peculiar communications from the Sovereign of all minds, who, in order to give the fullest proofs of divine authority, in the introduction of Christianity, confirmed it by wisely adapted miracles. Among these was the gift of Prophecy. The meaning of GIFTS IN THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 141 this word was not restricted to the foretelling of future events, in such a manner as evinced an emanation from the Omniscient; but it comprehended a faculty of communicating divine knowledge, by public speaking, with remarkable attractions of fervid eloquence: in fact, it was preaching. But the matter thus declared was not necessarily and in all cases the result of inspiration or any divine influence. Even in the hands of the wise and holy, it was not infallible; but was exposed to the intrusions of error in judgment and imperfection in representation. Therefore the apostle Paul gave precepts for the regulation, control, and correction of this "gift for the edifying of the church."* In the words preceding our text, he enjoins a respectful and reverential treatment of all those means of instruction; while yet, in the text itself, he directs to a faithful examination of them, by bringing them to the standard of truth, and then firmly to retain whatever sentiments had endured this searching scrutiny. The standard of truth, in religious matters, lies in the unchangeable perfections of God, and the revelation which he has made of himself: and, in matters of science respecting the sensible world, it is to be elicited by observation, experiment, and induction. The obligations, then, to which we are here remitted, are comprehensiveness and diligence in our inquiries, openness to conviction, right estimation of evidence, and a steadfast adherence to its results.† * 1 Cor. xiv. A similar precept is in 1 John iv. 1. ད See; here St. Paul determines that no position should be admitted, till, before the community which hears it, it has been examined and found to be sound. This duty of examination does not belong to teachers only; but" [implies that] "they must openly propound their sentiments, in order that they may be subjected to every man's examining. Thus, by the authority of this passage, the exercise of judgment upon doctrines is not reserved to Christian teachers, but is given to the learners: so that it is altogether a different thing among Christians, to what obtains We have seen that formidable difficulties present themselves to a man who looks seriously at the relations between the records of Revelation and the monuments of Natural History. Yet such a man cannot but feel assured, that the difficulties lie only in our want of sufficient knowledge. Nature and Revelation are both beams of light from the same Sun of eternal truth; and there canin the world. In the world, sovereigns command what they please, and their subjects yield compliance. But, says Christ, 'it shall not be so among you.' Among Christians, every one has the right of forming a judgment concerning others; and is also himself subjected to the same right in them: though spiritual tyrants have made a worldly dominion out of Christianity." Luther's Larger Catechism; a work of 2756 columns, on the quarto page, written in 1528: in Walch's ed. of Luther's Works, Halle, 1744, Vol. X. col. 1799. "Because rash men and impostors often cover over their absurdities with the title of prophecy, there was some danger of true prophecy being brought into suspicion, or cast into odium. As, in the present day, many persons almost nauseate the very name of a sermon, because there are so many silly and ignorant men (insulsi ac imperiti) who babble out from the pulpit their own inventions; and also ungodly men and contemners of religion, who preach execrable blasphemies. Wherefore, because, by the faults of such teachers, prophecy" [or preaching] "might be brought into dislike or even be almost entirely rejected, Paul commands the Thessalonians to prove all things; intimating that, although all teachers are not unexceptionable in their adherence to the perfect rule, and the propriety of their expressions, still we are not to condemn or reject any doctrine till we have fairly put it to the trial. In this respect, two opposite errors are common. Some persons, finding that themselves, or the bulk of men, have been imposed upon, reject in the mass all" [religious] "doctrines. Others, with weak credulity, indiscriminately embrace whatsoever is proposed to them in the name of God. Each extreme is wrong. The former class, filled with proud prejudice, bar themselves out from the way of improvement: the others, rashly expose themselves to every wind of error. From these two extremes, Paul recalls the Thessalonians to the middle path; forbidding the condemnation of any sentiment, till it be first duly examined: and admonishing that we should exercise a just judgment before we receive as certain that which is proposed to us.- Nothing is more hurtful" [to intellectual and religious improvement] "than the petulant and conceited disposition, by which we take up a dislike to any sentiment, without taking the trouble of a fair examination." Calvin in his Comment. in Epistolas; ad loc. CANNOT BE OPPOSED. 143 not be a discordance between them. If that which is announced as a revelation be indeed what it professes, and if the facts in nature be satisfactorily ascertained, it must be impossible that any real discordance should exist. The appearance of it, however, we have seen. We know that this appearance of things has attracted, and continues to attract, the most earnest attention, to a very wide extent among reading and inquiring persons. Serious Christians are alarmed: unbelievers and irreligious persons exult. But to both classes we say, Ye are too hasty : the Christian may dismiss his apprehensions: the hopes of the infidel are a spider's web. The voices of nature, and reason, and revelation, are in harmony. We want only that facts be correctly stated, and that the words of Scripture be interpreted upon the principles of just philology; and we fear not the result. We will search out the objects of science, "the works of the Lord," by the most careful investigation and rigorous induction, as if we had never heard of his word: and we will apply ourselves to the study of his word, with the strictest observance of the rules of interpretation, just as if we knew nothing of the physical world. We do not therefore speak of bringing about a conciliation between these two lines of fact and doctrine; for we anticipate the conviction that it already exists. It will not, I trust, be presumptuous in me to express some regret in finding an expression used by one of the most accomplished geologists of our own or any other country, Dr. Buckland; believing, at the same time, that it was introduced by him, more from oversight than with deliberate intention. He says, "If, in this respect, geology should seem to require some little concession from the literal interpreter of Scripture, it may fairly be held to afford ample compensation for this demand, by the large additions it has made to the evidences of natural religion, |