the early church did,-namely, asserting the fact of inspiration, without meddling with its theory: while theories themselves have rarely, if ever, originated in her, but have been introduced from outside, as suited the wants or views of those who have brought them in.

Now, we confess, all these considerations cause us to take small interest in theories of inspiration. Those who are interested in them will find much curious information, and many suggestive thoughts, in Mr Lee's Lectures; the great fault of which, as we have already intimated, seems to us to be, that a great deal too much importance is assigned in them to theory, as compared with fact. God help us, if our faith in the inspiration of His holy Word is to be dependent on the construction of a satisfactory and exhaustive theory about it, by the fallible intellect of man! It is a mischievous error to suppose it, an error fraught with fatal consequences. For what theory, however cleverly contrived, can man devise, in which some more clever theory-monger cannot pick flaws, and point out defects and inconsistencies? And then at once the cry is raised, that the inspiration of the Scriptures is disproved! But it is not so. All the theories as to how the apostles were inspired, that ever have been, or that ever shall be, might be scattered to the four winds of heaven, and the fact of the inspiration of the Scriptures would still remain untouched. That rests on a basis stronger than man's theories, -on the promise of Christ, the witness of the Scriptures themselves, the witness of the continuous church,-the witness of the Holy Ghost, lifting man from the regions of earthly testimony into those of a heavenly assurance, changing the persuasions of human witnessing into the certainties of divine attestation. And, while theories vanish in endless succession, this is a foundation which neither man nor devil can destroy.

Still there are certain accessory facts which any theory of inspiration is bound to recognise, and incorporate into itself; so that the right to theorise cannot be regarded as unlimited and unrestrained. And, having stated these, we shall tax the attention of our readers no further.

First, The distinction between revelation and inspiration must be kept in view. The merest glance at the Holy Scriptures shows that there are contained in them some facts and truths which the human mind itself can arrive at it by its ordinary processes and means of obtaining knowledge, and others which can only be known by a supernatural communication. The latter alone belong to revelation, but inspiration deals with both. "By revelation, we understand a direct communication from God to man, either of such knowledge as man could not of himself attain to, because its subject-matter

transcends human sagacity or human reason; or which (although it might have been attained in the ordinary way) was not, in point of fact, from whatever cause, known to the person who received the revelation. By inspiration, on the other hand, we understand that actuating energy of the Holy Spirit, guided by which, the human agents chosen by God have officially proclaimed his will by word of mouth, or have committed to writing the several portions of the Bible."

Secondly, The fact must be recognised, that in the work of inspiration, two distinct elements co-operate with each other; namely, the Spirit of God, and the human intelligence. And it cannot be permitted, that one of these shall be regarded as absorbing and nullifying the other.

Thirdly, It must be admitted that all the New Testament is inspired. The only alleged scriptural ground for denying this, has already been considered, and shown to be unreal and futile. While the indignant way in which the notions of the Anomoans were denied, shows that the early church knew no such idea as they entertained, that the apostles spoke at one time as men, and at another by inspiration. The notion bears absurdity on its very face, and its ultimate issues can only produce infidelity.

If these subordinate facts are kept in view, we see no reason why those who wish to theorise on this subject, so mysterious, -and so much more a subject for devout thankfulness and meditation, than for discussion and analysis,-may not be permitted to do so to their heart's content; provided always they will remember that their theories are human speculations, but that the fact of inspiration is the TRUTH OF GOD.

We feel bound to add a few words in reference to the vol ume which stands at the head of this article, and of the materials and suggestions furnished by which we have so largely availed ourselves. This underlying fault we have already indicated; the idea, namely, that some satisfactory theory of inspiration must be devised, and the apparent acquiescence in the conclusion, that unless one can be devised, the doctrine of the inspiration of the Scriptures must be given up. This false notion colours and at the same time cramps the whole work; it leads to an unscientific arrangement of materials, and occasional want of sharp definiteness in statement, from fear, it would seem, that some of the corners of the theory may be chipped off.

Still, we do not hesitate to say, that Mr Lee's volume is vastly in advance of any work we have on the subject; that

*We speak of the New Testament only, because that alone is here under consideration; not because there is any difference in this respect between it and the older Scriptures.

it furnishes an immense amount of the most valuable facts and suggestions; that it is singularly calm and uncontroversial; that it will be better liked on the second reading than on the first, and on the third than either; and that the theory which he defends,-we protest against its name "dynamic, as an intolerable cross between German and Yankee, is less liable to objection than any with which we are acquainted. But, as has already been urged, the construction of a complete and exhaustive theory of inspiration, is a simple impossibility.

ART. V.-Memoirs of John Kitto, D.D., F.S.A. By J. E. RYLAND, M.A., Editor of "Foster's Life and Correspondence," &c. With a Critical Estimate of Dr Kitto's Life and Writings. By Professor EADIE, D.D., LL.D., Glasgow. Pp. 697. Oliphant & Sons, Edinburgh. 1856.

