Moses to the present generation, they are objects of their unshaken confidence; destroy the grounds of this confidence by admitting the possibility of the corruption of their Scriptures, and their whole history becomes inexplicable.

The authenticity of the Old Testament and its inspiration are shewn from the New Testament. It is a well known fact, that the books of the Old Testament were in the hands of the Jewish nation for a series of years previous to the time of Christ. Now they contain a number of predictions concerning the Messiah; as to his descent; the time of his birth; the manner and circumstances of his life, of his death, of his burial, of his resurrection, of his ascension; all the circumstances that should happen after it, as the destruction of the second temple, &c., all which were remarkably and accurately fulfilled. This ought to be considered as a sufficient proof of its divine original. But on this point we are not left entirely to the deductions of our own minds, for we find Christ himself giving us most decisive evidence of it: "All things written in the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets concerning me must be fulfilled *;" thus ratifying the Jewish canon; declaring its inspiration, which is necessarily connected with the nature of pro

Luke xxiv. 44.

phecy; and proving that " all Scripture is given by inspiration of God." At another time he tells the Jews," they made the word of God of none effect through their traditions *," thus calling those rules which they had received for their conduct the word of God. Besides these, there are many other particulars in the New Testament, all referring to the Old Testament as a book of divine authority; and in fact, both Christ and his disciples constantly endeavoured to prove Jesus to be the Messiah,' foretold in the Old Testament, and that he corresponded in all the circumstances that were predicted of him in it. St. Paul also declares the divine authority of the Old Testament, and its intimate connection with the New Testament; he says to Timothy, "From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus t."

And in addition to these passages it may be lastly observed, that there is scarcely a book in the Old Testament which is not frequently quoted in the New, as of divine authority.

When we speak of the inspiration of Scripture, it is not to be understood that God suggested every word of Scripture, but only that he inspired the

Mark vii. 13.

† 2 Tim. iii. 15.

writer with the knowledge of his subject, and left him to express it in his own way. Neither is it necessary to believe that every fact related was the result of inspiration, since the sacred penmen might relate some from their own observation. In some cases inspiration produced only accuracy in recording past events; in others it communicated ideas not only new, but beyond man's unassisted intellect to reach; in others it gave a foresight into future events; and sometimes the subjects of it gave predictions of things which they themselves understood not, and which only the event fully developed. But whatever the difference of inspiration might be, one thing we must certainly believe, that the writers of Scripture were so far guided by the Holy Spirit as to have no material error in their writings.

Many of the historical books of the Old Testament appear to have been written by persons contemporary with the periods to which they relate. Hence they may not be so uniformly the result of immediate inspiration as the others; though of course the writers were under the superintendence of the Holy Spirit, and restrained from registering Some books were compilations from sacred annals written by prophets or seers, and from public records held in high estimation. To these the writers sometimes refer for details of minutie that they

error.

had omitted, as inconsistent with their design, which was to give merely a sketch of God's proceedings and dealings with his people of Israel, and of their conduct towards him. Hence the books of Kings and Chronicles, being probably only an abridgment or selection from the works of each contemporary Prophet, and of other authentic public records, digested by Ezra after the captivity, are not to be expected so uniformly inspired as the prophetic writings: still, as was said before, they are free from all mistake of importance; they were placed in the Hebrew canon amongst the prophetic books; they are cited as such by the Evangelists; and a strong testimony of the truth and authenticity of these books is, that the Jews have never dared to add to them, but close the Old Testament with Malachi.

For the above reasons the Hagiographa likewise may contain some things not the result of inspiration; but they also do contain prophecies, which are quoted as such by our Saviour; therefore we must admit their divine authority.

It may not be unadvisable here to bring forward a few more considerations in favour of the genuineness and authenticity of the Pentateuch. The first argument arises from the universal concurrence of all antiquity. The rival tribes of Judah and Israel, the hostile sects of Jews and Samaritans, and all

the early Christians, received it as being unquestionably the production of Moses.

Nicolaus of Damascus, Diodorus Siculus, Alexander, Polyhistor, Strabo, Justin, Tacitus, Pliny, Juvenal, Galen, Numericus, Longinus, Porphyry, all refer in their writings to Moses by name, as the Jewish lawgiver; and even Julian, the avowed enemy of Christianity, admitted the genuineness and credibility of the writings of Moses. Mahomet also asserted the divine inspiration of Moses; which, considering the enmity and contempt of the pretended prophet for Jews and Christians, nothing but conviction and an impossibility of invalidating the public credit of Moses' writings, could have compelled him to acknowledge.

In addition to this we find that Moses declared himself to have been directed by God to write his commands *. We read also "that Joshua read all the words of the law t." The Pentateuch, therefore, must have existed before Joshua.

The New Testament again bears strong evidence to this point. "We have found him of whom Moses in the law and prophets did write t." Christ himself gives sufficient testimony, calling the words

* Exod. xvii. 14, &c. Deut. xxxi. 24.

Josh. viii. 34, 35.