MANY facts in the life of John Kitto had already been given by himself to the world, in the form of articles in the "Penny Magazine," and in his singularly interesting volume, "The Lost Senses," published many years since by Mr Knight. Now that his earthly career is ended, Mr Ryland has arranged these materials in order, adding to them much new matter, chiefly gathered from a voluminous collection of letters and extracts from journals; and if we have any ground of complaint at all, it is rather at the redundancy than at the paucity of these quotations, and that a writer at once so practised and so trusted as the biographer of Foster, has perhaps exercised his functions too sparingly, and has kept himself too much in the shade. As it is, he has presented us with a memoir of great value both in a literary and in a Christian point of view: for not only is it true that no man of his times has added more to the stores of biblical interpretation than Dr Kitto, or wrought a fresher and finer vein of scriptural illustration; but his life is a new and stirring chapter illustrative of the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties, of the power of indomitable will and strong faith in conquering every thing but impossibilities, and leaves on the sands of time one of those

"Foot-prints, which perhaps another
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwreck'd brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again."

Keeping in view this double aspect of Kitto's career, we shall

present our readers with the salient points of his strange and instructive history.

John Kitto was born at Plymouth, December 4, 1804. His father was a mason, who might have prospered, had he not given to the ale-house the time and the means which were due to his business and his family. By the time that John was four years of age, he was transferred to the domicile of his maternal grandmother, who soon contracted for the puny and thoughtful child an intense affection. As the stripling grew, he showed a great fondness for solitary wanderings in the neighbourhood in search of wild berries, and for long musings among the rocks on the sea-shore, from which the rising tide scarcely dislodged him and to wean him from these inconvenient and dangerous habits, as his grandmother regarded them, she was accustomed to amuse him with long stories, abounding in the superstitious and supernatural; while in the garret of a neighbouring shoemaker, of kindred powers of narrative with the grandmother, new stories only awakened new thirst in the unwearied listener. On being informed that many of the tales which had interested him were to be found in little printed books, John willingly began to lay aside the occasional penny which he had received for the purchase of the rich clotted cream of Devonshire; and when he had accumulated the needed sum, he rushed to the neighbouring bookstall and made the coveted prize his own. A box of some dimensions soon scarcely sufficed to contain the boy's library; his grandmother's ancient store-rich in a family Bible, a Robinson Crusoe, and a Pilgrim's Progress,—was soon exhausted; and ere he entered on his teens, his venerable relative, or his own ingenuity of solicitation, had procured for the omnivorous and insatiable boy-student a reading of nearly all the books of the neighbourhood. Thus early did his awakening literary likings reveal themselves, and his struggles with difficulty begin.

All the school education which Kitto ever received, was comprised within his eighth and his eleventh year; and during this brief period he had attended four different schools. But ere his school-life was ended, one of those little incidents, insignificant in themselves, had occurred which, in the case of men destined for eminence, so often give a sort of prophetic shadow of the future. A young cousin came to him, and informed him that she was on her way to purchase a book for a penny. Young Kitto, as often happened, was just at that time greatly in want of a penny for his own literary projects. He offered to write for her a story better than any which she could buy for a penny, and to accompany the story with a pictorial embellishment also of his own workmanship. The offer was accepted; the story

and the picture were produced on the spot by the child-author and artist and the penny was transferred to Kitto's hands, to be again transferred ere night to the bookseller's. In the mental energy, the self-reliance, the fertility of resource in difficulty, and the prompt courage to meet it, the boy was in this little incident father to the man.

To a kind onlooker the condition of Kitto at this period would already have seemed hard enough; but new shades were now to be added to the sombre web of his life. His kind grandmother having been smitten with paralysis, and needing, in consequence; her daughter's care, was removed, along with John, to the house of his father, whom intemperance and its attendant improvidence had, by this time, reduced to the position of a journeyman mason. To eke out a precarious subsistence, Kitto, who had previously been withdrawn from school, was employed as a hod-man to his father, when that event occurred which has invested his story with so deep interest alike to the physiologist and to the Christian, and which more than any other outward circumstance gave its peculiar form and pressure to all his future life.

"On that memorable day (Feb. 13, 1817), about half-past four in the afternoon, he was engaged with his father in repairing a house in Batter Street, Plymouth. He had just reached the highest round of a ladder with a load of slates, and was in the act of stepping on the roof, when his foot slipped and he was precipitated from a height of five-and-thirty feet on a stone pavement in the yard beneath, along which was a gutter for carrying off the waste water into the street. No limb was fractured, but consciousness was lost, except for a few moments, during which he perceived that he was borne along in his father's arms attended by a crowd. He then relapsed into unconsciousness, in which he remained for a fortnight. At the close of that period, the first symptom of recovery was his noticing one morning, on opening his eyes, that it was at least two hours later than the usual time of rising; but on attempting to leave his recumbent posture, he found himself utterly strengthless. This proof of debility, and the total silence in the room when his friends were present, convinced him that he was an invalid; but he could not at first detect the real cause of the absence of all sounds, articulate or inarticulate. When he noticed persons apparently in conversation, yet inaudible, he thought it must be carried on in a very low under-tone, from a kind consideration of his state of weakness; and some time probably would have elapsed before the mystery was cleared up, had he not made earnest and somewhat impatient inquiries about a book which the town-crier's wife had lent him just before the accident, and in which he had taken a very lively interest. At length he querulously exclaimed, Why do you not speak? Pray let me have the book.' Still there was no reply; the bystanders looked now at each other and then at Kitto, evidently perplexed; at last, it struck one of them to take a slate and write upon it, that the book had been returned to its owner (the town-crier) at